Sam Likes Ham .... Do you? (Green Eggs and Ham - Dr Seuss)

Member Name: bonsibabe

Product:	Green Eggs and Ham - Dr Seuss
Date:	03/06/07 (89 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great story with a good message, easy to read and understand

Disadvantages: I could imagine gets noisy with a group of kids

I got this from Amazon as part of a "two for a fiver" promotion. I got this one and also "The Cat In The Hat" for my two girls. I only bought this as my oldest one (who is 5 now) is learning to read and her teacher had been reading this to the class at school and she had begged for about 2 weeks before I finally gave in!

Dr Seuss has literally written hundreds of books for and about children. The Cat in the Hat has to be one of the more widely known ones, as immortalised by Mike Myers in his film. But Green Eggs and Ham is not one that I had heard of until my daughter mentioned it. So I eventually agreed to get the book for her if it meant that I would get some peace and quiet from the constant "mummy please can I have the book?"

We meet Sam (I am Sam, Sam I am) at the beginning, a cheerful looking creature who is riding on the back of another strange creature and looking exceptionally pleased with himself for some reason or another. And then we meet the Grouch. He is a creature similar to Sam, only larger, and sitting in his armchair with a paper and looking really grumpy.

"That Sam-I-am!
That Sam-I-am!
I do not like
that Sam-I-am!"

Then Sam asks the Grouch the crucial question ...

"Do you like green eggs and ham?"

And so begins our story, which is told entirely in rhyme, and is great fun for children of all ages, as my two year old will confirm, as she loves it too!

The story covers 62 pages, but as it is told in rhyme, this is understandable. The text is plain and easy to read. And it is also easy for an early reader to comprehend and read along. As I mentioned earlier, my 5 year old is learning to read, and while her Service education is fantastic (I will have to write a separate review on that I think lol) she is limited at school to the books that she reads (generally the ones sent home with her to practise). So we try to get her as many books as possible that she can read on her own.

This is one that she will happily sit with and read, although some of the words, she is still a bit unsure of and will ask for help. But I have to say now that she is getting a bit of confidence and will sit with her sister and read the book to her (maybe not perfectly but it does encourage them to be nice to each other!).

The pictures are something that I would draw - they look like they have been drawn by a child, which is good as it is a child's book! The pictures are great for the kids as mine have great fun describing the pictures and telling me all about them. It certainly makes reading time a lot more fun in our house.

One thing that I do really like about this book is the hidden message within the story. It is the message that we have to try new things before we decide that we like them or not. This is particularly poignant with my kids as they are quite prone to say that they do not like something, before they have even tried it. I am now able to remind them about the Grouch, and it makes trying new things much easier.

All in all, I would say that this is a greatly enjoyable, educational book suitable right from toddlers to school age children of around 5 or 6, although in a classroom setting, I can imagine that this would be rather noisy! I certainly gets noisy in my house and I only have 2 children!

I have no hesitation in giving this the 5 star treatment with a high recommendation to anyone who has young kids, works with young kids, or needs to buy a present for a young child. A great book which has been read many times in our house and will be read many more.

Thank you for reading this and enjoy trying new things! Di xx

Summary: A great read for young children and early readers