Book Review: Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book
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What Parents Should Know
The writing is dizzying and jolly, and the story of the yawn
spreading across the land is clever. The art, often in shadowy
colors, contributes to the fun and the drowse.
Common Sense Media Review
Leave it to Seuss to make high comedy out of sleeping: "It's
a great night for snores! I just had a report / Of some boys
who are tops in this musical sport," including McPhail. "HE
snores with his head in a three-gallon pail." Or all those
woeful traveling salesmen out there--"Unsuccessfully trying to
sell Ziffer-Zoof Seeds / Which nobody wants because nobody
needs"--who are given a tender goodnight to rest their sore
feet.
It is totally up for grabs whether this book will help youngsters to sleep or crank them into a frenzy of laughter and queries: "How are those guys so big if they weigh less than one pound?" a four-year-old wanted to know about the Offts. Good night. "Is a zillion more than a trillion?" Good night! "What's the number before zillion?" Good night!!
And everywhere are the strange residents of the strange places that comprise the Land of Seuss. There are moose, but also Curious Crandalls; there's a goose, but also a Chippendale Mupp, and they live in such districts as Foona-Lagoona and Far Foodle. Readers' imaginations will either be fevered or exhausted.
More documentary-like Seuss titles to explore are Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! and Oh Say Can You Say?.
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