THUNK PIECE

It was recently pointed out to Your Humble Narrator that tomorrow, March 2, is Dr. Seuss Day, being the great man's birthday. So...

Monster-of-the-Week: ...this week's honoree is The Glunk...

...title character of "The Glunk That Got Thunk," a story from the 1969 Dr. Seuss collection I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! The Glunk is conjured up by the Cat in the Hat's daughter with her "Thinker-Upper" when she unwisely departs from using it to think up "friendly little things with smiles and fuzzy fur." Her brother describes him thusly:

"He was greenish
Not too cleanish
And he sort of had bad breath.

'Good gracious!' gasped my sister,
 'I have thunked up quite a meth!'"

The Glunk proceeds to make a long distance call to his beloved mother, and relate to her a long, preposterous recipe for "Glunker stew."

As many of us have painfully learned in recent years, the progressive social values of Dr. Seuss were a lifelong, if ultimately triumphant, work in progress (he created racist advertising art and cartoons in his early years). This particular story, which would seem to imply (probably unconsciously on the author's part) that little girls should stick to imagining "friendly little things," does not represent him at his philosophical best. But it does represent him at his comedic best, and it's hard to resist a monster whose greatest menace is running up the phone bill.