McElligot's pool

Not my favorite Seuss, but still a great story none-the-less. An inspiration to reach for your dreams even if others laugh at you or discourage you. Sometimes the fun is in the striving, not the achieving. A young boy is fishing in a pond on a farm which is "known" to hold nothing but garbage.

Fabulous Dr. Seuss book. Very interesting and it keeps your attention. Typical Dr. Seuss.

McElligot's pool is a strange pool. You can fish but you might not catch fish. In fact, you may catch anything but fish. The strange thing is, the pool is too small, and is full of old junk people have thrown away. But the one thing you might not know is just how Mcelligot's pool is below. The pool

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might flow underneath the town. It could flow out to the sea. Who knows? There might be all kinds of fish down there. There might be thin fish, stout fish, short fish, and long fish. There might be a dog fish chasing catfish, a sea horse, cow fish, eskimo fish, or Australian fish with a kangaroo pouch. Who knows what you might catch in McElligot's pool? There might be a sea of fish down there waiting.

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McElliot's pool is a small pond where a little boy often fishes. A farmer approaches him while laughing saying that there is no hope he will catch anything but trash. However, the boy does not believe in giving up and his imagination begins to wonder. He dreams of where the small pool could be

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connected to and all the different types of fish that could potentially be in there. After his rambling the old farmer is stunned, at just how hopeful this little boy has become.

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Summary:
A boy is fishing in McElligot's Pool when a farmer comes along and criticize the young boy for fishing in the pool. The boy then shares his imagination of what types of different fishes could be down in the pool all types of sizes small and large. Tells where the pool can lead to down

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deep, may be towards the ocean or other side of the world.

My Response:
I like the pictures of this book and what little imagination can lead to if some thought is put into a subject. I also liked how the boy tells the farmer at the end he is no fool for fishing in McElligot's Pool making the farmer rethink whats his judgement. This book also gives a good example of having patience and self determination.

Classroom Extension:
1)Ask students if criticism ever made them give up and how they felt about it.
2)Ask students how patience and self determination helps them reach their goals.

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A young boy is fishing by the side of McElligot's pool when a farmer comes along and calls the boy a fool, claiming that the pool is much too small and polluted to ever catch a fish in. The boy then tells the man that you never know, the pool might just be connected to an underground brook that

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travels for miles and miles, leading to the sea. The boy imagines all the strange fish that he might possibly catch because "you never can tell what goes on down below.

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Young Marco is optimistic about his chances of catching a fish in McElligot’s Pool, despite the doubting of the farmer. But Marco tells the farmer that the pool could be connected to an underground brook, which in turn could be connected to an underground river, etc. etc. This is such a great

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ahead-of-its-time story about the interconnectedness of our planet and the importance of taking care of it.

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This is a fun Dr. Seuss book. It has a higher reading level than most of his books because it was an early one. It tells the story of a boy who is fishing in a small pond and is told by a man that there are no fish in the pond. The boy imagines all sorts of fantastic fish that may live in the pond

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and describes them to the man. The pictures are very creative,

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McElligot's pool is about a boy who is frustrated with fishing but is hopeful he might catch something. An old man is nearby and he wants to advise this young boy so he tells him that this pool has only a collection of junk that people discard their old unneeded items in. The boy responds while

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saying a story of what the pool can lead to, and the amazing creatures that were in it. I really enjoyed this book as it had many creative looking fish that I had to look twice at, before flipping the page. Recommenced for K-3.

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In my opinion this picture book was enjoyable since the language was engaging and the illustrations help depict the imagination of the narrator. The language was engaging since Dr. Seuss uses words that rhyme with each other and words that aren’t actually words. Having tongue twisters when words

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rhyme with each other and a rhythm helped moved this story along. I enjoyed being able to also see the narrator’s imagination also come through in the words like “ Thing-a-ma-jigger”. The illustrations also help depict this young child’s imagination since the story starts out completely in black and white but as he narrates what could be in McElligot’s pool the pictures gain color and continue to get more elaborate. McElligot’s Pool is about a young boy who goes to a farm pool and begins fishing only to be told that he’ll have no luck fishing there. The young boy goes on to inform the man that he could have luck fishing at McElligot’s pool if he has patience since the pool could be connected to other waterways with other sorts of fish seeking relaxation in McElligot’s pool. The big idea this story gives light to is that patience is a virtue and not to judge a book or item by what it appears to be.

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Reissue of the 1948 Caldecott Honor book.

My favorite Dr. Seuss book.

I never liked Dr. Seuss as a child; I found "The Cat in the Hat" or maybe it was "Green Eggs and Ham" movie shown at my local library when I was a kid disconcerting. But this book has an appealing exuberance.