Book Review: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Classic Seuss writing and pictures make for a fun read

Cons: Repetitive (but that's part of the fun)

The Bottom Line:

So enjoyable

Can read again and again

It's Seuss at his best

I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham, but I Love This Book, Sam-I-Am

I got to spend this last Easter weekend with my almost three-year-old niece.  One night, the bargain was that she got to pick out a book to be read to her, and then Uncle Mark got to pick out a book to be read to her.  I quickly settled on Green Eggs and Ham, a book I haven’t read in years.  It was just as much fun now as it was the last time I read it.

This Dr. Seuss picture book finds our unnamed protagonist in a battle of wills with Sam-I-Am.  Sam wants him to try green eggs and ham, and the other character keeps refusing.  Sam keeps inviting him to try them in new places or with new things (like in a box with a fox).  The offer is always declined with a comprehensive list of everything that has come before.  Finally, Sam makes one last plea.  Will it work?

This book came about because of a bet Dr. Seuss had with his publisher to create a book with a plot using only 50 different words.  That’s one reason for the repeated lists.  Now if you think that it would be boring, think again.  Dr. Seuss chose his words carefully, and he makes it fun to read through them with the proper rhythm and rhyme.  Plus, the growing frustration of the main character also makes it fun because you can read with expression.

The words he chose are also easy enough that beginning readers should have no trouble reading this book on their own.  Of course, they might have it memorized, which would make it more reciting than reading.

The illustrations are also standard Dr. Seuss, which means they are more cartoony than real.  He has a style all his own, and there is no way you’ll ever mistake it for anything else.  Your kid won’t learn what a fox really looks like, and the main characters are creatures you’ve never seen before, but that’s okay because they are so much fun to look at and really help tell the story.

And we can’t leave out the obvious message of the book – try it, you’ll like it.  Yes, when he finally tries green eggs and ham, he discovers he likes them very much.  It’s important to learn to try something before you write it off.

And I can say that from experience.  One year, the college where I worked was doing a Dr. Seuss theme for a weekend for some reason that escapes me now.  I was there for Saturday brunch, and the café served green eggs and ham.  Okay, the ham was regular ham, but the eggs were definitely green.  And it wasn’t just food coloring.  To this day, I’m still not sure what was in them; I just know I don’t like green eggs.

I can’t read this book without thinking of that story, and it came up again this weekend.  But even that doesn’t affect my love of this book.  Green Eggs and Ham deserves its place in any list of picture book classics and any serious picture book collection.