My favorite children's book is Dr. Seuss' And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. In this story, we meet Marco, a boy with a huge imagination. His cynical father tells him to stop exaggerating the things he sees on his way home everyday. Unable to help himself, Marco sees a horse and a cart on Mulberry Street, and page by page, he transforms that horse and cart into a sensational treasure trove of imaginative wonders, complete with a raja, an elephant, a retinue of police, etc. etc. How can you blame him--what is exciting or inspiring about a horse and cart? However, his fragile other world is crushed when he remembers his father's charge. At the end of the book, his father asks him what he saw on his way home. The last page:
"Nothing," I said, growing red as a beet, "But a plain horse and wagon on Mulberry Street."
Poor Marco.
The world would be a better place if more parents would let their kids daydream. I know I would be a wreck (more so than I already am) if I wasn't allowed the freedom of my limitless imagination.
Love, Shelley.
That was definitely one of my favorite books as a little kid.
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