The Lorax

Seuss addresses a growing crisis by employing nonsensical words and images, such as a Thneed, "a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need." The greedy Once-ler and his factories that sully the sky artfully inform the reader about the dangers of pollution, extinction, and deforestation. However, Seuss never mentions these buzzwords. Instead, he uses a magical language that defies rational criticism and enraptures children of all ages: the cruffulous croak and smogulous smoke, the snergelly hose, rippulous pond, gruvvulous glove and …

…plant a seed and care for it, a simple task that would not seem daunting to a child, but maybe too time consuming for an adult. Seuss's characters and suggestions are carefully placed on a child's level, making environmental advocacy seem possible for a person of any age. Seuss does not provide a solution to the problems exposed in The Lorax, but instead prods the children to be assertive and search for the answers themselves.