Hop on Pop is not just a book in which Dr. Seuss takes it upon himself to teach young children how to read, it is a book that subtly seeks to convince kids of the power and joy of learning to read. Technically speaking it is one of, if not the simplest book in the Seuss canon. The typeface is huge, allowing the text to dominate while the illustrations are of a more limited nature than usual. Rarely are the images in a Seuss book self-contained within a geometric frame, but a huge number of these pictures here are situated within a simple square below the text. The effect is to make the text more prominent and dominant than usual.
As a phonic primer, there is, of course, no actual narrative to speak of. While there are characters who are given the equivalent of their own sketch—the thing that can sing and Mr. Brown and Mr. Black, for instance—even the conceptualization of hopping on pop disregards a coherent storyline. In fact, a father becomes the central figure of the book, but surprisingly it is not the pop on whom the kids hop.
All the little sketches and characters are presented in through illustrations that reveal a supreme joy. When Pat sits on the bat, he is smiling. The pup in the cup may well be the most contentedly happy character in Seuss history. The siblings who like to talk while they walk are absolutely enthralled to do both. Everyone in this book seems to be having a wonderful time even when their activities are intruded upon by unpleasantness. Even when pop demands of his kids to stop hopping on him, his angry face is juxtaposed against the absolute bliss of the kids hopping on the opposite page. All this joy leads to the final pages of the book where it all comes together.
A very happy family composed of mom and dad and three siblings stand against a vivid pink background, all smiling happily against. The youngest brother even bounds into the frame from the side. The sister proudly points out that both boys can read a little bit. Then comes the capper: dad can read words that are big both in terms of letter count and typeface. The implicit message is that learning to read short words naturally leads to being able to read big words and being able to read big words is a terrific accomplishment capable of making one joyous and happy. This message is underscored on the very next page by one of the very few images of a character with a sour, unhappy expression. This sadness—this lack of joy—is the direct result of not being able to read. The unhappy figure asks what is being said on a yellow background with red letters below which spell out:
“seehemewe
Patpupop
Hethreetreebee
Tophopstop.”
It is the lack of knowing how to read—how to separate letter groupings so that they form words, which is the stimulus behind the unhappiness. It is the lack of an ability to read which creates the absence of joy.
