About the ratings; they are completely subjective and personal, although I certainly try to be fair and impartial. I will attempt to explain why a site received the rating it did, but reserve the right to just say "I didn't like it." And, if you disagree with my rating, well, you disagree with my rating.
Oh, yeah. I'm using a 1-10 rating system (10 being the best), with multiple categories if I feel it appropriate (for instance, a site that's pretty but useless, or vice versa). Also, unless I mention otherwise, I'm only rating the Dr. Seuss portion of a site. I'll leave the rest for other people to review.
I've broken the list into 4 categories: personal pages (the handmade ones), educational pages (for and by educators, or specific educational content), corporate pages (for videos and merchandising, and such), miscellaneous pages (sites I just couldn't classify) and dead links (links that don't work anymore moved either for reference, or because they might work again). These are the categories that seemed to make sense to me. There are probably better ways of sorting, but this one suited me.
I've added one new link recently. It is marked New. I have re-reviewed a couple of sites, and they're marked appropriately.
Wayne's World - Fun Stuff - Dr. Seuss.
Well, it's a collection of links, categorized (differently than here) and
annotated. He's got more links than I plan on having, they all seem to work,
and they're even laid out in a reasonable manner. A high quality site.
Rating: 6. A high quality list of links is still just a list of links.
Lunch With Dr. Seuss: A poem in praise of Dr. Seuss.
Not a bad poem.
Rating: 6 for the poem, 1 for the quantity.
Re-Reviewed Cyber-Seuss.
This is the person who stole my Books in Print page (meaning that he copied it
to his site and modified the links to point back to his site), and then has
the nerve to talk about not being able to give permission about how to
contact Dr. Seuss Enterprises on how to get copyright permissions. The
page, however, is not without some redeeming qualities. The games page is
amusing, the site is very pretty (if difficult on the eyes after you've
visited all the links he has), but for all that it's like that classic put-down
of Oakland...There's no there there.
Rating: 6 for content, 6 for looks, 2 for personal style.
The Wonderful World of Dr. Seuss.
A Dr. Seuss page with an excellent biography. It would get a higher rating
if there was more to it than just that. He does have a list of links for kids,
as well as a list of books, however. But nothing else.
Rating: 8 for content, 4 for quantity.
Lyrics to The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T.
Lyrics to the songs from Dr. Seuss's major Hollywood musical. I don't like to
reference pages with copyright violations, but this is a must-see. (The movie
is a must-see as well, but that's beside the point.)
Rating: 8 for content, 3 for quantity.
Re-Reviewed The Ultimate Dr. Seuss Page.
I don't know that I would use the word "ultimate" to describe this
page, but it's not bad. Not much original content, however.
Rating: 5. Not much to it.
Uncle Eli's Haggadah.
The Passover Haggadah, annotated, so you don't even need to be Jewish to
understand it. I'm ashamed it took me so long to get to this. It's the most
comprehensive Dr. Seuss tribute/parody I've seen, in that it's entertaining,
stylistically correct and educational at the same time. There is nothing about
this site not to like.
Rating: 10. Look carefully, you won't see one of these very often...
UCSD's Dr. Seuss Special Collection.
Alas, no pictures, but a good description of what they have, and how you might
be able to see it. This is why you want to visit San Diego.
Rating: 4, because they're a big tease...
Who's Who & What's What in the World of Dr. Seuss.
150+ pages that references just about every word mentioned in every Dr. Seuss book. An amazing work.
Rating: 10. Amazing is about the only appropriate word.
Citations concerning Dr. Seuss.
The ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication is an excellent
educational resource. But it's not meant for casual users. If you need
Dr. Seuss articles from educational journals, this is the place.
Rating: 5, because it's not a friendly page. Just potentially useful.
NewThe National Education Organization's
Read Across America.
This campaign is designed to encourage kids to read. It takes place on March 2,
which happens to be Dr. Seuss's birthday. If you want to help, or want ideas
on what to do, or even just want to buy some things, check this place out.
Rating: 9. Excellent cause, very good site.
Cut Loose with Dr. Seuss
The page of a teacher in Virginia who uses Dr. Seuss books as part of her
classroom activities. Contains notes on what books she's used, and how she's
used them. Also various and sundry other links. Not the best laid-out site
I've seen, but content is more important, and her notes can be of help to just
about anyone who wants to use Dr. Seuss books educationally.
Rating: ?. She sent me the updated URL, but I haven't been able to access the page yet. And I forget what I originally rated it.
Powell's Books. Powell's City of Books is in Portland Oregon, and is the largest used bookstore I've ever seen. I list them here because they have a large selection of used Dr. Seuss books that you can't find elsewhere, including editions in Chinese. They also, sometimes, have copies of out of print books, such as The Tough Coughs as he Ploughs the Dough. Not always, but it's definitely worth looking. Rating: 8. A great place to buy books.
Re-reviewed: James Galleries - Featuring Dr. Seuss.
Audrey Geisel has authorized limited edition serigraphs (prints made from
silkscreens) to be sold through galleries. James Gallery is one of the sites
authorized to sell them, and the only one that seems to have any kind of
web presence. If you purchase something from them because of this link,
mention my name. I don't get anything for it, but I'd be curious about how
many people might do it.
Rating: 8. They've added more, and fixed some design quibbles I had.
The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss Television Site.
The Jim Henson Company produces the Wubbulous World series. This is their
official site, complete with audio and video clips, an episode list and
merchandise for sale. Not an exciting site, not a visually stimulating
site, but hey, they've got content and it's laid out nicely and cleanly.
Rating: 7. Better than average, but well, it just feels like a seven.
Seusswear. The other officially licensed Dr. Seuss items page. I'm not entirely certain what the merchandise or price differences between this and the other official Dr. Seuss merchandise page is, since they seem to be run by the same company, but undoubtedly there are some. I'm just not going to look for them. Rating: 9. Also good stuff, and also probably worth it.
Dr. Seuss's Seussville.
The official Seuss Page, sponsored by Random House. Things you can buy,
games you can play, contests, activities, Dr. Seuss images and info. Wow.
This is everything a corporate site should be. Some or all of the games
require Shockwave, which I personally can't run, but I'm probably the only
one in that situation.
Rating: 10. Yup. The other one. Deservedly so.
Re-Reviewed Grolier Online's Beginner Books Program. The Beginner Book club; I started with it, you probably did too. If you've been wondering how to join, this is the place for you. They keep moving things around on this site, so I've just bookmarked this page. Rating: 8 for being the Beginner Book Club, and continued 5 for the constant re-shuffling of pages they do.
FoxKids Video Dr. Seuss Sing-Alongs.
Seven downloadable quicktime clips, free for the downloading, if you have
the time and the quicktime viewer.
Rating: 5. After you download the seven of them, you probably have
no reason to go back.
Dr. Seuss t-shirts from tshirtnow.com.
The largest selection of Dr. Seuss t-shirts on the net as well as being one
of the most annoyingly laid-out and graphically busy web sites. It took
me a while to load, and I'm doing this from work, where we have bandwith to
spare. The rest of the site may also not be suitable for younger or more
sensitive viewers.
Rating: 8 for content; I don't like a lot of their designs, and they
have competition now; 3 for design.
The Green Eggs and Hamlet Homepage. These guys took Hamlet and adapted it.
Then they filmed it. Now they're selling videos of it. I haven't seen it, but
according to their site Kenneth Branagh did, and liked it. I also have no idea
if these guys are still around, in business, etc. If you decide to try it out,
let me know how it works out.
Rating: 5. Until I find out more about it.
The Grinch - Live action movie website.
Well, so far it's just a cool promo poster.
Rating: 3. It's not that cool a poster.
Dr. Seuss Books and Characters.
A list of all the Dr. Seuss books, and what characters appear in which ones.
I can't think of when you'd need this, or what you'd want it for, but
you know you'll need it someday. And, at the very least, there's a list
of all Dr. Seuss's books (as of 1994).
Rating: 8. I find this more and more useful all the time.
The Book Collectors Home. Not a Dr.
Seuss site, but a resource for finding and evaluating those hard to acquire
(or just plain out of print) Dr. Seuss books.
Rating: 7 for what it does, 4 for ease of use.
Springfield Honors Dr. Seuss.
This article appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, and explains how
Springfield, MA, the Dr's hometown honored him.
Rating: 5. Somewhat interesting the first time, but afterwards...
Carol Hurst on Dr. Seuss.
Carol Hurst publishes a children's literature newsletter. In April, the
featured author was Dr. Seuss. Her article is a nice mix of history and
literary criticism of his work, and would come in handy for anyone doing
something scholarly about Dr. Seuss.
Rating: 7. A good article with good information.
Dr. Seuss Collectables.
A listing of Dr. Seuss collectable items. Probably not a complete list, but
certainly a large one. Lots of pictures. Also a classified section, in case
you have something you want to buy or sell.
Rating: 7 because of all the cool pictures, and the listing of what's available. There are Cat in the Hat slippers? At Walmart?
Nerd's corner: A Brief History of the Word.
Did Dr. Seuss create the word nerd for the world to use? Quite
possibly, but decide for yourself.
Rating: 7. Any controversy involving Dr. Seuss is a good
and fun thing.
Starbellie's Hulaballoo. A
good, all-around Dr.Seuss page. Pictures of nifty Dr. Seuss collectables.
Rating: 0. This was a 7 when it still existed. It doesn't
seem to exist anymore.
A review of My Many Colored Days.
An interesting little review. I can't figure out why this was originally
published, or what even they're reviewing. That alone makes it interesting.
Rating: 0. The link no longer exists. I guess it's no longer
news.
The Green Eggs and Hamulator Home Page.
A page that no longer exists, at least from my server. They used to have a
sort-of sequel to Green Eggs and Ham, and some kind of game, but
since I can't find it, well...
Rating: 0. Non-existent sites get zeroes. It's the law. I'm leaving
it in, because they say it'll be up in a couple of months, and otherwise I'll
forget about it.
An essay on Dr. Seuss. Part
biography, part criticism. Good reading, if a bit short. This site will not
satisfy your "rage for Seuss".
Rating: 8 for content, 2 for quantity.
A Poem in praise of Dr. Seuss.
Also not a bad poem.
Rating: 6 for the poem, 2 for the quantity.
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Page maintained by David Bedno (drseuss@seuss.org).