Green Eggs and Ham
by Dr. Seuss · first published 1960
31% recommend66% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Short and rhyming, with a limited vocabulary. Children enjoy it, and it reads aloud well. It teaches kids to try new things and is an easy read for parents and language learners.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Sam-I-am tries to persuade the character in the top hat to try green eggs and ham. “Do you like green eggs and ham?” asks Sam-I-am in this Beginner Book by Dr. Seuss. In a house or with a mouse? In a boat or with a goat? On a train or in a tree? Sam keeps asking persistently. With unmistakable characters and signature rhymes, Dr. Seuss’s beloved favorite has cemented its place as a children’s classic. In this most famous of cumulative tales, the list of places to enjoy green eggs and ham, and friends to enjoy them with, gets longer and longer. Follow Sam-I-am as he insists that this unusual
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Green Eggs and Ham is a great starter book, but IMHO the greatest of Dr Seuss's many great books is Oh, the Places You'll Go!. His mastery of "simple" English is stunning, kids find it enthralling, and the messages are…
on “Sixty years of Green Eggs and Ham” ↗…https://www.amazon.com/Enough-Inigo-Gentle-Revolution/dp/075... Good Night Moon https://www.amazon.com/Goodnight-Moon-Margaret-Wise-Brown/dp... Little Blue Truck https://www.amazon.com/Little-Blue-Truck-board-book/dp/05445... Green Eggs and Ham https://www.amazon.com/Green-Eggs-Ham-Dr-Seuss/dp/0394800168
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite toddler books?” ↗I’ve read Hop on Pop, Green Eggs and Ham and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish at least 50 times each. As a kid, I really enjoyed the rhyming, the zany drawings and some of the fantastic creatures like the wump (a 7+ hump camel) and the yink…
on “Ask HN: What book have you re-read 3x or more?” ↗The 20 month old thinks they are funny, but personally I find these books boring after 10 times reading the same book. YMMV. Some of his recent favorites: Green Eggs and Ham, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, Duck in the Truck, Snip Snap! What’s That?, Gaston, Caps for Sale, Harry the Dirty Dog, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
on “Reading Aloud to Young Children Has Benefits for Behavior and Attention” ↗I'd forgotten, but Green Eggs and Ham and several others were my favorites to read to my younger brothers and sisters.
on “Ask HN: What book have you re-read 3x or more?” ↗We raised out kids on mostly Dr Seuss. In particular I remember Go Dogs Go and Green Eggs and ham being their favorites... or was it my favorite? The part they liked the most was my being next to them reading the books, each day. I would just ask them to choose a book, and off we went. Funny thing…
on “Ask HN: Books your kids like most” ↗A bit off-topic, but I use Green Eggs and Ham to help teach my friends English here in Asia. It works pretty well, since there is quite a limited vocabulary. And it's pretty magical! I can have someone reading aloud from the book quite fluently,…
on “Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay” ↗For me the genius of "green eggs and ham" is that you read it to your kid at about the time they become more picky with their food. So the book is a lesson too. Some days I really want to read this book to my kid: https://www.amazon.com.au/You-Have-F-king-Eat/dp/1501238663
on “Sixty years of Green Eggs and Ham” ↗Since the first candidate always gets ignored, I'll recommend "Green Eggs And Ham".
on “Secretary Problem” ↗Green Eggs and Ham also teaches people to try new things. Next try Fox in Socks - that is some next-level elucidation.
on “Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay” ↗…ones ground an experience to make it tangible to parent and child. Where the Wild Things Are - a fever dream about rebellion and unrealized sexuality, hero's journey into the latent world and back. Green Eggs and Ham - picky eating works on its own, or can stand in for just about any other unpleasant experience. The repetition mirrors the real-life experience of getting used to something you don't like. Can't remember…
on “Show HN: I “wrote” a kids book with ChatGPT and Midjourney” ↗The Seuss books being removed aren't Green Eggs & Ham: they're the older racist books that Seuss apologized for later.
on “Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay” ↗Mormons use this as evidence that the Book of Mormon has ancient origins. In response, someone wrote an article sarcastically arguing that the chiasmus in dr seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham is evidence of the ancient origin of that book as well.
on “Chiastic Structure” ↗We do not live in a Dr. Seuss book. The fact is, Mr. I-Am, that most of the time, green eggs and ham are just rotten. We are not looking for a guarantee that we will like your culinary experiments, but we would like some assurance that they are edible.
on “People Don’t Actually Like Creativity” ↗The now-famous book from Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham, originated with a bet that he couldn't write a complete bestselling book with just 50 words. These 50: a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green,…
on “Ogden's Basic English” ↗