I do not like them, Sam-I-am!

I have been reading Green Eggs and Ham for the last 4 days straight. Holden realized that there is a train in the book and now calls it the train book.

I really don’t like Dr. Seuss books.

Might I suggest that the writing in the books is somewhat boring and the pictures are downright creepy.


But above all, it’s the rhymes that bother me.

Oh, the rhymes!


We all count on a certain level of predictability in our lives. It is comforting and feels safe. Fear of change may be one of the strongest emotions I have seen in people (including myself).


I have seen it while working in hospitals and nursing homes, seeing my own family change, and have gone through painful and difficult transformations in my personal life (hard to believe I have any that you don’t already know, but of course I do).


But at the end of it all I believe there is a bigger picture being painted—I like to think of it as impressionist style…when you are up close it seems a little muddy and not very pretty.


But when you stand back…breathtaking.



Perhaps the most frustrating thing about reading Green Eggs and Ham with a 2 year old is that it runs as a never-ending loop. He loves the train in the book so much that we get to the end (with no train) and he starts wanting me to read it again.
So he (we) never learn the real lesson of the book.

“Say!
I like green eggs and ham!
I do! I like them, Sam-I-am!
And I would eat them in a boat,
And I would eat them with a goat . . .
And I will eat them in the rain.
And in the dark. And on a train.
And in a car. And in a tree.
They are so good, so good, you see!
So I will eat them in a box.
And I will eat them with a fox.
And I will eat them in a house.
And I will eat them with a mouse.
And I will eat them here and there.
Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE!”