And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
By: Dr. Seuss
Published by: Random House Children’s Books
ISBN: 978-0-375-97581-3
Yesterday, school began for my daughter. She started Kindergarten in a brand-new school. I could not wait to hear about her day and when she got in the car it seemed she couldn’t wait to tell me about it. As she told her stories of the day I was reminded of one of my favorite books, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. The book begins:
When I leave home to walk to school,
Dad always says to me,
"Marco, keep your eyelids up
And see what you can see."
This book was read to my father as a child, then to my sister and me, and now I am reading it to my children. On his way home from school, while contemplating his father’s directions of “seeing what he can see,” Marco realizes that what he is seeing is dull and mundane. With each new thought, his story gets bigger and more elaborate. As his story grows he isn’t satisfied, he can do better, he can create a story no one can beat. At the end of his journey, he bounds up the steps and into his house with excitement. As he faces his father’s question at the end of his walk home from school he realizes that his father will say “Your eyesight is much too keen.” Crestfallen Marco says he saw “a plain horse and wagon on Mulberry Street.”
This story highlights a struggle most children face. When is there room for imagination and outlandish storytelling? When can you follow your excitement and let your heart sing? And when do you need to tell the truth of what you have seen? It is so difficult for children to walk that line and it might be even more difficult for parents to know when to encourage the excitement and the imagination and when to focus on the truth.
This was Dr. Seuss’s first published children’s book, long before there was a cat wearing a striped hat or an elephant that heard a little voice. I wonder if Seuss saw himself in Marco? Both had great stories and both were told that their imagination might be too keen. Marco by his father and Seuss by the 27 rejections he received from publishers when he approached them with this book.
One day while walking along a street in New York, Seuss ran into an old friend who had just gotten a job in publishing. Where Marco turned red and hid his excitement from his father, Seuss pressed on and shared the story of And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. The book was published in 1937 to rave reviews. It is easy to think that if Dr. Seuss had been walking along the other side of the street that day in 1937 he would have never had become a children’s author. But, I believe that if Seuss had been more like Marco and let the opinions of others lead the beating of his heart, he would have never had become a children’s author.
A lot has changed in parenting since Marco returned with what he saw on Mulberry Street. Some of it good and some of it not so good. The line between fostering a child’s imagination and the truth is as precarious as it has always been. I hope my children can tell me the truth while maintaining that spark of excitement which will lead them to amazing things.
Mulberry Street is a real street in Springfield, MA. There was nothing remarkable about that street in 1937 but it did launch a remarkable career.
You can find all of Macaroni Kid Plymouth MA book reviews in the Book Review Guide.
