GREEN EGGS AND HAM

'''Green Eggs and Ham''' is a best-selling and critically acclaimed book by Dr. Seuss, first published in 1960. As of 2001, according to ''Publishers Weekly'', it was the fourth-bestselling children's book of all time [1].

Contents

The story

Words

Drawings

Reception

References

External links

The story

There are two characters: one named Sam, and a second who is never named. Sam is filled with energy and enthusiasm; his opposite number is morose and irritable. The plot revolves around Sam's efforts to get his friend to try "green eggs and ham". The friend refuses to eat the dish, and only wants to be left in peace. Sam goes through a variety of locations (house, car, tree) trying to persuade his friend to eat, but without success.
The triumphant conclusion of Seuss's tale occurs when Sam's friend, standing in shallow water after a train crash, surrounded by various people and beasts, finally agrees to try the dish and turns out to be a great enthusiast. The instant turnaround in the anonymous character's attitude is somewhat similar to that of the Grinch, whom Sam's friend physically resembles except in having floppy ears.

Words

''Green Eggs and Ham'' is one of Seuss's "Beginner Books", written in a very simple vocabulary for beginning readers. The vocabulary of the text consists of just fifty different words, of which 49 are monosyllabic (the one exception being "anywhere"). A rumour has it that Bennett Cerf, Dr. Seuss's publisher, wagered $50 that Seuss could not write a book using only fifty different words. ^[1] The bet came after Seuss completed ''The Cat in the Hat'', which contains a total of 236 words. Despite Seuss's success, it is unclear whether Cerf ever paid the bet.
The tale is in the form of a so-called "cumulative" story, with a list of circumstances which gradually increases as the story progresses. Thus, one of Sam's friend's refusals goes:
:I do not like them in a box.
:I do not like them with a fox.
:I do not like them in a house.
:I do not like them with a mouse.
:I do not like them here or there.
:I do not like them anywhere.
:I do not like green eggs and ham.
:I do not like them, Sam-I-am.
Cumulative stories are a traditional genre of English folklore, for instance in the tale "This is the House that Jack Built", the folk song "Green grow the rushes, O", or the Christmas song and nursery rhyme ''The Twelve Days of Christmas''. (See also cumulative song.)
The fifty words used are: ''a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you''.
The meter of ''Green Eggs and Ham'' is a combination of trochaic and iambic tetrameter; for details, see Dr. Seuss's meters.

Drawings

Like many of Seuss' characters, Sam-I-Am and his friend are ambiguous animals; they are furry with large snouts, but stand upright, can speak, and have human facial expressions.
Sam-I-am's friend wears a tall black hat that imitates his body language: it startles, cringes, rises up indignant, etc. in synchrony with its owner.
The book also includes a number of Seuss's characteristic elaborate machines: there is a complex platter-presenting device, large artificial hands on poles to illustrate Here and There, a vehicle with a mysteriously-appearing door from which a goat emerges, and an astonishingly rickety railroad viaduct.

Reception

''Green Eggs and Ham'' was published in 1960 and continues to be very popular. In fact, it is the fourth best selling children's hardcover book of all time. ^[2] In 1999, the National Education Association conducted an online survey of the 100 most popular children's books. On both the children's and the teachers' lists, ''Green Eggs and Ham'' was ranked third, just above another Dr. Seuss book, ''The Cat in the Hat''.^[3][4]
The book is most often read to or by young children (one reviewer recommends ages 4-8), but web data suggest that it is very popular among adults as well, many of whom fondly remember having encountered the book when they were little.
The book has been translated into a number of languages including Latin (''Virent Ova! Viret Perna!!''). In 2006, The Food Network created a recipe for Green Eggs and Ham^[5]. It was also featured in the children's program ''The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss'' and the Oscar-nominated film I am Sam.

References

1. Urban Legends Reference Pages: Language (Green Eggs and Ham) ''Snopes.'' Accessed on 26 November 2006.
2. A Critic at Large: Cat People ''The New Yorker.'' Issue of 23 December 2002.
3. Kids' top 100 books ''NEA: National Education Association.'' Accessed on 26 November 2006.
4. Teachers' Top 100 Books ''NEA: National Education Association.'' Accessed on 26 November 2006.
5. Recipes:Green Eggs and Ham

External links

★ Amazon.com's Search Inside The Book includes browsing Front Cover, Sample Pages 3-5, and Back Cover as well as doing searches of the entire book.

★ ''Virent Ova! Viret Perna!!'' (Latin version) includes Front Cover, Sample Pages 9-11, and Back Cover. ISBN 0-86516-555-6

★ Seussville: various ''Green Eggs and Ham'' items.