The winner of last week's Great Wednesday Compare (Jane Austen Vs. Kurt Vonnegut), with a final score of 22-10, was Jane Austen.While the numbers of voters were down from previous weeks, there were still enough Austen fans to keep her well in the lead. Will Jane hold the lead for a 4th week? Will she make it all the way to the end? (Remember, I'm capping the number of wins at 5). You'll just have to keep coming back to see...
Keeping with the odd comparisons, this week Jane Austen is up against Ted Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, a.k.a. Theo Lesieg.
Remember, vote simply by adding your comment below, base it on whatever merit you choose, voting does not end until Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. (July 24th), and please spread the word!
Who's Better?
51 comments:
Let's try this again:
Oh, Jane! What a pickle!
I find you amazing—
Your fine sense of humor,
Your delicate phrasing—
Your Darcy and Tilney,
Your Lizzie and Emma—
But my head spins around
With a dizzy dilemma:
Is it Austen or Geisel?
My brain’s coming loose!
This line has to rhyme now:
I’m voting for Seuss.
Argh, I'm getting tired of this Jane Austen.
Going to go with Dr. Seuss here.
Oh come on!! Of course, it's Dr. Seuss! Who else but Seuss made reading so much fun? I can actually remember checking out Horton Hears a Hoo from my school library when I was a kid!!
It's a tough choice and Rob's verse is quite persuasive, but I'm going to have to go with Austen. Her words sing too and she has subtlety. Seuss is a fine childhood memory but Austen is a lifelong companion.
Oh, finally! An author I've read. And love, btw.
Sorry, Jane, but I'm going with Seuss.
I mean, he went from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
to
You're Only Old Once!
What more do you need to say? Besides the fact that I've never read any of Austen's works, that is.
Darn it! I meant to add that I think Rob's verse is great.
cjh
Well, you've finally put up a compare (since I've been reading this blog) that is challenging to me. Yes, Austen has been a great asset to my bookshelf. However, my favorite book of all time is Wacky Wednesday. Although I feel like a traitor to dear Jane by even thinking this, I absolutely vote for Dr. Seuss!
I was going to abstain from voting on this one because they are so different I couldn't justify one over the other. And then I remembered this: The Butter Battle Book. If you haven't read it, do it now. My vote: Dr. Seuss.
Rob: An argument in verse? Well done!
Allison: You're probably not alone.
CJ and Matt: Two of his books that I hadn't heard of, I'll have to check them out.
Stefanie & Stephanie: The difference in your names is more subtle than your arguments, eh?
Nicole: I certainly love the illustrations in that one.
Incredibly difficult choice here...but I'll have to go with Austen.
I love Rob Hardy's poem!!
Jane is getting a bit too big for her britches (petticoat?)
Suess!! He had an unfathomable influence on kids when he first burst into the kid's books scene. He could write, he could draw, he was witty and clever and quirky and fun. Enough with the Jane already!!
I could go either way, but since I get perverse pleasure from ruining a sweep, I'll go with Austen.
Oops too late, I see - Stephanie has already had the glory. Still going with Austen.
Everyone loves Dr.Seuss, of course, and the man was brilliant, but thinking about it, I decided he had one gimmick he did well, and that was it. I have to vote once again for Austen.
I'm voting for Rob Hardy.
Oh, he's not one of the choices? Okay, gotta be Seuss.
My dear Mr Hardy,
I can scarce comprehend,
What mistaken thoughts,
Have brought such an end.
Your lines which reached me,
Are shocking, alarming–
Your words to me previous
Were all so charming!
Alas, alas!
With dread do I write,
You have crossed me indeed,
My heart’s filled with fright.
Sufficient in pride,
I’ll rally again,
And suffer no disappointment,
From the words of mere men…
As a true a Janeite, my vote is for Austen.
PS: John, thank you for allowing the Janeites some fun on your blog…I’ve enjoyed the Great Wednesday Compares very much.
Poetry Slam! Poetry Slam!
Dr. Seuss, definitely.
Tt has to be Seuss! His work is for everyone, for a lifetime. I read him as a kid, I now read him as a parent and know I'll one day read him as a grandparent.
Hand hand finger thumb
zizzer zazzer zeff
do you like my hat?
no pat no! don't sit on that
the Grinch!
After reading these books as a child, and now infinitely more times to my children, the influence and love of reading and language he has inspired, my vote has to be for Dr Seuss
One book, two books,
Good books, great books.
Jane, Jane, Jane!
'Cause it's plain, plain, plain!
Raidergirl, only because my kids have these books now do I know this but a couple of those you mentioned are not Seuss, but were published his brand. Al Perkins wrote Hand Hand Fingers Thumb and P. D. Eastman wrote Do You Like My Hat? (he also wrote Are You My Mother?)
It's still Austen for me. The Doc was great for kids, beyond a doubt, but I seriously doubt that I will ever be tempted to pick up one of his books again.
John: Random thought: If Jane Austen can beat Dr. Seuss, I wonder how she would do against Virginia Lee Burton. "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" is one of the greatest books ever written. Certainly the most perfect children's book. I've read it at least fifty thousand times (including one stretch of reading it at least half a dozen times in a row), and I never get tired of it.
Dr. Seuss!!
Jane Austen
For my complete response, I refer you to Stefanie. She said exactly what I would have said.
Helen made a compelling poem. Er,point. Despite Dr Seuss keeping literacy alive and his book The Seven Lady Godivas, I choose Jane again.
Oh, no, Sam! It's gotta be Dr. Seuss! His books for children are fun for (some) adults, like me, but there are also books written for those of us older than three. A couple of books come to mind: Oh, the Places You'll Go! and You're Only Old Once: A Book for Obsolete Children.
What about The Lorax? "Unless someone like you ... cares a whole awful lot ... nothing is going to get better ... It's not." Long before saving the earth became a global concern, the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth's natural beauty. And the Sneetches teach us a lot about discrimination.
I had to buy Green Eggs and Ham twice for my nephew because he read the first copy to death. How many times did my children read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and Hop on Pop and Fox in Sox and Horton Hears a Who and Cat in the Hat as they were learning to read? More times than I can count.
And the Grinch is now more important to Christmas than Rudolph! Seuss is popular with people of all ages, sizes, and shapes; Austen? Not as many. Of course, my vote is for Seuss.
~~~ Bonnie, an obsolete child
It has to be Jane for me. Dr. Seuss is okay, and I do love the Grinch, but the incomparable Jane gets my vote.
Dr. Seuss!
I really don't understand the appeal of Austen. Really and truly. And yes, I have tried reading her novels and yes, I have watched the theatrical adaptations of them, but I still fail to see how she's still at all relevant.
Jane Austen is my favorite author, so I will, of course, be voting for her. Her books can be read over and over throughout one's life. While I love Dr. Suess, most adults don't read his books, unless to their children.
Besides, today, 18 July, is the 190th anniversary of Jane Austen's death at the age of 41.
Jane Austen.
I love me some Austen, but it's Seuss all the way. Sorry Jane. You did well, with 4 wins. No shame in that.
For me, I think, it's not so much the 1 fish 2 fish as The Lorax, The Sneetches, and Horton Hatches the Egg. You know, the ISSUE books. ;) LOVED them.
To Rob Hardy...my daughter had for awhile a very nice wooden toy of Mary Ann, the steam shovel from the Mike Mulligan book. She loved it that much. If only we still had it, I'd send it to you. :)
Jane I will read in a box,
I will read with a fox.
I will even read Jane while wearing fuzzy pink socks!
(Sorry for the no vote last week but I have not read any of Vonnegut's work yet.)
Jane for me this week; I want to see a sweep!
Hands down - Dr. Seuss...based solely on the fact that he was a childhood favorite and I still watch The Grinch every December.
Well, I'm loving all the verse, and I read Dr. Seuss daily to my youngest, but I'm still going with Austen, though I'm afraid I'm starting to sound a little one-note.
While I love Seuss I am going to once again go with Jane. I don't think any of Seuss' work has ever spoken to me like Austen's.
Still Jane!
Jane again?
Just say no.
She cannot win
4 in a row.
Before you cast
That final straw
Just ask yourself:
"Could Austen draw?"
Jane's prose is sparkling
Her wit sublime --
But I'm going with Seuss;
Jane has no rhyme.
Dewey sent me over.
Going w. Dr. Suess.
What a fun blog you have.
I would read Seuss in a box. And with a fox. And in a house. And with a mouse. And on a train. And in the rain. I would read Seuss here and there. I would read Seuss anywhere.
Austen, not so much.
I'm loving all the rhymes. Also glad to see some newcomers!
Another hard one, but I have to go with Jane.
Dr. Seuss. I greedily keep his books on the shelves but have unloaded all of my Austen on other people.
Rob Hardy's poem rocks. Hard.
But having read Seuss aloud to children, his appeal has paled for me for a while, so I'm going with Jane Austen.
Sadly, it looks like another victory for the Austentatious. *Sigh*
(and yes, you can infer a vote for Dr Seuss, even if it's a likely futile one.)
Sigh. Oh, John. Had I been 12 years old I would have voted for Dr. Seuss. Had it been another children's book author, I would have voted for Dr. Seuss.
But I vote for Jane. You are one mean, diabolical and sneaky person for pitting these two fine authors against each other. :)
my vote is for jane
This is silly Neco from Bonnie's Books who tried to vote by both clicking Seuss's name and his photo (and was dumbfounded when it didn't seem to work, lol). Thankfully, John Mutford posted over there that posting a comment was the correct way to vote. So here's my vote (which is for Seuss). Great concept, btw.
Jane!!
We both vote for Dr. Seuss.
Voting has now closed.
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