Green Eggs and Ham

Dr. Seuss books are most commonly marketed to beginning readers in kindergarten and first grade. But some of them are excellent for barely-verbal young toddlers as well. Charlie fell in love with Green Eggs and Ham when he was about 15 months old, and it was a constant favorite in our house until he turned two.

Most people know this story already, but here's a brief recap for anyone who, like me, did not actually read this book as a child (I think my mother disliked it because ham is unkosher). Sam asks his nameless Friend if he'd like some green eggs and ham. Friend says that he does not like green eggs and ham. Sam then asks Friend if he would eat green eggs and ham in various exciting situations (in a house? with a mouse? in the rain? on a train?), but Friend repeatedly insists that he will not eat them anywhere. Finally, after much harassment, Friend agrees to take a bite if Sam will finally leave him alone. Lo and behold, Friend turns out to really like green eggs and ham.

The story is written as a cumulative poem, introducing concepts of repetition and rhyme. The incidental words change (for example, "I do not like them in a box" changes a few pages later to "I would not, could not in a box") but the major subjects appear every time in the same order as new situations are added. The easy rhymes allow a child to think of the correct word to fill in the blank at a very young age.

The simple story is also easy to follow from a very young age. This was the first book that Charlie ever tried to read to me. He must have been about 18 months old, and his rendition went something like this: "Green eggs and ham? No! In car? No! In boat? No! On train? No! All gone!" It was completely adorable.

A friend reminded me yesterday that many Dr. Seuss books have made-up nonsense words throughout. This can be problematic for babies and toddlers who are still trying to acquire a basic vocabulary. Montessori advocates talking to even very young children in ordinary English, without baby talk or nonsense words. Fortunately, Green Eggs and Ham doesn't have any nonsense words. It's composed entirely of short, simple, real words.

This is a classic that served us well for many months. It's back on the storage shelf now, but I plan to bring it out again during the early reading stage if not sooner.

For a hilarious coda, here is Jesse Jackson performing a dramatic reading of this book on Saturday Night Live.

I Am a Backhoe

The hilariously-named I Am a Backhoe has been the source of more than one joke among the adults in our household (see, e.g., the second item that showed up when I searched Amazon for the title, T-Shirt Men's Black "KISS ME, I AM AN [sic] BACKHOE OPERATOR"). But in my view, that just adds to the fun.

This one is great for a younger truck-obsessed kid. Charlie enjoyed it most in the 18-month to 2-years range, though he still likes reading it on occasion. The story is simple: a little boy pretends to be various trucks, one at a time. He describes and acts out what the truck does ("I dig my hand into the sand, my scooper hand."), including some good action words ("Dig. Dig. Dig. Lift, turn, tip.") and then you turn the page to reveal what truck he is. On the last pages, his father shows up, pretending to be a flatbed truck, and gives the little boy a ride on his back. Then they sit down on the couch together and read a book about trucks.

The drawings of the people and trucks are very realistic, and the backgrounds are simply gently-shaded bright colors. The front and back inside covers have close-ups of parts of the various trucks from the book, so you can use that page to play a vocabulary game, as well as color identification. There's not too much of interest for parents here (aside from the title), but Charlie always enjoyed it a lot.