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Green Eggs and Ham

1960

  • 1960-1988
  • dr. seuss
  • beginner books
  • i can read it all by myself
  • green eggs and ham
  • audio-cassette included
  • first time readers
  • english
  • 2-3 years
  • pre-school

The story

Sam-I-am tries to persuade the character in the top hat to try green eggs and ham. “Do you like green eggs and ham?” asks Sam-I-am in this Beginner Book by Dr. Seuss. In a house or with a mouse? In a boat or with a goat? On a train or in a tree? Sam keeps asking persistently. With unmistakable characters and signature rhymes, Dr. Seuss’s beloved favorite has cemented its place as a children’s classic. In this most famous of cumulative tales, the list of places to enjoy green eggs and ham, and friends to enjoy them with, gets longer and longer. Follow Sam-I-am as he insists that this unusual treat is indeed a delectable snack to be savored everywhere and in every way.

What it’s like

Bright, bouncy and deliberately simple: a short picture book where the look is all flat primary colour, loose ink line and a mostly white page, with a small cast of stick-limbed creatures and one pale green plate of eggs that becomes the whole visual joke. Read aloud, it has a galloping singsong beat, a repeated refrain that children start chanting along to, and a steady escalation of places and companions ("in a house or with a mouse, in a box or with a fox") that builds like a game rather than a story. Its feel is playful, silly and mildly stubborn, with a comic tug-of-war between persistence and refusal that resolves in a warm, gently triumphant turn. There is no violence, no peril and nothing frightening; the only tension is the joke of being pestered into trying something new. It suits a read-aloud at bedtime, a rainy afternoon with a toddler, or a first solo reading for a child just learning words, and it is for parents, teachers and young readers who want something rhythmic, low-stakes and full of nonsense delight.

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