The Cat in The Hat is a children's picture book written by children's author Dr. Seuss. Released in 1957, it tells of two children being met by a mysterious anthropomorphic cat and his servants.
Characters[]
- The narrator
- Sally
- The Cat in the Hat
- Thing 1 and Thing 2
- Fish
Publisher's summary[]
Have a ball with Dr. Seuss and the Cat in the Hat in this classic picture book...but don't forget to clean up your mess!
Then he said That is that.
And then he was gone
With a tip of his hat.
A dreary day turns into a wild romp when this beloved story introduces readers to the Cat in the Hat and his troublemaking friends, Thing 1 and Thing 2 – And don't forget Fish! A favorite among kids, parents and teachers, this story uses simple words and basic rhyme to encourage and delight beginning readers.
Summary[]
The story begins as an unnamed boy who is the narrator of the book sits alone with his sister Sally in their house on a cold and rainy day, staring wistfully out the window. Then they hear a loud bump which is quickly followed by the arrival of the Cat in the Hat, a tall anthropomorphic cat in a red and white-striped top hat and a red bow tie, who proposes to entertain the children with some tricks that he knows. The children's pet fish refuses, insisting that the Cat should leave (namely because their mother would be upset that they are talking to a stranger who has no permission to be in the house and is, therefore, trespassing). The Cat then responds by balancing the fish on the tip of his umbrella. The game quickly becomes increasingly trickier, as the Cat balances himself on a ball and tries to balance many household items on his limbs until he falls on his head, dropping everything he was holding. The fish admonishes him again, but the Cat in the Hat just proposes another game.
The Cat brings in a big red box from outside, from which he releases two identical characters, or "Things" as he refers them to, with blue hair and red suits called Thing One and Thing Two. The Things cause more trouble, such as flying kites in the house, knocking pictures off the wall and picking up the children's mother's new polka-dotted dress. At this point, the boy begins to understand the fish's aversion to having them and the Cat in the house. All this comes to an end when the fish spots the children's mother out the window. In response, the boy catches the Things in a net and orders the Cat to take them away and leave. Apparently ashamed, he stores them back in the big red box. He takes it out the front door as the fish and the children survey the mess he has made.
But the Cat soon returns, riding a machine that picks everything up and cleans the house, delighting the fish and the children. The Cat then leaves just before their mother arrives, and the fish and the children are back where they started at the beginning of the story. As she steps in, the mother asks the children what they did while she was out, but the children are hesitant and do not answer. The story ends with the question, "What would you do if your mother asked you?" (though it is implied that they do not tell her about the Cat, as she does not seem to know about him by the next book)
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