I read this with my 9 year old after the realization that Suess’s Whos feature in both the Horton books and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” I have to be late to the party...right? Jim Carey’s live film version of The Grinch begins by placing Whoville on a snowflake. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched the movie and missed this tiny (tehe) detail.

Now I have questions. The snowflake is an extra-canonical setting. The live film expands the Grinch story exponentially, and well, I think, in the popular vein of giving the evil protagonist an explanatory background. (See also Angelina Jolie’s “Malificent”, etc.) The Horton book places Whoville on a small speck of dust, which Horton places on a clover.

How did Whoville move to a snowflake? Or was the snowflake first, and the dust placed on a spring or summer-blooming flower subsequent?

Assuming the Grinch’s Whoville universe coincides with Horton’s Whoville universe, did the Grinch contribute to the Whos’ efforts to be heard? Or are these universes separated by space and/or time? Is Whoville simply a common town name given to people of the Who culture? (See the number of towns in the US and other European diaspora destinations named after original hometowns like Rome, York, Berlin, etc.) Has one Whoville paid homage to another, or is this a colonial situation? Could the Grinch be a member of an indigenous population, or possibly a disgruntled, failed colonizer himself?

Have I overthought this topic? Probably. Will I take this further by reading additional Who-centered books, comparing original source artwork, and viewing additional extra canonical film? Obviously.