McElligot's Pool facts for kids
The front cover of McElligot's Pool
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| Author | Dr. Seuss |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Random House |
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Publication date
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1947 (renewed 1974) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 64 pages |
| ISBN | 978-0-394-80083-7 |
| Preceded by | Horton Hatches the Egg |
| Followed by | Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose |
McElligot's Pool is a fun children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. It was published by Random House in 1947. In this story, a boy named Marco uses his imagination while fishing. He dreams up all sorts of amazing and unusual fish that could be swimming in the pond where he is fishing. Marco first appeared in Dr. Seuss's earlier book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which came out in 1937.
Contents
The Story of McElligot's Pool
The book starts with a boy named Marco who is fishing. He is at a small pond called McElligot's Pool. This pond is a bit messy and has some trash in it. A local farmer sees Marco and laughs. He tells Marco that he will never catch anything in that pool.
Marco's Big Imagination
Even though the farmer is negative, Marco stays hopeful. He starts to imagine how he might actually catch a fish. First, he thinks that the pool could be connected to an underground stream. This stream might travel under a highway and even a hotel. Eventually, it could reach the wide-open sea!
Fantastic Fish Marco Dreams Up
If the pool is connected to the sea, Marco imagines all kinds of strange and wonderful creatures he might catch. He pictures a fish with a checkerboard pattern on its stomach. He also imagines a seahorse that has the head of a real horse. There's even an eel with two heads! When Marco finishes his amazing daydreams, he tells the farmer something important. He says, "Oh, the sea is so full of a number of fish, if a fellow is patient, he might get his wish!" This shows that Marco believes in the power of hope and imagination.
How the Book Was Created
Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Geisel, painted some of the pictures for McElligot's Pool while on vacation. He was with his wife, Helen, at a friend's summer home in Southern California. This book was special because it was the first Dr. Seuss book to use water colors for its illustrations.
Challenges in Publishing
However, because of money concerns, the publisher, Random House, printed only half of the book in color. The other half was in black and white. So, you would see two pages in color, then two pages in black and white, and so on. Marco, the main character, was first seen in And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. That book was the very first Dr. Seuss book ever published, back in 1937.
A Special Dedication
Geisel dedicated McElligot's Pool to his father. The dedication calls his father "the World's Greatest Authority on Blackfish, Fiddler Crabs, and Deegel Trout." According to people who wrote about Dr. Seuss's life, "deegel trout" was a funny inside joke. It was something only Geisel and his father understood. This joke started during a fishing trip when Geisel was a boy. His father had bought large trout from a place called Deegel hatchery. Then, he pretended that they had caught them themselves!
Why the Book Was Withdrawn
On March 2, 2021, Dr. Seuss Enterprises made an announcement. They said that McElligot's Pool and five other books would no longer be published. This decision was made because the books "portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong." Dr. Seuss Enterprises did not say exactly which pictures or words were considered offensive.
Understanding the Issue
In McElligot's Pool, the word "Eskimo" is used once. It describes a type of imaginary fish that might swim from the North Pole to McElligot’s Pool. The term “Eskimo” can be seen as old-fashioned in American English. In Canadian English, some people find it offensive. This is even though the Inuit, Aleut, and Yupik groups are sometimes grouped together under the name Eskimo. The book also has a picture showing these made-up "Eskimo Fish" wearing hooded fur parkas.
After the Withdrawal
After these books were removed from publication, many Dr. Seuss books became very popular. Nine of the top ten books on Amazon's charts in the United States were Dr. Seuss books. The top four were all Dr. Seuss books. However, none of the books that were removed from publication were on this list.
