A sheepish 'Bah!'? A humble 'Humbug!'?: HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS!

Please don't kill me. I like the Grinch; I really do. I love his little dog, Max, and the Whos of Whoville, and their weird little circular dust-speck of a world. I like the unsubtle anti-commercialism of the message the Who community sends us through the medium of Dr. Seuss' best-known book.

I like red and pink and black and white illustrations. I love insane perspectives.I cherish the funny little details Seuss put in his pictures.

I recommend this book.

Even though it is missing the music I'm so fond of, the music that we hear in the Christmas special that runs every year, I sincerely recommend this book, and I cannot very well fault it for anything Seuss inadvertently neglected to include in it!

But I have noticed a fly in the ointment, a flaw in the composition, an imperfection in the confection.

Take a look at the text, and see if you don't agree with me.

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS is of course the rhyming story of a crabby hermit with an evocative name who steals all the Christmas presents, decorations and foodstuffs from the tiny, somewhat birdlike people known as the Whos -- not because he wants the stuff for himself, but because he wants to spoil the Whos' fun. Aided by his unfortunate dog, on whom he has tied a silly-looking antler, he stages a night-time, Christmas Eve raid on Whoville, and absconds with every single goodie to be found there in the Whos' capital.

The problem is, he does most of his PLOTTING and VILLAINY in italics and in CAPITALS!!

If an Epinions reviewer wrote in the style Seuss adopts for this volume, the reviews would look majorly weird, weirder than wordwalker's! There is no restraint in the emphasis or in the punctuation -- none whatsoever!!

"And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!"

... is a pretty typical excerpt. Only two pages of the book are free from both italics and all-capital words -- and one of them contains ten exclamation points, in only six lines!

Now I am well aware that small children dote on repetition, and for all I know they may find capital letters easier to read, so the CAPITALS are something I can understand ... but the italics? The vast majority of them are not necessary; they occur where the spoken emphasis naturally falls when the book is read aloud. Try it, and see if you don't agree. About the only place they are indispensable is at the point where the Grinch listens for the sound of boo-hooing Whos, and something unexpected happens:

"So he paused. And the Grinch put a hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow ..."

(Don'tcha get the shivers, remembering the first time you heard the Whos sing?)

Other than its excessive EMPHASIS, this classic little kids' book is notable for a perfectly-named villain; a race of childlike creatures every bit as noisy as they were three years earlier when Horton the elephant rescued their world from destruction in HORTON HEARS A WHO; their world itself, which is visibly circular yet somehow manages to enforce the law of gravity; an almost monochromatic color scheme perhaps better suited to a book about Valentine's Day; Seuss' insane-looking perspectives, particularly when drawing mountains and stairs; and Seuss' eminently sane perspective on the real meaning of the holiday season, which goes beyond Christianity and encompasses community.

Perhaps the 'Valentine' message is intended. If so, it is a remarkably subtle one. Because HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS is a book about love -- not romantic love, but the kind of love that can be found in a community. In spite of material losses. Even in spite of significant losses.

Of course I love this book!! How could anybody not love this book?!

My love to all of you, also, at this time and always. Happy Holidays!!