Dr Seuss’s ABC
Written and illustrated by Dr Seuss
Reviewed by Mia Macrossan
Theodor Seuss Geisel – better known to millions of his fans as Dr. Seuss wrote more than 40 children’s books during a career that spanned over 50 years, including The Cat in the Hat, published in 1957, the first of a hugely successful range of early learning books known as Beginner Books.
Here now is Dr Seuss’s ABC republished in a 60th anniversary edition. This wonderfully silly ABC engages on many levels, sight, sound, imagination, memory and more. The sounds and words have a zany energy – try saying Ten tired turtles on a tuttle tuttle tree, or Silly Sammy Slick sipped six sodas and got sick sick sick.
Each page is illustrated in the trademark Dr Seuss style, with simple black outlines and flat basic colours. Each page is different in design but similar in its use of white space and placement of letters, with prominence given to the big (capital) and little (lower case) letters.
Full of rhymes, bizarre creatures and some hilarious situations this is pure early childhood magic that should be in every early childhood collection.
Harper Collins GB 2023
