It's Grandpa's Book

Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Seuss

A friend of mine often asks, "In our urban society, why are we so anxious for our children to learn farm animal noises?"

She's right. Between "Old McDonald and numerous board books, we spend a lot of time ensuring our toddlers know that pigs go oink and sheep go baa. Our little city kids can recognize horses, cows, roosters, ducks and all the sounds they make long before they know that flames are hot or that forks don't go in light sockets. In some ways, it isn't surprising that we still do this. Young children love making noises and imitating silly sounds is an important part of language development.

Just about 30 years ago, the venerable Dr. Seuss wrote a wonderful book called Mr. Brown Can Moo. He starts with the traditional cow, but then he moves on to bees (good for any kid to recognize) corks, and squeaky shoes. He covers the sounds of butterflies, rain, trains, clocks, horns, and frying pans. He covers the silly and absurd like a hippopotamus chewing gum and two goldfish kissing.

Long before Steve and Blue worked their way into our homes, Seuss encouraged interaction in this book. After each sound, he asks, "How about you?" And few toddlers can resist the question and they're soon going "hoo hoo" and "hiss hiss". Seuss also makes very effective use of repetition. After each "group" of sounds, he goes back and repeats all of the ones used in the book.

Oh, a quick note: Avoid the board version of this book. It is condensed and leaves out a lot of the useful repetition. I've never been a fan of abridged books and it amazes me that something as short as a Seuss book should be abridged!

This book is a special one in our family. My dad read it to me as a child, and delighted in making all the noises and watching me laugh. He ended up with most of it memorized and often delighted small children by reciting it. I'm told that I would let only my daddy read me this story. When my son was born, his proud grandpa went out and bought him two copies of this book--one for their house and one for our house. Every time my son would visit him (and they began weekend visits when my son was 6 weeks old), they'd read this book together. Recently, when my son was staying at a friend's house while we were at rehearsal, she tried to recite this book to him. He stopped what he was doing and gave her a dirty look. Although he said not a word, it was very clear that Mr. Brown Can Moo is Grandpa's book.

--B. Redman