I was delighted to read in Sharon Astyk’s Casaubon’s Book that last Tuesday was the 105th birthday of Dr. Seuss.
Like thousands of others, my upbringing was influenced and enriched by the famous Cat in the Hat books- which Astyk’s piece provides some interesting insights into that I had not previously considered.
In more recent years I came across The Lorax 
a classic hymn of environmentalism and anti-capitalism that is as poignant and powerful now as when it was written in 1971. It is a prophetic as well as cautionary tale of the “Once-lers” who turn the natural paradise of truffula trees into profit with o care for the Brown Bar-ba-loots, the Swomee-swans or the hapless Humming-fish who lose their once pristine habitat to the pollution of gluppity-glupp.
The Once-lers’ are seemingly unable resist the growth imprative, despite the protsts of the mysterious Lorax who speaks for the trees:
“And then I got mad.
I got terribly mad.
I yelled at the Lorax, ‘Now Listen here Dad!
All you do is yap-yap and say Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!
Well I have my rights, sir, and I’m telling you
I intend to go on doing just what I do!
And for your information you Lorax, I’m figgering
on biggering
and Biggering
and BIGGERING
AND BIGGERING !“
I was more delighted that Sharon’s own favourite Dr. Seuss book is the moral tale “I had trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew”, a wry comment on the fraility of human psychologyand our seemingly inexhaustable ability to be deluded by false promises, dreams of riches and generally implausble solutions offered to our problems.
“There I was,
All completely surrounded by trouble,
When a chap rumbled up in a One-Wheeler Wubble.
‘Young fellow,’ he said, ‘what has happened to you
Has happened to me and to other folks too.
So I’ll tell you what I have decided to do…
I’m off to the City of Solla Sollew
On the banks of the beautiful River Wah-Hoo,
Where they never have troubles!
At least, very few…”
Solla Sollew could be anything from the beads-and-mirrors lure of pyramid schemes or housing bubbles to the simplistic solutions to health problems offered by homeopaths, the promise of everlasting life in heaven offered by some religions, or the truly insane delusions marketed so successfully by such scams as The Secret.
Dr. Seuss offers essential guidance to counter all these falsehoods and should still be essential reading for chldren of all ages.
Our two-year old loves the Lorax, it is a lovely story on different levels for him and me. I particularly liked the way the Once-ler had to go on biggering like he had no choice. He thinks the Lorax is grumpy… The US forestry industry did a repost called The Truax http://www.nofma.org/Portals/0/Publications/TRUAX.pdf.
If you want to ruin The Lorax for ever you can watch the video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6650219631867189375