Dr. Seuss's The Lorax has an uncharacteristically dark feel, starting on the first page, and continuing throughout the book. Before long you find an aspiring businessman, the perfect tree, and a powerful environmental message, masterfully designed to target children with the use of enticingly flamboyant illustrations, and whimsical characters that immediately take a place in your heart.

After stumbling on the perfect material, Truffula Trees, The Onceler designs the ideal product, Thneeds that meet every person's needs. The inevitable mass production and world wide distribution ensues. The Lorax, a demanding messenger for the forest, and the creatures who inhabit it, warns him the repercussions he may cause are disastrous. The Lorax's pleas are lost on The Onceler, and as the last Truffula Tree falls, The Onceler and all who depend on the forest find themselves with nothing more, and are forced to leave the remnants of their home.

Long after The Lorax abandons The Onceler, the costs of his actions stay with him. He shares his tale with a young boy, and its that boy who begins the long process of mending the Truffula Tree legacy.
This story tackles many deep issues, as we follow The Onceler, greed, selfishness, and a disregard for the environment affect him profoundly. However, he is ultimately enlightened and makes an effort to reach out and mend the problems he has caused, as everyone should. Dr. Seuss has shed a light on these problems as only he could.