Ten Apples Up On Top!

By Theo. LeSieg

Illustrated by Roy McKie

Copyright 1961

Besides the well-known pseudonym, Dr. Seuss, Theodor Geisel also used the name Theo. LeSieg for some of his books.  Those written under Theo. LeSieg are easy readers that were not illustrated by Geisel.  Somehow, I didn’t realize until this week that LeSieg is Geisel spelled backwards!  I thought I was quite observant, but perhaps not!

Ten Apples Up On Top has been a favorite Seuss book since childhood.  It’s a simple story.  A lion, a tiger, and a dog have a friendly competition, one upping each other to see who can balance more apples on top of their heads.  If you’ve read the book over and over, either as a child, or to your own child, you may very well know the text by heart.

                “Eight!  Eight!

                And we can skate.

                Look now!

                We can skate with eight.

                But I can do nine.

                And hop!

                And drink!

                You can not do this,

                I think.”

The competition continues until a bear with a mop comes running after them, trying to knock those apples off their heads.  Soon, everyone else is chasing the three animals – perhaps jealous of their apple balancing ability!  After a crash with a giant apple cart, the book ends happily, with every animal’s head topped with ten apples.

A child can learn counting and rhyming from this book.  They can also learn that reading can be fun.  

I can learn something from this book as well.  I’ve never been one to enjoy competition, but in some cases, a little competition can push us to do things we hadn’t thought possible.            Would the lion, tiger, and dog have gained that spectacular apple stacking ability separately?  Probably not.  But competing pushed them to work harder to say, “Look, you.  I can do it, too.”