- Source: The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
The Cat in the Hat Comes Back is a 1958 children's book written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss and published by Random House. In this book, the sequel to The Cat in the Hat (1957), the chaos-causing title character leaves a pink stain in the family bathtub, which spreads around the house as the children try to get rid of it, until the cat unveils a series of increasingly small cats from beneath his hat, the smallest of which resolves the problem.
Plot
A boy who narrates the story and his sister Sally are being left home alone for the day. This time their mother had left them with instructions to clear a large amount of snow when she is out. However, they were soon interrupted in their work by the return of the Cat in the Hat. The boy is warned by Sally not to talk to the Cat nor to let him come near reminding him of what happened the last time he came. However, the Cat lets himself into their house to get out of the snow, and the boy follows him in.
When he reaches the bathroom, he finds the Cat eating a cake in the tub with the hot and cold water on. The boy loses his patience and scolds the Cat for his antics, telling the Cat there is work to be done, and he should not be in the house eating cake like a pig. He told the Cat that he should get out of the house unless he helps out with the work. Then, he turns off the water and unplugs the tub, only to find that a long pink "cat ring" has formed around the sides of the bath tub. The Cat offers to help clean up, but his initial attempts to remove the pink spot are unsuccessful as he only transfers the mess from one object to another including their mother's white dress, the wall, their father's pair of $10 shoes (worth $108.49 when adjusted for inflation in 2024, and written as £7 when published in the United Kingdom), a rug, and their parents' bed.
Unsure of how to remove the stain from the bed, the Cat calls on the help of Little Cat A, who lives inside his hat, who then lifts his hat to reveal Little Cat B, who likewise reveals Little Cat C, each Little Cat being smaller than the last. The three Little Cats work together, transferring the stain to the television, then into a pan, and finally outside using a fan.
Seeing the stain cover the snow, Little Cat C lifts his hat to reveal Little Cats D to G. The seven Little Cats wage war on the snow spots shooting at pink snowballs with pop guns. This spreads the spots even more, so Little Cat G lifts his hat to reveal Little Cats H to V. But the harder the cats work, the more the spot keeps spreading until all the snow is pink, so Little Cat V takes off his hat to uncover Little Cats W, X, Y, and finally the microscopic Little Cat Z, who the Cat in the Hat claims can solve their problem using the rare "Voom" that he has in his hat.
Little Cat Z takes his hat off and unleashes "Voom", which finally eliminates the stain, clears all the snow from the paths, and returns all the Little Cats to the Cat in the Hat's hat. The Cat leaves, promising that he will return someday if they ever again have problems like "snow spots". He also states that his Little Cats will accompany him and the book ends with him listing all of the Little Cats in alphabetical order in the form of a metrically perfect rhymed quatrain.
Cancelled film
Following the 2003 film adaption of the original story, there were plans to make a sequel based on The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. However, after the first film's critical failure, Theodor Geisel's widow Audrey Geisel decided not to allow any future live-action adaptations of her husband's works.
References
Sources
Morgan, Neil; Morgan, Judith Giles (1996). Dr. Seuss Mr. Geisel: a biography. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80736-7.
Nel, Philip (2007). The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss And His Cats. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-83369-4.
Nel, Philip (2004). Dr. Seuss: American Icon. Continuum Publishing. ISBN 0-8264-1434-6.
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