A review by octavia_cade
Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss

hopeful inspiring fast-paced

5.0

Scrambling to hit my reading goal by the end of the year, which means I'm resorting to picture books. Though "resorting," in this case, is absolutely the wrong word, because Horton Hears a Who! is charming. I never really read Dr. Seuss until I had to teach it in a first year university writing class, so (better late than never) I am catching up on this giant of the picture book world, reading them as I come across them. It's amazing what leaks through. I've heard the phrase "a person's a person, no matter how small" any number of times before, but I couldn't have told you where it came from. Well, now I know! 

It's a message that comes across without being the slightest bit pedantic, and similarly, the book doesn't even sound all that preachy. I think it's because there's so much ridiculousness surrounding it - Horton sifting through a field of clover, for instance, or the bitchy kangaroos - that it balances out the earnestness of the whole central argument. Which makes it far more appealing...