June 2007 Book Club Selection
Print/braille edition, $14.95
Ages 4-8
More Dr. Seuss: 2008 Dr. Seuss Calendar; Oh, The Places You'll Go!
"UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot
nothing is going to get better
It's not."
Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss, speaking through the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth's natural beauty.
The Once-ler--our faceless, bodiless narrator--tells the story of how he discovered a pristine, green land filled with wondrous Truffula Trees. Bewitched by the beauty of the Truffula tufts, he chops them down to produce and mass-market Thneeds ("It's a shirt. It's a sock. It's a glove. It's a hat."). As the trees swiftly disappear, the fuzzy yellow Lorax (who speaks for the trees "for the trees have no tongues") repeatedly warns and pleads with the Once-ler, but his words of wisdom are for naught. Finally the Lorax removes himself from the scorched earth by the seat of his own furry pants, leaving only a rock engraved "UNLESS." Thus, with his own colorful version of a compelling morality play, Dr. Seuss teaches readers not to fool with Mother Nature.
But as you might expect from Dr. Seuss, all hope is not lost--the Once-ler has saved a single Truffula Tree seed, and our fate now rests in the hands of one caring child, who becomes our last chance for a clean, green future.
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