More Possibilities

The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss. I didn't get alot of Dr. Seuss growing up. We had Hop on Pop, but I think that was it. So this one is new to me. This book has a very powerful message. It's much more politically-charged than any other Seuss I've seen, but it carries itself well: the illustrations are very powerful. The silliness of the Seussical rhymes make the seriousness of the topic less scary and more approachable for a younger audience. I do think it's a little long and a little message-y for my purposes, but it's certainly a good book. Horton Hears a Who!, by Dr. Seuss. I think kids will like the "a person's a person, no matter how small" line, of course, but I'm not so sure about the rest of it. Is it just a story? Is it saying something about, what, imaginary friends? Kids? Marginalized groups? I don't know. Here Comes Tricky Rabbit!: Native American Trickster Tales, retold and illustrated by Gretchen Will Mayo. Many readers will recognize Tricky Rabbit as Br'er Rabbit; most of the stories are quite similar to ones featuring other North American Tricksters of any era. The little illustrations are kind of cartoony; I would have liked something a little less silly. The retellings are alright, and the information after each story and at the end is nice. The flow of the stories is thrown off by some more modern interjections (show excitement! or emotion!), like "right on," which spoiled the feel a little. The Oxford Treasury of World Stories, by Michael Harrison and Christopher Stuart-Clark. I didn't read every story, but read about half of the them and skimmed the others. These stories are good, but not what I am looking for. They are largely about adults or older children and teens, and I like to use stories that have a character close in age to my audience.