The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (Classic Seuss) - Hardcover

Dr. Seuss

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375864350 ISBN 13: 9780375864353

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2011

Synopsis

It's the literary equivalent of buried treasure! Seuss scholar/collector Charles D. Cohen has hunted down seven rarely seen stories by Dr. Seuss. Originally published in magazines between 1948 and 1959, they include "The Bear, the Rabbit, and the Zinniga-Zanniga " (about a rabbit who is saved from a bear with a single eyelash!); "Gustav the Goldfish" (an early, rhymed version of the Beginner Book A Fish Out of Water);  "Tadd and Todd" (a tale passed down via photocopy to generations of twins); "Steak for Supper" (about fantastic creatures who follow a boy home in anticipation of a steak dinner); "The Bippolo Seed" (in which a scheming feline leads an innocent duck to make a bad decision); "The Strange Shirt Spot" (the inspiration for the bathtub-ring scene in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back); and "The Great Henry McBride" (about a boy whose far-flung career fantasies are only bested by those of the real Dr. Seuss himself).

In an introduction to the collection, Cohen traces the history of these stories, which demonstrate an intentional and significant change that led to the writing style we associate with Dr. Seuss today.  Cohen also explores these stories' themes that recur in better-known Seuss stories (like the importance of the imagination, or the perils of greed).  With a color palette that has been enhanced beyond the limitations of the original magazines in which they appeared, this is a collection of stories that no Seuss fan (whether scholar or second-grader) will want to miss!

About this title

About the Author:

Dr. Seuss is quite simply the most beloved children's book author of all time.

Charles D. Cohen is a graduate of Haverford College and the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and has been a practicing dentist for over 20 years. Dr. Cohen first became enchanted with the works of Dr. Seuss as a child and he began purchasing early editions of Seuss books in college. Today, Dr. Cohen's trove of Seussiana is likely the most comprehensive private collection in the world. It is his hope to create a museum to preserve the full Seuss legacy by protecting the pieces for posterity and sharing them with the public to enjoy. He is the author of the The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothing But the Seuss, as well as 50th anniversary retrospective editions of How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories.

Review:

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, 08/22/2011:
* "This volume collects seven joyous Seuss stories that...had never appeared in book form.  The stories' rhymed couplets are pitch-perfect, the verse's rhythm as snappy as in any of Seuss's better-known works...  Fans old and young will deem these "lost" stories a tremendous find."

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, 09/01/2011:
* "Look for millions of Seuss fans with bright shiny faces!  The buffed-up illustrations look brand new, and...the writing is as fresh, silly and exhilarating as it must have been when first seen. The good Doctor may be dead these 20 years, but he's still good for splendid surprises."

Los Angeles Times, 9/21/2011, Nick Owchar
"...perfect combinations of pictures and stories that will appeal to young readers as well as their parents..."

New York Times Sunday Book Review, 9/16/2011, Pamela Paul
"...features the kinds of nonsense that blend right in with the Stinky Cheese Man and SpongeBob SquarePants."

Kiwi magazine, 9/18/2011
"There is simply never enough Dr. Seuss... .the master himself...lives on through his wonderful words of wisdom, delivered in delicious rhymes and creative characters."

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0375864350
• ISBN 13: 9780375864353
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 72