How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The book How the Grinch Stole Christmas was published in 1957 and was an immediate success. It consists of rhyming couplets and has black and white illustrations by the author, who uses only red and pink as accent colors.

In the story a grumpy creature with a heart “two sizes too small” is disgusted by the Christmas celebrations in the town below him. He decides to keep Christmas from coming to the Whos in Whoville by dressing up as Santa Claus - with his dog, Max, as a reindeer – and during the night pilfering every bit of Christmas from their homes. All the decorations, presents and food are stuffed into his sleigh leaving the town barren.

The next morning Christmas arrives anyway and he realizes the holiday “does not come from a store.”

All About Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as the beloved Dr. Seuss, was born in 1904 on Howard Street in Springfield , Massachusetts . Ted's father, Theodor Robert, and grandfather were brewmasters in the city. His mother, Henrietta Seuss Geisel, often soothed her children to sleep by "chanting" rhymes remembered from her youth. Ted credited his mother with both his ability and desire to create the rhymes for which he became so well known.

Ted left Springfield as a teenager to attend Dartmouth College , where he became editor-in-chief of the Jack-O-Lantern, Dartmouth 's humor magazine. Although his tenure as editor ended prematurely, he continued to contribute to the magazine, signing his work "Seuss." This is the first record of the "Seuss" pseudonym, which was both Ted's middle name and his mother's maiden name.
            To please his father, who wanted him to be a college professor, Ted went on to Oxford University in England after graduation. However, his academic studies bored him, and he decided to tour Europe instead. Oxford did provide him the opportunity to meet a classmate, Helen Palmer, who not only became his first wife, but also a children's author and book editor.
             After returning to the United States , Ted began to pursue a career as a cartoonist. The Saturday Evening Post and other publications published some of his early pieces, but the bulk of Ted's activity during his early career was devoted to creating advertising campaigns for Standard Oil, which he did for more than 15 years.

            As World War II approached, Ted's focus shifted, and he began contributing weekly political cartoons to PM magazine, a liberal publication.

            The Cat in the Hat, perhaps the defining book of Ted's career, developed as part of a unique joint venture between Houghton Mifflin (Vanguard Press) and Random House. Houghton Mifflin asked Ted to write and illustrate a children's primer using only 225 "new-reader" vocabulary words. Because he was under contract to Random House, Random House obtained the trade publication rights, and Houghton Mifflin kept the school rights. With the release of The Cat in the Hat, Ted became the definitive children's book author and illustrator.

             At the time of his death on September 24, 1991, Ted had written and illustrated 44 children's books, including such all-time favorites as Green Eggs and Ham, Oh, the Places You'll Go, Fox in Socks, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His books had been translated into more than 15 languages. Over 200 million copies had found their way into homes and hearts around the world.

            Besides the books, his works have provided the source for eleven children's television specials, a Broadway musical and a feature-length motion picture. Other major motion pictures are on the way.

http://www.catinthehat.org/history.htm  

Albert Hague

Born in Berlin , Germany on Oct. 13, 1920 , Albert Hague had a career that included acting, songwriting, and a cabaret act with his wife, Renee Orin.

Hague studied music in his native Germany and later in Rome and the United States . After graduation and service in the U.S. Air Force during the war, he pursued a career in popular music. He wrote individual songs and background music for many Broadway productions.

His first full musical score that made it to the stage was Plain and Fancy, with lyrics supplied by Arnold B Horwitt. The show, set in an Amish community, was well received by critics and was a solid success.

He was the composer for the TV musical cartoon, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) and was also an actor, most notably on the TV series Fame.

Albert Hague died of cancer on Nov. 12, 2001. He is survived by two children.

Activities and Discussions

• Diagram the plot. The plot is the easiest way to talk about a story; it is how the story unfolds. If the story is what happens, the plot is how the story happens. A good plot should be logical, with no unjustified turns and no deliberately misleading information. It should also have some level of suspense to keep the audience interested and make them wonder what will happen next.

The Plot itself is made up of 6 pieces:

Exposition – the information the audience needs to know in order to understand the story (time and place or what happened before the audience joined the story)

Conflict – the problem the main character must overcome. We learn about the characters’ inner selves through their actions and decisions made in response to the conflict.

Rising action – the complications that may change the course of the story

Climax – a turning point within the play

Falling action – the tying up of loose ends

Resolution – the ending when problems are solved

After reading the book, define each of these parts of the story and draw a diagram of the action.

• Define the Characters. Make a list of all the characters that appear in the book. What do you know about each of the characters and how do you know it? Examples include a character’s words, thoughts, actions, and the impact each has on other characters. List some words that describe each character.

• Writing Assignment. Have you ever hated something the way the Grinch hates Christmas? Do you still hate it or did you come around the way he did? Write about your experience including why you felt so strongly and what you learned about yourself or the situation.

• Who-Feast. We learn that the Whos serve Who-hash and Who Roast Beast at their Christmas Dinner. What fun foods would you serve at your Who-feast? Create a menu of imaginary foods (from all the food groups) to serve your guests. Choose one and write a recipe card listing the ingredients and the steps involved in preparing your invented dish. You could also draw pictures of each dish or of a dinner table spread with all your fantastic foods.

Objective: Students will write a creative story from a different character’s point of view

Stories are not reflections of reality but are selective versions of it, told from a particular perspective. “Point of View” is how one person perceives a story or series of events. The facts are given from his or her perception. In Dr. Seuss’ story, we see the events of the day from the view of an outsider standing with the Grinch. Who else appears in the story? – the dog, Max; Cindy-Lou Who coming upon the Grinch mid-theft; the rest of the Whos who wake up to find their gifts and decorations gone. Each of them sees the day the Grinch stole Christmas in a different way.

A. Consider everyday objects from their point of view. What does a piece of chalk think about as it writes on a chalkboard? Is it sad to think about how it will be erased soon, or is it happy to give itself up to helping children learn? How does a football feel as it flies across a field after a kick? Does a shoe enjoy the view from the ground or does it hate the smell of feet? Ask students to write a riddle or essay from the point of view of an inanimate object (perhaps a tree ornament or candy cane) and share them with the class.

B. As a class create a chart comparing how the Grinch views Christmas to how the Whos of Whoville do. While the narrator says the Grinch has no known reason to hate Christmas (perhaps his head, or his shoes, or the size of his heart), the Grinch refers to the noise of the toys, the sharing of a feast, and the sounds of the singing. The Whos demonstrate that their feelings about Christmas are not based on the gifts or the food, but rather the feeling expressed by joining hands with others and singing.

C. Ask each student to write a letter to a friend (or a journal entry or a news interview) as if he or she were a character in the story. How does Max feel about being dressed as a reindeer and being forced to pull the overstuffed sleigh? Does Cindy-Lou Who fall asleep when she gets back into bed, or does she lie awake wondering why Santa looked green? Is there another Who living in the town who wakes to find a favorite food gone and does not immediately respond in the Christmas spirit? How does he or she come around?

Objective: Students will understand basic elements of a rhyming poem and create their own.

A. Give students a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas to read or read it aloud to them.

B. List the following words on the board: throat, coat, trick, nick, around, found, said, instead, thread, head. Students will likely realize they are from the story when the Grinch decides to dress as Santa Claus. Discuss the concept of initial and final sounds to a word (“thr” and “c” vs. “oat” for “throat” and “coat”), pointing out that the difference in rhyming words is in the initial sounds. Choose one of the words on the board and give students one minute to list as many words as they can think of that rhyme with it. Try several rounds. Since Dr. Seuss was known for making up his own words, ask students to make-up words that rhyme with a word on the initial list. After asking each to share his or her most nonsensical word, ask students to create a definition for one of their made-up words.

C. Put a letter “A” next to the word “throat” and ask students to identify other words on the board that rhyme with it. Continue labeling each pair of rhymes with a different letter. Since you have now identified the rhyme scheme of AABBCCDDEE you can explain how this format can vary in other poems. Next, have students count the number of syllables in each rhyming line of the story. Is there a pattern?

D. Show students the word “onomatopoeia” and ask them what they think it means. Give them the definition (a word whose sound imitates the actual sound of the thing the word refers to) and some examples such as “The buzzing of innumerable bees” where the "zz" and "mm" sounds in these words imitate the actual sounds of bees. Looking at just the pictures in the book (or in this teacher's guide), have students come up with a sound or sound to represent what is happening in each picture. For example, if there is a picture of the Grinch stuffing a tree up the chimney, what sounds could students make that could signify that: grunting, the swishing of pine needles, or jangling ornaments, for instance.

E. Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter or sound within nearby words. Most often, repeated initial consonants. Tongue twisters are excellent examples of alliteration. Have students create their own tongue twisters by selecting a letter of the alphabet. Then select two nouns and a verb that begin with that letter, such as “The Grinch gave gifts” for the letter “G”. Then ask students to fill out the sentence with additional related words: The gregarious green Grinch gave gorgeous gifts of grapes.

F. Have students create their own story-poem in a style similar to Dr. Seuss', including made up words. If time allows, allow them to illustrate their stories and share the final product with the class.

http://www.citicenter.org/How-the-Grinch-Stole-Christmas/GRINCHSTUDYGUIDE_08.pdf