I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! (by Dr. Seuss)

Three pointed, quick-witted stories from Dr. Seuss successfully introduce to very young readers the ideas of equality, humility, and teamwork. The primitive artwork is appealing and the foolish verse is gratifying: "He was greenish / Not too cleanish. / And he sort of had bad breath. / 'Good gracious!' gasped my sister. / 'I have thunked up quite a meth!'"

Democracy is not an idea that comes naturally to 4-year-olds. They do, on the other hand, have an innate appreciation of lawlessness, which is a necessary stage before the acceptance of the rule of law. Leave it to Dr. Seuss to get at democracy through anarchy.

This book has the look of early Dr. Seuss, as if the characters were experiments that would eventually lead to the Cat in the Hat and his whole odd world of creatures. The roughness of the character designs makes them that much more cuddly; even when they are being turkeys, readers will have a protective instinct at work for them. The verse is spare (except the blabber-mouthed Glunk) yet with enough curiosities to make it ideal for an early read-alone. The crazy-wild artwork, as always with Seuss, makes it a winner as a read-aloud.