Banned Books Week: Noa on her Green Eggs and Ham experience
She was three months old when I first read it to her. Obviously, I was a little bit more excited about the experience than she was.
The book, brand new, bought by me – my usual gift of classic children’s books – had that wonderful new-book-smell and the cover (special anniversary edition) was a shiny vibrant red which her eyes followed as I opened the book to the first page and read out:
Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss
This wasn’t the first time I got to introduce a nice or nephew to Green Eggs and Ham. I’ve been doing it for over 12 years now; it never gets old. New book every time, which usually ends up with teeth marks and pages colored in by the time the younger sibling gets to it, still, it’s tradition.
Since the latest addition to the GEAH tradition is six months old now and has yet to say her first word (I’m working on it being my name) I don’t know if she likes my narration or if she prefers to do it herself, but for now her happy faces, laughter and cooing are enough to tell me: This one is going to be a reader.
I remember one of my nieces (now a tween) when she was three years old saying in her high sing-song voice:
I do not like green eggs and ham!
I do not like them Sam-I-Am!!!
(She also used to mumble oh bother! just like Pooh Bear when she thought no one noticed – it was adorable on a scale not yet invented)
She knew the story by heart – every Sam-I-Am to perfection. She liked to read it in the rain, she loved it even on the train, she read it in the house, she liked it here or there she really loved it everywhere! (end on high note)
And as the six month old learns to turn the pages – though we need to work on the whole being gentle-and-not-ripping-them thing, I smile and think – another one in the making.
So how is it possible that this book was banned? What is it about Green Eggs and Ham and Sam-I-Am not liking them until of course, he does, that makes this book a danger to society?
I looked it up, and that’s where the problems begin since apparently it was banned in China for its portrayal of early marxism but was banned in other places because of its, I kid you not: “Homoerotic subtext.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, Sam-I-Am? He wants you to eat his green eggs and ham and we all know what that means… and he wants you to do it in public. Plus he might be a bad communist.
Yes, I did feel dirty writing that.
Basically, the people who banned this book can’t even agree on why it was banned?
Can I just add my two-cents and say that as a Jew I feel ham should be replaced with a less controversial meat like chicken? Though that might seem like the book with its eggs and chicken focuses on the poultry section a little bit more than necessary. Maybe fish? Or, for the vegan version just call it: “Greens and Tofu”
Seriously though, banning a book – any book – is no joking matter. Two years ago Day, Elvie and I joined together in a special post for Banned Books Week. In the comments Elvie wrote:
“I love it that a conservative Christian, an orthodox Jew, and a confirmed agnostic can get together and shout from all sides how wrong it is to ban books, and to try and tell everyone what is and is not appropriate material for their children.”
See that is what it really is about – books bring people together. That’s how this site got started, that is what keeps us friends and how we make new friends. People won’t always agree about the books they read, the opinions presented in the books and out of them – but readers will always agree on one thing: Books open the eyes, the ears the mind and yes, the heart and soul to knowledge and ideas and love and so much more, banning that experience? A travesty.
The six month old most likely doesn’t understand the words of Dr. Seuss’ story just yet. Right now my tone as I read it out to her and the pictures as we turn every page are what grab her attention, but one day… oh, I can’t wait!
Right now this beautiful bundle of giggly toothless grins, chubby hands with long fingers just like her mother’s, and a tummy made for tickling, is sitting in my lap, listening to my every word, waiting impatiently for me to turn the page – introducing her to this story and so many others? I feel blessed to be able to share in that experience.
So I will read them in a box.
And I will read them with a fox.
And I will read them in a house.
And I will read them with a mouse.
And I will read them here and there.
Say! I will read them ANYWHERE!
Yes, I do so like green eggs and ham.
Thank you! Thank You, Sam-I-Am.
