There's a Wocket in my Pocket by Dr Seuss

There's a Wocket in my Pocket by Dr Seuss
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Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Zoe Page
Summary: Classic Seuss style and illustrations, but the language leaves a little to be desired.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: January 2014
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books
ISBN: 978-0007487738
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If you like made up creatures, this is the book you need, because virtually all of it is invented in a cuckoo, mixed up, doolally kind of way. Not only is there a wocket in a pocket, but there’s also a wasket in the basket, a yottle in the bottle and bofa on the sofa and so on. What a funny house this boy lives in!

This book had immediate pros and cons for me. The pro is that it introduces the idea of rhymes, and they are good rhymes too. None of that my rhymes with kite' nonsense, these are all matching sounds, though I suppose that does become a bit easier when you have free range, not just of existing words, but of made up ones with letters in any configuration to suit you. Another pro is the layout which is very child friendly, with bright, classic Dr Seuss illustrations and only a few words per page so as not to be overwhelming.

The con for me, however, is the huge number of made up words and creatures. At a time when you’re trying to introduce meaning and concepts and matching words to ideas, it seems a bit counter intuitive to me to start inventing things (generally alien-style creatures) and giving them names which take so much prominence in the story. There’s also some inconsistency because the critters seem to be being introduced by breed rather than individual names (the geeling, the yeps and so on, not Geeling and Yep) and yet when you come to the cellar, you have seven apparently different species names and yet the picture suddenly just shows seven of the same thing.

As is the way I tend to, I read this one out loud in the other half’s earshot and his response was that it sounds like Dr Seuss. He was then quite surprised when I told him it was Dr Seuss, not an imitator. I think that’s my takeaway message from this: it sounds vaguely like Dr Seuss but you don’t think it is because it’s not quite right, not quite awesome enough. I think this is an alright addition to a Dr Seuss collection but shouldn’t be the first item on the shelf. If I didn’t know the author’s style I would think it weird and nonsensical, rather than weird and wonderful which is my normal response to Seuss.

Thanks go to the publishers for supplying this book.

The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss is a classic from the same author, but you know that already, right?

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