Reviewed by J.N.E.
Being the long time Dr. Seuss fan that I am, I was in great
anticipation of reading the ``lost work'' of Mr. Geisel. When I did
finally get the book in hand I dove into it as quickly as I could, not
knowing what to expect from the title, but that is usual for a Seuss
book. Having completed the book, I knew immediately that it never should
have been published. At least not this way. Not as a childrens book. Not
being called the ``lost work'' as I had seen.
You see Ted Geisel was a perfectionist, and many times in his
life he would start a project and get a rough draft done, and then
(knowing that it was not finished) put it away for later work. Kind of
like stepping back and letting the dust settle, then seeing whats there,
and what needs to be done. I feel that is where this book was. Not
finished. There are too many awkward lines, and Mr. Geisel would quite
literally spend hours, struggling over just one line, much less let a book
full of the get published.
Yes the idea of the story is very Seussian, and flows just like
many of his books, but you can feel that it is not the same as the rest.
What I feel they should have done with this lost manuscript is
compiled it with all the other unfinished works, and poems, and misc.
tidbits, into one larger book, and published all of it that way. It would
have been like a gift to all of us loyal fans, and would be telling us,
that Mr. Geisel was not finished with these, but here is what he had
worked on.
Instead I feel some corporate stiff, saw a method to make a buck,
finished the script, how they wanted it done, added art work, and slapped
the name ``Dr. Seuss'' on it. I just hope this is the last book done this
way.
Back to
Cyber-Seuss
Back to Lister's page