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83rd out of 2,253 books
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3,521 voters
Horton Hatches the Egg
by
Dr. Seuss
Poor Horton. Dr. Seuss's kindly elephant is persuaded to sit on an egg while its mother, the good-for-nothing bird lazy Maysie, takes a break. Little does Horton know that Maysie is setting off for a permanent vacation in Palm Springs. He waits, and waits, never leaving his precarious branch, even through a freezing winter and a spring that's punctuated by the insults of h...more
Paperback, 64 pages
Published
October 2nd 2004
by Harpercollins Childs
(first published 1940)
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One of Dr Seuss's earliest books, and for me, his all-time best. I adore Horton! His determined goodness and those wonderful expressions on his dear face. I still read this several times a year and never fail to be pleased that things work out well for Horton in the end. And clearly Dr Seuss was ahead of his time; as it turns out, research into their lives in the wild reveals that elephants are indeed faithful (one hundred percent).
It's impossible for me to have a favorite Dr. Seuss book, but this one gives some stiff competition. Whenever I read it to my nursery school English classes, I ask the kids to whom the egg ultimately belongs right before the baby hatches. The younger kids in the class (2 to 3 years old) almost always say the egg belongs to the bird because eggs belong with birds. The older kids (4 to 5) say the egg belongs to the elephant because he took care of it. An interesting revelation as to how kids appro...more
This is a lovely book by Dr. Seuss.
Wanting to take a break, the lazy bird, Maysie convinces Horton to sit on her egg and wait for it to hatch. Unbeknown to Horton however, is that Maysie's 'break' consists of setting off for a permanent vacation in Palm Springs.
Horton waits and waits, sitting there through all sorts of weather. He is laughed at ("They taunted. They teased him. They yelled 'How Absurd! Old Horton the Elephant thinks he's a bird!'"), and is even shot at by hunters! Horton shows h...more
When Mayzie the lazy bird lays an egg on top of a tree, she really cannot be bothered to wait for it to hatch, so she convinces Horton the elephant to do the job for her. He sits there through all sorts of weather, gets laughed at by the other animals, survives being shot at by hunters, and then gets transported by cart and boat only to be sold to a circus (whilst all this time remaining on top of the egg on the tree).
During all of his sufferings, lazy Mayzie is relaxing on a beach oblivious to...more
During all of his sufferings, lazy Mayzie is relaxing on a beach oblivious to...more
Author/Illustrator: Dr Seuss
First Published: 1940
"Horton Hatches the Egg" is a longish picture book with Seuss' distinctive style, rhymes and illustrations. The story is typically absurd with an elephant sitting in a tree for almost a year upon Lazy Mayzie's egg because
It's a good book with an enjoyable light moral and simple problem solving.
The quandary I have with Dr Seuss books is finding just the righ...more
First Published: 1940
"Horton Hatches the Egg" is a longish picture book with Seuss' distinctive style, rhymes and illustrations. The story is typically absurd with an elephant sitting in a tree for almost a year upon Lazy Mayzie's egg because
"I meant what I said
And I said what I meant....
An elephant's faithful
One hundred per cent!"
It's a good book with an enjoyable light moral and simple problem solving.
The quandary I have with Dr Seuss books is finding just the righ...more
I have loved this book forever and forever. Horton the elephant, ever helpful, agrees to watch Mayzie the lazy bird's egg while she stretches her wings. That stretch becomes a semi-permanent vacation as Horton sits on the egg through all kinds of weather and even as hunters have him in their sight.
The greedy hunters sell Horton to a circus and he travels far and wide. One week shy of a year, Horton's egg begins to crack and wouldn't you know it? Old Mayzie the lazy bird is back to claim what no...more
The greedy hunters sell Horton to a circus and he travels far and wide. One week shy of a year, Horton's egg begins to crack and wouldn't you know it? Old Mayzie the lazy bird is back to claim what no...more
"Horton hatches the Egg" is about an elephant named Horton who agrees to sit on a birds egg for her so she can take a quick vacation. What he soon realizes is that the bird is not taking a quick vacation; she flies off to the beach and decides to never come back. Horton sits on the egg through the rain and the snow, and even when his friends ridicule him he stays on the egg because "an elephant's faithful one hundred percent." Then one day, three hunters find Horton and instead of shooting him t...more
This is an exciting book to capture a child’s imagination and is written by the great Dr. Seuss. I would recommend it for children aged 4-7 years as it would teach them in a fun way, the importance of keeping your word and looking out for people who are in need. Mayzie, a very lazy bird persuades Horton, an elephant, to sit on her egg to help her hatch it, while she takes a well earned rest . But what Horton doesn’t know is she is headed for a very long break to the Palm Springs. I loved the fac...more
Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss is the story a Horton the Elephant who gets swindled by a good for nothing bird into sitting on the bird’s egg for 51 weeks. The lazy bird scams Horton into crawling up in a tree and sit on an egg while the bird takes a “break.” After surviving hunters, being sold to a circus and endless ridicule that worthless bird shows up just as the egg is hatching and claims it for himself. After doing all the hard Horton is rightfully upset. To the surprise of everything...more
My son brought this home as a library book and I was very surprised to see a Dr. Seuss book I had never encountered (both in my personal reading history and in my time working in book stores).
The first thing that really jumped out at me was the art work. The art work is very recognizably Theodor Geisel's but the lines and shading weren't as neat and cleaned up looking as all of his other books. I checked when the book was written after reading it and found out it was written very early in his c...more
The first thing that really jumped out at me was the art work. The art work is very recognizably Theodor Geisel's but the lines and shading weren't as neat and cleaned up looking as all of his other books. I checked when the book was written after reading it and found out it was written very early in his c...more
Sep 11, 2011
Kara Roberts
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Shelves:
concept-book,
fantasy,
fiction,
light-humor,
folklore,
picture-book,
poetry,
animals,
early-readers
Poor Horton. Dr. Seuss's kindly elephant is persuaded to sit on an egg while its mother, the good-for-nothing bird lazy Maysie, takes a break. Little does Horton know that Maysie is setting off for a permanent vacation in Palm Springs. He waits, and waits, never leaving his precarious branch, even through a freezing winter and a spring that's punctuated by the insults of his friends. ("They taunted. They teased him. They yelled 'How Absurd! Old Horton the Elephant thinks he's a bird!'") Further...more
As soon as I opened the book, I immediately recognized it as a Dr. Seuss book. The cover is a bold green with a white Horton standing out. The thick black lines from the illustrations and the cover were also a traditional Seuss style. Inside on the pages, the images look like their drawn and shaded in with color pencils. The illustrations are teal and white, with accents of red. The red helps draw the viewer’s eye across the pages and deep into the drawings. The text is very lyrical and rhymes i...more
In my continuation of discovering creepy things that can be learned from children's books, I decided to try a Dr. Seuss story instead. I remember Horton hearing a Who, but never saw this one about Horton Hatching the Egg, so it seemed like a great place to start.
So, basically, we have this selfish mother bird who is tired of sitting on her own egg. Horton, being a kind, loyal elephant, decides he will somehow climb a piddly little tree and sit on the egg for her. Neither the tree nor the egg bre...more
So, basically, we have this selfish mother bird who is tired of sitting on her own egg. Horton, being a kind, loyal elephant, decides he will somehow climb a piddly little tree and sit on the egg for her. Neither the tree nor the egg bre...more
I loved reading this book! As always, Dr. Seuss creates a beautiful story full of bright and colorful images and rich entertaining text. As Horton the Elephant is taking a walk one day, he comes across a very lazy bird who doesn't want to sit on her egg anymore. She asks Horton to sit on her egg so she can take a little break. Horton eventually agrees and promises to stay on the egg. Once the bird leaves, she forgets all about Horton and her egg and goes on vacation! Horton is a very faithful eg...more
As an adoptive mom, I found the charge that the birth-mother was lazy and greedy difficult to stomach. In this case Maysie completely abandoned the egg to someone with no idea if it was a good caregiver and then takes off. Not a good parent, but certainly NOT representative of all parents who place their kids for adoption. I could see my son's questions forming as we read it: why would she abandon her egg? Why couldn't she take care of the egg? (in his head: why couldn't my mom take care of me?...more
I love this book. It is an all time favorite for me. This book conveys the importance of integratiy if the face of adversity. This book shows that different isn't bad and despite the challenge of being or doing something that is outside the relms of what is expected that the result of doing this with integrity and dilligence should result in the new beginings of acceptance. It should be...It should be..... It should be like that....but it is classified as a children's story.
If there is one go-to read-aloud, this is it for me. Perfect length. Perfectly paced. Perfectly dramatic. Permits vocal theatrics to your heart's content (at least the way I read it--from the flighty, high-pitched female voice of Mazy the lazy bird, to the derisive hoots of Horton's jungle "friends," to the gut-wrenching, depressed (or sea-sick!--therefore, about to vomit) groans of faithful Horton, to the vengeful, accusatory and wickedly self-righteous Mazy when it appears that faithful Horton...more
I had never read Horton Hatches the Egg before until now and was pleasantly surprised. I found Horton to be inspiring and adorable. His determination to help Mayzie the bird because "an elephant's faithful one hundred percent" teaches children to mean what they say and keep their promises. It also shows them that leaving something and then coming back when it is suddenly interesting and trying to claim it as their own does not work. For example, Mayzie finds Horton at the circus right when the e...more
I absolutely adore this book! Dr. Seuss is one of my all time favorite authors and this has to be one of his best books! In this story we meet Horton the Elephant who does Mayzie (a lazy bird) a favor by sitting on her egg so she can go off and play. Since Horton is an elephant sitting on an egg he draws a lot of attention and his fellow citizens think he’s crazy! Even though he is made fun of by his friends Horton remains on the egg because that’s what he promised he would do. I love the moral...more
In “Horton Hatches the Egg” by Dr. Seuss Horton the elephant is an admirable character with the will to sit and wait on an egg no matter what happens in order to keeping his promise to take care of a lazy bird’s egg. Horton undergoes bad weather and even being taken away from his home to keep his promise. He shows great will power not budging from the egg even though his friends leave him and laugh at him. Horton also shows great bravery by not moving even when he is at the risk of getting shot....more
Sep 13, 2012
Ashley Hilton
added it
Horton Hatches the Egg is a heartfelt book. Horton is convinced by a lazy mother bird to watch her egg while she goes to Palm Beach. Horton is sitting on top of a tree, he gets made fun of by his friends. Horton is captured and is forced to go on a sea voyage because they want him for the circus. Through all of this Horton refuses to let go of the egg, he is so persistent to keep his word and protect the egg. The traveling circus goes close to Palm Beach where the mother bird is at and when the...more
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This story has a very touching ending. The ending was definitely my favorite part and you can’t help but to smile when you find out what happens. The story begins with a mother bird who does not want to sit on her egg because she wants to rest. An elephant named Horton then walks by so the mother asks him to sit on the egg so she could take a rest. So the elephant does and sits in the tree, while the mother flies away and takes a vacation. Horton is then stuck there sitting on the egg through te...more
This is a book whose title is very self explanatory. Horton the elephant agrees to hatch the egg of a very lazy bird who just wants to go on vacation and leave behind her responsibilities. Because sitting on an egg is not something that elephants really do, everyone makes fun of him and he even ends up in a circus where people come just to laugh at him. Through it all he reminds himself that he promised to stay on the egg, and he will remain faithful. I think this is a really good story for kids...more
I love the lessons in this book of enduring through trials, keeping your promises, and finding your reward.
I cry when I read this to my kids. Even (and maybe especially) adults need the reminder that things ARE hard, but we do them anyway, and we are blessed for it.
I cry when I read this to my kids. Even (and maybe especially) adults need the reminder that things ARE hard, but we do them anyway, and we are blessed for it.
I love Dr. Seuss with a passion. The way he makes words come together is astonishing and timeless. The Horton books are my favorite Seuss books because they have a huge story revolving around such an important issue. Every time Horton says “I said what I meant, and I meant what I said.” That is a great conversation piece for a class. That line is what sets the tone for the whole book. 3 colors are only being used throughout the whole book (red, white, and blue) that gives simple color schemes a...more
Ah, the difference a few years makes in the development of little kids... My niece, nephew, and I read Horton Hatches the Egg tonight, and I really had to laugh at the kids' reactions to this book.
My nephew, who is four, is, at this point in his development, a very literal, black and white kind of kid. Nuance is not his strong suit. The boy's literalism appeared again tonight after reading Horton Hatches the Egg. He said with a gasp, "Dat elephant shouldn't have turned dat egg into an elephant-b...more
My nephew, who is four, is, at this point in his development, a very literal, black and white kind of kid. Nuance is not his strong suit. The boy's literalism appeared again tonight after reading Horton Hatches the Egg. He said with a gasp, "Dat elephant shouldn't have turned dat egg into an elephant-b...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Dr. Seuss has always been one of my favorite children's authors, and this book is definitely one of the best. In the story, a self-centered and flaky bird named Mayzie pawns off the sitting on of her unhatched egg to the elephant, Horton, as he walks by. He reluctantly agrees to help out Mayzie and stays with the egg until the very end, because "an elephant is faithful, 100%".
I love that this book is in a poetic format with flowing rhymes and catchy sayings. It makes it both fun to read aloud an...more
I love that this book is in a poetic format with flowing rhymes and catchy sayings. It makes it both fun to read aloud an...more
I really liked this story! Horton is such a nice elephant for taking responsibility for someone else egg. This book can teach children patience and optimism but I see two social issues in this story. The first issue I see is parents giving up their kids for adoption. Mayzie the bird abandons her egg and leaves it to Horton. Then, later on she wants her egg back but Horton doesn't agree. This is an example of real life situations. The second social issue I see is abortion. Mayzie the bird left th...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seuss Lovers: Horton Hatches the Egg | 1 | 1 | Dec 06, 2012 06:38pm | |
| MCC Children's Li...: I meant what I said, I said what I meant. An elephants faithful 100% ! | 1 | 1 | Mar 06, 2012 01:23am | |
| MCC Children's Li...: NY top 100 | 2 | 4 | Feb 10, 2012 08:48pm |
Theodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, MA. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both carto...more
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“I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one-hundred percent!”
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“I meant what I said and I said what I meant.”
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Dec 19, 2011 08:53pm