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Bartholomew and the Oobleck is a 1949 book by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel). It follows the adventures of a young boy named Bartholomew, who must rescue his kingdom from a sticky substance called "oobleck". The book is a sequel of sorts to The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Unlike most of Geisel's books, which are written in anapestic tetrameter, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, like its predecessor, is a prose work.In the book, the King of Didd announces that he is bored with sunshine, rain, fog, and snow, and tells his magicians to add some variety to the weather. As a result, large piles of sticky green oobleck fall throughout the kingdom, covering everything. The king soon regrets his wish, but since his magicians' cave has been buried in oobleck, he can do nothing to remove the substance. Eventually, his page, Bartholomew, advises him to say "I'm sorry." The king complies, and the oobleck melts away.

The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins is a children's book, written by Dr. Seuss and published by Vanguard in 1938. Unlike the majority of Dr. Seuss's books, it is written in prose rather than rhyming and metered verse. Geisel, who collected hats, got the idea for the story on a commuter train from New York to New England while he was sitting behind a businessman wearing a hat. Set in feudal times, the story begins in the Kingdom of Didd, when King Derwin is riding through a street past Bartholomew Cubbins, a poor boy in the market. Bartholomew removes his hat, according to the laws, but another hat mysteriously appears; when he attempts to remove this one too, another one appears again, and this continues, even as he removes more and more hats, each growing in extravagance and beauty from the 451st hat onwards.Eventually, as Bartholomew is being threatened with death, the 500th hat, studded with massive gems and gilding, comes off and Bartholomew's head is bare again. Stunned by the beauty of the hat, King Derwin grants him reprieve and trades him 500 gold coins for the 500th hat.