But the truth is, I never cared for Dr. Seuss even back in the days when it was considered absolutely necessary to adore him.
Yup, once upon a time, earnest, so-called tolerant, so-called loving, "we are righteous/we know how others are supposed to feel and think" people were aghast if one didn't care for Dr. Seuss.
(I've spent most of my life staying out of the way of people who want to call me names.)
Liking him because of other's people insistence was token virtue then. Disliking him because of other people's shock is token virtue now. And removing stuff from the world because it might "corrupt" supposedly fragile minds--to keep messy and impure possibilities from tainting our Victorian-like, supposedly pure selves--is always a form of censorship, whether done by a traumatized religious group or a traumatized bunch of activists.
I still prefer stories that don't remind me of my weirder, more unlikable dreams--the same reason, yes, I prefer the movie The Wizard of Oz to the nightmarish book! So I'm not reviewing Dr. Seuss.
I'm not going to review Maurice Sendak either--although he is astonishing, and I have a far higher opinion of Sendak's art than of Seuss's art.
But children's books are about love, and I love Peter Spier!
Peter Spier's books are delightful. They are beautifully illustrated with evocative images that transport one back in time, much like Robert Louis Stevenson's poems, including "Bed in Summer."
The marvelous aspect of Spier's Rain, for instance, is that it rejoices in equal measure in any type of day--in exploring the world of showers and puddles and in going inside to dry off.
Years ago, I visited Kew Gardens by myself. It was a rainy day, and I started out trying to stay dry. At some point, I gave up. The rain was warm, and I splashed gleefully through the downpour, parading through puddles with abandon. I was soaking wet, but oddly enough, the ride back to my dorm-apartment in the tube was not a negative experience. Because part of the fun of rain is getting dry and remembering the day.
Spier brought it all back.
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| Blocks! Another memory from my youth. |
2 comments:
I was never a big fan of Dr. Seuss either; I found him too wordy, too long and, I struggle with the right word, pretentious/tedious. That said, at times he was brilliant.
Funny thing is that years ago, I was thinking that there were some Seuss books I really liked. And then realized they were by P.D. Eastman.
Of Dr. Seuss books, I always liked The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. (I have no idea is that is one of the inappropriate ones; I didn't bother to read the list.)
The Cat in the Hat books never appealed. There's a hint in them of something that is rather like The Three Stooges, which I find unappealing. Some of the other books in the Dr. Seuss library always seemed a tad too lecture-y.
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is also a little lecture-y, but there's a wry note there too, a kind of Monty-Pythonish wink-wink, that keeps it from being too ponderous. It's lighthearted, which is refreshing.
It probably helps that the classic television version's narrator is Boris Karloff!
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