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Here we go. My very first ever pinging. I apologize if I cannot post here every day, because I don’t even have access to a computer on a daily basis, and hope to very soon have a wireless connection with which to remedy that situation.

I don’t know how to do that giant knot thing that Squarebarb used to put up on the ping post of that day. Perhaps I’ll learn soon.

Anyway, let’s get on to a new topic, heroes and heroic animals having played themselves out. How about Children’s writing? I have become very aware of this lately, since my four-year-old has just discovered Dr. Seuss.

He was, it seems, a bit of a lefty, as evidenced by The Butter War, a parody of the Cold War, and Sneeches on Beaches, a very simplistic tale about race relations. The starbelly sneeches will not accept the plain belly sneeches, who have no culture or life of their own, but only sitting around wishing their bellies had stars. Speaking as a member of a “historically excluded group,” Orthodox Jews, I can testify that this is pure crap. We plain belly sneeches could give a rat’s ass if the local country club declines our membership. We have our own richcultural identity and life. So do blacks. So do Hispanics. So do Armenians and Kurds. But that’s neither here nor there. My point is, Seuss is left of center.

But in terms of writing quality, his books are da bomb. I love the pictures. I love the anapest meter. I love the way he draws children’s imagination into new realms. I love the way adults don’t get fed up with readings his books fifty times to a toddler. My son concurs.

This itself touches a topic for another day, lefty writers who are too good to put down despite their leanings. My favorite is EL Doktorow, although I’m far from well-versed with his work.

But back to Dr. Seuss/PD Eastman. He’s a hard act to follow; the Hemingway or Conrad of kiddy lit. You can’t immitate him. It’s hard to improve on him. The lefty stuff can be avoided in favorite of the classics: Cat in the Hat, Horton Hatches an Egg, Yertel the Turtle, etc. Is it possible to do righty children’s literature the way he did lefty? Inquiring minds would like to know your thoughts.

"Is it possible to do righty children’s literature the way he did lefty?"

Yes. Think back to some of the classic children's literature such as Hans Christian Anderson, Aesop's Fables, et al. Quite a number of those stories had morals < keyword > that gently taught morality through the magic of a fascinating story with unforgettable characters.

The major problem you would encounter today would not be the writing of the story, it would be in getting it published and distributed.

I think it could be done just as well as Dr. Seuss if you have that kind of talent.