TTBOOK GEMS

Philip Nel (GEMS - from program #04-03-14 -B THE PIANO)

Dr. Seuss's Little "Yap!" Heard ‘Round the World

The following is from an interview Philip Nel did with Steve Paulson on the Public Radio International program To the Best of Our Knowledge. Nel's latest book is Dr. Seuss: American Icon. The interview focused on Dr. Seuss's 1952 cult classic film "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T." The film centers around a young boy named Bart Collins who, along with 499 other lboys, is about to be forced to play Dr. T's colossal piano (that seats 500, of course) for eternity.

Steve Paulson: I have to tell you that I watched the film "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T" recently with my son who's six years-old and we both loved the movie, probably for different reasons. I suppose one reason he liked it was there's a strong streak of rebellion in the film. There is the sense that the adults are screwing up and the kid have to take charge and reject the adult world.

Philip Nel: In his books Seuss almost never draws human adults. The children are the ones who have to deal with the world. He has a lot of faith in children. No adult comes in to get the "Cat in the Hat" out of the house, that's up to Sally and I. That's up to the kids in the book. And that's true generally in his work. It's the children who have to do something. It's the children who have to deal with the adults and in fact it's the children who are responsible for making the world better ultimately. There's a faith, a hope that maybe the next generation won't make the mistakes of the current one.

Steve Paulson: And there's a real social message here. You could imagine that this doesn't go over well in certain circles. Basically Seuss is saying adults have screwed things up.

Philip Nel: Yeah, he is. And you know it's almost the idea that children who have not yet become fully socialized into grownup life are still able to question things better. They are not as willing to accept as true and as normal all the things that the adults accept as true and as normal. So Seuss often has the little guy in the role of the person asking questions. Why are things like this? "Yertle the Turtle" is a good example. This plain little turtle who names was just Mack. / This plain little turtle below in the stack. / Decided he'd taken enough and he had. / And that plain little lad got a little bit mad. / And that plain little lad did a plain little thing. / He burped. / And his burp shook the throne of the King. And it's often the little ones who do it. In "Horton Hears a Who," the whole planet of Whos is threatened with total annihilation unless they speak up. And they are only heard after little Jo-Jo, the smallest Who of all, shouts "Yap!" and then they're heard. And they're saved.

Philip Nel (GEMS - from program #04-03-14 -B THE PIANO)

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