Green Eggs and Ham
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| Author | Dr. Seuss |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Dr. Seuss |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher |
Random House The Living Books Company |
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Publication date
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August 12, 1960 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 184476 |
| Preceded by | One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish |
| Followed by | The Sneetches and Other Stories |
Green Eggs and Ham is a children's book by Dr. Seuss, first published on August 12, 1960. As of 2001, according to Publishers Weekly, it was the fourth best-selling English-language children's book of all time. The story has appeared in several adaptations starting with 1973's Dr. Seuss on the Loose starring Paul Winchell as the voice of both Sam-I-Am and the first-person narrating man.
A character named "Sam-I-Am" pesters an unnamed character to try a plate of green eggs and ham. The unnamed character refuses, responding, "I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am." He continues to repeat this as Sam repeatedly follows him. Finally, the unnamed character gives in to Sam's pestering and tries the green eggs and ham, which he does like after all and happily responds, "I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you. Thank you, Sam-I-Am."
Green Eggs and Ham is one of Seuss's "Beginner Books", written in a very simple vocabulary for beginning readers. The vocabulary of the text consists of just 50 different words and was the result of a bet between Seuss and Bennett Cerf (Dr. Seuss's publisher) that Seuss (after completing The Cat in the Hat using 236 words) could not complete an entire book without exceeding that limit. The 50 words are: a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.
Green Eggs and Ham was published on August 12, 1960, and became the fourth-best selling English-language children's hardcover book of all time. In 1999 the National Education Association (NEA) conducted an online survey of children and teachers, seeking the 100 most popular children's books. The children ranked Green Eggs and Ham third, just above another Dr. Seuss book, The Cat in the Hat; the teachers ranked it fourth. Teachers ranked it fourth again in a 2007 NEA poll.Scholastic Parent & Child magazine placed it #7 among the "100 Greatest Books for Kids" in 2012. That year, too, it was ranked number 12 among the "Top 100 Picture Books" in a survey published by School Library Journal – the first of five Dr. Seuss books on the list.
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