The Powerful Hear and Respect the Vocally Downtrodden!, 19 May 2004

By	Donald Mitchell "a Practical Optimist" (Boston) - See all my reviews

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Horton Hears a Who! was one of her picks.

On the surface, this is a story about an elephant going the extra mile to respect those who are as different from him as they can possibly be.

"He was splashing . . . enjoying the jungle's great joys . . .

When Horton the elephant heard a small noise."

He notices a speck of dust, passing in the air. With his large ears, he can hear something coming from that dust. Quickly, he imagines that there is some sort of a creature of very small size on the dust.

No one else believes him, and he is taunted and tortured by the other animals . . . who cannot hear the small noise. They think Horton has gone mad! After tribulations that would daunt any decent, dedicated elephant, he must find a way to convince the other animals before they overwhelm him and destroy the dust (and the Whos along with it!).

He tells the tiny Whos to make as much noise as possible. But still the other animals cannot hear them. Finally, the mayor of the Whos finds a shirker who is playi