Front cover of an edition of Horton Hears a Who!
Horton Hears a Who! (ISBN 0394800788) is a children's fantasy picture book of sixty-two pages written and illustrated by the American artist and author Theodore Seuss Geisel, who wrote under the pseudonym of Dr. Seuss. It was first published in 1954. It is a sequel to Seuss's 1940 picture book Horton Hatches the Egg.
The story, written in verse, concerns an elephant named Horton who discovers that there is an entire town, called Who-ville,[1] inhabited by tiny people inside a speck of dust. Other animals think that Horton is mad for believing that tiny people live inside the dust speck and attempt to destroy it. Horton, therefore, determines to keep the dust speck and its miniature inhabitants safe.
Horton Hears a Who! was adapted as an American animated television special in 1970, as a Ukrainian animated short film in 1987, as a Russian animated short film in 1992 and as an American feature-length computer-animated film in 2008. It and Horton Hatches the Egg form the basis of the 2000 Broadway musical Seussical.
Plot[]
The book opens on May 15 in the Jungle of Nool. While relaxing in a pool of water, Horton the Elephant hears a small noise. Looking in the direction of the sound, he eventually sees a small speck of dust floating in the air. Horton reasons that there must be a very small person on top of the dust speck. Fearful that the person could fall into the pool, Horton carefully places the dust speck on a very soft clover. A kangaroo and her baby see Horton do this. They both mock Horton for believing in very small people on top of dust specks. Horton protects the dust speck from the water as the two kangaroos jump into the pool. Word soon spreads around the Jungle of Nool about Horton's strange belief and other animals laugh at him. Nevertheless, Horton determines to keep the dust speck and the person on top of it safe.
Horton hears a very faint voice coming from the dust speck. To his surprise, the voice thanks Horton for saving all the buildings inside the dust speck. The voice goes on to explain that there is an entire town, called Who-ville and inhabited by a people called the Whos, inside the dust speck. The speaker also explains he is the Mayor of Who-ville. Horton promises to keep Whoville safe.
At that moment, three monkeys, known as the Wickersham Brothers, jump on Horton's back. They mock the elephant for believing in "Whos who are not." They snatch the clover with the dust speck on it and give it to an eagle named Vlad Vlad-i-koff. The eagle flies off with the clover in his beak. Horton chases after him all afternoon, all evening and all night. At 6:56 AM the following day, the eagle drops the clover down into a field full of identical clovers, certain that Horton will never find it. Horton, however, searches through every clover in search of the dust speck. He eventually finds it in the afternoon on top of the three millionth clover that he checks. The Mayor of Who-ville tells Horton that being carried away by the eagle and dropped into the field caused a lot of damage to the town. Horton further promises to keep Who-ville safe.
The kangaroo and her baby reappear. They mock Horton again for believing in tiny people living in a dust speck. The mother kangaroo says that, with the help of the Wickersham Brothers and their monkey relatives, Horton will be tied up and the dust speck will be boiled in Beezle-Nut oil. Horton determines that the only way to save all of Who-ville's inhabitants is to get them all to make a lot of noise so that the other animals in the Jungle of Nool can hear them. The people of Who-ville first call out, "We are here!" Horton can hear them, but the other animals cannot. The Whos then make more noise by playing loud musical instruments and beating on metal objects. Again, Horton can hear them, but the other animals cannot. The Mayor of Who-ville realizes that one Who in Who-ville, a boy named Jo-Jo who lives in Apartment 12-D of Fairfax Apartments, is not making any noise at all. The Mayor grabs Jo-Jo and climbs to the top of the Eiffelberg Tower with him. From the top of the tower, the boy shouts, "YOPP!" Thanks to that one extra noise, the other animals are able to hear the Whos. They all promise to protect the dust speck and its tiny inhabitants too.
Footnotes[]
- ↑ Seuss would reuse the name Whoville (without a hyphen) and that of its inhabitants, the Whos, in his 1957 bookHow the Grinch Stole Christmas!