Because Christmas’ just around the corner, it’s going to be a festive Watcha Readin’, so deck the blogs with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la, 'tis the season to be jolly, fa-la-la-la-la!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Dr. Seuss
American author Dr. Seuss revolutionized children’s literature in the 1950s and opened the gateway to fun and easy yet instructive children’s books. He understood that there is so much more to young literature than just easy vocabulary and basic plots: these books need to be fun! When you’re a kid, everything you do needs to be fun, otherwise you won’t do, simple as that. That’s just how their tiny, manipulative brains work. Tell a child to clean up his toys because he has to, he’ll pick up one when you’re in the room but the second you turn your back, they’ll just sod off and go do something incredibly dangerous. But if you tell them it’s a secret game, the little guy will have the room spick and span in under two minutes. It’s the same with reading:
Anne of Green Gables is lovely and all but you’ll need a bit more than the misadventures of a red-headed orphan to get kids reading from a young age.
In this aspect, Dr. Seuss was nothing short of a genius. With a combination of simple vocabulary, imaginative drawings, witty plots, quirky rhymes and easy-to-remember metrics, his books were enjoyed equally by first-time reader as by older children who could already read on their own.
I’ve given both my one-year-old and three-year-old nephews a couple of Dr. Seuss’ classics and I tend to subtly sway them to pick these over their other bedtimes stories simply because they are such a joy to read, no matter how old you are.
A Dartmouth graduate and Oxford drop out, Theodor Seuss Geisel worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, a political cartoonist for a NYC newspaper and, during World War II, he worked in an animation department of the U.S Army (don’t you just love how massive the US Army is that they actually have an animation department?). It wasn’t until 1937 that Dr. Seuss published his first children’s book,
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and up to his death in 1991, he published over 40 books, including
Horton Hatches the Egg in 1940,
The Cat In the Hat in 1957,
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and
Green Eggs and Ham, my personal favourite, both in 1960.
The Grinch, a bitter, ugly, green creature, with shoes too tight and a heart two sizes too small, is a recluse who lives in a cave with Max, his faithful dog, on a snowy mountain top overlooking the merry town of Whoville, home to the adorable and warm-hearted Whos.
Whilst Whoville cheerfully and, to Grinch’s annoyance, noisily carry out the Christmas festivities, miserable, mean old Grinch, unable to understand the Whos' happiness, makes plans to descend on the town and, dressed up as Santa, steal all their presents and decorations, thus depriving the quaint village of any Christmas fun. Although the raid is a success, the Whos celebrate Christmas all the same, even with no gifts or decorations.
Grinch then realizes that Christmas is more than just gifts and presents: ““Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!””. Touched by this, his heart grows three sizes larger: he returns all the presents and decorations and is warmly welcomed into the community of the Whos.
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Although a Classic on its own,
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was clearly influenced by the ultimate Christmas class and must-read at this time of year: Charles Dickens’
A Christmas Carol.
First published in December 1843, A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a sour, stingy, selfish man who, on Christmas Eve, is haunted by the supernatural visits of his dead business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come,
Marley's ghost warns Scrooge that, in order to avoid a miserable afterlife like Marley’s suffering, he needs to change his ways and let kindness and compassion in his cold, pinched heart.
Then the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to the nostalgic and moving scenes of his boyhood, reminding him of a time when he was innocent and uncorrupted by greed and egoism.
The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, awakens Scrooge’s sense of responsibility and solidarity by taking him to several festive settings, including a joyous market of people buying food for Christmas dinner and the happy family feast of Scrooge's poor, under-paid employee, Bob Cratchit.
Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come haunts Scrooge with dire visions of his future – namely his neglected and untended grave – if Scrooge doesn’t learn and act upon what he has witnessed during that Christmas Eve.
Scrooge wakes up on Christmas morning with joy and love in his heart: he spends Christmas day with his nephew's family, after anonymously sending a prize turkey to the Cratchit family for Christmas dinner.
Transformed overnight, the kind, generous and compassionate Scrooge embodies the spirit of Christmas.
Celebrated as a great influence in rejuvenating old English Christmas traditions, despite being a story of hope, kindness and joy, A Christmas Carol is much more than a Christmas tale but, as all Dickens’ work, it’s an incredible account of the darkness and despair which characterized mid-19th century England.
I like re-reading A Christmas Carol at this time of year, to focus on what really matters. It’s outrageously cliché, I realize that, but the moral of both Dickens and Dr. Seuss’ stories need very much be reminded to everyone of us.
I’m not a fan of Christmas: I hate shopping at this time of year (I do all my X-Mas shopping online and months ahead of time); I hate the cold, dark days of December; I hate the forced joy we all insist on faking through office Christmas parties (is there anything worse?) and afternoon-long TV specials when even the worse of the money-grabbing, covetous pigs take time for a 158th cover of “
Do They Know It’s Christmas Time At All?”. I hate what Christmas has become.
I’m aware this is a monstrous commonplace but Christmas is so far from Christianity, it’s frightful: Coca-Cola’s Santa Claus, the German Christmas tree, the turkey and, of course, the outrageous and furious shopping sprees, endless adverts on television, catalogues through the mail and in-your-face all-out decorations in shops… What on earth does any of this have to do with the birth of Jesus Christ? And, no disrespect to Jesus’ birthday, we all love our slice of cake and party hat when it’s our b-day, sipping Bacardi and what not, but Christmas isn’t even the most important religious holiday. It’s Easter, in case you’re wondering, along with the Assumption of Our Lady on August 15th, so let’s not even pretend all this fuss is because of our religious beliefs.
It’s commercial, pure and simple.
So, step aside from the cacophony of money-grabbing machine which society becomes this time of year, pick up A Christmas Carol or How The Grinch Stole Christmas and you’ll see, it’s just what the doctor ordered.
Enjoy. And Happy Holidays!
