Owen finally has the patience for Dr. Suess, which I find really rewarding. Though I have to question whether this book is really appropriate for children, unless you assume the answer to the question at the end ("What would you do if your mother asked you?") is "I'd tell her the whole implausible story about the walking and talking cat." Presumably mom already knows the fish talks, so maybe that isn't as strange as I imagine.
Still, the kids in the story must be under so much stress, and they're in this really awkward situation that they didn't create and are largely powerless to stop. I mean, you're just sitting there, and a cat barges into your house. And the scene where they feel forced to shake hands with Thing One and Thing Two just rings too adult and too true to be appropriate for such a young mind.
That the book makes me really uneasy. I worry that Owen will come to know that kind of creeping social discomfort too young if I keep reading the book to him. On the other hand, it's a lot of fun to read, and he really grooves on the rhyming. Maybe he thinks the uneasiness of the protaganists is just an essential part of growing up and he's eager to experience that. If that's what he's thinking, I suspect he's right, but it's a shame nonetheless.
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