The Lorax

Review for The Lorax by Dr. Suess

"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.
I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues" - The Lorax

With Dr. Suess's classic artistic and poetic style, the story of the Lorax and the Once-ler comes together. The Once-ler, a solitary old man living in an abandoned old shop, tells the story of how he came upon a forest of Truffula trees and began to profit off of them. The first one he chopped down was made into a Thneed, "a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need," and from the stump of that first Truffula tree the Lorax is born. He is depicted in Suess's drawings as a small, round, brown man with a white mustache who scolds the Once-ler for making a Thneed out of his tree.

However, as more and more people buy Thneeds, the Once-ler has to cut down more and more Truffula trees, even inventing a tree chopping device to make the job faster. As his business progresses and the trees diminish, the Lorax informs the Once-ler of the troubles he is causing in the forest. First, he must send the Bar-ba-loots away as there is not enough Truffula fruit for them to eat. They are followed on their exodus by the Swoomee Swans and the Humming Fish and none of these animals seem to have a very bright future.

Eventually, the final Truffula tree is chopped down and the Lorax himself leaves with only a single parting word: Unless. When the story ends, the Once-ler realizes what the Lorax's last word means: unless someone cares enough to restore the forest to its former beauty and protect it, nothing will ever change.

I particularly enjoyed this story. As with all of Dr. Suess's works, his unique turn of phrase gives a great deal of impact to the underlying messages that he is portraying. Throughout the tale there are lines that succinctly depict the greed that can overwhelm any business. For example, the Once-ler states, "I meant no harm. /I most truly did not. / But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got./ I biggered my factory. I biggered my roads./ I biggered my wagons. I biggered the loads/... And I biggered my money, which everyone needs." The repetition of the idea that there are some things that everyone needs was particularly compelling as the Once-ler went from insisting that Thneeds and money were precious to insisting that Truffula trees were precious.

Perhaps what I enjoyed most about The Lorax was Suess's ability to present a tale that would not only show the end result of unsustainable development, but also leave the reader feeling empowered. In all, I would certainly give this reading 5 of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone.

I feel as if this book exemplifies why we need sustainable development practices and "living green."  We won't realize what we've lost until it's gone.