Dr. Seuss - How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Mini Book and Finger Puppet

Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas is Seuss at his best. The heartwarming story of the Grinch and his too small heart is my family's favorite Seuss tale.

The story begins with the Grinch and his faithful dog Max looking down on the citizens of Whoville who are preparing for Christmas and the annual Christmas feast. Poor Grinch is the victim of a too small heart, who has no love for anyone so he "stood there on Christmas eve hating the Whos."

Every year he watches and grows more cynical about the Whos until he can't stand it any longer. The Grinch makes his fateful decision to "stop Christmas from coming" by sneaking down into Whoville and stealing all of the trappings that, at least to him, represent Christmas. The Grinch's big surprise is that although he is successful at taking all of the material representations of Christmas from the Whos, it doesn't stop Christmas from coming at all.

The very surprised Grinch ponders over this "till his puzzler was sore" trying to figure out just exactly how Christmas can happen without the piles ribbons, food, presents. etc., that he thought made Christmas for the Whos. In the end, good prevails, the Grinch's heart grows, and he ends up returning the material Christmas to the Whos. Of course, he learns the very big lesson in the meantime that Christmas comes from the heart.

There are several elements in addition to the beautiful story that make this such a great book. First is Seuss' use of color. He only uses color splashes throughout the story for emphasis instead of coloring every figure and every scene on every page. This use of color (or perhaps the lack of it) makes this different from the majority of his children's books. It is very effective.

Second is his use of rhymes and repetition that introduce small children to a variety of words. I often used this book in a phonics lesson with my children. Another element is the Grinch himself -- my children have noted that he is just a modified Who -- and ends up looking much like them after his heart grows. (A good lesson to not judge someone by their outward appearance.)

Finally, there is the story itself. A beautiful story about Christmas, and a gentle reminder to us all that Christmas indeed is not about the presents or the food, but "something more."

For those who become addicted to this story as my family has, in addition to the book, there are two movie versions of this book (a cartoon and Ron Howard's live action version) and is available as a book on tape. There are also several spin off cartoons and books with the Grinch as his mean self as the central character, although my children have never found any of these as enjoyable as the original itself.

If it has been a while since you have read this charming book, or if you have never read it, I suggest you run right out to your local book seller. You are in for a treat.