McElligot's Pool

McElligot's Pool by Dr. Seuss. Paperback edition. ISBN: 9780007340941.

Who knows what fantastic fish might swim in McElligots Pool! In this colorful picture book, a boy named Marco goes fishing in a small pond called McElligots Pool. As he sits waiting for a bite, a farmer tells him "Youll never catch fish in McElligots Pool!" Marco, however, refuses to be discouraged, and thus, the story unfolds. McElligots Pool is a Seuss classic from the distant era before even The Cat In The Hat. Its a single poetic variation on the theme of adult skepticism thats no match for childhood faith and daydreaming. Despite the unpromising nature of McElligots Pool, the boy is all optimism: what if the pool is deeper than anyone thinks? What if it connects to an underground stream that flows under the town to the sea? Might not all sorts of fish then swim up the stream and be caught here? "I might catch an eel... (Well, I might. It depends.) A long twisting eel with a lot of strange bends. And, oddly enough, with a head at both ends!" The moral of the story is straightforward: "If I wait long enough, if Im patient and cool,/ Who knows what Ill catch in McElligots pool?"