Want to learn the ideas in The Lorax better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss here.
Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.
Video Summaries of The Lorax
We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on The Lorax, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Dr. Seuss.
1-Page Summary of The Lorax
Overview
The Lorax opens as a young boy walks down the street of an empty town. He arrives at the tall, winding house of the Once-ler and pays him for his story.
The Once-ler tells his story. He first arrived at a beautiful forest of Truffula trees and many interesting animals. The valley was pure and clean with life teeming throughout it. The softness of the tufts of the Truffula trees captured him, so he decided to chop one down to make a Thneed out of its tuft.
After the first cut, we are introduced to a small creature who objects to cutting down trees. He is ignored by the Once-ler and continues chopping them down for his Thneed business. He hires all of his relatives and chops more Truffula trees.
The Lorax arrives at the Once-ler’s door with various animals in tow. The Lorax forces him to see that his factory has ruined the environment and polluted it, which is why he must send away the Brown Bar-ba-loots, Swomee Swans, and Humming Fish. He does so each time with remorse because he knows what he did was wrong, but then continues to expand his business anyway.
The Once-ler finally chops down the last Truffula tree, and his business shuts down. He sends his relatives away and leaves only a pile of stones carved with the word “UNLESS.”
The Once-ler then took his last Truffula seed and gave it to a boy. This was the last of the tree seeds, so now he had to make sure that things got better for everyone. He didn’t want the Lorax or any other creature in his forest to suffer anymore because of him.
Part I
The Lorax begins in a post-apocalyptic setting, where the town is surrounded by barren hills. The streets are lit up at night, and there’s a spooky feeling about the place. There are houses everywhere on this hill, with lights shining out of them all through the night. A young boy approaches one street that’s called “The Street of the Lifted Lorax,” and then he starts telling his story.
A boy comes across a stump made of bricks. It was the old home of the Lorax, who has since moved away. The boy learns about the Lorax and why he left from an illustration that reveals where to find him: at his new home with the Once-ler, who is still alive.
The Once-ler doesn’t easily open up to strangers. However, if you give him a motley assortment of valued items, he will tell you his secrets by whispering into the “Whisper-ma-Phone” so no one else hears. The Once-ler lowers the Whisper-ma-Phone and begins telling the story although it is difficult to hear his strange voice over the phone.
The story begins with the Once-ler, who came to this land one day in the past. There were animals and trees when he arrived—the Brown Bar-ba-loots looked like small monkeys, while humming fish made loud noises from a pond. The trees were soft and smelled sweetly; they inspired the Once-ler to stop his cart and open up a shop. He chopped down his first Truffula Tree and harvested its tuft which became a long sleeved unitard named “Thneed.”
However, the Once-ler suddenly heard a sound. A small creature popped out of the tree he had just chopped down. He described him as shortish, oldish, brownish and mossy with big whiskers on his face. The Lorax introduced himself to the Once-ler as someone who speaks for trees and demanded to know what he did with their tree tuft after chopping it down. After that, the Once-ler placated him by saying that it was only one tree and he made something useful from it: a Thneed or multipurpose garment. Then when an individual came into his shop and bought that Thneed off of him (the illustration shows this man wearing a black suit), the Lorax was powerless to stop this transaction since he balanced precariously on top of the factory roof shouting “I speak for trees!”
