At the far end of town where the Grickle-grass grows and the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows and no birds ever sing excepting old crows... is the Street of the Lifted Lorax. I recently bought The Lorax at Kohl's because they had a deal where you could get one book and a matching plush for $5 each. Dr. Seuss was one of my favorites when I was a child so I jumped at this. When I started reading The Lorax again though I couldn't how big the message was! A lot of Dr. Seuss is like that, you don't realize the message as a kid but when you go back as an adult you realize how amazing it is.
The Lorax's home was once a beautiful and colorful place, but now it is sad and gray. What happened? The Lorax is a story about what happens when we don't pay attention to our surroundings. We lose the beauty that is all around us. With all the "go green" business out right now The Lorax is even more pertinent than it once was. Beyond the message though I really enjoyed the creepiness of the town after it's been torn apart compared to the bright quality the town had before. This is a really fun book to read, and as soon as I got it I was reading and rhyming. I have yet to use this with a student but my experience with Dr. Seuss is that it works best if you read the book to the child first and then have them join in for some choral reading.
I read a up a little about this book and in 1988 (two years before I was born) it sparked a huge controversy in California because the logging industry thought it was an unfair attack on them. Whatever you think about that, I still think the book's message is an important one for children and adults!
And this is my Lorax plush. Isn't he cute?!?
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