Have you watched The Lorax?

One of Dr.Suess’s most beloved books hit the big screen again. The Lorax came out on March 2 and has made $158.4 million in the box office. I personally went to see this movie that has everyone excited, and I must say, I was impressed. Not only did The Lorax impress me with 3D, but it was also a lesson of moral and global values.

In The Lorax, a young man named Ted wants to give the girl of his dreams, Audrey, a real tree. Sadly though, there are none. They live in a city called Thneedville. In Thneedville, everything is plastic and metal. There isn’t any dirt, trees, plants, or even clean air. The people of Thneedville BUY clean air. Factories have made the air terrible, but the people don’t really notice.

                Ted set out to find the Once-Ler. The Once-Ler, as we learn by him telling the story, is the reason why there are no more trees. The Once-Ler found the trees, and began to make his new invention, the “thneed.” The Once-Ler cut down one tree. The Lorax came down in a flash of lightning into the tree. The Lorax said he “speaks for the trees.”  The Lorax yelled and scolded the Once-Ler for cutting down the tree, but greed and success overcame the Lorax’s warnings.  Soon, the thneed became popular; more was in demand from these miraculous trees called “Truffula” trees. The Truffula trees were fluffy, colorful, absorbent, and useful. The Once-Ler soon became rich, and had a factory. Eventually, all the trees were gone; the “thneed fad” had failed.

The Once-Ler, feeling bad about his mistake of ignoring the Lorax, believed that Ted could change the world, and fix his mistake. Ted was given the last seed of the Truffula trees, and was told to plant it in the middle of the town. After much controversy about the seed, the town’s people wanted the tree to be planted.

This movie spikes many questions about the environment; to me it did, anyway. What would happen if all of the trees were gone? Would we be buying clean air? Many people think that it isn’t realistic but really, our trees are sacred. Rainforests are diminishing, and every day, our air gets dirtier. Dr. Suess had the right idea of putting big problems like this in to minds of younger people, our children. Maybe some kids after seeing the Lorax will have the initiative to go plant a tree. I hope many of us will, not just children.  

Your Task (To be done in your writing Journal):

Answer the following questions.

(a) How many characters are mentioned in this article?

(b) Who are they?

(c) Which character do you like most? Why?

**(d) From any print materials (eg. poster, newspaper, magazine, brochure etc.) cut out and paste a picture of The Lorax to accompany your writing :)

This article is taken from http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/articleid/510925/newspaperid/3327/The_Lorax_Plant_a_Tree.aspx