"Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss

Green Eggs and Ham was written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss. Green Eggs and Ham is a  great classic children's story the author keeps the readers engaged with wacky characters and creative vocabulary. The story starts off with a guy named Sam-I-am trying to talk another guy into trying something new, green eggs and ham. The entire story Sam-I-am asks the guy over and over if he would eat green eggs and ham in different locations or with different things but the answer is always the same, no. Sam wears on the man eventually and he gets him to try the green eggs and ham. And the guy loves them so much he says he will eat them with anything and any where Sam likes.

The illustrations in Green Eggs and Ham are simplistic drawings. I think that children will like them because they are something realistic to their own drawing capabilities. What I love most about them is that they tell the story along side the text. I think the illustration are a very important aspect and aid to the text in the story. One of my favorite images from the story was the one at the end of Sam and the guy who didn't want green eggs and ham holding an empty plate. 

 

 

The intended interest level for Green Eggs and Ham is for Kindergarten-second grade. However I believe that it can be applied to children of all ages as far as being used in literature. The genre of this book is fantasy, comedy, and classic.

One of the biggest literary devices found in the story Green Eggs and Ham is personification. Personification is when human qualities are given to non-human things like animals or inanimate objects. I think this story would be an excellent teaching aid for introducing students to the ideal of what  personification is. One of the first images and wording of personification that readers encounter comes from some of the very first pages of the story. The animal creatures are walking, talking, writing, driving cars, etc. and these are all examples of personification. 

 

Classroom Application:

Critical Thinking Preliminary and Post Reading Questions

• Before teachers begin reading Green Eggs and Ham to students they should begin by showing students the cover of the book a long with a few images to get them thinking about what the story might be about.
  Teachers should ask questions about the chosen images to get the students engaged and problem solving. Some question that could be asked include: What do you think this story is going to be about?, Do you think someone will eat the green eggs and ham?, The story is called TGreen Eggs and Ham why do you think the eggs are green?, Why does the creature look disgusted on the cover?, Why is the ham green?, etc.
• After reading Green Eggs and Ham teachers should expand on the reading by asking questions that will get students thinking about the future and what happened in the story. For example: Do you think that he liked the green eggs and ham?, What person view point was the story told in and give an example to defend your response?, etc. 

Demonstrating Cause and Effect

• Why do you think that sam was asking so many questions?
• Do you know why the creature finally ate the green eggs and ham?
• Why was the food so important?
• Why was Sam important in the story?

Character Analysis

• Describe the Sam? 
• Describe the the man who didn't want the green eggs and ham? 

Personal Connections

• Teachers should ask students what things from the story they can relate to their own lives. For example being trying something new before, not wanting to eat something, having someone not listen when you tell them no, etc.

Sequencing Skills

• Teachers can expand on student sequencing skills by asking students to draw several pictures about their favorite parts of the story and then having them put their pictures in order of how they occurred in the story. 

Summarizing the Story

• The teacher can call on students to help summarizing what happened in the story they just read. The teacher should ask each student to add to the summary before summarizing herself/himself about what happened in the story. 

Theme

• The teacher should ask students to write down what they think the purpose or theme of the story was. It could have been its good to try new things, etc.