Author | Dr. Seuss |
---|---|
Illustrator | Dr. Seuss |
Cover artist | Dr. Seuss |
Language | English |
Genre | Children's literature |
Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | January 12, 1965 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
ISBN | 978-0-39-490038-4 |
OCLC | 304375 |
Preceded by | Hop on Pop |
Followed by | I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew |
Fox in Socks is a children's book by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published by Random House on January 12, 1965. The book features Mr. Fox as he tries to convince Mr. Knox to repeat tongue twisters about the things happening around them while Knox becomes increasingly frustrated with Fox's efforts. The wording of Fox in Socks emphasizes the sounds and structure of the words more than their intended meanings, leading the book to include many nonsense phrases and complex arrangements of similar-sounding words. Geisel was working on Fox in Socks when he met his future wife Audrey Dimond, and found she was able to repeat the tongue twisters that others could not. In 2001, Fox in Socks was listed as the 31st best-selling hardcover children's book in the United States.
Fox in Socks begins with a note that the book is dangerous and should be read slowly. It then introduces Fox and Knox, who interact with socks and a box. Fox sees chicks with bricks, blocks, and clocks. He suggests that he and Knox do tricks with them, and he stacks them in different arrangements while speaking in rhyme. Knox complains that his tongue cannot manage the rhymes that Fox is asking him to say. Fox tries a new rhyme about Sue and Slow Joe Crow sewing, but this too frustrates Knox. Fox then rhymes about chewing goo with a Goo-Goose, but Knox refuses to chew the goo or repeat the rhyme.
Fox rhymes about Ben and Bim fighting with brooms and accompanying a pig band, but this further upsets Knox. Knox also rejects Fox's rhyme about Luke Luck and his duck licking a lake, then about fleas, cheese trees, and a freezy breeze. When Fox describes tweetle beetles battling with paddles in a bottle on a poodle eating noodles, Knox expresses his anger by shoving Fox into the bottle and giving his own rhyming description of Fox's predicament. Knox then leaves, thanking Fox for the fun. The book ends with another note asking whether the reader's tongue is numb.
Fox in Socks was written by Theodor Seuss Geisel, using his pen name Dr. Seuss. [1] He wrote the book through most of 1964, also working on I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew at the same time. [2] Geisel met Audrey Dimond while he was working on Fox in Socks, and she was the only one of the adults who could read the tongue twisters aloud. [3] He married Dimond in 1968. [4]
The main characters Geisel created for Fox in Socks are Mr. Knox and Mr. Fox, also called Mr. Socks Fox. [5] Other named characters include Ben and Bim, Luke Luck, Slow Joe Crow, and Sue. [6] They are accompanied by several animals, including chicks, a duck, pigs, a poodle, [7] and fictional animals Goo-Goose and tweetle beetles. [8]
To test his editor Bennett Cerf, Geisel added the inappropriate line "Moe blows Joe's nose, Joe blows Moe's nose" to his manuscript of Fox in Socks. This followed a similar incident two years prior when he added the word "contraceptive" to his manuscript of Hop on Pop . [9] Fox in Socks was published by Random House [10] on January 12, 1965, as part of its Beginner Books series. [11] Geisel dedicated the book to Audrey Dimond and Mitzi Long, describing them as members of the Mt. Soledad Lingual Laboratories despite no such place existing. [10]
Fox in Socks was one of two tongue twister books written by Dr. Seuss, alongside Oh Say Can You Say? (1979). [12] When writing Fox in Socks, Geisel prioritized the sound and structure of the tongue twisters over coherence, resulting in heavy use of nonsensical phrases. [13] In one instance, Fox in Socks describes a "tweetle beetle noodle poodle bottled paddled muddled duddled fuddled wuddled fox in socks". [12] Such phrases retain appropriate word order. When describing a "tweetle beetle puddle paddle battle", Geisel couples paddle and battle to describe a "paddle battle" within the larger phrase. The word puddle then describes the setting of the battle, and tweetle beetle adds a descriptor for the type of "puddle paddle battle". [14] The rhymes are accompanied by a challenge on the front cover for readers to "read aloud to find out just how smart your tongue is". [15] In the story, Mr. Knox describes the tongue twisters as "blibber blubber". [16]
Fox in Socks presents readers with the change of words' meanings in different contexts. [17] This includes how a list of stacked items is harmless when stacked on the ground, but that they indicate a negative consequence when stacked on a character's head. [18] The book expresses a common Seuss theme of optimism. The phrase "you can make" appears as a refrain at the beginning of several sentences. [19] It also features Seuss's respect for manners, having Mr. Knox refer to the Fox as "Mr. Fox, sir". [20] Like many books by Dr. Seuss, Fox in Socks includes joyous feasting, in this case portrayed with the Gooey Gluey Blue Goo being chewed on by the Goo-Goose. [21] Philosophy professor Sharon Kaye comments on the relationship of the characters Sue and Slow Joe Crow, suggesting they are an example of a friendship of utility as described by Aristotle, as they have little in common but both benefit from sewing one another's clothes. [22]
The book is one of several by Dr. Seuss in which younger characters teach older ones, along with books like Horton Hatches the Egg (1940), Green Eggs and Ham (1960), and Hop on Pop (1963). In this case, Mr. Fox is more skilled with tongue twisters and tries to instruct Mr. Knox. [23] The end of the book subverts this theme when Mr. Knox grows frustrated with Mr. Fox and strikes back at him. Literary scholar Philip Nel likened this to the moral of Sam and the Firefly by P. D. Eastman and Geisel's earlier Private Snafu cartoons, which teach that knowledge should not be flaunted or abused. [24] Nel considered Fox in Socks to be an example of a book that is avant-garde for adults but not for children. Under his reasoning, the deconstruction of language present in the book only works for those familiar with more typical linguistic structure, but young children lack the literary experience to be confused by this. Conversely, adults will expect the simple words to be easily read and be taken by surprise. A child will read the tongue twisters more carefully than adults, causing the book to be easier for children in a relative sense. [25]
Fox in Socks ranked 31st in a 2001 list of best-selling children's hardcover books in the United States by Publishers Weekly and was the 8th best-selling book by Dr. Seuss. [26] By this time, it had sold over three million copies. [15] The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992) cites fourteen lines of Fox in Socks in its coverage of "compounds in context". [27]
Kirkus Reviews considered Fox in Socks an "amusing exercise for beginning readers" as it requires focus on each word, but it said that the tongue twisters made little sense when removed from the context of their illustrations. [28] Roderick Nordell wrote for the Christian Science Monitor that the book is sufficiently enjoyable to read that it encourages children to work with more challenging material. [29] However, Donald Barr of Book Week criticized the book for being charmless and unnecessarily elaborate. [30]
Journalist Jonathan Cott listed Fox in Socks among Dr. Seuss's best examples of books that balance entertainment with educational value. [31] Children's literature professor Francelia Butler praised the book as having the best examples of Geisel's nonsense rhymes. [32] Children's literature professor David Rudd likened the use of words' construction in Fox in Socks to its contemporaries The Wonderful O by James Thurber and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. He described these works as successors of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in the genre of literary nonsense. [33]
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American children's author and cartoonist. He is known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. His work includes many of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.
The Cat in the Hat is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by American author Theodor Geisel, using the pen name Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red bow tie. The Cat shows up at the house of Sally and her brother one rainy day when their mother is away. Despite the repeated objections of the children's fish, the Cat shows the children a few of his tricks in an attempt to entertain them. In the process, he and his companions, Thing One and Thing Two, wreck the house. As the children and the fish become more alarmed, the Cat produces a machine that he uses to clean everything up and disappears just before the children's mother comes home.
Horton Hears a Who! is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954 by Random House. This book tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his adventures saving Whoville, a tiny planet located on a speck of dust, from the animals who mock him. These animals attempt to steal and burn the speck of dust, so Horton goes to great lengths to save Whoville from being incinerated.
Green Eggs and Ham is a children's book by Dr. Seuss. It was published by the Beginner Books imprint of Random House on August 12, 1960. The book follows Sam-I-am as he follows an unnamed man, repeatedly asking him if he would like to try some green eggs and ham before the man eventually tries it and likes it. Seuss began writing Green Eggs and Ham after his editor Bennett Cerf bet him $50 that he could not write an engaging children's book with a vocabulary of 50 words. Finding the challenge difficult, Seuss used notes, charts, and checklists to keep track of his progress. The book covers themes of conflict between individuals, though Seuss has said that it lacks any deeper meaning. Green Eggs and Ham was widely praised by critics for its writing and illustration, and the challenge of writing a book in 50 words is regarded as a success. The book has been the subject of multiple adaptations, including a television series of the same name in 2019.
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins is a children's book, written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and published by Vanguard Press in 1938. Unlike the majority of Geisel's books, it is written in prose rather than rhyming and metered verse. Geisel, who was a collector of hats, got the idea for the story when he was on a commuter train from New York to New England, while sitting behind a businessman wearing a hat. The businessman was so stiff and formal that Geisel idly wondered what would happen if he took the man's hat and threw it out the window, and he artistically, albeit erroneously, concluded that the man would "simply grow a new one".
Horton Hatches the Egg is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and published in 1940 by Random House. The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant, who is tricked into sitting on a bird's egg while its mother, Mayzie, takes a permanent vacation to Palm Beach. Horton endures a number of hardships but persists, often stating, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent!" Ultimately, the egg hatches, revealing an elephant-bird, a creature with a blend of Mayzie's and Horton's features.
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street is Theodor Seuss Geisel's first children's book published under the name Dr. Seuss. First published by Vanguard Press in 1937, the story follows a boy named Marco, who describes a parade of imaginary people and vehicles traveling along a road, Mulberry Street, in an elaborate fantasy story he dreams up to tell his father at the end of his walk. However, when he arrives home, he decides instead to tell his father what he actually saw—a simple horse and wagon.
Hop on Pop is a 1963 children's picture book by Dr. Seuss, published as part of the Random House Beginner Books series. The book is subtitled "The Simplest Seuss for Youngest Use", and is designed to introduce basic phonics concepts to children.
The Seven Lady Godivas: The True Facts Concerning History's Barest Family is a picture book of the tale of Lady Godiva, written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss. One of Seuss's few books written for adults, its original 1939 publication by Random House was a failure and was eventually remaindered. However, it later gained popularity as Seuss himself grew in fame, and was republished in 1987 by "multitudinous demand".
McElligot's Pool is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and published by Random House in 1947. In the story, a boy named Marco, who first appeared in Geisel's 1937 book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, imagines a wide variety of fantastic fish that could be swimming in the pond in which he is fishing. It later became one of the Seuss books featured in the Broadway musical Seussical where its story is used for the song "It's Possible".
Beginner Books is the Random House imprint for young children ages 3–9, co-founded by Phyllis Cerf with Ted Geisel, more often known as Dr. Seuss, and his wife Helen Palmer Geisel. Their first book was Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat (1957), whose title character appears in the brand's logo. Cerf compiled a list of 379 words as the basic vocabulary for young readers, along with another 20 slightly harder "emergency" words. No more than 200 words were taken from that list to write The Cat in the Hat. Subsequent books in the series were modeled on the same requirement.
The Foot Book is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and first published in 1968. Intended for young children, it seeks to convey the concept of opposites through depictions of different kinds of feet. The text of The Foot Book is highly stylized, containing the rhymes, repetitions, and cadences typical of Dr. Seuss's work.
Audrey Grace Florine Stone was the second wife of American children's book author Theodor Geisel, to whom she was married from 1968 until his death in 1991. She founded Dr. Seuss Enterprises in 1993, and was president and CEO of the company until her death in 2018.
I Am Not Going to Get Up Today! is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and illustrated by James Stevenson. It was published by Random House on October 12, 1987. It is the only Dr. Seuss book not to be illustrated by Seuss himself. The book is told from the perspective of a boy who decides not to get out of bed as his family and neighbors try to convince him to get up. Audio versions have been released, including a cassette tape in 1988 and an audiobook read by the actor Jason Alexander in 2003.
Helen Marion Palmer Geisel, known professionally as Helen Palmer, was an American children's writer, editor, and philanthropist. She was a co-founder and vice president of Beginner Books, and was married to fellow writer Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, from 1927 until her death.
Bartholomew Cubbins is a fictional page, a pleasant boy, and the hero of two children's books by Dr. Seuss: The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1938) and Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1949). Cubbins also appears in "King Grimalken and the Wishbones", the first of Seuss's so-called "lost stories" that were only published in magazines. Besides the three printed stories about him—and the stage adaptations of both books—Bartholomew Cubbins also appears as a character in the TV show The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. Seuss's only film, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T., has a main character named Bartholomew Collins who is based on Cubbins, and, like his namesake, is a young boy who is wiser than the adults around him.
A Fish Out of Water is a 1961 American children's book written by Helen Palmer Geisel and illustrated by P. D. Eastman. The book is based on a short story by Palmer's husband Theodor Geisel, "Gustav, the Goldfish", which was published with his own illustrations in Redbook magazine in June 1950.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a children's Christmas book by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a green cranky, solitary creature who attempts to thwart the public's Christmas plans by stealing Christmas gifts and decorations from the homes of the nearby town of Whoville on Christmas Eve. Miraculously, the Grinch realizes that Christmas is not all about money and presents.
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, published over 60 children's books over the course of his long career. Though most were published under his well-known pseudonym, Dr. Seuss, he also authored a certain amount of books as Theo. LeSieg and one as Rosetta Stone.
The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories is a collection of seven illustrated stories by children's author Dr. Seuss published by Random House on September 27, 2011. Though they were originally published in magazines in the early 1950s, they had never been published in book form and are quite rare, described by the publisher as "the literary equivalent of buried treasure". The stories were discovered by Charles D. Cohen, a Massachusetts dentist and a Seuss scholar and biographer, who also wrote an introduction to the collection.