Fox in Socks
 | |
| Author | Dr. Seuss |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Dr. Seuss |
| Cover artist | Dr. Seuss |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's Literature |
| Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | June 19, 1965 (Renewed in 1993) |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-0-39-490038-4 |
| OCLC | 304375 |
| Preceded by | Hop on Pop |
| Followed by | I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew |
Fox in Socks is a children's book by Dr. Seuss, first published in 1965. It features two main characters, Fox (an anthropomorphic fox) who speaks almost entirely in densely rhyming tongue-twisters and Knox (a yellow humanoid) who has a hard time following up Fox's tongue-twisters until the end.
Storyline
[edit]The book begins by introducing Fox and Knox along with some props (a box and a pair of socks). After taking those four rhyming items through several permutations, more items are added (chicks, bricks, blocks, clocks), and so on. As the book progresses, Fox describes each situation with rhymes that progress in complexity, with Knox periodically complaining about the difficulty of the tongue-twisters. Finally, as Fox gives Knox an extended dissertation on "Tweetle Beetles" who fight each other with paddles while standing in a puddle inside a bottle on a noodle-eating poodle, a fed-up Knox interrupts and pushes him into the bottle, calling it a "tweetle beetle noodle poodle bottled paddled muddled duddled fuddled wuddled fox in socks". He then thanks an astonished Fox for all the "fun" and takes leave.
Writing and publication
[edit]Seuss met Audrey Dimond while he was working on Fox in Socks, and she was the only one of the adults who could read the tongue twisters aloud.[1] Seuss dedicated the book to Audrey Dimond and Mitzi Long, describing them as members of the Mr. Soledad Lingual Laboratories despite no such place existing.[2] Seuss went on to marry Dimond in 1968.[3]
To test his editor Bennett Cerf, Seuss added the inappropriate line "Moe blows Joe's nose, Joe blows Moe's nose" to his manuscript of Fox in Socks. This followed a similar incident two years prior, when he added the word "contraceptive" to his manuscript of Hop on Pop.[4]
While he was working on Fox in Socks, Seuss published I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew.[5] Fox in Socks was published in fall of 1965.[2]
Analysis
[edit]Fox in Socks was one of two tongue twister books written by Dr. Seuss, alongside Oh Say Can You Say? (1979). In both cases, Seuss prioritized the sound and structure of the tongue twisters over coherence, resulting in heavy use of nonsensical phrases.[6] In one instance, it describes the fox as a "tweetle beetle noodle poodle bottled paddled muddled duddled fuddled wuddled" fox.[7] It also uses simple words arranged in complex patterns, at one point saying that "Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew".[8] Seuss used Fox in Socks to demonstrate the different uses of words in different contexts.[9]
Fox in Socks expresses a common Seuss theme of optimism. The phrase "you can make" appears as a refrain at the beginning of several sentences.[10] It also features Seuss's respect for manners, having Mr. Knox refer to the Fox as "Mr. Fox, sir".[11]
Reception and legacy
[edit]Fox in Socks ranked 31st in a 2001 list of best-selling children's hardcover books in the United States by Publishers Weekly, and it was the 8th best-selling book by Dr. Seuss.[12]
Kirkus Reviews considered it an "amusing exercise for beginning readers", but noted that the tongue-twisters made little sense when removed from the context of their illustrations.[13]
The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992) cites fourteen lines of Fox in Socks in its coverage of "compounds in context".[14]
The journalist Jonathan Cott listed Fox in Socks among Dr. Seuss's best examples of books that balance entertainment with educational value.[15]
Adaptations
[edit]The tweetle beetle skit was featured in The Hoober-Bloob Highway, a 1975 CBS television special. Here, the skit was part of a job: that of a "famous tweetle beetle statistician. If you took on this job, you could be the world's greatest authority on tweetle beetle battlistics, if you study tweetle beetles and their ballistic characteristics". It ended by cutting back to the base, with Mr. Hoober-Bloob waving his arms around, covering his ears, and yelling, "Stop it! Stop it! I can't stand it! That world is a vastly cruddy, bloody bore!"
In 1965, the book was adapted as a record, narrated by Marvin Miller with music by Marty Gold and his orchestra. The album starts off with a slow reading of the book, followed by a faster reading.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Morgan & Morgan 1996, p. 185.
- ^ a b Morgan & Morgan 1996, p. 187.
- ^ Nel 2004, p. 111.
- ^ Morgan & Morgan 1996, pp. 178–179.
- ^ Morgan & Morgan 1996, p. 186.
- ^ Nel 2004, p. 27.
- ^ Einhorn 2012, p. 115.
- ^ Einhorn 2012, p. 116.
- ^ Einhorn 2012, p. 37.
- ^ Einhorn 2012, p. 58.
- ^ Einhorn 2012, p. 85.
- ^ Nel 2004, p. 4.
- ^ Fox in Socks[permanent dead link], reviewed at Kirkus Reviews; published March 1, 1965; archived online, October 11, 2011; retrieved January 5, 2021
- ^ Morgan & Morgan 1996, pp. 291–292.
- ^ Cott 1997, p. 121.
References
[edit]- Cott, Jonathan (1997). "The Good Dr. Seuss". In Fensch, Thomas (ed.). Of Sneetches and Whos and the Good Dr. Seuss: Essays on the Writings and Life of Theodor Geisel. McFarland & Company. pp. 99–124. ISBN 0-7864-2447-8.
- Einhorn, Lois (2012). Why Do We All Love Dr. Seuss?: Discovering the Mystery and Magic of an Icon. Robert D. Reed Publishers. ISBN 978-1-934759-58-5.
- Morgan, Judith; Morgan, Neil (1996). Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel: A Biography. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80736-7.
- Nel, Philip (2004). Dr. Seuss: American Icon. Continuum Publishing. ISBN 0-8264-1434-6.
