Horton Hears a Who!

Reading level: Ages 4-8 Hardcover: 72 pages Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (August 12, 1964) Language: English

Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss tells the story of a lovable elephant named Horton living in the Jungle of Nool who discovers a small speck of dust with a tiny civilization of Whos living on it.  Surely one of the most popular Seuss stories, Horton Hears a Who! is a tale of kindness, perseverance, and understanding. In a nutshell, when Horton discovers the tiny world of little people living on the speck of dust, he is immediately touched by their call for help.  He makes up his mind right away to do whatever he can for the unseen people because "A person's a person, no matter how small." However, Horton's strong hearing makes it so he is the only one who can actually communicate with the Whos.  Therefore, the other animals in the jungle think Horton is crazy, and the story is a struggle between Horton's view that the Whos exist and are important, and the other animals' view that they can't hear nor see anything Whos so therefore the Whos do not exist. This is a fantastic book for children to read not only for its enjoyable story but for the lessons that it teaches about following your heart and never giving up.  No doubt you have already heard of or seen the motion picture adaptation of Horton Hears a Who!.  Also notable, Horton is a prominent character in the highly popular musical Seussical.