Do You Know What I'm Going to Do Next Saturday?

Do You Know What I'm Going To Do Next Saturday? is a 1963 children's book published by Beginner Books and written by Helen Palmer Geisel, the first wife of Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss). Unlike most of the Beginner Books, Do You Know What I'm Going To Do Next Saturday? did not follow the format of text with inline drawings, being illustrated with black-and-white photographs by Lynn Fayman, featuring a boy named Rawli Davis.^[1] It is sometimes misattributed to Dr. Seuss himself.^[2] The book's cover features a photograph of a young boy sitting at a breakfast table with a huge pile of pancakes.^[3]

The 62-page^[4] book became the subject of urban legends because some of the paragraphs from the book, when taken out of context, could be interpreted as references to suicide and violence. For example, the book contains the paragraph:

Did you ever beat

More than one kid at a time?

Well, I'm going to beat

Five kids at a time.

And then I'm going to beat

their fathers, too.^[2]

However, the accompanying photographs show a young boy playing tennis and volleyball, making clear that the passage is actually referencing athletic competition.^[2]

Likewise, the passage:

I'll blow horns. I'll blow and blow.

Next Saturday I'll blow my head off.

No one is going to stop me next Saturday.^[2]

is accompanied by a photograph of a boy playing a tuba, and is therefore not a reference to suicide, contrary to what at least one website has claimed.^[2]

Other activities mentioned in the book include bowling, water skiing,^[5] marching, boxing, and shooting guns with the United States Marines,^[6][7][8] and eating more spaghetti "than anyone else has eaten before.^[9] The young boy featured in the book was named Rawli Davis.^[1]

Helen Palmer's photograph-based children's books did not prove to be as popular as the more traditional text-and-illustrations format; however, Do You Know What I'm Going To Do Next Saturday received good reviews and was listed by the New York Times as one of the best children's books of 1963.^[2] The book is now out of print.^[10]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "'credits'". http://www.flickr.com/photos/jl-incrowd/880085138/in/set-72157600972789303/. Retrieved July 20, 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "The Banned Book of Dr. Seuss". The Urban Legends Reference Pages (snopes.com). http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/seussban.asp. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
3. ^ "Do you know what I'm going to do Next Saturday?". http://www.flickr.com/photos/jl-incrowd/sets/72157600972789303/. Retrieved July 20, 2010. 
4. ^ Do you know what I'm going to do next Saturday?. ISBN 0394900316. OL5885361M. 
5. ^ "Bowling and skiing". http://www.flickr.com/photos/jl-incrowd/879625203/in/set-72157600972789303/. Retrieved July 20, 2010. 
6. ^ "Marines". http://www.flickr.com/photos/jl-incrowd/880204120/in/set-72157600972789303/. Retrieved July 20, 2010. 
7. ^ "Guns". http://www.flickr.com/photos/jl-incrowd/880203822/in/set-72157600972789303/. Retrieved July 20, 2010. 
8. ^ "Boxing". http://www.flickr.com/photos/jl-incrowd/879293495/in/set-72157600972789303/. Retrieved July 20, 2010. 
9. ^ "Spaghetti". http://www.flickr.com/photos/jl-incrowd/879293051/in/set-72157600972789303/. Retrieved July 20, 2010. 
10. ^ "Do You Know What I'm Going To Do Next Saturday?". http://www.amazon.com/Know-What-Going-Next-Saturday/dp/0394900316. Retrieved July 18, 2010.