| Hmmm, it looks like the computer ate my previous message. I'll post what I said again.
Dr. Seuss does not belong in the same category as Tolkien, Austen, or Lovecraft. I am sure he would have laughed at the notion himself. He was not trying to do the same things in his writing as any of those authors.
As a writer for young children he was superb. I don't think there are many parents, teachers, or librarians who think of him as just "someone who wrote silly entertaining rhymes." His work has stood the test of time, delighted new generations, and expanded the horizons of countless children. Some of his books certainly made a profound and lasting impression on me -- but I can say that a half century after I first read those books, and twenty-five years after I was reading them to my own children. We're already reading them, my daughter and I, to my grandchildren. The twins are only six months old, and all they can respond to at this time are the rhymes and the rhythms, but I feel sure that when they are older they will find books like Scrambled Eggs Super or On Beyond Zebra as mind-expanding as I did.
So, yes, even by the narrowest definition of the word "great", I think one could make a case for Dr. Seuss being a great children's author. That's not being subjective at all, but applying a fairly rigorous set of criteria. |