Common Sense Note
Hilarious Seussian text and zany pictures to match. A great pleasure to read aloud. Questions the wisdom of tampering with nature. May prompt discussion about weather. The merits of apologizing are pointed out through well-crafted writing.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Robyn Raymer
Earnest little Bartholomew Cubbins may be the hero of this tale, but oobleck is its star attraction. Children adore messy substances, and this one is a joyous amalgam of strained peas, marshmallow fluff, and bread dough. One six-year-old shouted with laughter when a cupcake-size dollop of oobleck flew kerplop into a hapless trumpeter's horn: "Glugg!".
Yet it's a relief when, at the end of the book, the massive green floomphs in which everyone is floundering evaporate. While children may be attracted to chaos, they crave order. Dr. Seuss characters such as the The Cat in the Hat and the How the Grinch Stole Christmas are mesmerizing because of their power to make messes--and speedily clean them up again.
The unrhymed prose in the opening pages may lose the youngest listeners, but the royal magicians will keep them giggling until the oobleck begins to fall. This moldy troop of weirdos has some of the funniest lines (and the only rhyming ones) in the book: "Shuffle, duffle, muzzle, muff. / Fista, wista, mista-cuff. / We are men of groans and howls, / Mystic men who eat boiled owls." It's a satisfying (though longish) read-aloud experience for adults, especially closet comedians.
Bartholomew landed his palace job in the prequel, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Those who enjoy the theme of oddball weather gone out of control may want to check out Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
From the Book:
Bartholomew stopped. He could go no farther. The awful oobleck was plumping down as big as greenish footballs now!
Too late to warn the people of the kingdom! There were farmers in the fields, getting stuck to hoes and plows. Goats were getting stuck to ducks. Geese were getting stucks to cows.
Plot Summary:
Page boy Bartholomew is dismayed when King Derwin begins to grouse about weather's humdrum nature. To the boy's alarm, His Majesty summons the royal magicians, a shuffling, incantation-mumbling crew. The magicians boil up a pot of brew and send it out over the kingdom to rain down oobleck.
The king is thrilled with his very own brand of weather, but Bartholomew knows the oobleck is trouble. He scurries around the palace trying to sound the alarm, but everyone is incapacitated by the gluey stuff. Only after the entire kingdom is buried in green glop does the king apologize. The words "I'm sorry" have a miraculous effect: The oobleck melts away, and the chastened ruler decides that the old-fashioned kinds of weather will do just fine.
Related Books:
Dr. Seuss Also Wrote
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
The Cat in the Hat
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Books With Similar Themes
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
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