Green Eggs and Ham

Dr. Seuss is a genius. He is so simple, yet makes a strong point. He used rhyming and repetition. That is so helpful and powerful for little kids because that helps them not only learn, but remember too. Dr. Seuss was a perfectionist on all his books and spent about a year average on each y of his children books! And the fact that they are only children’s books, so ‘simple’, a year is a long time. To Dr. Seuss though, I guess they weren’t only children’s books. They were more. They were his life. He took his ideas and gift and shared them with kids all around the world. 

I remember sitting on my couch in the living room closing the book, Green Eggs and Ham, with the biggest feeling of accomplishment I had ever felt. I had read it, all by myself. The first book I had read all by myself. All by myself! It was the book that had taught me how to read. And it was long, it was a whole 62 pages. Ever since, it has been my all time favorite book. It has always been the thing I was so proud of, those words that taught me how to read, that book. 

According to Publisher’s Weekly in 2001, Green Eggs and Ham is the fourth-best-selling children’s book in the English language of all time. To think of all the millions of children’s books out there, one about something as odd as mysterious green eggs and green ham is among the top best selling of all time. So I’m not the only one that thinks that this book is mighty fine. Its a classic, one that everyone should read and be familiar with. 

Green Eggs and Ham is not only a best seller, it’s about selling something. Sam-I-Am tries to get the other unnamed character to try something he wasn’t familiar with. He refused, convinced he wouldn't like them and said he “would not eat them here or them, he would not eat them anywhere”. Sam-I-Am persisted. It wasn’t about control though, it was about persuasion. He was simply trying to get the other character to step out of his comfort zone a little bit and try something Sam-I-Am though he would like. Finally, to stop being bugged about it, he tried them. And what did this character come to realize? He likes these green eggs and ham!

Even though this book is a simple story of trying to get someone to try weird food, I can apply it to my own life. It gives me a good perspective on how I should more often do things I may not necessarily usually do. Naturally, I don’t usually do things or like to do things that are out of my comfort zone. But once I do them, I find that I am glad that I did. It gives you a lot more opportunity and look on different things. Sometimes you need to try things to find out what you really do or don’t like. Even if it wasn’t my favorite thing, or I might not do it again, I find I'm usually glad that I tried it at least once.