On Beyond Zebra

Rating:
Summary: Quite possibly Dr. Seuss's greatest work
Review: "On Beyond Zebra" was my favorite of Dr. Seuss's books when I was a child, and as an adult I appreciate the insight and humor of this classic even more. The concept of the book is simple: the narrator introduces young Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell to the weird and wonderful letters that come after "z" (yes, AFTER "z"), and provides the wide-eyed child with a marvelous bestiary of the Seussian creatures whose names begin with these letters.

Actually, Seuss's post-"z" letters appear to constitute a syllabary rather than a true extended alphabet, but why quibble over technical details? The letters/syllabics and their accompanying creatures represent Seuss at his most delightful. And best of all, he leaves the door open for readers to create their own extension to the alphabet/syllabary!

More than mere whimsy, "On Beyond Zebra" is a truly mind-expanding book. Through fantasy and humor, Seuss challenges us to open our minds to new possibilities; he encourages us to tear down artificial walls that restrict our intellectual and creative growth. This book would be as useful in teaching pedagogical theory to college students as it is for entertaining children. "On Beyond Zebra" is a triumph.

Rating:
Summary: Quite possibly Dr. Seuss's greatest work
Review: "On Beyond Zebra" was my favorite of Dr. Seuss's books when I was a child, and as an adult I appreciate the insight and humor of this classic even more. The concept of the book is simple: the narrator introduces young Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell to the weird and wonderful letters that come after "z" (yes, AFTER "z"), and provides the wide-eyed child with a marvelous bestiary of the Seussian creatures whose names begin with these letters.

Actually, Seuss's post-"z" letters appear to constitute a syllabary rather than a true extended alphabet, but why quibble over technical details? The letters/syllabics and their accompanying creatures represent Seuss at his most delightful. And best of all, he leaves the door open for readers to create their own extension to the alphabet/syllabary!

More than mere whimsy, "On Beyond Zebra" is a truly mind-expanding book. Through fantasy and humor, Seuss challenges us to open our minds to new possibilities; he encourages us to tear down artificial walls that restrict our intellectual and creative growth. This book would be as useful in teaching pedagogical theory to college students as it is for entertaining children. "On Beyond Zebra" is a triumph.

Rating:
Summary: Seuss's Structure Slips!
Review: Doctor Seuss has taught us all to enjoy flawless humor, good fantasy, and fantastic illustrations. So it was a great surprise to me when this book didn't carry off its premise smoothly.

The book is a satire on those alphabet books that all children trudge through to learn their ABCs. A is for apple, and so forth, is the predictable format. Here, Dr. Seuss adjusts the format to be about animals. "A is for Ape. And B is for Bear."

The story opens with Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell announcing, "I know all the twenty-six letters like that . . . ."

Our narrator disagrees. "But not me." "In the places I go there are things that I see that I never could spell if I stopped with the Z." "My alphabet starts where your alphabet ends."

Now, here's the problem. Although the book has many interesting and new letters and creatures, each letter is actually just a combination of the first twenty-six. For example, YUZZ is the first new letter, and is illustrated by the tall and hairy Yuzz-a-ma-Tuzz. Although a sort of symbol is established to represent the letter, Dr. Seuss doesn't use the symbol in the rhyme. He always refers to the letter as YUZZ.

Dr. Seuss could have used his new letter symbol wherever it fit into the rhyme, or he could have made up letters that were not combinations of the first twenty-six letters. Either approach would have worked.

I suspect that the structure in the book can either consciously or subconsciously confuse a new reader about what a letter is, what a syllable is, and what a word is. It's all quite unnecessary.

If Dr. Seuss had used his new symbols to form new words, that would have been a nice basis for helping English readers learn how to move back and forth between English and languages with different methods of representation, like Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Hebrew. So, the book's a bit of a missed opportunity in this direction, too.

My suggestion is that if you want to have fun with the story anyway (because the creatures are pretty swell), simply point out that Dr. Seuss made a little goof and clarify the point about what a letter is in whatever way makes the most sense to you for where your child is in reading readiness.

The animals and their names are terrific, and you will enjoy them and their illustrations. Here's a partial list: Wumbus ("my high-spouting whale who lives on a hill"), Umbus ("a sort of a cow" with 98 or 99 "faucets" for giving milk), Humpf-Humpf-a-Dumpfer, Miss Fuddle-dee-Duddle (a bird with the longest tail), Glikker (blue and small, eats seeds, and juggles cinammon seeds), Nutch (lives in small caves that are in short supply), Sneedle (a mos-keedle with a sharp hum-dinger stinger on its head), Quandery (a red creature on shells in the ocean that worries a lot), Thnadner (the big one has a small shadow and the small one a big shadow), Spazzin (a camel-like creature with amazing horns for carrying baggage), Floob-Boober-Bab-Boober-Bah (fish you can use like stepping stones to get across the top of water as they bob on the surface), and Zatz-It (like a tall giraffe).

The story concludes with young o'Dell getting the spirit of the narrator.

"This is really great stuff!

And I guess the old alphabet

ISN'T enough!"

o'Dell draws a new letter:

" . . . what do you think that

we should call this one, anyhow?"

Enjoy imagination, and honor it . . . wherever it may be found!

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: I read this book as a child about 45 years ago. I loved it and never forgot it, although its title transformed in my child's brain to "way beyond Z". It inspired me, fed my imagination and made me feel like a child with special sight. Unlike adults, I KNEW the alphabet beyond Z!! Now that I have located this title again, I will give it to every child I know! Thank you, Dr. Seuss!

Rating:
Summary: Mom read it to me, will read it to my nephew
Review: I was in college before I was informed that Dr. Seuss books had "messages". I then thought about it, and decided that my professor was partially right and that this is one of the books with a "message". It teaches you not to stop at the obvious but to see if there is more to life.

Gloriously, the book is so good that you don't notice until you are in college and someone tells you. Which is A Good Thing. I hate books with "messages".

I'm 41, and I bought this book for my just-aquirred 5 year old nephew. Only I re-read it before giving it to him.

Rating:
Summary: Mom read it to me, will read it to my nephew
Review: I was in college before I was informed that Dr. Seuss books had "messages". I then thought about it, and decided that my professor was partially right and that this is one of the books with a "message". It teaches you not to stop at the obvious but to see if there is more to life.

Gloriously, the book is so good that you don't notice until you are in college and someone tells you. Which is A Good Thing. I hate books with "messages".

I'm 41, and I bought this book for my just-aquirred 5 year old nephew. Only I re-read it before giving it to him.

Rating:
Summary: Dr. Seuss was a prophet of unfettered imagination
Review: If I were to start my own religion, this would probably be the most sacred text. Dr. Seuss possessed powers of pure imagination unequaled in all of children's literature, and this book is the most inspiring, mind-expanding example of his divine gift. Even more important than Cat in the Hat or The Lorax, every baby born into this world should be given a copy of On Beyond Zebra. Buy it and give it to a child you love today!

Rating:
Summary: Dr. Seuss was a prophet of unfettered imagination
Review: If I were to start my own religion, this would probably be the most sacred text. Dr. Seuss possessed powers of pure imagination unequaled in all of children's literature, and this book is the most inspiring, mind-expanding example of his divine gift. Even more important than Cat in the Hat or The Lorax, every baby born into this world should be given a copy of On Beyond Zebra. Buy it and give it to a child you love today!

Rating:
Summary: A Shining Example of the Imagination of Dr. Seuss
Review: The book deals with going beyond the conventional alphabet. Besides being very entertaining (for children and adults alike), this book promotes exploration to the limits of imagination. Ultimately, the story will lead the young reader to a more open mind for new ideas, and an appreciation for different perspectives. It stimulates both the imagination and the heart. The book instills children with the desire and the attitude that will lead them to reach beyond the limitations of standard written expression, and an acceptance of alternative symbolism -- so important in modern technical education. My wife and I both love to read it to our child, who in turn loves to hear how one young lad learned to go beyond Z to discover amazing new worlds.