[BOOK REVIEW] Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Title:  Green Eggs and Ham

Author:  Dr. Seuss

Genre:  Children's / Food / Humor / Surrealism

Year Published: 1960

Year Read:  2010

Publisher:  Beginner Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 3+  (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“Green Eggs and Ham” is another brilliant classic from the creative mind of Dr. Seuss and it is about how Sam-I-Am tries to convince a furry guy in a black top hat to try out green eggs and ham.  “Green Eggs and Ham” is an excellent book for children of all ages, but the repeating verses can be a bit painful to read over and over again if you are not used to reading the same verses over and over again.

Dr. Seuss’ illustrations are colorful and hilarious as they show images of Sam-I-Am and the tall furry creature in the black top hat going on outrageous adventures such as riding a car into a tree and then having the car drive on top of a train, while the images follow the repeating verses that Sam-I-Am proposes different ways of eating the green eggs and ham.  Also, the characters themselves are creatively drawn, especially of the images of Sam-I-Am wearing a yellow shirt and a red hat, indicating that he is laid back, while the tall creature, who is nameless, wears a black top hat and is furry, which indicates that he has a somewhat reluctance to accept anything different.  Dr. Seuss’ story is highly creative and hilarious as it details how Sam-I-Am tries to get the tall furry creature to eat green eggs and ham in a humorous way and children will easily be drawn to the wackiness of this story.

Some children and parents might be a little annoyed at the constant repeating verses that the furry creature with the black top hat makes each time Sam-I-Am mentions a new way to eat green eggs and ham such as eating on a train and then eating on a boat.  Some children might be a little bored with the repeating verses as they might complain that they already heard what the tall furry creature is complaining, while parents might find it a bit of a hassle to read the same verses over and over again.

“Green Eggs and Ham” is a wonderful book for children who are huge fans of Dr. Seuss and who want to read books about trying out new things in a creative way.  I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since there is nothing inappropriate about this book and the verses are easy for small children to understand.

You might also like: 

• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

• The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

• Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss

REASON FOR BEING BANNED:  Was banned by the People's Republic of China in 1965 for having a Marxist allegory.

[BOOK REVIEW] Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

Title:  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Author:  Bill Martin Jr.

Artist:  Eric Carle

Genre:  Animals / Colors / Children's / School

Year Published: 1967

Year Read:  2017

Publisher:  Henry Holt and Company

Series: Bill Martin's Bears #1


Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 3+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I have been an avid fan of Eric Carle’s works, especially of his well-known children’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and one of the books that Eric Carle had worked on that I did not get the chance to read when I was little was “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” which was also written by Bill Martin Jr.  All in all, this was one children’s book that children should definitely check out!

Since this story is extremely short, the summary will be brief.

Basically, the plot of this book is about the reader seeing various animals comment on what other beings they are looking at that precise moment, while each animal states a variation of this quote:

 “Brown Bear, Brown Bear,

What do you see?

I see a red bird looking at me.

Red Bird, Red Bird,

What do you see?

I see a yellow duck looking at me.”

Wow!  I cannot believe that I waited this long to finally pick up this popular children’s book and it was definitely worth reading in the end!  I loved the simplistic style that Bill Martin Jr. brought to this book as the plot is basically having readers see various animals in different colors popping up in the book and commenting on other animals they have seen.  I loved the fact that each animal is a different color such as having a blue horse and a purple cat as it brings a unique spin to the storytelling of this book and I was quietly anticipating seeing what kind of animals we will see pop up in this book.  Eric Carle’s artwork is as always, a delight to look at as all the characters are rendered in paper cut outs which gives the book a creative look and I really loved the images of the different animals that show up in this book, such as the purple cat and the blue horse!

Even though there is nothing wrong with this book, I have to wonder why it was banned in the first place?  Well, it turns out that when it was banned, the person who banned the book made a mistake regarding the author of this book, who is Bill Martin Jr. and the person thought that it was the same Bill Martin who wrote the book “Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation.”  Now, I have never read any of the “other” Bill Martin’s books, but this was the first instance where a book was mistakenly banned for the wrong reasons and that got me curious yet annoyed.

Overall, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” is a truly cute book for children who want to have fun with identifying animals and colors all wrapped up into one book!  I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

You might also like: 

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

• Flotsam by David Wiesner

• No Plain Pets! by Marc Ian Barasch

REASON FOR BEING BANNED:  Was banned by the State Board of Education in Texas due to a board member accidentally mixing up the book's author Bill Martin Jr. with another author named Bill Martin who wrote "Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation."

[BOOK REVIEW] The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Title:  The Adventures of Captain Underpants

Author:  Dav Pilkey

Genre:  Superheroes / Humor / School 

Year Published: 1997

Year Read:  2010

Publisher:  The Blue Sky Press

Series: Captain Underpants #1    

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Crude Humor)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Here comes that valiant hero, CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS!  “The Adventures of Captain Underpants” is a popular children’s book from the creative mind of Dav Pilkey and it is about the hilarious adventures of George and Harold as they try to trick their strict principal Mr. Krupp, but their trick ends up backfiring on them!  “The Adventures of Captain Underpants” is absolutely one of the funniest books ever created!!!

“Tra-la-laaa!”

Man, I am going to be saying that throughout this review!  Dav Pilkey has done a great job with both the illustrations and writing this book as they make this book full of pure hilarity and adventure!  I love the way that Dav Pilkey writes this book in a sarcastic and humorous way as George and Harold are shown to be the greatest practical jokers in the history of all practical jokers as they are constantly pulling pranks on the school and somehow succeeding in their jokes.  I really enjoyed the sarcastic humor in this book as it is smart and witty and it strongly reminded me of the humor in “The Stinky Cheeseman” as it plays a satire on the world of superheroes, except this time there is a superhero that runs around the city in his underwear!  One of the most impressive characters in this book is Captain Underpants himself as he saves the world but saves it in his underwear!  Captain Underpants sort of remind me of Quailman from the Nickelodeon show “Doug” as both characters saves the word in their underwear.

Dav Pilkey’s illustrations are truly hilarious and childish in this book as George and Harold always have mischievous looks on their faces. George is drawn as a child with a tie and a black flat top hair and Harold is drawn to have puffy hair, which makes the two characters look hilarious to children.  The illustration that stood out the most for me was the illustration of Captain Underpants himself as he has a bald head and is shown wearing a red cape and is mostly shown in his underwear!  Also, I like to point out that the illustrations are in black and white; however Dav Pilkey’s illustrations are so hilarious and childish that many children will overlook the black and white coloring.

Parents should know that this book was banned in many schools because it was considered insensitive and encourages children to disobey authority (I did not really understand the insensitivity part, but I did understand the part about disobeying authority).  The main thing that parents should be concerned about is the crude humor in this book such as Harold and George using a fake doggy doo-doo to trick a villain and the cheerleaders being described as having mucus running down their noses after they were exposed to the pepper in their pom-poms and parents who do not approve of crude humor might want to wait until their children get older to enjoy this book.  As for the banning, I honestly do not believe in banning books and I thought that this was an enjoyable book for children of all ages, but it was not meant to be an educational book. I think that if the content in this book is really offensive for educational classes, then teachers could use this book as a special treat for children to read if children did some good deeds or did their schoolwork, sort of like a reward for their efforts.

“The Adventures of Captain Underpants” is truly a book that children of all ages can enjoy as it has great humor and spectacular characters and I think this book will be wonderful for children who love reading about superheroes and great humor!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the crude humor might be a bit too inappropriate for smaller children.

“Tra-la-laa! Captain Underpants away!”

* 2000 Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award for Grades K-3

You might also like:

• Dog Breath: The Horrible Trouble with Hally Tosis by Dav Pilkey

• The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka

• The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka

 REASON FOR BEING BANNED: For having offensive language and being unsuited for the age group.

[BOOK REVIEW] The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Title:  The Chocolate War


Author:  Robert Cormier

Genre: School / Conformity / Controversial


Year Published: 1974


Number of Pages: 272 pages


Date Read: 8/30/2010   

Publisher:  Alfred A. Knopf

Series: The Chocolate War #1



Source:  Library


Content Rating:  Ages 15+ (Some Strong Language, Violence, Some Sexual Discussions, and Themes of Bribery and Distortion)


Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

When I started reading this book, I was wondering to myself about why this book was banned in so many schools.  Now, I know why.  “The Chocolate War” is a popular young adult book by Robert Cormier and it is about how a young teenage boy named Jerry Renault refuses to sell chocolates at his school, Trinity and how he faces some hardships from Brother Leon and the Vigils because of his defiance.  “The Chocolate War” might be a bit too disturbing and dark from some people, but this book is clearly one of the most memorable banned books ever written!

Oh my goodness!  When I first heard about this book, I thought it was simply going to be about a group of kids fighting over who should eat the chocolates.  But then, when I got around to reading this book, I realized that this book was all about the cruelties of the world such as manipulating various students into selling chocolates, even if you do not want to sell the chocolates and the consequences if you step out of line from the rest of the student body.  Robert Cormier has certainly done an excellent job at making this book extremely disturbing and dark as he cleverly builds up tension around Jerry Renault’s defiance against selling the chocolates at the chocolate sale.  The true highlights of this book were the characters themselves as they are realistic in personalities that you would normally see at any high school.  Jerry Renault plays the underdog hero in this book as he tries to defend his stance in not selling the chocolates since he believes everyone has the right to do what you think is right and as it happens to every hero, he goes through so much hardship and danger when he defies the rules of Trinity.  I find myself liking Jerry so much in this book since he tries hard to defend his rights, even if the other students do not believe in him and I love the idea that people will try to defend themselves when they believe that the activities set for them are not right for them.  Some other interesting characters in this book are Archie Costello, the leader of the Vigils and Brother Leon.  You will never know a truly terrible villain in any book until you read about what Brother Leon and Archie Costello has done to so many people in this book.  Both Brother Leon and Archie Costello are truly frightening characters as they use manipulation and cruelty to get what they want from the school, to the point of using violence to get what they want.  

Some people might have a problem with this book as it is extremely dark and disturbing and there is also extreme violence in this book, especially towards of the end of the book and that might not sit too well with people who do not like violence.  Another problem that most people might have with this book is the language as this book has strong language and many people might be sensitive about such strong language being used.  Probably, the reason why this book is dark and disturbing is because it was told from a villain’s point of view, which is either Archie or Brother Leon and in most books or movies that are told from a villain’s perspective of the world are usually dark and disturbing (well, except for certain movies or books where the villain is a bumbling fool and the story is more like a comedy or dark comedy rather than a horror story, like the cartoon series “Invader Zim” for example, where the story is told from a villain’s point of view, but is still hilarious to watch.

Now for the reason why “The Chocolate War” was banned in so many schools.  “The Chocolate War” was one of the most banned books in history because of its strong profanity, some sexual discussions, extreme violence, and the theme of bribery and manipulation being used in a negative way (that is a lot of reasons, is it not?)  However, I did enjoy this book because of the original and exciting plot, even though it felt like the ending was a bit “incomplete” meaning that so much more could have been said about the event that concluded the book.  Hopefully, the sequel, “Beyond the Chocolate War,” might conclude this book more properly, so that is definitely one of the books that are worth checking out.  I would recommend this book to anyone who loves reading books from the villain’s point of view and love reading banned books.

* 1979 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award

 REASON FOR BEING BANNED: For heavy use of profanity, sexual references and references to bribery, distortion and physical violence

[BOOK REVIEW] Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig

Title:  Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Author:  William Steig

Genre: Family / Drama / Magic / Animals

Year Published: 1969

Year Read:  2008

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Discussions about loss of a child)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“Sylvester and the Magic Pebble” is one of William Steig’s earlier books and has proven to be the most emotional and heartwarming of all of his books. Also, this was William Steig’s first controversial book due to the image of the police being portrayed as pigs, even though I do not think that it is an issue because all the characters are animals, but it depends on how you view this issue. Anyway, William Steig’s dramatic storyline and illustrations has won this book a Caldecott Book Award and will surely be a treat to read.

William Steig has done an excellent job at beautifully detailing a young donkey’s attempts to change back to normal after a wish goes awry. Both children and adults will feel for Sylvester’s great sadness at not being able to tell his parents that he is still alive and his parents’ misery as they thought that their darling son was dead. William Steig’s illustrations are beautiful and detailed as he vividly draws the sad and happy emotions on Sylvester’s parents’ faces when they worried about their son, Sylvester. Also, the illustrations of the flowers and the trees and even the snow during the winter scene are memorizing as they provide a calm background the images.

***Small Rant:***

Alright, so everyone who has been browsing through various banned books knows that the reason why this book was banned was because of the image of the policemen being portrayed as pigs. First of all, I have an issue with this book being banned because of that reason.  I mean, this is a book about TALKING ANIMALS, so what is wrong with the police being portrayed as pigs in a book about talking animals?  Also, the main character is a DONKEY! So, that means that if the characters were switched and the main character was a pig and the policemen were donkeys, would that still be an issue?  There were a couple of banned books where I do not agree with the reasons of it being banned (although, I never agree with any book being banned), but this was one of those books where I think the reason for it being banned was COMPLETELY unjustified.

***Rant Ended***

Also, the scenes where Sylvester's parents worry about Sylvester's whereabouts might worry smaller children who might worry about whether or not Sylvester will ever transform back into himself again.  Parents should reassure their children about the importance of staying safe if they wonder out into an unknown area.

“Sylvester and the Magic Pebble” is William Steig’s milestone children’s book as it discusses the love that Mr. and Mrs. Duncan have for their child, Sylvester, when he turns up missing and how the spell of the magic pebble is broken when Mr. and Mrs. Duncan wished for their child’s return. This book will be a cult favorite for both children and adults and is suitable for children ages five and up, even though it discusses the loss of a child.

* 1970 Caldecott Medal

* 1970 National Book Award Finalist for Children's Books

* 1978 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award

You might also like: 

• The Amazing Bone by William Steig

• Doctor DeSoto by William Steig

• Caleb and Kate by William Steig

 REASON FOR BEING BANNED: For having illustrations that portrayed police characters as pigs.

[BOOK REVIEW] Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Title:  Where the Sidewalk Ends

Author:  Shel Silverstein

Genre: Poetry / Comedy / Children

Year Published: 1974

Year Read:  2010

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 6+ (Death, Some Suggestive Themes and Some Rebellious Behavior)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

 “Where the Sidewalk Ends” is another book of poems from the creative mind of Shel Silverstein, who is the popular author of “A Light in the Attic.”  This book details poems about silly people and animals doing crazy activities.  Even though this book has some suggestive content, children will easily be delighted in this book for many years. 

Shel Silverstein has done an awesome job with both illustrating and writing this book of poems.  Shel Silverstein’s writing is witty and creative as uses bizarre creatures and humans to summarize each poem in a humorous way.  The poem that I thought stood out the most was the poem about Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who refused to take the garbage out and meets a grisly end (even though he never mentions what happened to her) and that poem expresses the moral that it is important to take the garbage out when it is needed and how one must listen to their parents when doing chores.  Shel Silverstein’s illustrations are hilarious and crude as he illustrates each character with long limbs and exaggerated expressions and I also love the way that Shel Silverstein puts the illustrations in black and white format which is mostly found in chapters books for both children and adults. 

Parents should know that there is a great deal of suggestive content in this book mainly revolving around the topic of morbid humor and the topic of God.   The two poems that might be the most controversial would be “Ma and God” and “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the Garbage Out.”  In “Ma and God,” the poem talks about how Ma always tells her child to not do bad things, even though God has created the bad things for the child to do.  For instance, one passage mentions that mother tells their children to eat their vegetables, but God creates sweets for children to eat.  This poem might give children the wrong message about God and parents might want to teach their children about religion before they read them this poem.  In “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the Garbage out,” the garbage overflows the house and eventually the city when Sarah refused to take the garbage out.  This poem might worry small children who think that if the garbage overflows their house, then they will meet a tragic fate too.  However, the poem merely tries to teach children to obey their parents and parents should try to comfort their children about this poem and the importance of taking the trash out. 

“Where the Sidewalk Ends” is another great classic book of poems from Shel Silverstein and it will surely help engage children into the world of poetry.  I would recommend this book for children ages six and up due to the suggestive themes of God and some morbid humor that younger children might not understand.

* 1976 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee

* 1984 George C. Stone Center for Children's Books Recognition of Merit Award

* 1996 Golden Archer Award for Intermediate

 REASON FOR BEING BANNED: For promoting drug use, the occult, suicide, death, violence, disrespect for truth and authority and rebellion against parents.  Also, for the poem "Dreaded" over the line "someone ate the baby" as they feared it might encourage cannibalism.