Pinkalicious: A Modern Cat in the Hat Tale

Pinkalicious, written by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann and published in 2006, is a contemporary book that reminds me of the basic theme presented in Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat. Ironically, the story of Pinkalicious begins on a rainy day, just as in Seuss's book; it's "too wet to go outside." It is written in first person, from the perspective of the little girl who is never named, just as in The Cat in the Hat, the little boy is the first-person narrator and is never identified. Pinkalicious, as she is later nicknamed by her father, is delighted when her mommy suggests making cupcakes to liven up the rainy day, and asks her to make pink ones. While she is making them, the little girl begs her mom to add more pink, and eats several as soon as they are made; she even eats her little brother's cupcake because he doesn't want his. After nap, she asks for "JUST ONE MORE?" and the mother responds "You get what you get, and you don't get upset." Pinkalicious ignores her mother's rule and eats more cupcakes after dinner, then refuses to go to bed. Hanging from the chandelier, she promises to go to sleep if she can have "one more cupcake." Her dad reiterates that she has had enough. The next morning the little girl wakes up and she is completely pink! Her dad tries to wash off what he thought was pink markers, but it didn't help; even her hair was pink. The little girl loves being pink, and puts on her pink princess outfit and dances in front of the mirror, crying happy pink tears of joy because she was so beautifully pink. Her mother calls the doctor who tells her to bring the little girl to his office, and on the way out the door the little girl cries "Please, just one more cupcake!" The doctor tells her for the next week she can have nothing else pink, especially cupcakes, and to return to normal she will have to eat a steady diet of green food. "YUCK!" she says. On the way home she still asks her mother if she can have another pink cupcake when she gets home. Her mother reminds her what the doctor said: "NO MORE CUPCAKES!" At dinner that night Pinkalicious pretends to eat her green vegetables, and after everyone goes to bed she sneaks into the kitchen, climbs onto a chair, and reaches to the top of the refrigerator where her mother had hidden the cupcakes. She eats "just one more." The next morning when she wakes up she is no longer pink, but red, and she does not want to be red. She realizes she should have listened to the doctor, and she wants to be herself again. So she opens the refrigerator and eats pickles, spinach, olives, okra, artichokes, and anything else green she can find until she turns her normal color. "I was me, and I was beautiful."

Pinkalicious is the perfect example of a rebellious child who doesn't want to listen to adults. She ignores her mother when she tells her to stop eating cupcakes, and she still asks for more when her father tells her she has had enough. When the doctor tells her how to become normal again, she does not like his solution, and she still asks for more cupcakes on the way home from his office. She even sneaks into the kitchen for one more even though she knows she is not supposed to have one. But she finally realizes she needs to listen and go back to her normal self.

Pinkalicious is like a modern-day Cat in the Hat, who does not think there is any harm in messing up the house or having fun while the boy's and girl's mother is out. She does not think there is any harm in eating as many cupcakes as she wants and enjoys being pink since she is different from everyone else. She eventually realizes, when she turns red, that she needs to stop and go back to normal; this is similar to the Cat in the Hat realizing that the house is a mess and the children need it cleaned up so they do not get in trouble with their mother, and he brings in his machine to clean everything up.

There are really four voices of reason in Pinkalicious: the mother, the father, the doctor, and the little girl herself. In The Cat in the Hat, although the fish is the primary voice of reason who tells the Cat he should not be in the house, the little boy eventually comes to his senses and tells the Cat to take his "Things" away because he knows what he is doing is wrong. Pinkalicious also knows eating lots of cupcakes is wrong and eventually realizes she needs to listen to her parents and the doctor and eat the green foods. Eating your vegetables is something parents preach to their children constantly when they are younger, as is not messing up the house when your parents are away - the underlying themes in Pinkalicious and The Cat in the Hat.

Pinkalicious appeals to children (my five-year-old daughter included) because it presents the idea that eating as many cupcakes as you want is not only fun, but it will make you turn pink. Little girls especially love the color pink and it is a funny scenario to imagine. Children can identify with wanting to eat as many cupcakes as they desire. The first-person narrator is effective too; I could tell as I read this book to my daughter that she was imagining herself being this little girl. I am certain many kids have done similar things as Pinkalicious did - with regard to not listening to their parents, doing something over and over that they weren't supposed to do, and realizing later that they shouldn't have been doing it.

Pinkalicious also presents a fantastic moral lesson to children, even though it's not left as open-ended as The Cat in the Hat. The Cat in the Hat leaves it up to the reader to decide if he/she would tell mother what went on that day in the house. Pinkalicious, however, was faced directly with a decision and she made the right one: to eat the green foods to turn herself back to normal.

This author wrote two other books in this series: Purplicious and Goldilicious. Although my daughter likes these two as well, Pinkalicious is still her favorite.