for Children", based on an online poll. Analysis Horton Hatches the Egg has been used in discussions on a wide variety of topics, including economics, Christianity, feminism, and adoption. Alison Lurie, in a 1990 article about Dr. Seuss from a feminist perspective, criticized Horton Hatches the Egg as a statement for fetal rights (opposed by Lurie) and for its negative treatment of Mayzie. Lurie claimed an almost complete lack of strong female protagonists in Dr. Seuss books and further asserted that Mayzie, who is obviously an antagonist and is depicted as lazy and irresponsible, is "the most memorable female character in [Dr Seuss's] entire oeuvre". Geisel responded to Lurie's criticism, by way of his biographers near the end of his life, by remarking that most of his characters are animals, noting, "if she can identify their sex, I'll remember her in my will". Jill Deans, in a 2000 article, used the book in a discussion of adoption, surrogacy, and particularly, embryo donation. She noted that it is "a classic tale of surrogacy" and that it "evokes the intricacies of the nature/nurture debate". She contends that the book celebrates adoptive parents and caregivers, in the form of Horton, but vilifies birth mothers, in the form of Mayzie. Both Deans and Philip Nel point to the book's real-life implications for Geisel and his wife. Deans draws a connection between the elephant-bird in Horton and the Infantograph, a failed invention Geisel created that combined two photos and was meant to give couples an idea of what their children would look like. Nel, meanwhile, connected the book to the short story "Matilda the Elephant". Noting that the Geisels could not have children, Nel argued that "Matilda", and by extension Horton, may have been manifestations of the Geisels' longing for children. In 2004, James W. Kemp, a retired United Methodist pastor, compared Horton to the early Christians to whom the First Epistle of Peter was addressed. Like those early Christians, Horton faces persecution and ridicule for his actions, but Horton is faithful to his mission and is rewarded, as evidenced by the elephant-bird that hatches at the end of the book. Richard B. Freeman, writing in 2011 about the contemporaneous economic situation in the United States, called Horton Hatches the Egg a tale of investment. Freeman argued that "economic growth requires long-term investments", as embodied by Horton's sitting on the egg, and that "trust is