The Unique You

Persistence really pays off. This is what I thought when I found this another piece of treasure in a book sale a few months ago. The book is entitled The Mixed-up Chameleon, which was written and illustrated by Eric Carle. When I had a first glimpse of the book it really catches my eye because Carle has a unique way of illustrating his own stories. I easily recognized the distinctive collage technique of Eric Carle and so I grabbed this little book from the shelf and look for its price. The usual price of Carle's books ranges from 250php – 1000+php that is why I was a bit shocked to discover (even if it was in a book sale) that they sell it for only 15php (can you believe that?), not to mention that it was in a good condition. That is like paying for only 5% of the actual price of the book.

What is best about this book is the lesson, which the story implied. The Mixed-up Chameleon is about an ordinary chameleon who felt that its life is not very exciting and so it wished to be different kinds of animals and turned out to be a hilarious mixed-up of every animal it saw. In the end, finally realizing its own worth, the chameleon wishes to be just itself which is a chameleon contented to eat its favorite food – the fly.

We are beautiful in our own unique way. It is not hard to figure out the message of the story and I love this book for that. I love how Eric Carle used the chameleon as the main character of the story. It just like a chameleon, people also tend to change themselves based on their environment just to feel accepted. In fact, we have our own distinct characteristic that stands out among the rest. The way how the value of self-acceptance is integrated in the story is wisely done by the author. I personally enjoyed the flow of the story and it was also fun to see the transformation of the chameleon as it became mixed-up of different animals it wishes to be. At the end of the story is really satisfying and it is quite touching as well. 

According to Eric Carle The Mixed-up Chameleon has a lot of co-authors. At the last page of the book Mr. Carle retold the cute story of how the Mixed-up Chameleon was born. He said that when he visited many schools in the different parts of U.S. and Europe, he was asked by the children to illustrate various animals but the kids became too excited that there is no time to finish a single animal. Only the basic characteristics of different animals were made. These parts were pasted together and the idea of a story about a mixed-up animal occurred to him.  

I really like how Eric Carle makes his books. As a well known author-artist of children’s books he has always been consistent in creating books that do not just impress the readers for its story but also amazed them through the unique artistic sense of the illustrations he personally made. 

Seuss-isms: a book of pure thoughtfulness

Theodore Seuss Geisel otherwise known as Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite children's book authors. Of his creative deviations and exemplary wittiness every children (even grownups) will surely love his feel-good-stories. I first became fond of his books October of last year when I took a developmental reading course, which is required for Education students in the school where I am currently studying. Ever since I learned about Dr. Seuss' unique and humorous approach on engaging children to read, his books became one of the reasons why I usually visit book sales.

As for my experiences with book sales, well I can say that this little blue book is one of my best buys. I found this book at the bottom of a box in the children's section of a book sale and the moment I laid hands on it I knew that my conscience would not let me leave that store without purchasing this book entitled Seuss-isms.

I knew then that Dr. Seuss have written and illustrated forty-four amazing books especially made for young readers and as far as I can remember none of it was entitled Suess-isms so I became curious and scan the book to know what it is all about.

Seuss-isms: Wise and Witty Prescriptions for Living from the Good Doctor is a compilation of excerpts from numerous books of Dr. Seuss's that talks about different lessons on how to deal with various things about life. This book was published in 1997, six years after the "good doctor" died. Seuss-isms is not part of the forty-four masterpieces written by Dr. Seuss yet basically this can be considered as one of his books because all that was written on it are his words of wisdom, well except of course to the introduction which was written by Theodore Seuss Geisel's widow who is Audrey Geisel. The introduction made by Mrs. Geisel simply showed how proud she is for his husband's creations. She also mentioned that if Dr. Seuss is still alive he will surely approve this little blue book entitled Seuss-isms.

I am really very fortunate to be able to find this book, to think that I only paid 65php for this which is just  more or less one-fourth of its original price. When I bought Seuss-isms I realized that even if I do not have all Dr. Seuss's books (which is one of my ultimate wishes) at least I have one book that compiles most of the sensible things that he had ever written not to mention his illustrations which are also included in the compilation.

 

Great things indeed comes in small packages the book Seuss-isms: Wise and Witty Prescriptions for Living from the Good Doctor simply proved this classic saying.