Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum by Dr. Seuss with illustrations by Andrew Joyner is based on notes and some drawings by Ted Geisel, Dr. Seuss, found in 2013----- twenty-one years after his death. As it is discussed in the publisher’s notes, around 1950 Ted Geisel was writing a script for a television show entitled Modern Art on Horseback. It was, and so is this book, a look at various ways artists look at their subjects. The teaching moment put forth is that it all depends on the artist’s visual imagination. A horse may be looked at as a solid form or an outline or as having immense strength or specific color or great speed.
The illustrations created by Andrew Joyner have a delightful Seuss-like flair and energy. A friendly horse dressed in a bow tie and acting as a docent leads a group of children and adults through a museum looking at 35 horses including those housed in paintings, woodcuts, pictured on vases and as bronze statues and terra cotta figures. Famous art such as Edvard Munch’s Horse Team, Franz Marc’s Blue Horse and Jackson Pollack’s The Wooden Horse are among those featured.
Andrew Joyner’s illustrations are full of fun-filled details especially when the Cat in the Hat, the Grinch and Horton the Elephant join the tour of the museum. Each piece of art is celebrated with a full color picture and commentary at the back of the book.
Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum by Dr. Seuss with delightful illustrations by Andrew Joyner is a novel way to introduce young readers 7-12 years of age to the many different ways of seeing and enjoying art (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2019).
Activity Questions for Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum.
Review the fine art at the back of the book ---there are over 30 well- known works of art. Are any of them familiar to you? What ones portray the horse in a way that you have never seen before? Do you have a favorite? Why?
The horses are seen by the artists in many different ways including as a solid shape, a grouping of lines, a concentration of color or a representation of strength or speed. Choose one of these horses and give it a name based on what YOU see when you look at it.
Just for fun try to find the following characters portrayed by the illustrator within the pages of this book: Dr. Seuss himself, Horton the Elephant, the Grinch, Magritte, the Cat in the Hat, one of the sneetches, Mr. Brown and the fish from the Cat in the Hat story. Why do you think the artist included them in the illustrations throughout this book?
