The Sneetches and Other Stories

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Read to Your Child to Develop Bonding and Intellect! - Rated
Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. The Sneetches and Other Stories was one of her picks.

One of the reasons I liked to read Dr. Seuss stories to all of my children was that they contain up-lifting moral messages. In The Sneetches, the lesson is tolerance of those who are different from you. In The Zax, cooperation is encouraged. In Too Many Daves, individuality is espoused. What Was I Scared of? looks at the irrational bases of many of our fears.

The stories are also wonderful because they are humorous, have fun poems, and the drawings are very interesting and unusual.

The moral lesson in The Sneetches is put together in a very clever way. The story starts with two types of Sneetches, those with stars on their tummies and those without. The former are the higher status group. Then, Sylvester McMonkey McBean came to town with machines that could add stars. He quickly got rich making all the Sneetches look alike. The high-class Sneetches didn't like that, so they paid to have the stars taken off. And so on it went, until McBean had all of the money. Then, the Sneetches finally got smart and treated everyone alike, whether or not they had stars. As you can see, this makes anyone who holds onto small differences as being important look silly (whether based on something one is born with, or perhaps even based on something one can buy like athletic sneakers). Ah, a great story!

The Zax get so caught up on who is right that the world passes them by. In fact, a whole road and a city are built right over them as they stand firm against the other in the sand. Such a lovely counter-thought that is for stubborn children to learn!

Too Many Daves reminds me of a family I met where the father was named Bruce and had several sons named Bruce. It was most confusing when they were all around. We have a bit of the same problem in my family where there are four Dons in three generations. Everyone in my family lobbies against any more Dons!

What Was I Scared of! was my daughter's least favorite story in this book. I think that was because the scary parts last for many dark-looking pages. The resolution that the scary looking pants are just as frightened as you are takes a long time to develop. You may find that your child will like this story at an older age than the other stories in the book. It's the last one, so it's easy to stop just before it.

Now, having read (or reread) these stories, ask yourself what misconceptions you have about the way the importance of how things are. If you act the opposite of any of these stories, your child may find you a little hypocritical. Cure those little faults before you fall in your child's eyes!

Read to Your Child to Develop Bonding and Intellect! - Rated
Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. The Sneetches and Other Stories was one of her picks.

One of the reasons I liked to read Dr. Seuss stories to all of my children was that they contain up-lifting moral messages. In The Sneetches, the lesson is tolerance of those who are different from you. In The Zax, cooperation is encouraged. In Too Many Daves, individuality is espoused. What Was I Scared of? looks at the irrational bases of many of our fears.

The stories are also wonderful because they are humorous, have fun poems, and the drawings are very interesting and unusual.

The moral lesson in The Sneetches is put together in a very clever way. The story starts with two types of Sneetches, those with stars on their tummies and those without. The former are the higher status group. Then, Sylvester McMonkey McBean came to town with machines that could add stars. He quickly got rich making all the Sneetches look alike. The high-class Sneetches didn't like that, so they paid to have the stars taken off. And so on it went, until McBean had all of the money. Then, the Sneetches finally got smart and treated everyone alike, whether or not they had stars. As you can see, this makes anyone who holds onto small differences as being important look silly (whether based on something one is born with, or perhaps even based on something one can buy like athletic sneakers). Ah, a great story!

The Zax get so caught up on who is right that the world passes them by. In fact, a whole road and a city are built right over them as they stand firm against the other in the sand. Such a lovely counter-thought that is for stubborn children to learn!

Too Many Daves reminds me of a family I met where the father was named Bruce and had several sons named Bruce. It was most confusing when they were all around. We have a bit of the same problem in my family where there are four Dons in three generations. Everyone in my family lobbies against any more Dons!

What Was I Scared of! was my daughter's least favorite story in this book. I think that was because the scary parts last for many dark-looking pages. The resolution that the scary looking pants are just as frightened as you are takes a long time to develop. You may find that your child will like this story at an older age than the other stories in the book. It's the last one, so it's easy to stop just before it.

Now, having read (or reread) these stories, ask yourself what misconceptions you have about the way the importance of how things are. If you act the opposite of any of these stories, your child may find you a little hypocritical. Cure those little faults before you fall in your child's eyes!

A gem - Rated
For me, this is one of the finest collections of Dr Seuss tales. For this collection alone the man should be remembered as a true literary genius. In these few pages he manages to encapsulate the drama of the Iliad, the humanity of Hamlet, the emotion of a dozen Wagner operas. And at the same time he entertains children. It doesn't come much better than this, folks. There are only three writers that anybody need ever read: Virgil, Nabokov and Dr Seuss.

This book is one of the best ever! - Rated
This book was one of the first "big" books i read, and i still read it today, at the age of 17. The Snetches is a timeless classic, teaching the reader about the dangers of racism etc. the zax is bizzare, as is what was i scared of, but they are still fantastic!

Full of profundity - Rated
The main story, of 4, in this book is fantastic. As usual The Sneetches carries a moral. V. profound. The other stories are also great. The themes and messages being stubborness, the problems that arise when you call all 23 of your children the same names and don't be scared of pale green pants, they have feelings too. This book will make you laugh and cry. Buy it, baby!