Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Sneetches and Other Stories

The Sneetches and Other Stories
Dr. Seuss ~ Random House, 1961


Everyone is pretty familiar with The Sneetches (the story of the bird-like animals with stars and the ones with none upon thars), but one of my favorite Seuss stories (and one of the silly-spookiest) is tucked away in the back as part of the "and Other Stories". What Was I Scared of? was republished separately in '97 as a wee "Little Dipper Book"... I have to assume with the notion that it be given as a graduation present.

So there's this little yellow creature, out and about, minding his own bizwax... when he see a pair of personless pants... He tries to escape them, but time and again, they keep finding him...

I said, "I do not fear those pants
With nobody inside them."
I said, and said, and said those words.
I said them. But I lied them.


Eventually, he overcomes his fears and faces the pants, befriending them after all. So, I suppose some could see this as a cautionary tale for adulthood to not fear the unknown. But hey, if I ran into some free floating pants, I think I might hightail it in the opposite direction as well... courage be damned.

Also by:
McElligot's Pool
The Lorax
Come Over to My House
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

3 comments:

peachey said...

i just found you while searching for "one monster after another"

so, so glad i did.
what a fantastic space you have here. will return often!

Esme Raji Codell said...

HOORAY! Thanks for reminding me. I have this poem memorized, and I whip out a pair of real pale green pants after pretending to reach into a snide bush. Ahhh! It's just not Halloween until someone is screaming. ;-)

Jennifer Thermes said...

This book is one of my all time favorites! Those pale green pants scared the heck out of me when I was a kid. :-)

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