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Literature / There's a Wocket in My Pocket!

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"Some of them are very friendly. Like the Yot in the Pot. But that Yottle in the Bottle! Some are friendly. Some are NOT."

There's a Wocket in my Pocket! is a 1974 children's rhyming book by Dr. Seuss. Each page has a picture of a strange imaginary creature with a nonsense name which rhymes with its hiding place, as in the title. As it says, "some are friendly, some are not."

Considering that Seuss' books under this imprint were for years shackled with short and strict vocabulary lists, this book is an obvious Take That! of the talent enjoying the freedom to write as he wanted.


This work contains examples of:

  • Ambiguous Gender: The only characters with known genders are the narrator, the Zelf, the Bofa, the Nooth Grush, and the Quimney, who are all male.
  • Ambiguously Evil: The narrator is afraid of the Vug and, to a lesser extent, the Quimney and the Zall, and he dislikes the Bofa, but they're never seen actually doing anything bad. The narrator also thinks the Nink and the Zamp are "rather nice", but he isn't totally sure.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: The narrator addresses the viewer directly, asking if they ever think there's a wasket in their basket, and saying that he doesn't care if we believe him about his house and its inhabitants.
  • Creator Cameo: The Bofa on the sofa he wishes wasn't there, reading a book and helping himself to the candy dish, looks really Ted Geisel-ish.
  • Go-to-Sleep Ending: The book ends with the boy getting into bed at night, next to the Zillow (who lives on his pillow).
  • Interspecies Friendship: "But the Yeps on the steps, they're great fun to have around. And so are many, many other friends that I have found."
  • Jerkass: Among the creatures that aren't friendly are the Yottle and the Noothgrush.
  • Never Trust a Title: There are, in fact, no wockets in the book. Or pockets.
  • No Name Given: Nobody in the whole book is named.
  • Nothing Is Scarier:
    • The Vug under the Rug may be only a nondescript lump, but it's "the only one I'm really scared of," according to the narrator.
    • We only see the Jertain's feet. Downplayed, though, as it isn't as scary as the other scary creatures.
    • All that's seen of the Climney and the Zall are a couple of blurs, and they, along with the Vug, are the only ones the narrator is afraid of.
  • Perfectly Cromulent Word: Even for Dr. Seuss, there are a lot of these, as nearly every line is describing a creature he invented for the story.
  • Spit Take: The Yottle in the bottle spits onto the narrator.
  • Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: The Vug under the rug is the scariest out of the creatures and is illustrated hiding under the rug at nighttime.


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