The Lorax (Classic Seuss) - Hardcover

Dr. Seuss

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394823370 ISBN 13: 9780394823379

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers, 1971

Celebrate nature with Dr. Seuss and the Lorax in this classic picture book about protecting the environment!
 
I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.
 
Dr. Seuss’s beloved story teaches kids to speak up and stand up for those who can’t. With a recycling-friendly “Go Green” message, The Lorax allows young readers to experience the beauty of the Truffula Trees and the danger of taking our earth for granted, all in a story that is timely, playful, and hopeful. The book’s final pages teach us that just one small seed, or one small child, can make a difference. 
 
Printed on recycled paper, this book is the perfect gift for Earth Day and for any child—or child at heart—who is interested in recycling, advocacy, and the environment, or just loves nature and playing outside.
 
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
 
“Pretty much all the stuff you need to know is in Dr. Seuss.” –President Barack Obama

Review:

When Dr. Seuss gets serious, you know it must be important. Published in 1971, and perhaps inspired by the "save our planet" mindset of the 1960s, The Lorax is an ecological warning that still rings true today amidst the dangers of clear-cutting, pollution, and disregard for the earth's environment. In The Lorax, we find what we've come to expect from the illustrious doctor: brilliantly whimsical rhymes, delightfully original creatures, and weirdly undulating illustrations. But here there is also something more--a powerful message that Seuss implores both adults and children to heed.

The now remorseful Once-ler--our faceless, bodiless narrator--tells the story himself. Long ago this enterprising villain chances upon a place filled with wondrous Truffula Trees, Swomee-Swans, Brown Bar-ba- loots, and Humming-Fishes. Bewitched by the beauty of the Truffula Tree tufts, he greedily chops them down to produce and mass-market Thneeds. ("It's a shirt. It's a sock. It's a glove. It's a hat.") As the trees swiftly disappear and the denizens leave for greener pastures, the fuzzy yellow Lorax (who speaks for the trees "for the trees have no tongues") repeatedly warns the Once-ler, but his words of wisdom are for naught. Finally the Lorax extricates himself from the scorched earth (by the seat of his own furry pants), leaving only a rock engraved "UNLESS." Thus, with his own colorful version of a compelling morality play, Dr. Seuss teaches readers not to fool with Mother Nature. But as you might expect from Seuss, all hope is not lost--the Once-ler has saved a single Truffula Tree seed! Our fate now rests in the hands of a caring child, who becomes our last chance for a clean, green future. (Ages 4 to 8)

From the Inside Flap:

""UNLESS someone like you...cares a whole awful lot...nothing is going to get better...It's not."
Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss, speaking through his character the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth's natural beauty.
"The big, colorful pictures and the fun images, word plays and rhymes make this an amusing exposition of the ecology crisis."--"School Library Journal. Illus. in full color.

• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1971
• ISBN 10: 0394823370
• ISBN 13: 9780394823379
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 72