Political+Books


 * The Sneetches ** [[image:sneetches11.jpg width="493" height="603" align="right"]]

==== This story is about a group of yellow creatures called Sneetches. Some Sneetches have a green star on their bellies, and some don't. The Star-Bellied Sneetches are unfair to the Sneetches without stars. They won't play wit h them, have bonfires with them, or even say hello when they pass by, because they think they are so much better just because of the star on their belly. Then one day, someone named, Sylvester McMonkey McBean, shows up and offers the Sneetches without stars the opportunity to go through his Star-on machine, for three dollars. When the Sneetches come out with stars on their belly, it upsets the original Star-Bellied Sneetches because they think they are losing their special status. But then, Sylvester McMonkey McBean tells them he also has a Star-off machine, to remove their stars, making them different from the new star bellied sneetches, for ten dollars. Of course, the newly stared sneetches also go through the Star-off machine so they can be like the others. Eventually, the sneetches are going from machine to machine, "until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew whether this one was that one... or that one was this one or which one was what one... or what one was who." Finally at the end, all the sneetches begin to get along. ==== media type="youtube" key="2kz3yZk0iKc" height="315" width="420" align="left" //The Sneetches and Other Stories// was published in 1961. The 1960s was the time of the Civil Rights Movement. This was a time when African Americans were treated unfairly. Schools were segregated, Blacks weren't allowed to vote, or even drink from the same water fountain as other people. A man named Martin Luther King Jr. thought this was not right, and no one should be treated this unfairly. He stood up for what he believed in, boycotted the city-run buses when Blacks were made to sit in the back, and even got people together to march for freedom. He wrote a very famous speech called, __I H__ __ave A Dream__. This speech was all about how he hoped one day people wouldn't be judged, "by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." I think that this is what Dr. Suess was thinking about when he wrote this book, that people shouldn't be judged by how dark their skin is, or whether or not they have a star on their belly.

The Butter Battle Book

The Butter Battle Book is about a land where two kinds of creatures, The Yooks and the Zooks, live on opposite sides of a long wall. The Yooks and Zooks have always disagreed about how eat their bread. Butter-side up, or butter-side down. The conflict between them ends up in a big competition to see who can make the bigger, better weapon. The story ends with a Yook and a Zook standing on their side of the wall ready to drop their bombs. Waiting, and waiting, to see who will drop it first. The Butter Battle Book was published in 1984. Dr. Suess got his inspiration for this book from the Cold War. The Cold War was a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, a struggle over who possessed more power. This lasted from 1945 to 1989. But unlike other wars, there was no physical fighting. There were threats to launch bombs, and to use other weapons but this never actually happened. Just like in this book. Both the Yooks and the Zooks had weapons ready to be fired, but they never did.

Yertle the Turtle

Yertle The Turtle is a story of a turtle who is king of the pond. Yertle is stuck on the idea that he is better than everyone else, so much so, that he gets upset when the moon rises above him. So he demands all of the turtles to stack up on top of each other, with him on the top, so that he can be higher than the moon. At the end, a small turtle at the bottom of the stack burps, and every turtle tumbles down. Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories was published in 1958. I think that Yertle The Turtle was designed after the many negative dictators, but mostly was supposed to represent Adolf Hitler. I think both leaders, Yertle and Hitler, didn't think about anyone's feelings but their own. They thought just because they were the leader, or king, they could control everything everyone does and it won't matter. I think it's a good thing that they both fell from their throne (in Yertle's case, literally), because they were not fit to rule.

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