McElligot's Pool

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The Pleasures of Youthful Optimism - Rated
This book sets up a contrast between the sour pessimism of an adult farmer and the unbounded optimism of a boy. The farmer finds the boy with his fishing line dangling in a small water-filled crack in the earth.

"You're sort of a fool!

You'll never catch fish

in McElligot's Pool!"

As you can imagine, youngster often take that as a challenge to keep doing what they are doing, and this one certainly did. His fertile imagination soon fills the world with opportunity for good fishing.

"This pool might be bigger

Than you or I know!"

He goes on to imagine that it could connect underground all the way to the sea and contain many varieties of fish (Dog Fish, Catfish, or "even a fish made of strawberry jelly" not to mention one with a pinwheel-like tail, another with fins like a sail, and many many more). The book's core is a series of fantastic fish, each more remarkable than the last. The most exciting one to me is a THING-A-MA-JIGGER (that's much bigger than a whale).

Having thought about all of these fish, the boy ponders,

"Oh, the sea is so full of a number of fish,

If a fellow is patient, he might get his wish!"

But, the boy is still there with the little pool. What else is he thinking? He's actually congratulating himself for being so wise.

"And that's why I think

That I'm not such a fool

When I sit here and fish

In McElligot's Pool!"

That, of course, is the downside of optimism. You can spend a lot of time doing things that make little sense, in hopes they will pan out. Research has shown that optimists vastly outperform pessimists. The difference seems to be that optimists try more things, and some of them work!

I strongly urge you to share this book with your child and anyone else who needs more optimism. The story will be like Dumbo's magic feather in providing confidence to try.

After you and your child have enjoyed this book many times, I suggest that you discuss other ways to encourage appropriate optimism. For example, you can ask other people what has worked well. You can also imagine what perfection would be like and then work backward to how you might capture some of it. In having these conversations, you will be arming your child with many good tools for employing limitless optimism to achieve much more!

Look on the bright side, always!

Imaginative and fun - Rated
One of the less well known Dr. Seuss books, this is nevertheless my 3-year-old son's favourite, and I have accidentally memorised it through repetition! I think he especially enjoys the subversive aspect - an imaginative and optimistic child makes a fool out of a literal-minded adult. As with all Dr Seuss stories, the words are funny and enjoyable to hear or say, and the illustrations are simple yet gloriously surreal.

McElligot's Pool - Rated
As Dr. Seuss books go, this one has a story with both it's feet still firmly rooted on the ground. It is about a young boy who is fishing in a small pool. When an old man tells him that he won't catch anything if he waits 50 years, he imagines that the pool might be joined to an underground river, connected to the sea, where all sorts of wonderful fish live. There is no escaping however that this book is by Dr Seuss. The fish he dreams up are as whimsical as ever anybody has imagined. It is typical Seuss, is he really a Dr. by the way, to imagine a fish that is partly a cow, or an Australian fish with a pouch on it's belly. The pictures, pencil and water colour, are in the same inimitable style as he always uses, however the colours didn't seem to be as vibrant as usual. This may be partly because copy I saw was in poor condition, but some of the pictures were in black and white, which wasn't. The language has the distinctive pattern and rhythm of the Cat in the Hat, or Green Eggs and Ham. The rhymes are not as well crafted as in some of his other work, he sometimes seems to be putting lines in just to make a rhyme. I might see a sea horse (Now mightn't I now) I might see a fish That is partly a cow. This said most of the rhyming is good, and the story is very funny. He uses quite a lot of pronouns and descriptive language as he is creating his fantastical fish. Knowing the story behind Dr. Seuss's first book leads me to think that this may be deliberate. The story seems to peak to a crescendo, although the pictures do not reflect this. The book is about the child's imagination. He is not confined to thinking in the same down to earth terms as the old man. It about hope and optimism. The little boy will keep on trying to fish in Mc Elligot's Pool, because however unlikely, he might just catch the most amazing fish you will ever see. If someone was to make it into a cartoon it would make quite a good lottery advert.

Look at all the fish you can catch! - Rated
The earlier reviewer is right; who cannot like a book by Dr. Seuss? This classic children's story is about a boy fishing in a small pool and imagining all types of fish that he might catch, most of them quite fanciful. I still remember laughing when I first read it as a child. The book was a 1948 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustration in a children's book.

How can you not like Dr Seus? - Rated
My father had the original printing of this book. The pages have have torn away from the binding and the cover is tattered and worn. But for 23 years it has delilighted and enticed me. There is never a moment that I pass by a pond and wonder where it connects to the sea. Oh what kinds of fish could there be, if I sit and I stew and am patient like you? And bait my hook and have a look and wait all day for McElligot's Pool to connect from me all the way to the sea.