These books are almost like family heirlooms! The late great Dr Seuss, one Theodore "Ted" Giesel himself is a master crafter of bouncy rhymes, outlandish characters and of course truly bad behaviour that kids absolutely cannot resist seeing in their picture books.

We started off reading these books fairly early on, hoovering up as many as we could clutch to our chests on our library visits, then later picking up three "keepers" ourselves.

The first we read and the first we bought was, of course, "The Cat in the Hat", the story of two children stuck in on a rainy day (shades of lockdown, anyone? Very surprised no one cashed in on redoing a version of this for lockdown tbh!) and a strange visitor who insinuates his way into their lives once their mother disappears to the shops.

The Cat in The Hat has some great ideas to stave off boredom. Unfortunately most of the ideas involve trashing the house or personal property, with only the family's pet fish acting as a voice of wisdom amidst the chaos. All the brilliant signatures of Seuss are here. Peerless pitch-perfect rhymes that tickle and dance off the tongue when you're reading this aloud. Outlandish characters, terrible calamities and inventive machines (the Cat's "tidy up" machine is still a marvel, we would dearly love a real one thanks very much!).

We also couldn't resist "Green Eggs and Ham" which was my fave Seuss book as a kid. This time Sam (I Am) finds himself fed up to the back teeth at the insistence of a friend that he tries the bizarre titular dish. How about in a box? With a fox? With some goats? On a boat perhaps?

The scenarios become more and more surreal and crazy as the book ramps up to a frenetic explosive chaotic finish before Sam decides it'd just be flipping easier to try the dish in question.

....and what do you know? He likes green eggs and ham after all (the lesson most parents will try and get their kids to take away from this book is that spinach, as gross as it looks, probably isn't really that bad so just give it a little lick!)

One thing about this book that always made C laugh were the strangely dead eyed expressions on the characters as their boat literally sinks out from under them after being hit by a train (it's a long story). As with "Cat" this one's a true joy to read aloud.

Then we come to our final Seuss "Keeper" which is NOT a joy to read aloud but I still relish the challenge anyway...

"Dr Seuss Makes Reading FUN!" claims the cover. No, actually Dr Seuss will make your mouth turn to mush, your tongue twist over itself, as you try to read "The Fox in Socks" out loud.

It used to be something of a challenge from C to me - to see how fast I could rattle through this book without making any mistakes. That is, of course, an impossible task particularly when you begin to talk of tweetle beetle battles in a bottle in a puddle, with a poodle and a paddle in a muddle.

Oh god, I can almost feel my anxiety rising...

Don't be put off though, this is still one of the best of Seuss many, many books and we've included a link to a few more below...

Original Review Links: 

ReaditDaddy's Second Book of the Week - Week Ending 11th October 2019: "Dr Seuss' Horse Museum" by Dr Seuss and Andrew Joyner (Penguin Books)

The Lorax by Dr Seuss (HarperCollins Children's Books)

The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss (HarperCollins Children's Books)

"...and to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street" by Dr Seuss (HarperCollins Children's Books)

I Can Read With My Eyes Shut by Dr Seuss (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Booky Advent Calendar Day 12: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (60th Anniversary Edition) by Dr Seuss (HarperCollins Children's Books)

The Fox in Socks by Dr Seuss (HarperCollins Children's Books)

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week ending 21st June 2013 - "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr Seuss (HarperCollins Children's Books)

This week's second book of the week is a real wow, not just for fans of amazing classic pieces of art, but for fans of the mighty Dr Seuss, who is our guide along with Andrew Joyner for "Dr Seuss' Horse Museum".

We love art, we love classic pieces of art and classic artists, but we really love Dr Seuss as well - and thanks to a quirky look at the appreciation of art in galleries and museums, and Andrew Joyner's absolutely spot-on illustrations taking Seuss' style and making it his own, this is a real treat indeed.

Throughout history, artists have been fascinated by animals - horses in particular.

It's not difficult to see why. Horses are notoriously difficult to draw or paint, and so artists have used many innovative and interesting ways to visualise our four-legged friends.

Each piece of artwork that features in the book is rendered in a different style, showing how amazing artists such as Susan Rothenberg, Raphael, George Stubbs and Rene Magritte (amongst many, many others) were inspired by these amazing creatures.

As you'd expect from a Dr Seuss book, there's lots of other fun to be had in the book as well, as many of Dr Seuss' iconic characters crop up in cameo appearances in the book (again, kudos to Andrew Joyner for depicting these characters so perfectly!)

Sum this book up in a sentence: This really is a treat, not just for art lovers but for all kids who love horses and love fantastic bouncy and fun books about them.

"Dr Seuss' Horse Museum" by Dr Seuss and Andrew Joyner is out now, published by Penguin Books (kindly supplied for review). 

Our Booky Advent Calendar second book for Day 12 is truly something special.

Very few books can claim to have filtered their way into popular culture to the extent of Dr Seuss' amazing "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Even on this side of the pond, you sometimes hear people being referred to as "A Grinchy-Poo" rather than Scrooge, and it's amazing to think that this stunning book is 60 years old.

To celebrate, HarperCollins have prepared a really amazing version of the book, clad in a gorgeous foiled cover and slip case, giving the whole thing a real air of luxury.

The tale itself, of a heartless creature who truly hates Christmas - and wreaks a terrible revenge on the innocent "Who" folk one year when he's had just about enough of their festive shenanigans - actually ends up being one of Seuss' most impressive stories (and that's saying something for one of the most prolific and consistently excellent children's authors ever).

In case you haven't encountered this story before we won't ruin the ending, suffice to say that the influence of this book on so many generations of stories to follow is easy to observe, so treat yourself to a truly sumptuous version to keep for your kids and grandkids, you really won't regret it!

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr Seuss is out now, published by HarperCollins Children's Books (very kindly supplied for review).

Here's a Dr Seuss book we'd never seen before. Mr Geisel's prolific back catalogue is huge, so it's easy to miss golden little nuggets of booky goodness like this one. Delving into a child's imagination is the theme, and we join a young boy who is on his way home from school. Nothing much really happened during the day, and the boy's dad always asks "What have you been up to? What have you seen?"

A pause here - do other parents have the same thing going on with their children as we have with Charlotte? Where you enthusiastically ask "What did you do at school today?" only to be met with "Nothing much" or "Mehhh!"

(you later find out that the class went waterskiing, bathed a baby elephant, made cakes, went paragliding, performed open heart surgery on gnats, etc etc etc).

The book flips this idea on its head a little, and soon the boy is lost in a daydream of what he can tell his dad he has seen as he makes his way home along Mulberry Street. A simple horse and cart is transformed - becoming a reindeer and sled, a Rajah and his elephant, perhaps even an entire carnival!

As you'd expect from a Seuss book, the rhymes are absolutely pitch perfect, flowing deliciously. The illustrations are crazy, whacky, surreal and wonderful. The message is ace though, and we loved the way the book ends.

...and to think that I saw it all in the pages of a Dr Seuss book!


Charlotte's best bit: A Zebra, pulling a fancy cart!

Daddy's Favourite bit: The crazy mayhem of a full-scale carnival with a zillion floats

Though my memory is hazy at times, I can remember my childhood being dominated by Dr Seuss books. I can also remember exactly how many copies of this utterly essential book I have owned. 6. The reason we ended up having to buy a new copy for Charlotte recently was mainly because those six have been borrowed, stolen or have ended up read until they literally fell apart (one copy I owned while studying art and design in Brighton was mercilessly stolen from my student digs along with a rather scratty Cat in the Hat T Shirt - at least the thief had taste!)

Charlotte loves Dr Seuss books, so rather than relying on the completely random chance that our local library has some (they are nearly always out on loan, with good reason!) we bought three. You've already seen my hopeless attempts at rhyming in our review of Green Eggs and Ham, so here's what we thought of the book that pretty much made Theodor Seuss Geisel a household name.

Two children are home alone (can you imagine two kids being left on their own with just a goldfish as a babysitter these days? The Daily Mail would have a field day, tsk tsk), bored, staring out of the window at the pouring rain. Bored with toys, bored with playing, bored bored bored.

But with a sharp rap at the door, the jauntiest and most fabulous hat in children's literary history, and the cheekiest grin enters The Cat in the Hat.

The Cat in the Hat knows what to do about boredom. He knows a million and one games you can play. Basically though he's an absolute show-off so all of the games basically involve him playing to his new captive audience, the two children and their grumpy (but quite justifiably so) goldfish.

Cats and balancing household objects usually means chaos, so despite the fish's loud protests The Cat in the Hat proceeds to trash the house, pretty much. It doesn't end there, because The Cat soon ropes in two friends for new games - Thing One and Thing Two!

If anything, they're even worse than the cat - flying kites indoors, skidding around the house and making even more mess and chaos than the Cat did.

Soon enough though, the wise goldfish spies Mum coming down the path. Cat-astrophe! Can the children possibly tidy up the humungous mess in time?

Just in case you're the one person on the planet who hasn't read the rest, I'll not spoil it for you. Knockabout fun in children's books doesn't really get any better than this, and it was obviously so hugely successful when it was originally written way back in 1954 and eventually printed and released in 1957.

Many authors are cited as the agents of radical change in the way children's books were written and perceived but right here is the very book and the very author that I'd say is responsible for and hugely influential on the way children's books are made today. It's timeless, it's fantastic fun, the rhymes flow like hot melted butter and it never ever gets boring. I was so pleased to see Charlotte's reaction to the Dr Seuss books (nothing but abject joy), and hope that she'll always love them as much as I do.

Charlotte's best bit: Thing One and Thing Two (they are SO CUTE, Daddy!)

Daddy's favourite bit: I won't spoil the end but I just cannot get enough of Seuss' crazy machinery in his stories. The one at the end of this book? I want one!

This week, as rain and sunshine fought
We read a lot, new books we sought
And hearing Charlotte's plaintive plea
To purchase something filled with glee.

And so here is "Green Eggs and Ham"
(I'm sure you like it, Sam I Am)
Familiar, loved by mums and dads
and grandmas, grandads, lasses and lads

"I do not want this as book of the week"
Said Daddy, with such barefaced cheek.
"I much prefer The Fox in Socks!"
"I love tongue twisting with Knox and Fox!"

"But Daddy!" Charlotte, hands on hips
With stern face and protruding lips
"It HAS to be Green Eggs and Ham!"
"For I'm in love with Sam-I-am!"

"I Love this book when in my den!"
"I love to read it again and again!"
"I'd read it in the bath or bed!"
"I cannot get it out of my head!"

And so the frank discussion raged
Till Daddy felt all tired and aged
And like most Book of Week Reviews
I succumbed to darling daughter's views.

I do rather like "Green Eggs and Ham"
The antics of that Sam-I-Am
Like a Betterware or Insurance Salesman
We cannot get enough of his tales, man!

So please forgive our rhyming text
We hope that it has charmed, not vexed
And give your kids some Dr Seuss
The dude abides, and that's the truths!

Charlotte's best bit: "Would you like them on a train? Would you like them in the rain?"

Daddy's favourite bit: "Would you like them in a boat? Would you like them with a goat?"

I have no idea how we've managed to steadfastly avoid reviewing any Dr Seuss books. These were staple fodder for me when I was a kid, and yet we have none at home - and only found this in the library because of Charlotte's sharp eye for a good book (we very rarely find the standard Seuss faves at the library like "The Cat in the Hat", "The Fox in Socks" and my personal favourite "Green Eggs and Ham").

This is a slightly more educational book than you'd probably be used to from Mr Geisel (AKA the good Doctor!) but nonetheless it retains its completely whacky, crazy and haphazard mix of fun and tongue-twisting rhymes to prove its point (no, not that you can read with your eyes shut but that anyone can read if they put their minds to it).

Charlotte was quite addicted to this book which makes me think it's definitely time to track down a few more of Seuss' masterworks. Suggestions other than the ones I've mentioned are extremely

Charlotte's best bit: Reading in 'Pickle Colour' too!

Daddy's favourite bit: It's virtually impossible to read a Dr Seuss book without bouncing in your seat. Such great rhythm and pace, no wonder they are timelessly appealing to kids.

Where there's a rhyme, there's a reason!

We've always been aware of how effective rhyming verse is in helping children to read, learn and memorise. Most of the best loved Children's Picture Books contain rhyming verse - and a child's predisposition to retaining the memory of written or read text through rhyme starts as soon as they can hear and understand a parent's speech.

Reinforced through nursery rhymes, songs and of course children's books, children do begin to learn to read more quickly if common sounds and clever use of language engage their ears as well as their brains.

There's a great piece on the Booktrust website about early literacy initiatives and studies into how rhyming helps children's literacy levels early on. It's a sentiment echoed by many children's authors too, who use rhyme in their own work to make it accessible, memorable and most important of all, fun!

It goes without saying that one of the greatest children's authors, Dr Seuss, used often nonsensical rhyme so brilliantly and effectively in a whole series of children's books that have gone on to become legendary classics. It was well known even back as far as the 1950s that rhyme provided a compelling and attractive way for early readers to become more competent and confident.

Oddly though, it's very rare to see rhyming verse used in children's phonics books. Though there are programmes that recommend the use of rhyme, current national curriculum standards seem to be geared more towards fairly disjointed 'choppy' text that doesn't flow like rhyming verse does. Sometimes, to a child this feels too unnatural, and very unlike books they'd otherwise be exposed to (for instance, books read to them by a parent, or even early story readers that use rhyme effectively).

This is a problem we've encountered before with Charlotte - that even the most intriguing subject or premise in a phonics book is still a fairly stilted and 'forced' experience, so again this may offer a good indication of why rhyme is so attractive to children - if it's as far distant from classroom reading as it's possible to imagine, it's all the more interesting to a child.

We are completely in awe of anyone who can produce brilliant rhyming stories. We'd love to hear what your favourite rhyming recommendations are below.