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What are readers saying about Horton Hears A Who!?
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Kim posted a review at 2010-12-08 05:36:44.
(Language: English)
 
who doesn't love Dr Seuss
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-09-07 11:24:30.
(Language: English)
It's not about abortion; it's about persecution. That's it, and that's all.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-05-15 09:02:53.
(Language: English)
The best for all ages! A major favorite of mine.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-11 10:09:21.
(Language: English)
"A person's a person, no matter how small." It's amazing how some of the most profound wisdom can be found in children's books. Thank you Dr. Seuss!
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Laura posted a review at 2010-10-30 03:41:52.
(Language: English)
very funny
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-22 05:31:03.
(Language: English)
An elephant's faithful 100%; well Horton so am I, too this book.
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Lief posted a review at 2010-07-21 08:35:03.
(Language: English)
Another one of my kids favorites.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-06-03 10:57:59.
(Language: English)
Just to my liking :)
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-29 05:34:12.
(Language: English)
Probably the first book I read. My copy belonged to my Grandmother. Wonderful story about many things, including the assumptions we make about those we don't understand.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-10 05:12:25.
(Language: English)
"May this be a lesson, for one and for all: a person is a person, no matter how small"
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-06 04:55:23.
(Language: English)
Abortion: A Kindergarten Debate By Leslie B. Anne Ever since I was a young womyn I have been inundated by the patriarchal propaganda machine that has kept womynkind down in every aspect of life. Everywhere I looked as a child there were adds in magazines featuring womyn pushing vacuum cleaners, or movies where I was bound to see a womyn serving as a secretary to some overweight middle-age beast of a pervert, or a television show which might portray an under-appreciated mother pulling warm cookies out of the over for some spoiled young patriarchs in training. And when this oppressive misinformation wasn’t telling we womyn what roles were acceptable to us in society, it was telling us how we aught to look by selling hypersexual dolls like Barbie and pushing upon us advertisements that demanded anorexic figures in order to satisfy the lust charged men who wouldn’t buy so much as a razor blade without first seeing that it had been endorsed by a large-chested, half-naked womyn in a low cut top and miniskirt. While this all has infuriated me to no end, there is one thing I cannot tolerate above all others, and that is when some fat, right-winged, Republican sloth has the nerve to tell me what I can and cannot do with my body. I am insulted when I hear these arrogant and all-assuming sons-of -Adam debate with each other over what is to be done with my body. And as if it were not enough for such contests to be discussed in the senate and house of commons, these bigoted, chauvinistic dogs have even gone so far as to push their corrupt ideology onto our young. Yes, these aforementioned skirt-chasing pigs have gone so far as to disguise their pro-life propaganda in the pages of a children’s book, a book that has been left like a deadly germ in the kindergarten rooms across the country so that its ideology could be planted within our fertile and impressionable minds at a young age, to take root that it might fester and grow in us like some demobilizing virus as it is watered by the fascist hegemony that plagues and poisons our state, all in hopes that we might grow into obedient dolls who question not the male domination that has kept we womyn from reaching our full potential. While you may find it hard to believe that such a mature and controversial topic like abortion is reaching the eyes of our youth at such a sensitive age, I will prove to you, should you open your minds and push aside your naive liberal dream world which our fascist regime has cloaked themselves in, that none other than the beloved Dr. Seuss- also know to some as Theodore Geisel- has attempted to brainwash our children with his pro-life ideology in his explicit ode to the foetus: Horton Hears a Who, a vile and depraved book which should promptly be taken off the shelves of our grade schools, a stance I am sure you reasonable readers will wholly endorse once have heard my argument through. From onset of this book Geisel asserts an organization and a date of utmost importance to the womyn’s movement. Geisel’s story begins on May 15th and it was on this very day in 1869 that Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cody Stanton formed the National Woman’s (sic) Suffrage Association (NWSA) (Wikipedia), an organization responsible for promoting the rights of womyn. Clearly Geisel is paralleling the womyn’s movement- a movement that demanded womyn be recognized as people and be given the same political empowerment as their male oppressors- with the anti-abortion movement which claims to fight for the right of foetus. This parallel suggests- inaccurately- an air of hypocrisy among the womyn’s movement as most womyn in this movement are pro-choice and hence- in Geisel’s view at least- these womyn are being somewhat duplicitous in that they promote their own rights at the expense of the rights of a foetus. Quite honestly I just don’t think this parallel works, but I supposed that is the root of the argument that separates those who are pro-choice from those who are anti-abortion. Whether the analogy is accurate though is a debate for another time, what is clear is that Geisel is linking the two political movements together, a point that can be further scene when Geisel names the jungle- which protagonist lives in- Nool. Clearly Geisel is further tying the old movement in with the new, the old being the NWSA and the new being NOOL (the National Organization of Lesbians). Later in the book we will see those who comprise Nool’s population take a position of opposition with Geisel’s hero and would therefore be on the side of both the womyn’s movement, as well as the pro-choice movement, both movements NOOL fully endorses. It is clear Geisel is intentionally calling upon this date and this organization with a reason, a reason that will unfold as the story does. Before I move on however, I feel it important to note that the formation of the NWSA is not the only important thing that happened on May 15th, and there are several other occurrences which Geisel could be invoking. Ellen Church, for example, became the first stewardess to fly aboard a plane in 1930 (Wikipedia). While this may seem outwardly unimportant, both Church’s last name and her occupation can be tied in with the anti-abortion argument. Her name is obvious, since the Christian church (regardless of denomination) has long been the organization, or as I like to say cult, that has funded and fuelled the anti-abortion movement. Church’s occupation is also of importance here as it is one of the occupations that has been deemed by our tyrannical patriarchs to be acceptable for womyn, making Ellen Church the ideal puppet for this movement that aims at taking away the rights of womyn. Los Vegas, deemed the city of sin, was also founded on this date in 1905 (Wikipedia), and here Geisel aligns the birth of the womyn’s movement with the birth of “Sin Cityâ€, not a flattering comparison to say the least. Even less flattering are the parallels Geisel establishes with Karlis Ulmanis, who established an authoritarian government in Lativa in 1934 (Wikipedia), and Nazi’s, who invaded one of two of the most liberal countries in the world (Amsterdam and France). Both of these parallels make the implication that the womyn’s movement, like Ulmanis and the Nazi’s, aim to take away rights of the free, not attain them for the oppressed. Perhaps the parallel that is most dramatic (and personal to Geisel since he is of the Jewish faith) is the one Geisel makes between the foetus and Israel. Sadly, it was on May 15, 1948, that: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Transjordan and Lebanon, all attacked Israel (Wikipedia). As current history makes obvious, this unfortunate event has ramification that still shakes the world with the utmost intensity this very day. It seems clear that Geisel sees Israel as the foetus in this parallel and the womyn’s movement as the transgressors. While this is obviously a most powerful and intense comparison, I respectfully take great offence to it and disagree with Geisel’s assessment. I supposed one could try and dig up even more dates which could relate to May 15th, and I am sure there are as Geisel was an intelligent man who no doubt took great care in choosing this particular date, but I believe I have illustrated enough here to make my case and therefore shall move on to the rest of my argument. It is not long into this book that Geisel establishes his topic of choice. It is on May 15th, in the Jungle of Nool that Geisel’s protagonist, Horton, heard a small noise that sounded “As if some tiny person were calling for helpâ€, a voice that Geisel writes was coming from a “small speck of dustâ€. Since this speck of dust is the only thing that Horton can see, he assumes that there is “a creature of very small size,†that is too small to be seen by the eye. Clearly Geisel is making reference here to a human foetus. Horton vocally theorizes that on this small speck of dust is “some poor little person who’s shaking with fear†and that it is Horton’s responsibility to save him because, according to Horton/Geisel, “a person’s a person no matter how small.†While the references at first could be shrugged off as merely coincidence, it is here that Geisel proudly pulls up the curtain to reveal his true intent before the audience. To help protect and save this ‘person,’ Geisel calls upon both Christianity/Judaism and a hyper-paternal animal. Geisel is careful to choose an elephant as his protagonist, though in many other books, such as Green Eggs and Ham, he is content creating characters that combine the features of several types of animals whose exact species is never determined. Here Geisel choice is of paramount importance as the female elephant is perhaps the most caring of all mothers in the animal kingdom and remains in a tight-knit family community for her entire life (without the need of her male counterparts) while spending much time raising their calves. As well, and perhaps most obvious, the elephant has also been used as a symbol of America’s Republican party who promotes the anti-abortion movement. To save this small tiny person, Horton delivers the small speck of dust on which it rests to “a very soft cloverâ€, summoning the image of one St. Patrick, the Scottish Catholic who helped bring Catholicism to Ireland by explaining the holy trinity through a three-leafed clover. This clover became a symbol of Christianity, a symbol Geisel is summoning here as an ally in his mission to save the foetus. In only the first few pages Geisel makes it clear both what his argument is, and who it is that is on his side. Throughout the rest of the book Geisel introduces Horton’s opposition. The first enemy to Geisel’s protagonist is a kangaroo and her youngling (or joey). This choice of animals creates an interesting contrast between itself and the speck. Where the speck is representative of a embryo at the very early stages of life, the joey which the Kangaroo carries in her pouch is already able to leave the womb and therefore is considered a person by those who oppose Geisel’s view, while a humyn foetus at the same stage would still be in the womb and consequently a potential target for abortion. Horton’s next rival is a trio of monkeys known as the Wickersham Brothers, who will be ultimately joined by a number of other family members. The monkey is the most humyn of all the creatures portrayed in this particular book and, unlike the elephant, are not inclined to have a long relationship with their young. The more obvious connection in relation to the abortion debate is their name: Wickersham. Wickersham was the name of the hospital which performed the first ever saline abortion in American history, making its relevance in this piece of extremely obvious. It is also the name of a commission (headed by George Wickersham) that supported the abolition movement and recommended that the state increase pressure on the public through law enforcement, rather than repealing the law (Wikipedia), perhaps aligning those who are in favour of abortion and (according to the view held by those in the ant-abortion movement) seek to obstruct the rights of unborn children, with those who sought to impede on the rights of American citizens, a parallel that doesn’t hold up since those involved in the pro-choice movement fight to expand the rights of womyn. The third adversary to Geisel’s Horton is a black-bottomed eagle named Vlad Vlad-i-koff. The name Vlad-i-koff seems to conjure up images of a Russian name, a suggestion that is supported by the fact that Russians had used an fighter plane given to them by the English (the Do-217E) that was known as the ‘Black-Bottom Eagle’ (modelingmadness.com), perhaps insinuating that this pro-choice eagle is attempting to take away the rights of people much as communist Russia had after the WWII. The eagle though is also a symbol for the United States, Geisel’s own country which had legalized abortion and perhaps could be influenced by the Republican party which, as stated earlier, was represented by the elephant Horton. Each of these characters are clearly tied into the abortion debate when understood in the context of Geisel’s book. After introducing the opposition to the reader, Geisel goes onto vilify them by detailing the methods which they intend to use to turn their ideology to actuality. The animals of the jungle team up on Horton with the goal to boil the speck of dust in beezle-nut oil, a thinly veiled reference to some of the oils and teas various cultures have utilized to induce abortion through natural, organic means. In an attempt to catch Horton and in turn the speck of dust in order to enact their plan, the characters Geisel created resort to violence and beat and maul Horton while trying to get him into a cage. During the altercation Horton fights back, telling the Whos of Whoville that they “will not have to dieâ€, suggesting a murder is about to take place. This is a ridiculous portrayal that is more befitting the anti-abortionists who have gone out and killed doctors who perform abortions. Never has a pro-choice advocate gone out and tried to force somebody into getting an abortion. Regardless of how asinine this scenario is, it remains clear that Geisel is trying to demonize the pro-choice activists. While the opposition’s view is simplified by Geisel through the Kangaroo who states quite plainly that no person could possibly live on a speck of dust, the anti-abortion debate is laid out for the reader without contention through Horton. First Geisel lays out a Christianized concept that stems from the creation story where two parents fathered an entire race. While Horton only suspected that one person populated the speck of dust initially, he explains to the kangaroo that there could be two people, or even an entire family and Horton ultimately goes onto discover that an entire city has colonized the speck of dust and the mayor is sure to point out that they have churches as well, invoking again the religious element of the abortion debate. Geisel also holds out the Christian/Republican tag that states people need to stand up for those who don’t have a voice when the mayor of Whoville begs Horton to stand by them until they are ready to handle themselves. Such pleading was not required by the mayor of Whoville however, since Horton had already adoption the American military model by stating that he has “to protect the [because he’s] bigger than the.†Horton hear sounds like a Republican president who’s sending out an army of innocents to tear up a country whose people need defending from a ‘corrupt’ government. The tag: “A person’s a person not matter how smallâ€, continues to be reinforced through repetition and finally in action when the smallest of all Whos yelps along with his brethren and his little voice adds the volume needed for Horton’s challengers to both hear, and be convinced of Horton’s ideology. A touching story that hold no real parallel in reality as the foetus never able to actually talk. I seek not to move anybody to my side of this debate, though I admittedly make no effort to hide my opinion. My aim instead is to appeal to people on both sides of this argument. I think we can all agree that regardless of our views on this sensitive subject, this is a topic that is far to delicate to be addressed in kindergarten classrooms and should, if ever brought up in school, be reserved for students who are of more mature years. Geisel has clearly taken advantage of his station in life and used his influence on children to promote an ideology that has no place being discussed among five year olds. Horton Hears a Who should be immediately take off of the shelves of every grade school library and the rest of Geisel’s propaganda should be thoroughly investigated to be sure that any other inappropriate subject matter be saved from our children’s eyes sensitive and naïve eyes.
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Sandeep posted a review at 2009-03-28 12:41:05.
(Language: English)
It is for children four-years-old and older.Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears A Who is more than a children's picture book. It a philosophical work of art. Dr. Seuss covers many issues. First, a person must be responsible and keep one’s promise. Secondly, no matter how small one is in this big world, she is important. Thirdly, there comes a time one must do something to help oneself. And last of all, every citizen in a community is important for the town’s well-being
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Elizabeth posted a review at 2011-11-09 07:02:25.
(Language: English)
fun stuff
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Julie Ward posted a review at 2010-08-01 10:05:41.
(Language: English)
A person's a person no matter how small.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-17 03:15:01.
(Language: English)
This book got me thinking about microcosm and macrocosm from a very young age. Extraordinary. :D
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-12-15 06:44:44.
(Language: English)
This is a great book. They made it into a movie. Really good.
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eva posted a review at 2011-05-07 03:55:53.
(Language: English)
Cute children's story that makes you feel everyone is important no matter what size and you can help people in the smallest or biggest ways just by listening
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Chris posted a review at 2009-10-02 10:13:55.
(Language: English)
MY favorite....behind Mr Brown Can Moo.... Love it and Love the message....
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Keshawn posted a review at 2010-07-08 09:08:16.
(Language: English)
A great read with young children. Horton never gives up.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-24 06:27:23.
(Language: English)
good book
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-11 07:38:17.
(Language: English)
LOVE THIS BOOK!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-21 11:18:45.
(Language: English)
Companion book to HORTON HATCHES THE EGG. Reinforces the message that every person, no matter how small, can contribute to a cause greater than himself to make everyone's collective voices be heard.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-06 11:47:54.
(Language: English)
I always feel touchy every time I read this book. Never was a book (a nursery rhyme picture book, for heaven sake!) which ever made me laughing and crying in the same time like this one. It's inspiring and delightful and of course enhancing your English vocabularies, so I call it 'all weather, handy, modern bible'. My fave quote: "After all, a person's a person no matter how small."
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khristy posted a review at 2010-10-29 01:23:33.
(Language: English)
just love this book and so do my Kids
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-31 09:42:41.
(Language: English)
As a child, I saw the television version of Horton Hears a Who. As an adult, I've read the original book to my son probably 20 or 30 times. Reading Dr. Seuss is like reading James Joyce. You tend to pick up things on re-reading that don't occur to you the first time around. For years, of course, I thought that Horton Hears a Who was a rather benign morality tale ("a person's a person, no matter how small") proving that with enough strength of character and belief in yourself, you can save a world. It was only recently, on perhaps the 10th reading to my son, that my mind wandered a bit, and I began to see the story beneath the story (I guess they call that "subtext"). The Text First, for those of you who have never read Horton Hears a Who, a simple plot summary (which will not spoil the story at all, as it is the combination of the rhymes, the pictures, and the look on your child's face as you read that make it such a wonderful story). Horton, an elephant, is splashing about in a pond happily until he hears a cry for help coming from a dust speck. Not knowing why, really, he saves the dust speck before it falls into the pond. He is immediately ridiculed by other people for doing so, for saving such a small and obviously insignificant dust speck. Horton ignores these people and carries the dust speck to safety, where he learns that on the dust speck is a whole other world, very very small, populated by Whos, who have developed to the point of having rather complex city-states, advanced cultural facilities, and nifty furnished flats (They are remarkably self-sufficient by necessity) His fellow jungle dwellers, angered at his insistence on believing in life on a speck of dust (now nestling safely on a clover), steal it from him and send it far far away to be dropped in an enormous field of clover. Horton fights the odds and finds the Who culture again. Enraged, his fellow jungle dwellers prepare to cage Horton and boil the dust speck ("Boil that dust speck! Boil that dust speck!" is a line I've used at meetings occasionally, resulting in generally blank looks). The Whos, mustering all their Who voices, finally make themselves heard to the kangaroo. The creatures of the jungle learn the error of their ways, and pledge to protect the Who village from then on. It's a charming and exciting tale, illustrated in the choicest technicolour style of Dr. Seuss. It's a relatively quick read, and Nicholas really likes it when I read it to him, although I have to ad-lib my way through a few pages that he's ripped out over the last two years. The rhymes are simple, and if you like (as I occasionally do) you can read them as if you're a rapper, complete with sound effects. So bravo, Dr. Seuss. The Subtext 'round about the tenth read, as I mentioned, your mind begins to wander, and you wonder what the story is really about. Constructing allegories for works you didn't create is dangerous business, and typically, the analysis says less about the work itself than the analyst. However, the following works for me. Does Horton not remind you of every radical scientist who had a different way of looking at the world? Horton, radical scientist, is happily splashing in the pools of academia, when an idea occurs to him. It's an idea so out-there, so wild, that only he can hear it (perhaps his large ears have something to do with it as well). Before he can even articulate the idea, one of his co-workers catches him in the act of thinking out loud about it, and scoffs at it, trying to splash water on the very idea of it. Perhaps in the past, this co-worker (the kangaroo) has been passed over for tenure, while Horton, swimming along, has gathered up various grants, and funding for his experiments. Or it could be just common academic jealousy towards those who get ideas, by those who don't. In any case, once Horton has a minute or two to himself, the idea (the Whos) speaks louder. Horton's own logic begins to assert itself. If there's one voice (idea) perhaps there's two, or three, or a whole family of ideas out there that are unexplored. With a quiet walk through the forest, the ideas begin speaking to him, telling him of their structure, their intense level of development. Horton is amazed, and immediately sees that these ideas, this whole new area of thought must be protected from harm. Before he can publish his findings, however, the Hickersham brothers and cousins steal his notes and send him on a wild-goose chase. They out-run him and tie his idea to the tail of a black-bottomed bird, (not sure what this is supposed to represent, although perhaps it is Horton's academic advisory committee) who drops his idea into a field of ideas that look exactly like his. Perhaps this is academia's way of telling Horton that he's not original, that this has all been thought before, that he's nothing special, and for God's sake, buckle down and get your degree already. Horton does not agree, and spends decades (or at least until dinner time) proving that his idea is not like all those others (perhaps akin to searching all the relevant literature to ensure that nobody has published before him), and emerges triumphant, holding his idea, intact, although a little battered. Horton's final rite of passage is the final defense of his idea. His tormentors attempt to tie him up in knots of logic, firing question after question at him, enraged that Horton has sidestepped the normal process of acquiring a degree, ready to deep-six his future academic prospects ("Boil that dust speck!"), until..... Glory of glories, his idea speaks to the committee and Horton, and the idea, are saved. Realization dawns that perhaps Horton is on to something here, and that perhaps they were a little hard on the boy. They dust him off, say wonderful things to him about how smart he is, and then the Kangaroo comes along and takes credit for safeguarding the idea in the future, stealing Horton's thunder, and probably getting the lion's share of any future grant money related to Horton's idea. Again, this is the version of the story that works for me. Your interpretation may be different. But it's quite a read, either way. originally published here: http://www99.epinions.com/content_106706538116. This review is my work. And if it seems "out there", you should check out other reviews of this book.
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