Friday, August 01, 2014

Lost Dr Seuss stories to be republished

Horton and the Kwuggerbug View larger picture
'Climb you dumb elephant, Climb' … detail from the cover art for Horton and the Kwuggerbug and other stories

A smooth-talking Grinch and a new adventure for the helpful elephant Horton feature in four largely forgotten Dr Seuss stories that will be collected for the first time this autumn.


Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories, out from Random House Books for Young Readers in September, brings together four of Seuss's little-known tales which were published in Redbook magazine in the 1950s, but never released as picture books. In the title story, which dates to 1951, Horton – previously known for his efforts to rescue the Whos – is tricked into helping a tiny, insecty sort of creature who promises him: "I know of a Beezlenut tree where some Beezlenuts grow". Horton takes the Kwuggerbug across a river and up a mountain, "while the Kwuggerbug perched on his trunk all the time / And kept yelling 'Climb! You dumb elephant, Climb'".


In 1955's The Hoobub and the Grinch, the titular Grinch is just as much of a con artist as Seuss's later, more famous, Christmas-stealing version. He tells the gullible Hoobub, relaxing in the sun, that a piece of string is worth far more than the "dangerous" sun. "When the sun gets too hot, it can broil you like fat! But this piece of green string, sir, will NEVER do that! This piece of green string is colossal! Immense! And, to you … well, I'll sell it for 98 cents!"
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