Review - Hop on Pop

Hop on Pop
by Dr. Seuss
Date: 1963
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 72
Format: e-book
Source: library

Loved by generations, this “simplest Seuss for youngest use” is a Beginner Book classic. See Red and Ned and Ted and Ed in a bed. And giggle as Pat sits on a hat and on a cat and on a bat . . . but a cactus? Pat must NOT sit on that! This classic Beginner Book makes an ideal gift for Seuss fans and is an especially good way to show Pop some love on Father’s Day!

Originally created by Dr. Seuss, Beginner Books encourage children to read all by themselves, with simple words and illustrations that give clues to their meaning.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

It's books like this that make me glad I don't have children that I'd have to read them to! Hop on Pop is the mental equivalent of listening to fingernails scratch across a blackboard... in a bouncy rhythm.

I guess this book is meant to teach kids how to read simple words. But the way it's laid out is a bit confusing at times, and I suspect that those with dyslexia might have a hard time with it. I'm also not a fan of the simplified--but grammatically incorrect--sentences that are peppered throughout. If we're trying to teach kids language, this isn't the way to go about it.

Like many picture books from this era, this is also way too long. My mom has mentioned to me that she always dreaded reading books like Are You My Mother? to us because they just went on and on. For whatever reason, books from the 1960s and 1970s are about twice the length of today's average picture book. Perhaps they hadn't yet figured out that kids often have a fairly short attention span.

Dr. Seuss books can be fun, but I think I prefer the ones that have an actual story. There's no story here. It's just a bunch of words and illustrations.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 2.14 out of 5