Far be it from me to malign the animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It’s thoroughly wonderful, perfect in every way, and I wouldn’t dream of saying anything to the contrary.

BUT! I worry that perhaps it’s too perfect. By being so fully phenomenal, it’s basically rendered Dr. Seuss’ original book obsolete, hasn’t it? Does anyone still read it, for themselves or to their kids? After all, it’s so much easier to just let Boris Karloff read it to you, right? And you get to hear Tony the Tiger sing, to boot!

It would be tempting to introduce a child to the Grinch by way of this cartoon. And it’s certainly something that I support children watching from a very young age, not only because of its intrinsic greatness but also because of how much a part of our cultural consciousness the cartoon is. Nonetheless, I hope we’ll all remember that there’s a great book called How the Grinch Stole Christmas out there, too.

So when it’s time to give a wee bairn his or her first exposure to the character, start with the book. And let’s remind the bairns that are somewhat less wee that they can get this story from a book in addition to the television.

What I’m saying is reading is a good habit to get into.

If You Hated This, You Will Also Totally Hate:

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
• Intensely Retarded Christmas Memories
• Horton Hears a Who!
• Book Recommendation: My Custom Van