Horton Hatches The Egg
by Dr. Seuss

In 1940, Dr. Seuss first introduced readers to Horton the elephant with this uplifting story about patience and perseverance. Lazy Mayzie bird wants a vacation, so she begs Horton to sit on her egg. A big elephant with an even bigger heart, Horton agrees. Mayzie promises to hurry back, but she never returns. So through snow and rain and all kinds of troubles, Horton stays on the nest because, unlike Mayzie, he will not break a promise. After all, “An elephant’s faithful, one hundred percent!” And as readers will see, Horton is rewarded—just as he should be.

Tie-in Activity: Horton hatches an elephant-bird. What other animal combinations can your child imagine? Copy or print out pictures of different animals and cut them apart for your child. Then encourage your child to arrange the animals’ features to create a new animal!