Find Another Book

Book details

The bippolo seed and other lost stories

Jump to At a Glance & Reader Fit

Dr. Seuss - Author

Seuss - Author

Dr Seuss - Author

Seuss Dr - Author

A set of humorous, illustrated rhyming stories offers playful scenarios, from a persuasive cat and a duck's poor decision to a rabbit's unusual escape from a bear.

More about this book

It's the literary equivalant of buried treasure! Seuss scholar/collector Charles D. Cohen has hunted down seven rarely seen stories by Dr. Seuss. Originally published in magazines between 1950 and 1951, they include "The Bear, the Rabbit, and the Zinniga-Zanniga " (about a rabbit who is saved from a bear with a single eyelash!); "Gustav the Goldfish" (an early, rhymed version of the Beginner Book A Fish Out of Water); "Tadd and Todd" (a tale passed down via photocopy to generations of twins); "Steak for Supper" (about fantastic creatures who follow a boy home in anticipation of a steak dinner); "The Bippolo Seed" (in which a scheming feline leads an innocent duck to make a bad decision); "The Strange Shirt Spot" (the inspiration for the bathtub-ring scene in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back); and "The Great Henry McBride" (about a boy whose far-flung career fantasies are only bested by those of the real Dr. Seuss himself). In an introduction to the collection, Cohen explains the significance these seven stories have, not only as lost treasures, but as transitional stories in Dr. Seuss's career. With a color palette that has been enhanced beyond the limitations of the original magazines in which they appeared, this is a collection of stories that no Seuss fan (whether scholar or second-grader) will want to miss! - Publisher.

Add to Compare Explore

Book Analysis

At a Glance

Discover

Humour· ExplainedRhyme· ExplainedRhythm· Explained

Consider

Fear and suspenseFrightening scenes

Personalised Fit

Beyond the Cover

humourrhymerhythmillustrations

FictionIllustrated book

Themes in Context

Rhyme, rhythm and comic storytelling

The collection brings together seven separate stories, using humour, rhyme, rhythm and illustrations.Exploratory / explanatory

How the book presents it: Sound, humour and pictures shape the storytelling; this thread focuses on form rather than a moral stance.

Talk about: Which sounds, rhymes or pictures make a moment especially funny?

Why It May Be Worth Reading

The short-story format and lively sound of the rhyme may make this a good choice for sharing aloud, with each story offering a distinct comic situation to enjoy.

What Deserves Attention

One story involves a scheming cat leading an innocent duck towards a bad decision. You might want to check how the duck's choice and the cat's behaviour land with your child.

A Conversation Worth Having

What clues might help the duck decide whether to trust the cat?

Reading Approach

Try reading a story aloud and pausing over its rhymes and rhythm; invite your child to notice how the sound and illustrations shape the humour.

Confidence & Basis

Theme indicators describe how the book presents a topic; they are not a verdict on the whole book or your family's values. Confidence reflects how much book-specific material was checked. Only part of the book information was available, so some details remain unconfirmed.

What remains unconfirmed

Rhyme, rhythm and comic storytelling: The stories' full wording and the role of illustrations within each story are not established.

The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories - Dr. Seuss - Google Books

Limited information

Checked: 1 October 2026.

Relevant to: Rhyme, rhythm and comic storytelling

The bippolo seed and other lost stories by Dr. Seuss | Open Library