Use this Halloween Directed Drawing printable pack as a QUICK AND EASY activity! Do you need a simple prep. and independent activity for a Halloween class party or seasonal center? This Halloween Directed Drawing activity pack is perfect for a simple winter center. What’s included:-30 Directed Drawing PrintablesThere are 10 different pictures, and each picture has 3 writing options to pick from. The students can: trace the word, trace and fill in the sentence, or write their own sentence. Here
URI study finds PBS KIDS Series The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™ boosts preschoolers’ understanding of science, engineering
KINGSTON, R.I. — April 23, 2020 — A study led by the University of Rhode Island has found that preschool children who interacted with multimedia learning materials created for the PBS KIDS show The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™ provided opportunities to learn about science for all participating children. The results of multiple analyses revealed that the free and accessible media had a positive effect on children, regardless of gender, socioeconomic status of the family or whether they receive special education services.
Findings suggest that by the end of the eight-week study twice as many children (56%) were able to accurately depict what scientists and engineers do than at the start of the study (24%).
The study was conducted with 137 preschool children from 13 classrooms in Rhode Island public school districts where up to 49% of the children in each class receive special services. The children received two tablets containing video stories of The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™ and a mobile multi-game app, The Cat in the Hat Builds That™, to use at home and at school for up to eight weeks. Parents and teachers also received printed resources from PBS LearningMedia to support real-world activities. URI researchers visited the classrooms to observe and assess the children’s understanding of the nature of science and engineering and their perceptions of science on five occasions over the course of the study. Parents and teachers also reported their observations in a weekly media log.
Preschool children broadened their understanding of the nature of science: who can participate in science and engineering, how science and engineering are practiced, and what is learned from science and engineering. Scores on a University-developed assessment tool called the Nature of Science and Engineering Survey (NOSES) significantly increased after exposure to The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™. The 23-question, picture-based survey asked children to choose picture responses to prompts like “Touch the pictures that show people acting like scientists.”
The study also found:
- In the Draw A Scientist Test and the Digital Design A Scientist Test, children demonstrated increases in positive perceptions of science and engineering.
- 77% of the children depicted scientists and engineers working in everyday spaces and places, such as backyards, playgrounds, etc., by the end of the study rather than in stereotypical settings, such as chemistry laboratories, or fantastical settings, such as secret locations in caves and castles, compared with 44% at the beginning of the study.
- 86% of girls drew female scientists at the end of the study compared to 49% at the beginning of the study.
Developing a deep understanding of the nature of science and engineering allows people to engage more critically in and interpret information about the world in which they live. According to the Next Generation Science Standards, when children understand the nature of science and engineering they are better able to answer their own questions and solve problems and will be better able to engage critically in their formal K-12 science curriculum.
During the course of the study, the URI researchers used three tools, two of which they developed: the Nature of Science and Engineering Survey (NOSES); and the Digital Design A Scientist Test (D-DAST); as well as the Draw A Scientist Test (DAST), which were administered to the children throughout the eight-week period. Parent and teacher surveys also provided data on how the children incorporated the media into their home and school lives. These qualitative descriptions allowed researchers to determine whether the youngsters changed their perceptions of science, who can participate in science and where science can be done. Both NOSES and D-DAST were developed by URI; DAST was developed by David Chambers in 1983.
Parents and teachers reported how the media inspired the children to behave like scientists and engineers. As one parent reported on the post-survey, “My daughter told my husband and [me] that she may become a scientist or engineer. I know she has learned those career options from participating in the different The Cat in the Hat activities. She also set up her own sink and float experiment at the house where her older siblings had to make predictions and then participate in the investigation.”
The parent and teacher comments showed that preschoolers are not too young to begin engaging in science and engineering practices, and that multi-platform content like The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™ builds a strong foundation by helping them to enjoy science and to engage in science with their parents.
Sara Sweetman, URI assistant professor of education and lead researcher on this project, serves as an adviser to the Ready To Learn Initiative, an early learning project of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PBS, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education. As part of the initiative, Sweetman was awarded a research grant to explore how multimedia experiences at home and at school influence young children’s attitudes and perceptions about science, in support of their pathways toward science and engineering careers.
“The study’s results are really encouraging,” said Sweetman. “If free and publicly available media can support early science awareness and knowledge within young children as they start school, we can begin to narrow the science opportunity gap prevalent in kindergarten.”
Sweetman, who has been a consultant with Sesame Street and other children’s media programming since 2007, described the benefits of media integration in early childhood. “Media often portrays unrealistic views of science and engineering, as well as who is included in the work,” Sweetman said. “Media that is intentionally designed to be inclusive of people and places, and shows authentic science and engineering practices like The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™, has the potential to start all kids on a path toward building a more diverse and innovative future.”
About the University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island, is the flagship public research as well as the land grant and sea grant university for the state of Rhode Island. As a major research university defined by innovation and big thinking, URI offers its undergraduate, graduate, and professional students distinctive educational opportunities designed to meet the global challenges of today’s world and the rapidly evolving needs of tomorrow. In addition, through its exceptional education, research, and outreach, URI works to improve the quality of life for all Rhode Island residents and the global community. The Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Education and Professional Studies at The University of Rhode Island offers a two-campus, collaborative, interconnected approach to teaching, research, and outreach. Research expertise within the college includes science education, digital and media literacy, early childhood education, literacy instruction, adult learning, and social justice in education.
About The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™
PBS KIDS’ series The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™ supports learning by modeling science practices and language and exploring science and engineering content through animated stories. Study resources focused on videos, digital games, and hands-on activities from the third season funded by the CPB-PBS Ready To Learn Initiative. The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™ is a PORTFOLIO ENTERTAINMENT INC. production and is derived from properties held by Penguin Random House and Dr. Seuss Enterprises.
About the Ready To Learn Initiative
The Ready To Learn Initiative is a cooperative agreement funded and managed by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE). It supports the development of innovative educational television and digital media targeted to preschool and early elementary school children and their families. Its general goal is to promote early learning and school readiness, with a particular interest in reaching low-income children. In addition to creating television and other media products, the program supports activities intended to promote national distribution of the programming, effective educational uses of the programming, community-based outreach, and research on educational effectiveness. The contents of season 3 of The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!™ and The Cat in the Hat Builds That™ app were developed under a grant from the Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. The project is funded by a Ready To Learn grant (PR/AWARD No. U295A150003, CFDA No. 84.295A) provided by the Department of Education to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
To access B-roll, summary and report, please go to
Directed Drawings – March Madness
Created by
The Creative Camper
This creation includes directed drawings for the month of March. These drawings will allow you and your students to engage in a fun activity that requires listening and following directions! In 6-8 easy steps you and your students can create beautiful artwork! This download includes a leprechaun, a rainbow and pot o’ gold, a basketball player, cat in the hat , thing 1 & thing 2, a lion, a lamb, Johnny Appleseed, a sunny weather kid, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a weather forecaster, a s
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PreK – 3 rd
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Original Price $3.00
Rated 4.67 out of 5, based on 3 reviews
4.7 ( 3 )
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Themed Directed Drawings & Writing Prompts – 12 Month Year BUNDLE
Created by
CrazyCreations on TpT
Enjoy all 49 THEMED directed drawings (+ 2 BONUS Drawings ) – almost one for every week of the year! Students can follow 8 easy steps to learn how to draw objects.Teachers can use this as a whole-class guided activity and can demonstrate how to draw the picture on the white board while students follow along. Or teachers can use these for centers and/or early finisher work as an independent activity with step-by-step directions.[* Please note that the following drawings are no longer available: Na
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1 st – 6 th , Staff
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$55.00
Original Price $55.00
Rated 3.00 out of 5, based on 1 reviews
3.0 ( 1 )
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Visual Step-by-Step Directed Drawing Favorite Characters for Elementary Students
Created by
The Awesome Art Room
Need a quick handout for students to work independently? Need an art sub plan or something students can work on at home during remote learning? This PDF shows a simple break down steps on how to draw every elementary student’s favorite book characters- Clifford, Pigeon, Pete the Cat , Arthur, and the Cat in the Hat . This is a great way of incorporating Art and ELA. Have your students take on the role of author and illustrator by drawing the characters and then designing their own book cover, co
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K – 5 th
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Original Price $2.75
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The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
The Cat in the Hat returns for more out-of-control fun in this wintry Beginner Book by Dr. Seuss.
It’s a snowy day and Dick and Sally are stuck shovelling . . . until the Cat in the Hat arrives to liven things up (to say the least!). Featuring the Cat’s helpers Little Cat A, Little Cat B, and so on through the alphabet, and ending with a gigantic Voom,
‘The Cat in the Hat Comes Back’ is a riotous, fun-filled follow-up to Dr. Seuss’s classic ‘The Cat in the Hat.’.
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Genres ChildrensPicture BooksFictionClassicsPoetryFantasyHumor
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63 pages, Hardcover
First published September 12, 1958
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Dr. Seuss
824 books 17.5k followers
Theodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both cartoons and humorous articles for them. Additionally, he was submitting cartoons to Life, Vanity Fair and Liberty. In some of his works, he’d made reference to an insecticide called Flit. These references gained notice, and led to a contract to draw comic ads for Flit. This association lasted 17 years, gained him national exposure, and coined the catchphrase “Quick, Henry, the Flit!”
In 1936 on the way to a vacation in Europe, listening to the rhythm of the ship’s engines, he came up with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was then promptly rejected by the first 43 publishers he showed it to. Eventually in 1937 a friend published the book for him, and it went on to at least moderate success.
During World War II, Geisel joined the army and was sent to Hollywood. Captain Geisel would write for Frank Capra’s Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries (he won Oscar’s for Hitler Lives and Design for Death). He also created a cartoon called Gerald McBoing-Boing which also won him an Oscar.
In May of 1954, Life published a report concerning illiteracy among school children. The report said, among other things, that children were having trouble to read because their books were boring. This inspired Geisel’s publisher, and prompted him to send Geisel a list of 400 words he felt were important, asked him to cut the list to 250 words (the publishers idea of how many words at one time a first grader could absorb), and write a book. Nine months later, Geisel, using 220 of the words given to him published The Cat in the Hat , which went on to instant success.
In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn’t write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham . Cerf never paid the $50 from the bet.
Helen Palmer Geisel died in 1967. Theodor Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond in 1968. Theodor Seuss Geisel died 24 September 1991.
Also worked under the pen name: Theo Le Sieg
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9,564 reviews 73 followers
The Cat in the Hat Comes Back (The Cat in the Hat #2), Dr. Seuss
Once again, Sally and her brother, Conrad, are being left home alone for the day, but this time, their mother has left them with instructions to clear away a large amount of snow while she is out.
However, they are soon interrupted in their work by the arrival of the Cat in the Hat.
Sally warns her brother not to talk to the Cat nor to let him come near, reminding him of what happened the last time he came. However, the Cat lets himself into their house to get out of the snow, and Conrad follows him in. When he reaches the bathroom, he finds the Cat eating a cake in the tub with the hot and cold water on.
Conrad (who loses his patience) scolds the Cat for his antics. He gets mad, then he tells the Cat there is work to be done and he should not be in the house eating cake like a pig. He clarifies to the Cat that he can be welcome to stay in their house if he helps out with the work.
Conrad means the Cat is allowed to stay as long as he helps him and Sally when there is work to be done (and only for work). If not, he should get out of the house. Then Conrad turns off the water and drains out the tub (so the Cat can help him and Sally with the work), only to find that a long pink ring has formed around the sides of the bath tub.
The Cat offers to help, but his preliminary attempts to remove the pink spot end in disaster as he only transfers the mess to a succession of one object after another, including their mother’s white dress, the wall, their father’s pair of $10 shoes, a rug, and their parents’ bed.
Unsure of how to remove the stain from the bed, the Cat calls on the help of Little Cat A, who lives inside his hat, who lifts his hat to reveal Little Cat B, and then Little Cat C. The three Little Cats go to work, transferring the stain to the television, then a pan, and finally outside with a fan.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سی ام ماه ژانویه سال 2021میلادی
عنوان: گربه با کلاه باز میگردد؛ زیوس؛ مترجم: رضی هیرمندی؛ تهران: افق، کتابهای بنفشه، 1383؛ نسخه دو زبانه فارسی و انگلیسی، در 48ص؛ شابک 9789643692551؛ چاپ سوم، افق، 1392؛ شابک 9643692590؛ چاپ چهارم 1393؛ در 39ص، و یک ص؛ شابک 9789643699048؛ موضوع داستانها و شعر کودکان و نوجوانان از نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا – سده 20م
اگر قصه ی «گربه ی با کلاه» را خوانده باشید، میتوانید حدس بزنید، که وقتی دوباره سر و کله ی این گربه ی ناقلا پیدا شود، چه آتشی به پا میکند؛ تازه او اینبار، یک گروه از بیست و شش گربه های زبر و زرنگ را هم، زیر کلاهش پنهان کرده؛ این گربه ها برای تمیز کردن خانه، کارهایی میکنند؛ یکیش این که: با تفنگهایشان، در یک چشم به هم زدن، حساب همه ی کله ها را میرسند
برف باریده است؛ مادر هنگام خروج از خانه از سلی و برادرش میخواهد، که برفها را پارو کنند؛ آنها مشغول کار هستند که گربه با کلاه از راه میرسد، وارد خانه میشود و همه چیز را به هم میریزد؛ سپس برای تمیز کردن خانه، گربه هایی کوچک و کوچکتر را یكی پس از دیگری از کلاهش بیرون میآورد تا به او یاری کنند؛ پس از انجام تمام کارها و مرتب کردن خانه، گربه ی با کلاه از بچه ها خداحافظی میکند و میرود؛ موضوع این داستان فانتزی کوتاه، بازی و شیطنت است؛ ماجراهای آن در زمانی نامشخص و در مکانی واقعی روی میدهد؛ زبان داستان روایی و شعرگونه و طنزآمیز است؛ تصویرهای کتاب زنده و هنرمندانه هستند؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
564 reviews 146 followers
The first book is a solid enough classic, if a little too wordy by today’s standards. But the cat is a great character, kind of a (in fantasy genre terms) wild fae, who shows up to mess you up if you’re too lazy and bored or something like that. There’s a fantastic wildness to the cat, where it’s impossible to tell what he really wants. He’s rowdy but not all bad, and he has feelings.
This sequel is pretty much a retread, and it’s generally worse in every way. Now the kids are outside shoveling snow, and cat arrives again likes a wrecking ball to mess them up. There is one brilliant idea, which is that underneath the cat’s big hat there’s a possibly infinite amount of smaller cats in smaller hats with even smaller cats in even smaller hats under their hats. I guess if you were wondering why the cat’s hat is so big, now you know.
Unfortunately, the cats-on-cats-on-cats idea is wasted in favor of what for me was a real disturbing focus on guns in this book. Why do these cats need guns for their antics? They don’t. Get the guns out of kids books please.
33 likes
3,867 reviews 12.9k followers
Neo is back to read me a story
It should not be anything all that gory
This was a good story about a bad cat
Who sits in the bathtub, happy to get fatWhen he is forced from his warm tub
No longer able to sing
He leaves two young children
A horrid cat ringIt’s pink! It’s a nightmare
What will Mother say?
This will surely will need cleaning
All night and into the dayThe story retells the dramatic affair
Of how two children panicked, full of despair
But this Cat had some friend come, they were all set
These cat friends spanned the entire alphabetYes, Neo did enjoy reading this tale
Though the pictures distracted and he read like a snail
I am proud to see progress with his reading of books
Soon, Goodreads friends of all nationalities will give us looks28 likes
824 reviews 3,216 followers
The mischievous cat returns.
Along with it comes the alphabetical cats in successive hats. And more of everything.
Let me just me put is as this is the way of explaining Inception to 5 year olds.
Rhyming, repetitive and recurring lines cast the spell again!
PS : Wait, the goldfish did not return. I KNEW the cat ate it in the first part.
25 likes
1,052 reviews 159 followers
It’s snowy and Dick and Sally are shoveling the snow outside but then the strange cat returns and messes things up. It is a sequel to The Cat in the Hat and even though it isn’t as good as the first book, it’s still pretty great.
The cat is a strange character. It is neither good nor bad. It is notorious and messes things up but still teaches the kids a message. I guess it teaches everyone that not everything is black and white.
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21 likes
63 reviews 68 followers
Everything was amazing except VOOM.
22 likes
430 reviews
‘Dr Seuss’ being the pen name under which Theodor Seuss Geisel wrote (taking his middle name and making full use of his Oxford University PhD in English literature) was the American born grandson of German immigrants to the US.
Beginning his career in the late 1920’s as an illustrator and cartoonist, it wasn’t until nearly 30 years later that Seuss produced his classic series of children’s books that so many of us know and love.
Never having the benefit of the books of Dr Seuss when I was a child, it was with great pleasure that I discovered his work many years later when reading them to my own children.
For anyone who has not yet discovered Seuss’s classic children’s books – now is the time to do so! What Seuss has created using such imagination, with a particularly dynamic (both flamboyant but simple) and unique style of illustration, coupled with his verse rhythms and the use of repetitive but building and twisting phrases – all in an extremely and deliberately accessible way, is a series of works which are a fantastic visual and verbal feast, captivating both children and adults alike.
For me the most memorable examples of Seuss’s work are:
‘The Cat in the Hat’ (along with its sequel ‘The Cat in the Hat Comes Back’) – For the wonderful creation of mischief that is the ‘Cat in the Hat’
‘Fox in Socks’ – For the tremendously bizarre tongue-twisters
‘Green Eggs and Ham’ – For the ever building and dynamic nature of the verse.
All of them of course have Seuss’s trademark fantastic illustrations and rhythmic verses throughout.It is that unique combination of:
Attractive illustrations and exciting verse – both very dynamic, always moving always going somewhere new; both very strange, silly and bizarre – all in an extremely accessible, engaging and compelling (and let’s not forget educational) way – which creates Dr Seuss’s fantastically immersive world.A timeless world of the imagination, of amazing words, pictures, rhymes, stories, learning, but above all else – FUN
Not just for children, but for the child in all of us.
16 likes
381 reviews 150 followers
Better even than the original – The Cat in the Hat. This one is about snow: Sally and I are outside shovelling, making paths when the cat turns up.
He helps himself to a bath and eats cake – in the bath, which leaves a pink ring. The ring is cleaned by the cat with mother’s new dress, and then I believe the pink is scrubbed off dad’s shoes on to the bed, at which point the Cat calls in little Cats A, B, and C to help.
The pink is fan-blown? out the window, onto the snow, so more reinforcements are summoned; little Cat C has D, E, and F inside his hat, and so on to little Cat Z who is too small to see.
Excuse me please, maybe not all my details are absolutely correct as this is done from memory – Leo has the book, which I could tell from his absolute silence – he was Impressed!
16 likes
2,239 reviews 3,538 followers
The Cat in the Hat is back and continues messing up things at the house of Sally and her brother. Their mother is conveniently away again, but this time the fish is also missing.
The Cat tries to fix the mess that he made and in the end he makes a bigger mess.
Until he lifts his hat and now we know what he hides underneath it: Little Cats. As many as the Alphabet Letters.
Perfect little copies of the Cat in the Hat. These cats will help cleaning up, but not before they create much bigger mess.Again this is just a silly book, but it can create lots of laughter and it can help children with their reading and with remembering the english alphabet.
15 likes
Author
30 books 14.1k followers
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15 likes
Author
3 books 1,669 followers
by Andrea Renee Cox
What a cute ABC book! I hadn’t read this Dr. Seuss book prior to now, surprisingly. I’m adding it to my to-purchase list, because it’s very adorable and one I can imagine reading to any kids I may have down the road.
I was not compensated for my honest review.
11 likes
Author
20 books 200 followers
4 stars. I didn’t love this one as much as book one. It was funny, but not quite as funny. And I didn’t love the plot as much. But it was a good sequel and my siblings enjoyed it.
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11 likes
4,704 reviews 63 followers
I’m still attempting to get ahead on my reading goal…
10 likes
7,201 reviews 194 followers
That troublemaking feline who first appeared in 1957, in Dr. Seuss’ very first early reader, The Cat in the Hat , returns in this second, alphabetic adventure. As the narrator and his sister Sally shovel snow, the Cat in the Hat appears, dashing off into the house despite being told he is not welcome. Here he makes the predictable mess, and then unveils his helpers: little cats in hats, nested within his own hat like Matryoshka dolls, and named (one each) for the letters of the alphabet. This feline crew swing into action to clean up the big pink spot that persists, as a result of the original Cat in the Hat’s shenanigans, with the deciding factor in their success being the invisible VOOM living under Cat Z’s hat.
Originally published in 1958, the year after its predecessor, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back was Dr. Seuss’s sixteenth children’s book, and the second of what would grow to become a substantial collection of early readers. Although it can be read as a picture-book, it belongs to Random House’s I Can Read It All By Myself Beginner Books collection, which encompasses all of the Dr. Seuss and Dr. Seuss-labeled early readers, as well as other titles. Like the earlier title, it is a book I recall reading and enjoying as a child, although perhaps not as often or as much as the first. I picked it up for this reread as part of my recently begun Dr. Seuss retrospective, in which I will be reading and reviewing all of of his classic children’s books, in chronological publication order. This is a project I undertook as an act of personal protest against the suppression of six of the author/artist’s titles – And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , McElligot’s Pool , If I Ran the Zoo , Scrambled Eggs Super! , On Beyond Zebra! and The Cat’s Quizzer – by Dr. Seuss Enterprises, due to the outdated and potentially offensive elements that they contain. See my review of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , to be found HERE, for a fuller exploration of my thoughts on that matter.
As I mentioned in my recent review of The Cat in the Hat , although these books are not currently being suppressed through this recent decision on the part of the copyright holder, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, to cease publication, it may only be a matter of time until they have been added to that sad list. To quote myself: “Sadly, the censorious impulse – including, and perhaps especially, the self-censorious impulse, of which this recent decision is an example – only gains strength as it is fed, and this particular book has already run afoul of those same critics whose work seems to have informed Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ recent action against the artistic and literary legacy that they are meant to be representing. Apparently the argument has been put forward, in such academic titles as Philip Nel’s Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books , that the titular Cat in this story is a descendant of the minstrel shows and blackface of earlier generations, and that his actions are a coded reflection of white fears about the disruptive nature of black power. I cannot comment upon Nel’s argument, having not yet read the book – something I hope to do in the future – but some of the reviews of it that I have seen, reviews that mention all of the “decoding” done by the critic, in order to arrive at his conclusion, do make me wonder whether the text actually supports that conclusion, or whether the entire argument rests upon the imposition of the critic’s own preexisting assumptions upon the text. I hope, at some point, to have an answer to that question, as well as a better understanding of the role of critics like Nel in this recent decision from Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Whatever the final argument put forward in his book, it is not my intention to assert that he can be held directly accountable for this act of censoriousness, simply by virtue of his having made a critique of Dr. Seuss’ work. There is a difference, after all, between critique – even harsh critique – and calling for censorship. Of course, if Nel’s book does indeed make an argument for suppressing books such as The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, or if Nel was one of the panel of “experts” Dr. Seuss Enterprises is said to have consulted, then that is a different matter, and some of the blame for this recent episode of cultural vandalism can indeed be laid at his feet.”
Again, as with the first book, in light of this criticism I have given particular attention to the depiction of the Cat during this reread, in order to see whether I could detect any problematic racialized elements to his character. There is certainly a disquieting element to these stories – Nel is not wrong in labeling the cat disruptive! – that I recall finding rather striking, even as a young girl. Of course, my sense then was more that the Cat was being “naughty,” and that the story represented the mischief children get up to, absent parental authority. This second story has an additional disturbing element, one I see referenced in quite a few online reviews, in that the alphabetical cat crew use play pop-guns in defeating the pink spot. This is interesting, because I don’t recall the pop-guns from my girlhood reading of the book, making me think now that I just accepted them as a matter of course, understanding that they were toys, rather than the real thing. Truthfully, even reading as an adult, I find the pop-guns (referred to in some online reviews simply as “guns,” with no reference to them being toys) less disturbing than the pink slime, which initially came off the Cat in the Hat himself, after taking a bath. In any case, I don’t see any of these story elements, however disturbing – the Cat in the Hat’s blithe disregard for the fact that he isn’t welcome, the nasty pink slime, the alphabetical cat crew – as being in any way “coded” black. I will have to read further, in Nel’s work, to get a sense of why he thinks otherwise.
I’ll conclude by observing, as I did in my review of the first book, that “whatever interpretation the reader lands upon, when it comes to the meaning of the story and its creator’s intentions, the experience of generations of children confirm that this is an immensely entertaining book. I can only hope that it will not be disappeared by our current climate of censoriousness, and that coming generations will also be able to enjoy its odd, disquieting charm.”
