Essay Questions

What is odd about the character of Slow Joe Crow?

He’s a crow. But you wouldn’t know it unless you were told. Mr. Fox looks like a fox. The pigs in the Bim and Ben Band look like pigs. Bim and Ben look like nothing in particular and neither are they described to be anything in particular. A duck looks like a duck and poodle looks like a poodle. But a character given the name Slow Joe Crow is drawn in a way that he could just as easily be a grackle, a starling or a raven. The point is that text and image often—usually—go together in concert to work together to create a coherent image. Sometimes, however, the image alone is available to provide an open opportunity for interpretation: Ben and Bim, who may or may not be some sort of cat-like creature. Other times, the text is necessary for identification when the visual image is obscure or vague, such as the case with Slow Joe Crow who wouldn’t be a crow in the minds of everybody if it weren’t for his name.

“Take it slowly. This book is dangerous.” Why does the book begin with this warning?

Two reasons, really. The first has to do with the last image in the book, located on the page opposite the back cover. The sock-wearing hands of the fox holds up a poster on which is written the words “Now is your tongue numb?” The implication, of course, is that trying to same the tongue twisters in the book has twisted the tongue into a state of being numb. And that may very well be the case. More importantly, however, is another reason that is intentionally not made so clear. The issuance of a warning against reading the book works like censorship does: it only increase the lure and enticement. By making it seems as though there is something a little risky about reading the book that adults maybe don’t want you to try, Seuss effectively turns the process of learning to read for a kid into a sneaky little adventure.