Dr. Seuss has proven himself the writer's equivalent of a sleight-of-hand artist with his title Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose. Like a street illusionist's performance, the magic in this title is all about misdirection.

When you read a title like this, you expect Thidwick's big heart to be an asset, a positive quality that will help either Thidwick or a stranger in need. After all, kindness is the virtue to top all virtues.

Children's book titles also tend to be very straight-forward. Guess How Much I Love You is about how much a parent bunny loves a baby bunny. When a Berenstain Bears' title says they'll learn about strangers, then they learn about strangers. And you'll never guess that The Very Hungry Caterpillar's problem is… This direct connection between title and content is what parents have come to expect after years of shopping this particular market.

And things start out this way, too. When the Bingle Bug asks if he can bum a lift on Thidwick's antlers, the moose replies:

"Of course not!" smiled Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose.
"I'm happy my antlers can be of some use.
There's room there to spare, and I'm happy to share!
Be my guest and I hope that you're comfortable there!" (3.1-4)

Notice how the title's wording shows up at the exact moment that Thidwick lets his big ole heart do its thing and start getting him in trouble. The situation goes downhill fast, and soon Thidwick's antlers are hosting all sorts of pesky, needy creatures. Thidwick's big heart won't let him kick out the squatters since they're guests (18.2).

It becomes pretty clear by the time Thidwick is starving and crumbling under the literal weight of his guests that his big heart is not an asset at all (34.2). It's destroying him, and his guests couldn't care less because they've found themselves a sucker.

Here we see Seuss's misdirection in action. By playing off our understanding of kindness as a virtue and how children's book titles generally work, we expect Thidwick's story to be about how wonderful kindness is. It's a huge surprise to learn the story actually promotes the opposite.