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| Published: | 1965 |
| Author: | Theodor Geisel |
| Illustrator: | {{{illustrator}}} |
| Characters: | {{{characters}}} |
| Setting: | {{{setting}}} |
I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew is a book written by Dr. Seuss.
This is a simple narrative of a young person finding out that we must choose our battles and that we are sometimes the ones that place ourselves in unlovely situations in the first place. An excellent read on a day that you or your youngster feels defeated by the world. It offers a springboard for a quasi-philosophical discussion about who we are, where our troubles come from, and how to negotiate between dire and paltry problems. Please be aware that the book's ending is confrontational and would be best metered with a "how else can we approach a bad situation" question.
The main character in this book is not the same character from The Foot Book.
This book was written for Margaretha Dahmen Owens.
This book has an iOS and Android app by Oceanhouse Media.
Plot[]
The story begins with an unnamed protagonist who lives in the Valley of Vung, where nothing seemed to go wrong for him. That is, until one day, when he forgets to look where he's going, and trips on a rock, spraining his tail. He tries to keep out of trouble by looking straight ahead, but gets bitten by a Green-Headed Quiligan Quail that comes in from behind him. He then tries to aim his eyes in back and front, but this does not work either, as a Skritz and a Skrink attack him from above and below. Just then, a man in a One-Wheeler Wubble pulled by a camel comes up and explains to the protagonist that he has been having troubles as well, and invites him to come with him a place called Solla Sollew, a city said to have very little troubles. The protagonist tags along, and they ride on into the night.
The next morning, however, they are nowhere near Solla Sollew. Worse still, the Wubble chap's camel gets sick and starts to bubble. The two of them end up pulling him along in the Wubble, but soon, the protagonist is the one doing all the work. Fortunately, they find a camel doctor who diagnoses the camel with gleeks and tells him to stay in bed for twenty weeks (at least four months). The protagonist is tired, but the Wubble chap sends him off to a bus stop that will take him to Solla Sollew. But when he gets there, he finds the bus is out of service due to its driver blowing out its tires. He is then forced to walk for a hundred miles until it starts to rain. A man in a raincoat comes up and tells him a storm called the Midwinter Jicker has come, and he's moving to Palm Springs to get away from it. The protagonist uses his house for shelter, and tries to sleep, but the noise from the storm, as well as a family of owls and mice keep him awake until he finally falls asleep at 5 a.m.
He then dreams he is sleeping on pillows in Solla Sollew, but wakes up to find he is rushing downhill in a flood created by the Midwinter Jicker, house and all. For at least a week and a half, he floats in a river until a rope is dropped down. He calls up, thanking the person who threw it, only to find it is a scary-looking man in armor named General Genghis Khan Schimtz. The army needs our hero. The protagonist is then drafted into the general's army to fight the Poozer of Pompelmoose Pass, a lion-like creature. When they get there, they find there are more Poozers than they can handle, and the army retreats, leaving the protagonist behind to endure their wrath.
He runs off, and finds a pipe that leads underground. Having no other choice, he drops down it, and into a tunnel full of birds going the wrong way (they should be going to the right, but are instead going to the left). After three days of being battered and bruised, he emerges from the tunnel to the banks of the River Wa-Hoo, and surmises Solla Sollew must be close.
When he gets there, he is greeted by a doorman who reveals the city has only one trouble: a Key-Slapping Slippard that slaps the key out his hand. With no way to evict the pest (as killing any Slippard is considered bad luck), the doorman quits his jobs and heads for another city called Boola Boo Ball, one said to be free of troubles. The protagonist considers going, but realizes that running away from his problems only gave him bigger, worse ones.
So, he goes home to the Valley of Vung with a big bat, ready to give the Quail, Skritz and Skrink troubles with him.
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