I recently came across a list of "50 books every kid should read before 12", and granted, some of the list was published long after I left childhood behind, but still: I was dismayed at how few of these supposed classics I'd actually read. And I was a reader as a child! I checked on Goodreads and someone had put the list up there, so I bookmarked it with all the other to-read lists I have, on the grounds that being well-read is an admirable goal and exists regardless of age.

And lo, while I was searching through the local library for The Cat in the Hat, which I also (unaccountably!) have not read - and still have not, as it was out - I came across this book, also on the list. And readers, it was not for me. I mean, the illustrations were fine and the rhymes were fine, but it did not grab at my stultified adult imagination and, from what I remember of my early reading days, it would not have enthralled child-me either. I can easily picture kids who would love it, because there is nothing actually wrong here, it's purely a matter of personal taste, but I just didn't find it as charming as the picture books I loved as a kid (and still love now, I'm looking at you, The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch, you and your greedy, thieving seagulls).