Horton Hatches the Egg is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and published in 1940 by Random House. The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant, who is tricked into sitting on a bird's egg while its mother, Mayzie, takes a permanent vacation to Palm Beach. Horton endures a number of hardships but persists, often stating, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent!" Ultimately, the egg hatches, revealing an elephant-bird, a creature with a blend of Mayzie's and Horton's features.
According to Geisel's biographers Judith and Neil Morgan, Geisel claimed the story was born in early 1940 when he left a window open in his studio, and the wind fortuitously blew a sketch of an elephant on top of a sketch of a tree. However, according to later biographer Charles Cohen, this account is probably apocryphal. He found elements of Horton in earlier Dr. Seuss works, most notably the 1938 short story "Matilda, the Elephant with a Mother Complex".
Horton Hatches the Egg was published to immediate critical acclaim and financial success and has remained popular with the general public. The book has also been used as the basis for academic articles on a variety of topics, including economics, Christianity, feminism, and adoption. Horton appeared again in the 1954 Dr. Seuss book Horton Hears a Who! These two books later provided the thrust of the plot for the 2000 Broadway musical Seussical.
Plot
The book centers on a genial elephant named Horton, who is convinced by Mayzie, an irresponsible and lazy bird, to sit on her egg while she takes a short "break", which turns into her permanent relocation to Palm Beach.
As Horton sits in the nest on top of a tree, he is exposed to the elements, laughed at by his jungle friends, captured by hunters, forced to endure a terrible sea voyage, and finally placed in a traveling circus. However, despite his hardships and Mayzie's clear intent not to return, Horton refuses to leave the nest because he insists on keeping his word, often repeating, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent!"
The traveling circus ends up visiting near Mayzie's new Palm Beach residence. She visits the circus just as the egg is due to hatch (after 51 weeks in Palm Beach) and demands that Horton should return it, without offering him a reward. However, when the egg hatches, the creature that emerges is an "elephant-bird", a cross between Horton and Mayzie, and Horton and the baby are returned happily to the jungle, while Mayzie is punished for her laziness by ending up with absolutely nothing.
Background
According to Geisel's biographers Judith and Neil Morgan, Horton Hatches the Egg was born in 1940, the day after New Year's, when he took a break from drawing in his Park Avenue apartment and went for a walk. When he returned, he noticed that he had left a window open in his studio and that the wind had blown one sketch on transparent paper on top of another, making it look like an elephant was sitting in a tree.[1] This account was based on interviews with Geisel, who had told similar stories about the book's creation to reporters asking about his creative process since as early as 1957. The story had changed with each telling but always involved the fortuitous juxtaposition of drawings of an elephant and a tree.[2]
Charles Cohen, on the other hand, found traces of Horton Hatches the Egg in early Dr. Seuss works. In an early installment of Geisel's cartoon feature "Boids and the Beasties", which began in Judge magazine in 1927, he juxtaposed a bird and an elephant. A few weeks later, he drew a story in which a whale ends up passed out in a catalpa tree.
In 1938, two years before Horton Hatches the Egg, Judge published perhaps the most obvious precursor to Horton, "Matilda, the Elephant with a Mother Complex", a short story by Geisel about an "old maid elephant" who sits on a chickadee egg until it hatches, only to have the newborn chickadee fly away from her. In 1939, Geisel created an advertisement for NBC featuring a sympathetic-looking elephant lashed with ropes and contained in a cage made of sticks, similar to Horton's situation when the hunters capture him in Horton Hatches the Egg.[3]
In early drafts, the elephant's name changed from Osmer to Bosco to Humphrey. The final choice, Horton, was apparently after Horton Conrad, one of Geisel's classmates at Dartmouth College. The bird's name changed from Bessie to Saidie and finally Mayzie. In the first draft, the elephant character volunteered to sit on the eggs for the bird, who was very reluctant.[4]
Publication and reception
Horton Hatches the Egg was published by Random House in fall 1940 to immediate success.[5] It received primarily positive notice from critics. Kirkus Reviews called it "sheer nonsense, but good fun."[6] The reviewer for The New York Times Book Review wrote, "A moral is a new thing to find in a Dr. Seuss book, but it doesn't much interfere with the hilarity with which he juggles an elephant up a tree. To an adult, the tale seems a little forced compared to his first grand yarns, less inevitable in its nonsense, but neither young nor old are going to quibble with the fantastic comedy of his pictures."[5]
The book also found early success with book buyers and the general public. It sold 6,000 copies in its first year and 1,600 in its second.[7] Frances Chrystie, the juvenile buyer for FAO Schwarz, wrote to Bennett Cerf, Geisel's publisher, "I've been sitting alone in my apartment reading Horton aloud to myself over and over again... It's the funniest book I've ever seen... [Our] merchandise manager thinks he can find an elephant in the store, and we can make a tree and lay an egg and have a very fine window for Book Week."[5] Mary Stix of James Book Store in Cincinnati, Ohio, noted the book's popularity with adults as well as children. Numerous booksellers invited Geisel to hold autographing events at their stores, and Cerf sent him on a tour across several U.S. cities to promote the book. However, the book was less well received in England, where it was rejected by seven publishers before Hamish Hamilton finally published it, to modest success, in 1947. This mirrored a general trend, as Dr. Seuss books were slow to catch on in England.[8]
Horton Hatches the Egg has remained popular in the United States. In 2001, Publishers Weekly reported that the book had sold 987,996 to that point, placing it at 138 in the magazine's list of the best-selling children's books of all time.[9] It was included in Six by Seuss: A Treasury of Dr. Seuss Classics, which was the main selection for the Book-of-the-Month Club in June 1991.[10] In 1992, less than a year after Geisel's death, Horton's refrain was included in the 16th edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.[11] In 2007, the National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children", based on an online poll.[12]
Analysis
Horton Hatches the Egg has been used in discussions on a wide variety of topics, including economics, Christianity, feminism, and adoption.
Alison Lurie, in a 1990 article about Dr. Seuss from a feminist perspective, criticized Horton Hatches the Egg as a statement for fetal rights (opposed by Lurie) and for its negative treatment of Mayzie. Lurie claimed an almost complete lack of strong female protagonists in Dr. Seuss books and further asserted that Mayzie, who is obviously an antagonist and is depicted as lazy and irresponsible, is "the most memorable female character in [Dr Seuss's] entire oeuvre".[13] Geisel responded to Lurie's criticism, by way of his biographers near the end of his life, by remarking that most of his characters are animals, noting, "if she can identify their sex, I'll remember her in my will."[10][11]
Jill Deans, in a 2000 article, used the book in a discussion of adoption, surrogacy, and particularly, embryo donation. She noted that it is "a classic tale of surrogacy" and that it "evokes the intricacies of the nature/nurture debate". She contends that the book celebrates adoptive parents and caregivers, in the form of Horton, but vilifies birth mothers, in the form of Mayzie.[13] Both Deans and Philip Nel point to the book's real-life implications for Geisel and his wife. Deans draws a connection between the elephant-bird in Horton and the Infantograph, a failed invention Geisel created that combined two photos and was meant to give couples an idea of what their children would look like. Nel, meanwhile, connected the book to the short story "Matilda the Elephant". Noting that the Geisels could not have children, Nel argued that "Matilda", and by extension Horton, may have been manifestations of the Geisels' longing for children.[14]
In 2004, James W. Kemp, a retired United Methodist pastor, compared Horton to the early Christians to whom the First Epistle of Peter was addressed. Like those early Christians, Horton faces persecution and ridicule for his actions, but Horton is faithful to his mission and is rewarded, as evidenced by the elephant-bird that hatches at the end of the book.[15]
Richard B. Freeman, writing in 2011 about the contemporaneous economic situation in the United States, called Horton Hatches the Egg a tale of investment. Freeman argued that "economic growth requires long-term investments", as embodied by Horton's sitting on the egg, and that "trust is important in a well-functioning economy", as embodied by Horton's repeated maxim, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant."[16]
In 1966, Soyuzmultfilm released an 18-minute Russian film adaptation called I Am Waiting for a Nestling. It was directed by Nikolai Serebryakov and won the Silver Medal for Best Children's Film at Tours in 1967.[18]
In 1992, Random House released "Horton Hatches the Egg" in its series of Dr. Seuss videos, narrated by Billy Crystal and directed by Mark Reeder. "If I Ran the Circus" is second in the double feature video.[19]
Horton appeared again in Horton Hears a Who, published in 1954. The plot of the 2000 Broadway musical Seussical, a retelling of a number of Dr. Seuss books, borrows heavily from both Horton books.[20]
Although never adapted into a feature film, the 2008 film adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! references the book, with Horton quoting his most famous line, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one hundred percent." While making the 2008 film, Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox briefly got the film rights to Horton Hatches the Egg as a proposed sequel to their adaptation.[21]
See also
Horton Principle – a design rule in cryptography named after the book
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American children's author and cartoonist. He is known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. His work includes many of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.
The Cat in the Hat is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by American author Theodor Geisel, using the pen name Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red bow tie. The Cat shows up at the house of Sally and her brother one rainy day when their mother is away. Despite the repeated objections of the children's fish, the Cat shows the children a few of his tricks in an attempt to entertain them. In the process, he and his companions, Thing One and Thing Two, wreck the house. As the children and the fish become more alarmed, the Cat produces a machine that he uses to clean everything up and disappears just before the children's mother comes home.
Seussical, sometimes Seussical the Musical, is a musical comedy by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, based on the many children's stories of Dr. Seuss, with most of its plot being based on Horton Hears a Who!, Gertrude McFuzz, and Horton Hatches the Egg while incorporating many other stories. The musical's name is a portmanteau of "Seuss" and the word "musical". Following its Broadway debut in 2000, the show was widely panned by critics, and closed in 2001 with huge financial losses. It has spawned two US national tours and a West End production, and has become a frequent production for schools and regional theaters.
Horton Hears a Who! is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954 by Random House. This book tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his adventures saving Whoville, a tiny planet located on a speck of dust, from the animals who mock him. These animals attempt to steal and burn the speck of dust, so Horton goes to great lengths to save Whoville from being incinerated.
Green Eggs and Ham is a children's book by Dr. Seuss. It was published by the Beginner Books imprint of Random House on August 12, 1960. The book follows Sam-I-am as he follows an unnamed man, repeatedly asking him if he would like to try some green eggs and ham before the man eventually tries it and likes it. Seuss began writing Green Eggs and Ham after his editor Bennett Cerf bet him $50 that he could not write an engaging children's book with a vocabulary of 50 words. Finding the challenge difficult, Seuss used notes, charts, and checklists to keep track of his progress. The book covers themes of conflict between individuals, though Seuss has said that it lacks any deeper meaning. Green Eggs and Ham was widely praised by critics for its writing and illustration, and the challenge of writing a book in 50 words is regarded as a success. The book has been the subject of multiple adaptations, including a television series of the same name in 2019.
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street is Theodor Seuss Geisel's first children's book published under the name Dr. Seuss. First published by Vanguard Press in 1937, the story follows a boy named Marco, who describes a parade of imaginary people and vehicles traveling along a road, Mulberry Street, in an elaborate fantasy story he dreams up to tell his father at the end of his walk. However, when he arrives home, he decides instead to tell his father what he actually saw—a simple horse and wagon.
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories is a picture book collection by Theodor Seuss Geisel, published under his more commonly known pseudonym of Dr. Seuss. It was first released by Random House Books on April 12, 1958, and is written in Seuss's trademark style, using a type of meter called anapestic tetrameter. Though it contains three short stories, it is mostly known for its first story, "Yertle the Turtle", in which the eponymous Yertle, king of the pond, stands on his subjects in an attempt to reach higher than the Moon—until the bottom turtle burps and he falls into the mud, ending his rule.
Hop on Pop is a 1963 children's picture book by Dr. Seuss, published as part of the Random House Beginner Books series. The book is subtitled "The Simplest Seuss for Youngest Use", and is designed to introduce basic phonics concepts to children.
McElligot's Pool is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and published by Random House in 1947. In the story, a boy named Marco, who first appeared in Geisel's 1937 book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, imagines a wide variety of fantastic fish that could be swimming in the pond in which he is fishing. It later became one of the Seuss books featured in the Broadway musical Seussical where its story is used for the song "It's Possible".
Scrambled Eggs Super! is a 1953 children's book written and illustrated by American children's author Dr. Seuss. The story is told from the point of view of a boy named Peter T. Hooper, who makes scrambled eggs prepared from eggs belonging to various exotic birds.
Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and published by Random House on August 21, 1975. The book is about the many amazing 'thinks' one can think and the endless possibilities and dreams that imagination can create. The book's front cover depicts forty-seven unknown bird-like creatures walking around on a cyan circle.
In Search of Dr. Seuss is a 1994 American television film chronicling the adventures of a news reporter, Kathy Lane, who enters the world of Dr. Seuss by opening a magical book. Also starring are Matt Frewer, Christopher Lloyd, Andrea Martin, David Paymer, Patrick Stewart, Andraé Crouch, Robin Williams and Eileen Brennan.
I Am Not Going to Get Up Today! is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and illustrated by James Stevenson. It was published by Random House on October 12, 1987. It is the only Dr. Seuss book not to be illustrated by Seuss himself. The book is told from the perspective of a boy who decides not to get out of bed as his family and neighbors try to convince him to get up. Audio versions have been released, including a cassette tape in 1988 and an audiobook read by the actor Jason Alexander in 2003.
Horton the Elephant is a fictional character from the 1940 book Horton Hatches the Egg and 1954 book Horton Hears a Who!, both by Dr. Seuss. He is also featured in the short story Horton and the Kwuggerbug, first published for Redbook in 1951 and later rediscovered by Charles D. Cohen and published in the 2014 anthology Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories. In all books and other media, Horton is characterized as a kind, sweet-natured, and naïve elephant who manages to overcome hardships.
Whoville, sometimes written as Who-ville, is a fictional town created by author Theodor Seuss Geisel, under the name Dr. Seuss. Whoville appeared in the 1954 book Horton Hears a Who! and the 1957 book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! with significant differences between the two renditions. Its denizens go by the collective name Whos, as in a plural form of the pronoun who.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a Christmas children's book by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a cranky, solitary creature who attempts to thwart the public's Christmas plans by stealing Christmas gifts and decorations from the homes of the nearby town of Whoville on Christmas Eve. Miraculously, the Grinch realizes that Christmas is not all about money and presents.
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, published over 60 children's books over the course of his long career. Though most were published under his well-known pseudonym, Dr. Seuss, he also authored a certain amount of books as Theo. LeSieg and one as Rosetta Stone.
Horton Hatches the Egg is a 1942 American animated short film by Leon Schlesinger Productions, based on the 1940 book by Dr. Seuss, and released as part of Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies series. The short was directed by Bob Clampett and was the first film adaptation based on a Seuss book.
Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories is an anthology of children's stories written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss, published posthumously by Random House in 2014.
Horse Museum is a Dr. Seuss book released by Random House Children's Books on September 3, 2019. It is based on an unfinished manuscript by Theodor Seuss Geisel completed by Australian illustrator Andrew Joyner. 250,000 copies were released of the first printing.
References
Cohen, Charles (2004). The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing But the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel. Random House Books for Young Readers. ISBN0-375-82248-8. OCLC 53075980.
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