Daisy-Head Mayzie is a book by Dr. Seuss that was published after his death. More specifically, it stems from a lost manuscript that Seuss' widow Audrey Geisel found while sorting through her husband's papers. It tells the story of young Mayzie McGrew, who one day suddenly has a daisy sprout from the top of her head. Ridiculed by her classmates, and unable to let it just wilt away (since she and her daisy are connected when it comes to life), she struggles to cope with her new development, while certain people around her wish to use her daisy for their own benefits.
The book was originally published in 1995; that same year (actually prior to the book's publication), an animated special based on the story was released, produced by Hanna-Barbera and originally airing on Turner Network Television. In 2016, following the popularity of another posthumous Seuss work, What Pet Should I Get?, the book was published again, this time with a script and illustrations more closely resembling Seuss' original manuscript (the ones in the 1995 version more closely resemble the Hanna-Barbera special).
Tropes present include:
- Adaptation Expansion: The reprint removes the subplot about the agent who makes Mayzie rich and famous, which was not in Geisel's original manuscript. Also, the reprint makes Mrs. McGrew a housewife rather than a welder.
- Character Narrator: In the Hanna-Barbera special and the original version of the book, The Cat In the Hat narrates the story, and also helps to get Mayzie home. Averted in the reprinted version, in which the narrator appears in the beginning as a generic human, but otherwise has no real role in the story.
- Comedic Work, Serious Scene: This is mostly a silly story about a girl with a daisy growing out of her head, and even things like her mother passing out and her almost dying when the flower wilts are played for Black Comedy. However, towards the end, she suddenly believes that her friends don't love her anymore now that she's famous and she sits on a hill crying and saying, "Nobody loves me". This scene is played completely seriously.
- Crowd Song: In the Hanna-Barbera special "Daisy-Head Mayzie," which is just Mayzie's classmates singing the phrase over and over in a mocking way.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Some have theorized that the story is a metaphor for puberty, with a young girl's flower suddenly drawing the attention of a lot of people, many of whom want to use it for their benefit.
- Faint in Shock: Downplayed. In the book, Mrs. McGrew says, "I'm going to faint" when she sees that her daughter has a daisy growing from her head, and she's illustrated looking woozy, but she remains conscious. In the Animated Adaptation, however, she does pass out.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In order to prove to Mayzie that her friends love her, the daisy rips its own petals off of itself.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: If one considers the main goal of the story for Mayzie to become a normal girl again. Although the daisy disappears after its Heroic Sacrifice, the end reveals that it occasionally does pop out of her head again; however, Mayzie is getting more used to it by this point.
- Synchronization: The daisy on Mayzie's head is tied to her health, and if it dies, so does she.
- Taunting the Transformed: When Mayzie grows a daisy out of her head, her classmates start teasing her by chanting, "Daisy-Head! Daisy-Head! Daisy-Head Mayzie!".
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The agent Finagle is never seen again after he holds a freak show featuring her on a stage.
