Seven Lady Godivas: The True Facts Concerning History's Barest Family

Someone donated this used gem to the library. Dr. Seuss wrote a book in 1939 about a family of naked ladies?? WTH! When their father Lord Godiva dies after being thrown off by a horse, the sisters pledge to each find a Horse Truth before they can marry their bethrothed, the family of Peeping (as in Tom) brothers. What follows is a chapter per sister, wrangling with one of the stabled horses and discovering horse truths that we readers recognize as popular sayings: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Never change horses midstream. Don't put the cart before the horse. And so on. Droll, amusing, and silly, and Seuss sketched the women with no nipples or pubic hair. So quirky!

In one of his earliest works - and one of only two intended for adult audiences - Dr. Seuss tackles the legend of Lady Godiva. In his version, there isn't just one lady but seven - all sisters who "were simply themselves and chose not to disguise it," which in this case means they roam around naked all over the time, even in harsh winter storms. On the way to the Battle of Hastings, their beloved father is thrown from his horse and killed instantly. The grief-stricken sisters vow to each learn a truth about horses on their father's behalf before they will allow themselves to marry. Unfortunately, each sister is already betrothed to one of the Peeping brothers, prompting them to desperately want to find a horse truth as soon as possible. show more With each sister's vignette of discovering a horse truth, Dr. Seuss illuminates a meaning behind common sayings such as "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." and "That's a horse of a different color." Once you understand this set up, it becomes a little easy to predict where each individual story will go, but there are still some interesting meanderings along the way. This book is pretty silly, but it's a short and entertaining read, and I can see it being especially appealing to those who loved fairy tales growing up. It's not the typical Seuss fare designed for young children - i.e., no imaginary creatures, no rhyming, no tongue twisters, etc., but it is its own brand of delightful. I found it to be a fun enough read for one sitting, but I'm not sure that I would go out and recommend it as a must. show less

Normalmente classificado como o primeiro livro adulto do Dr. Seuss, é um apanhado inteligente sobre a origem de ditados e crendices populares, muitas das quais nós temos também em nossa língua portuguesa.

Here is the true story about the Godiva family, and the seven sisters who are each far too intelligent to waste time worrying about frivolous things like doing their hair, makeup, or you know, clothes. When their father is killed by a horse, they take it upon themselves to discover seven Horse Truths, one from each sister, before any of them will ever know true love. What follows is a clever, funny and sometimes touching story that is a little different from your average Dr. Seuss book.

I had first heard about the Seven Lady Godivas at the end of last year, after a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago for an exhibit on the work of Dr. Seuss. This past Friday on Dr. Seuss' birthday, I came across this link with more show more information about the book, so on a whim thought I'd check Amazon to see if they had a copy, and much to my surprise, they had a used copy at a reasonable price, so I picked it up.

I found the book a little hard to read, only because it's a prose story, but I kept trying to read it in rhyme, since it is a Dr. Seuss book after all. There's nothing challenging here, although I found the Horse Truths to be very clever, and the illustrations range so far into the absurd that the nudity doesn't really come across as anything more than silly.

A fun little addition for a fan of Dr. Seuss, but probably nothing a general reader would find appealing. show less

Dr. Seuss stories are often very silly which is highly amusing if you are under 7 or the adult enjoying the child's laughter. Part of the amusement is derived from how wonderful and sparkly the books sound read aloud. This book, a retelling of the Lady Godiva story (with Peeping Tom worked in) is meant for adults but the silliness is childish and not having the benefit of either outlandish rhymes or being written to be read aloud, it rather falls flat. I'm glad Dr. Seuss stuck to children's books, they really were his genre.

A lovely book - quite goofy, quite strange, not quite for adults or children.

I was surprised to find this listed. I own a copy of this was given to me by my Grandfather. If you find a copy, read it!! You'll love it!