AND TO THINK THAT I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREET (1937, $11.95) From the reindeer pulling the hero's chariot to the phantasmagorical parade that winds things up, this first of all his books for children is prototypical Dr. Seuss. Legend has it he took the beat of Mulberry Street's verse from the thrum of the ship's engine on a long voyage home from Europe. That beat would go on to power his books for another five decades.
THE 500 HATS OF BARTHOLOMEW CUBBINS (1938, $9.95) If this were the only book that he'd ever written, it would be enough to make the name of Dr. Seuss immortal.
MCELLIGOT'S POOL (1947, $9.95) This marked the author's return to writing children's books after service in the U.S. and the European theater in World War II-service that led to two Academy Awards for documentary filmmaking. After Lieuten-ant Colonel Geisel was back from the war, Dr. Seuss returned to the drawing board with his usual Seussian insouciance, inventing a fanciful catalog of all the fish that might be in McElligot's pool if only it connected to an underground river that led, in turn, to the sea. That might be would be a major feature of many more of his books.
THIDWICK THE BIG-HEARTED MOOSE (1948, $10) Dr. Seuss' Aesopian fable is about a moose whose antlers become a rooming house for a whole menagerie of self-invited guests. The moral of the story -- Don't horn in where you're not welcome -- is atypical of Dr. Seuss' usual open-arms policy. Even the kindest grandfather has his grumpy days.
IF I RAN A ZOO (1950, $11.95) In which the young hero daydreams of going ''to the far-away Mountains of Tobsk/Near the River of Nobsk, and I'll bring back an Obsk,/A sort of a kind of a Thing-a-ma-Bobsk.'' The Obsk is only one of a zooful of alternatives to your workaday lions and monkeys.
HORTON HEARS A WHO! (1954, $12) One of those rare sequels that is even better than its great original, which was 1940's Horton Hatches the Egg. Horton the kindly elephant hears an SOS from the inhabitants of the invisible village of Who-ville located on a speck of dust. Horton helps as much as he can, but finally it is the very tiniest Who of them all whose voice saves the day. The moral of this story? Clearly: every vote counts!
THE CAT IN THE HAT (1957, $6.95) The fun way to start reading. This book, and those that followed in Dr. Seuss' Beginner Books series, were the beginning of the end for the ''See Spot run! Funny, funny Spot!'' era of primers. Other high points of the series are The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, Green Eggs and Ham, and the philosophical treatise, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!, which poses the question, ''How much water can fifty-five elephants drink?''
HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! (1957, $7.95) The Grinch is an anti-Santa Claus who visits little old Who-ville on Christmas Eve and takes away all the toys and the holiday dinner and stuffs them up the chimney. Like Scrooge before him, the Grinch is finally redeemed by the spirit of Christmas -- but it's his mean moments that he's known for.
