Title: Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?
Author: Dr. Seuss
Author: Dr. Seuss
Genre: Surrealism / Life / Humor
Year Published: 1973
Year Read: 2014
Publisher: Random House
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 4+ (Nothing Objectionable)
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
Now, I have read many popular children’s books written by
none other than Dr. Seuss, but I was
surprised to have stumble upon this classic called “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?” Out of all of the Dr. Seuss books I had read over the years, this was the one that I
have never even heard of before and I was interested in reading this book and
see if it holds up to Dr. Seuss’ other
great works. Well, it turns out that it DOES measure up to Dr. Seuss’ other great works and I was quite pleased with the
results of this book!
The book starts off with a young boy meeting up with an old
man in the middle of the Desert of Drize and the old man starts singing a song
to the boy about how there are more people less fortunate than he is and how he
is lucky to be himself. One of my
favorite passages in this book included:
“And suppose that you lived in that forest in France,
Where the average young person just hasn’t a chance
To escape from the perilous pants-eating-plants!
But your pants are safe! You’re
a fortunate guy.
And you ought to be shouting, “How lucky am I!”
Dr. Seuss has
done it again with his creative lyrical proses, along with providing a deep
message for the readers to relate to. I
loved the fact that Dr. Seuss is
narrating a story about how the boy should be lucky to be himself when there
are other people out there that have worse lives than he does and it was pretty
interesting in seeing the lives of other people and how hard their lives can
get with whatever jobs they have to deal with.
I think it brings the real world message about how life can get really
tough for people, but as long as you stay as yourself, you will always be lucky
in getting through life, which I think is a pretty positive message for both
children and adults. Dr. Seuss’ artwork is as usual creative
and hilarious to look at, especially of the images of the all the different
places that Dr. Seuss shows us such
as the spooky Kaverns of Krock, which look like dark building arcs that bend
all over the place.
For anyone who is not used to Dr. Seuss’ usual way with tongue twisters in his books, there are
many paragraphs in this book where the wording gets a little crazy and it might
be difficult for smaller children to read through. Parents might want to read this book with
their children, so that they could not only help their children understand the
wording in this book, but also let them have some fun with pronouncing the
imaginative words in this book.
Overall, “Did I Ever
Tell You How Lucky You Are?” is a truly brilliant and memorable book about
the importance of being satisfied with what you have that fans of Dr. Seuss should definitely pick up!
