Green Eggs and Ham facts for kids
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| Author | Dr. Seuss |
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| Illustrator | Dr. Seuss |
| Cover artist | Dr. Seuss |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Beginner Books |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Random House |
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Publication date
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August 12, 1960 |
| ISBN | 978-0-394-80016-5 |
| 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 famous children's book written by Dr. Seuss. It was released by Random House on August 12, 1960. The story is about a character named Sam-I-am. He keeps asking another unnamed character to try a dish of green eggs and ham. Even though the unnamed character gets annoyed, he finally tries the food. To his surprise, he discovers that he really likes it!
Dr. Seuss started writing this book after his editor, Bennett Cerf, made a bet with him. Cerf bet him $50 that he could not write a fun children's book using only 50 different words. Dr. Seuss found this challenge difficult. He used notes and lists to keep track of his progress. The book shows how two people can have a conflict. However, Dr. Seuss said the story does not have a deeper hidden meaning.
Critics praised Green Eggs and Ham for its writing and pictures. The challenge of using only 50 words was seen as a big success. The book has been made into different versions. This includes a TV series that came out in 2019.
Contents
What Is the Story About?
The story begins with Sam-I-am offering green eggs and ham to an unnamed character. The unnamed character quickly says he hates the food. But Sam-I-am does not give up. He keeps asking the character to try the food in many different places. He also suggests eating it with various animals.
Finally, the unnamed character agrees to taste the dish. He then realizes that he actually likes green eggs and ham! He thanks Sam-I-am for encouraging him to try something new.
How the Book Was Written
Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss, wrote Green Eggs and Ham. His editor, Bennett Cerf from Random House, challenged him. Cerf bet Dr. Seuss $50 that he could not write a fun children's book using only 50 unique words. This bet happened because Dr. Seuss's earlier book, The Cat in the Hat, used 236 different words.
Dr. Seuss took many notes to figure out how to use only 50 words. He made charts and checklists. By the time he finished, he had memorized how often he used each word.
The 50 Words
Green Eggs and Ham uses exactly 50 words. These 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, and you.
The word not is used the most, appearing 82 times. Anywhere is the only word in the book that has more than one syllable.
Dr. Seuss found this word limit very hard. He rewrote many pages until he was happy with the rhymes. His wife, Helen Palmer, sometimes put his discarded drafts back on his desk. She hoped he would like them after looking again, but he rarely did.
Early versions of the story had the unnamed character speaking more angrily. For example, when they were in a car on top of a tree, the character first said, "Sam-I-am. You let me be. Not in a car. You let me be!" Dr. Seuss changed this to "I would not, could not in a tree. Not in a car! You let me be." This made the outburst less direct. Also, early drafts called the food green ham and eggs instead of green eggs and ham.
Dr. Seuss finished Green Eggs and Ham in the spring of 1960. The book was officially published on August 12, 1960. By that time, about three million Dr. Seuss books had already been sold.
How the Book Became Famous
In 1967, Green Eggs and Ham was the best-selling children's book. By the end of 2000, it had sold over 8 million copies. This made it Dr. Seuss's most popular book. It was also the fourth best-selling hardcover children's book ever in the United States.
At Dartmouth College, Dr. Seuss's old school, people joked that the book's title was about the breakfast served there. In 1985, when Dr. Seuss received an award from Princeton University, the students recited the entire book for him. Dr. Seuss often received gifts of green eggs and ham, which he called "deplorable stuff." Later in his life, he said Green Eggs and Ham was the only one of his books that still made him laugh.
The Green Eggs and Ham Cafe opened in 1999 at the Universal Islands of Adventure theme park. It closed in 2015 but reopened in 2019. The cafe serves green eggs and ham, plus other foods from Dr. Seuss's books.
The book has even been mentioned in serious places. In 2007, a U.S. judge, James Muirhead, wrote a court ruling in the style of Dr. Seuss. This happened after a prisoner sent him an egg to protest prison food. Senator Ted Cruz also read the book aloud in the United States Senate during a long speech. Musician will.i.am said his stage name was inspired by the story.
Many parodies of Green Eggs and Ham have been made. These include a rap song by Moxy Früvous and a comedy sketch on Saturday Night Live.
Adaptations of the Book
Green Eggs and Ham has been turned into stage plays and TV shows. In 1973, it became part of an animated TV special. This special was first called Dr. Seuss on the Loose. Later, it was renamed Green Eggs and Ham and Other Stories. The voice actor Paul Winchell played both Sam-I-Am and the unnamed character.
A video game based on the book, Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham, was released for the Game Boy Advance on November 17, 2003.
A TV series called Green Eggs and Ham was released by Netflix in 2019. Adam DeVine voices Sam-I-Am, who is a wildlife protector in the show. Michael Douglas voices the unnamed character, who is a failed inventor named Guy-Am-I. The show adds new characters, places, and stories that are not in the original book.
A graphic novel titled Green Eggs and Ham Take a Hike was released on January 7, 2025. It was written and illustrated by James Kochalka. In this graphic novel, the unnamed character's name is Walter.
See also
In Spanish: Huevos verdes con jamón para niños
