What would I do without the cat?
Where would I be without the hat?
I do not know, I can not say
I wouldn't want to see that day

For in this book, so short and sweet
is such, for all, a great big treat
The cat of mischief, cat of wise
Cat with gleaming knowing eyes

And of the hat!
What's up with that?
Where did those stripes come from?
Yes I know

Poor grammar, oh,
I'm really not that dum!

I would the world would know the cat
I hope the world will wear the hat
Can such a book be left alone?
Can such a tale be overblown?

I thinkest not, I thought antiquely
For this is writing most uniquely
And such will never come again
To grace the page with such a pen

To give us such unbridled joy
To please and, yes, and to annoy
But in the end to satisfy
With merriment and laughing sigh

For on this day we give our thanks
For treasure that is not in banks
But on the printed page before us
Thank you, oh dear Dr. Seuss!

------------------------

I wrote this in honour of Theodor Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, on the anniversary of his birthday. Using a vocabulary of a mere 223 words, 'The Cat in the Hat' has become a standard children's classic throughout the English-speaking world. I remember as a child delighting at the discovery of rhyming words and what fun they could be, and when coupled with the imaginative drawings and simple yet engaging plot lines, Dr. Seuss became my favourite almost instantly.

The plot of 'The Cat in the Hat' is simple yet meaningful. A cat, a perfect creature for exhibiting independence and mischief, is befriended by children who express delight, astonishment, and occasional disapproval of their be-hatted feline. Children learn behaviour in a humourous and touching way by relating to the children.

However, all of Seussian literature was almost not to be. Geisel had literally dozens of rejections for his early works, from publishers who doubted the appeal or the marketability. Fortunately for us, Geisel continued to pursue both writing and publication, which he continued up to the time of his death in 1991. He still had a book on the bestseller list at that time.

Long Live Dr. Seuss!

Cat and Chaos
Review date: 2004-09-25 Rating: 10 out of 10

The Cat in the Hat has no other name--symbolic of his role as Chaos. He comes to visit two children, the predictable (as in "orderly") Boy and Girl at home. Inexplicably, the parents have left these two underaged children at home with no babysitter and no good sense to refuse entry to a patently dangerous beast who has regrettable taste in headgear. This is significant; despite the fact Mom And Dad represent Order in the equation, they introduce Chaos into the system by abandoning their kids. From that small oversight, the rest of the chaotic events unfold with Greek-tragedy-like inevitability, though with an unpredictable outcome. How like the universe this is; the stars in their courses, but the weather is utter madness.

The Cat roams rampant through the suburban home, pretty much doing what you and I and these two kids would LOVE to do but wouldn't dare--everything Mom and Dad tell you "not to." In psychological terms, the Cat is fulfilling the deepest desires of the children--to be really, really BAD, but without any consequences whatsoever. It's alluring, giddy, intoxicating, and it's SCARY, too. Disorder, like a roller-coaster ride, runs frighteningly and ultimately, downhill.

Just before the authoritarian ORDER figures Mom-and-Dad reappear on the scene, the Cat uses an unlikely device to vacuum up the mess and restore all as it was--in essence, reversing entropy. This is accomplished effortlessly and with no visible source of power. Here is a golden opportunity to discuss the Second Law of Thermodynamics* with your kids. A good exercise would be to try to calculate the energy that would have been required to run such a device. Question: would the device the Cat uses to clean the mess be able to run off a car battery, or would it require, oh, say, a fast-breeder reactor the size of Yokahama? You do the math.

This endurable children's classic is essential to teaching the young about responsibility, temptation, thermodynamics and chaos theory. You can't begin too early.
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*The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that "in all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves the system, the potential energy of the state will always be less than that of the initial state." This is also known as entropy--or disorder.

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