Left foot
Left foot
Right foot
Right
The opening lines on the first page situate the basic thrust of the book which is going to be repeated throughout. For one thing, every succeeding page is going to reference feet. In addition, the balancing of opposites here speaks directly to what is made clearer in those copies of the book which (those with picture of The Cat in the Hat holding a banner reading Bright and Early Board Books) which includes the informative subtitle: “Dr. Seuss’s Wacky Book of Opposites.”
Feet in the day.
Feet in the night.
A flip of the page reveals why that opening page includes “left foot” twice, but “right foot” only once. It is a nifty little tease that Seuss includes for his young fans who are learning to read using this book with their parents guiding them. While the structure of the opening page forms a catchy cadence, that is only half the point. That flip of the page reveals that the reader has been set up a rhyme. In typical Seussian fashion, even though the rhythm undergoes a change with the text on the following pages, it aligns perfectly with the more martial beat of the lines on that opening page.
Slow feet
Quick feet
Well feet
Sick feet
Back to the differing versions. The subtitle on that banner held by the cat on the Bright and Early Board Books really does make a difference between thought the official title is The Foot Book, it quickly becomes obvious that the focus is a good bit narrower than just feet. Feet are the mechanism by which Seuss pursues his teaching strategy. He is not teaching kids about feet or how there are so many different kinds of feet in the world. He is teaching kids to recognize opposites. Feet become the recurring object which kids can recognize, and which affords Seuss the opportunity for illustrating in different wacky and fun sorts of manners. The word “foot” also facilitates using in the title because it is a much easier for kids to identify and spell than the word “opposite.” Even so, a much more appropriate title would be “The Opposite Book.”
