Eat Your Greens (Green Eggs and Ham - Dr Seuss)

Name: belfin

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Product:	Green Eggs and Ham - Dr Seuss
Date:	08.05.08 (154 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Rhyming book that helps children learn to read

Disadvantages: None

***Background***

Dr Seuss is well known because of his many books and of course The Cat In The Hat has had a revival thanks to the film of the same name. His clever nonsensical rhymes have delighted children for many years and this one was first published way back in 1962.

***The Book***

The book starts with a funny looking character standing on the rear end of a creature that looks a little bit like a dog.

"I am Sam
Sam I am."

A grumpy old character sitting in a chair complains.

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

The question that Sam asks him next is quite simply,

"Do you like green eggs and ham?"

The rhyming script then continues with the old character saying he doesn't like them and Sam spends his time asking him lots of different questions to see if there is any way that he can get him to eat them.

The problem is that the old character hasn't actually tried them before and Sam keeps on and on at him until he finally agrees to try them so he can be left alone. The story ends with a delighted Sam because it turns out that the old character loves green eggs and ham and is so pleased to have tried them.

***The Illustrations***

The pictures in this book are extremely funny throughout as we are shown all the different ways that green eggs and ham might be enjoyed. Despite this being in a classic style book the pictures and bright and bold and the writing is kept on a white background in quite large print so it is easy for a child to read.

***My Thoughts***

My son is pretty familiar with the Dr Seuss classic collection because we have quite a few of the books at home including the famous Cat In The Hat and Hop On Pop but this one seems to have managed to escape our shelves. It wasn't surprising therefore when my son grabbed it from the shelf in the local library and brought it over to me, as he already loves the strange and funny rhymes in the Dr Seuss books.

The style of rhyming in the book is just pure genius and I don't think there has been anything quite like this since it was written all those years ago. The thought of eating green eggs and ham is not exactly appealing to anyone and in fairness I would probably be quite worried about all sorts of food poisoning if that was served up to me, but the point of this silly book is to show children that they might actually like something if they just give it a try and stop being so stubborn.

Books like these were well ahead of their time when it comes to things like phonics in schools but they are so useful when a child is learning to read because it shows the different ways letters can be sounded out. The repetition throughout the book is also a good test of memory when reading with your child and it's great fun to see if they can remember what comes next in the list of places that Sam has suggested eating the dreaded food.

The pictures are simple with lots of bright colours and funny creatures. The predominantly white background makes them jump out at you and this also emphasises the clear black text.

I remember reading this book at school and loving it and it was a joy to be able to read it again with my son after all those years. I think I can honestly say that this will be one of those books that goes on to delight children for many years to come.

***Price & Availability***

The paperback version retails for £4.99 but can be found on Amazon for only £3.49. It also comes in hardback form complete with a CD featuring the voice of Adrian Edmondson from The Young Ones for £9.99 from WH Smith.

ISBN No. 0007158467

Summary: Getting your child to try something new can be a struggle.