There are, in every person's life, two or three books that have a profound influence on the reader. For most people, these books are hundreds of pages long, look deep into life, and are written by one of the great masters. The Lorax fits only two of these qualifications.

The book is only seventy pages long and takes about ten minutes to read, but it is a masterpiece, written by the first great writer that we are all exposed to, Theodor Seuss Geisel, known by his millions of loyal fans as Dr. Seuss.

It is difficult to find The Lorax. Most libraries carry only one copy, if they carry it at all, and the employees of most bookstores have never even heard of it. If you're like me, you take it as an insult to a book when a bookstore doesn't carry it, and would not deign to have it ordered. So you search bookstores until you find a large, inconspicuous one in Boston who's proud to have only three copies left on the shelf.

In the spirit of his unique gift for prodding our imaginations while giving us a dose of moral reflection, all in the form of a quick, rhyming story, Dr. Seuss gives us The Lorax. The Lorax, who speaks for the trees, sticks his shortish and brownish and oldish and mossy self into the business of the Once-ler. And the business of the Once-ler? The Once-ler is in the business of making Thneeds.

A Thneed is a Fine-Something-That-Everyone-Needs. A Thneed also is made at the cost of one Truffula tree, which used to provide shade and food for the Brown Bar-ba-loots (for whom the Lorax also speaks). And, of course, to make Thneeds in large quantities, the Once-ler needs factories, which don't do much for the air that the Swomee-Swans fly in, or the water the Humming Fish swim in.

I could tell you the whole story, but the master does it so much better. And he includes beautiful colors and drawings that are his alone.

It is important to grow up, to move on in the world to bigger and better things, but there are some things that are a part of any imaginative, caring person's life. Dr. Seuss entertains us, touches us, and always shows us just how good things could be if "someone like you cares a whole awful lot."

Come, take your friends, take your brothers and sisters, spend a few minutes at the far end of town where the grickle grass grows. Come to the street of the Lifted Lorax. n