If I Ran The Circus
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''If I Ran the Circus'' is a
children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...
by Dr. Seuss, published in 1956 by
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
. Like ''
The Cat in the Hat ''The Cat in the Hat'' is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by American author Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red bow tie. The Cat shows up at the house ...
'', or the more political '' Yertle the Turtle'', ''If I Ran the Circus'' develops a theme of cumulative fantasy leading to excess. The overt social commentary found in the Sneetches and the Zax demonstrates that Dr. Seuss was fascinated by the errors and excesses to which humans are prone, and ''If I Ran the Circus'' also examines this interest, though more subtly and comically, given its earlier genesis.


Plot overview

Behind Mr. Sneelock's ramshackle store, there is an empty lot. Young Morris McGurk is convinced that if he could just clear out the rusty cans, the dead tree, and the old cars, nothing would prevent him from using the lot for the amazing, world-beating, Circus McGurkus. The more elaborate Morris' dreams about the circus become, the more they depend on the sleepy-looking, innocent pipe-smoking Sneelock who stands outside his ramshackle store, oblivious to the fate that awaits him in the depths of Morris's imagination. Sneelock does not yet know that he will have to dispense 500 gallons of lemonade, be lassoed by a Wily Walloo, wrestle a Grizzly-Ghastly, and ski down a slope dotted with giant cacti. But if his performance is up to McGurkian expectations, then "Why, ladies and gentlemen, youngsters and oldsters, your heads will quite likely spin right off your shouldsters!" Sneelock won't mind it one bit because he likes to help out. At the end of Morris's fantasy, Sneelock is casting a serious eye at him.


References

1956 children's books Books by Dr. Seuss American picture books Children's books set in circuses Random House books {{child-picture-book-stub