Horton hatches an egg

Macy, a lazy and irresponsible bird, persuades Horton to hatch her egg, and she flies away on a "vacation", which turns into her constant relocation.

Horton begins to hatch the egg and is ridiculed by his friends, Horton tries to pay attention to them and continues to hatch the egg. However, despite all his efforts, Macy did not return, but Horton refused to leave the nest because he had to keep his promise. It is discovered by hunters and taken to the city along with the nest, earning money on it.

Meanwhile, Macy is on vacation in the South. Arriving in another city after 51 weeks, she still returns, visits the circus and demands to return the egg to him, without offering him any reward. However, when the egg hatches, the creature that appears is an “elephant bird,” a mixture between Horton and Macy, and Horton and the baby happily return to the jungle, where Horton is rewarded for his perseverance, while Macy was punished for her laziness.

Horton Hatching an Egg was released by Random House in the fall of 1940 for immediate success. ^[1] She received mostly positive reviews from critics. " Kirkus Reviews " called the book "pure nonsense, but fun" ^[2] . A critic from The New York Times Book Review wrote: “Morality is a new case for Dr. Seuss' books, but that doesn’t interfere with the fun with which he juggles an elephant on wood. An adult story seems a little forced compared to its first big thread, less inevitable in its bullshit, but neither the young nor the old are going to argue with the fantastic comedy of their paintings ” ^[1] .

The book also found early success with book buyers and the general public. It sold 6,000 copies in the first year and 1,600 in the second ^[3] . Francis Cristiri, a FAO Schwarz minor buyer, wrote to Heisel’s publisher on Bennett Cerf : “I was alone, my family read Horton out loud to myself again and again ... This is the funniest book I have ever seen ... Our product manager thinks he can find an elephant in the store, we can make a tree and lay an egg and have a very beautiful window for Book Week ” ^[1] . Mary Styx of the James Bookstore in Cincinnati , Ohio, noted the book’s popularity for both adults and children. Numerous booksellers invited Geisel to sign autographs in their stores, and Surf sent him on a tour of several US cities to promote the book. However, the book was less well received in England, where it was rejected by seven publishers before Hamish Hamilton finally published it to modest success by 1947 ^[4] . This reflected a general trend, as Dr. Seuss's books were slowly selling in England.

"Horton hatches an egg" has remained popular in the United States. In 2001, the Publishing Weekly reported that the book was sold in 987,996 copies, placing it in 138th place on the list of the most popular books for children of all time ^[5] . She was featured in Six by Seuss: A Treasury of Dr. Seuss Classics ”, which was the main choice for the Book of of the Month Club in June 1991 ^[6] . In 1992, less than a year after Geisel’s death, Horton's Appeal was included in the 16th edition of Bartlett ’s Familiar Proposals ^[7] . In 2007, the National Educational Association placed it in the top “Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children”, based on an online survey ^[8] .

Horton Hatching the Egg has been used in a wide range of discussions, including economics, Christianity, feminism, and adoption. James W. Kemp likened Horton to the early Christians who were addressed by Peter the first ^[9] . Like the early Christians, Horton faces persecution and mockery of his actions, but Horton believed in his mission and was rewarded, as evidenced by the elephant bird that appears at the end of the book (in sequels, unfortunately, it does not flash).

Alison Lurie , in a 1990 article on Dr. Suze from a feminist point of view, criticized Horton Hatching the Egg as a statement of fetal rights and his negative attitude towards Macy ^[10] . Lurie pointed to the almost complete absence of strong female protagonists in the books of Dr. Seuss and argued that Maisy, who is obviously an antagonist and portrayed as lazy and irresponsible, is “the most memorable female character in the complete work of Dr. Seuss” ^{[6] [7]} .

In a 2000 article, Jill Deans used the book to discuss adoption, surrogacy, and in particular donation of embryos. She noted that this is a “classic tale of surrogate motherhood” and that it “awakens the subtleties of the debate” of “nature”. She claims that the book thanks the adoptive parents and educators, like Horton, but punishes mothers like Macy ^[10] . Both deans and Philip Nell point to the real implications of the book for Geisel and his wife. Deans drew a connection between the elephant bird in Horton and the infantographer, a failed invention created by Geisel, which combined the two photographs and was intended to give couples an idea of ​​how their children looked. Meanwhile, Nel linked the book with the story "Matilda the Elephant." Noting that Geisel could not have children, Nel argued that Matilda and, in addition, Horton might have been a manifestation of Geisel’s desire for children ^[11] .

Richard Freeman , writing in 2011 about the current economic situation in the United States, called “Horton Hatching an Egg” a tale of investment. Freeman argued that “economic growth requires long-term investment”, as was done by Horton, who is on an egg, and that “trust is important in a well-functioning economy” ^[12] .

• The book was adapted in a short animated film by Warner Bros. Studio . (formerly called Leon Schlesinger Productions) and was released in 1942 as one of the series of the animated series Funny Melodies ^[13] .
• In 1966, in the USSR, Soyuzmultfilm made and released a puppet animated film I am waiting for the chick based on the book ^[14] , this was the first independent film directed by Nikolai Serebryakov ^[15] .
• The plot of the 2000 Broadway musical Seussical , retold the ranks of the book by Dr. Seuss, is heavily borrowed from both books of Horton ^[16] .