The Sneetches and Other Stories
by Dr. Seuss
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Book Reviews of The Sneetches and Other Stories
Book Review: .
Summary: 4 Stars
Ah, Sneetches.
This book comes with four Seuss stories. It is a mark of the man's skill that he was able to write a clear moral for each of them without being too preachy. (He didn't always succeed at this, which is why I refuse to buy a copy of the Lorax, but when he got it right he was SO right.)
The first story, Sneetches, is a pretty clear moral about discrimination. The ones with stars and the ones with "none upon thars" run back and forth and back and forth trying to have the right number of stars until they are all fleeced out of all their cash. And then they figure out that a Sneetch is a Sneetch, stars or no.
The second one, about the Zaxes, is what happens when a south-going Zax meets a north-going Zax and neither is willing to budge an inch. The world doesn't stop, no matter how long they stand there, and a whole city goes up while they glare at each other.
Mrs. McCave had 23 sons and she named them all Dave and if there's a moral here (other than "Knock it off with the zany theme naming!") I can't find it. Good fun, though :)
And finally, that one about the scary green pants that walk around with nobody in them and scare our narrator witless until he realizes they're as scared of him as he is of them.
They're fun, most of them have a good moral, and they're Seuss. What more can you ask for? (Note: Some kids might find that green pants story a little scary.)
Book Review: EXCEPTIONAL!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! 10 STARS!
Summary: 5 Stars
This was one of my favorite books when I was a child. I ordered it a couple months ago, since I remembered how much I had loved it. I laughed so hard I cried, through almost the whole book! It's amazing to me that this man could have come up with the important lessons that he did, and get them across in such funny ways and while making the fantastic rhymes that he did! The book amazed me as I was laughing and crying! The story of the Sneetches that thought they were better than everyone else getting their comeuppance had me in stitches. The northgoing and southgoing zax with their lesson on stubbornness and "I won't budge" made me think that everyone in my whole family (up,down and sideways) must have read this story and instead of learning NOT to be stubborn, used the zaxes as their heros in learning TO be stubborn (don't budge EVEN if they build the highway over you)!!!! And the guy being scared of the pants with nobody in them, and it turns out the pants were depressed and scared too!!! It shows that others have the same feelings you do (even if the "others" are strange personless pants)!!! These lessons are SO good and useful for everyone . . . (Okay! So I didn't understand the lesson in the 23 Daves!) This book, to me, is pure genius. It is as timely today as when it was written in 1961.Book Review: Monster Pants
Summary: 5 Stars
My son calls them "Monster Pants." I call them a literary gift to share with him. This collection of stories is my favorite sampling of Suess for many reasons. While stories like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" or "The Lorax" may be more entertaining, the four short stories here are just the right length to captivate younger readers like my two and a half year-old son. I think the writing is some of Dr. Suess's best. It has none of the forced rhyming found in some of his earlier works. The stories all have a message or lesson to be learned, yet they are not of the blatant "hit you over the head" type as found in "The Bitter Butter Battle Book" or "The Lorax." My only complaint is that the last story. "What Was I Scared Of?," is printed in black text on a dark background and is hard to read under the dim lighting we usually have when I put my son to bed. Fortunately the story is easy and enjoyable enough to memorize with only a couple of readings and now I don't even need to have the lights on to tell my son about "a pair of pale green pants with nobody inside them."Book Review: It never gets old
Summary: 5 Stars
The Sneetches, by Dr. Seuss is about sneetches that are very segregated. There are two types of sneetches: star-bellied and plain-bellied. The star-bellied sneetches are very exclusive and only invite other star-bellied sneetches to their parties and picnics and frankfurter roasts. This makes the plain-bellied sneetches really sad.
Everything changes, though, when Sylvester McMonkey McBean shows up. He has a machine that can put star on plain-bellied sneetches, so of course, they all get stars. But when the original star-bellied sneetches find out about this, they're really mad. They get their stars taken off by Sylvester. Soon, a horrible mess is made. Everyone is getting their stars taken off and then put back on until they realize that it doesn't matter whether they have stars or not.
The Sneetches is a great book. It teaches that looks don't matter and to accept people just the way they are. This book is geared toward younger kids, but I think that anyone would enjoy it. This was one of my favorite books when I was little and it never gets old.
-Claire Bonnyman
Book Review: Pale green pants with nobody inside 'em
Summary: 5 Stars
When I was a kid, the very last story in this book scared the hell out of me. No, really. It's called "What Was I Afraid Of" and it's about a pair of pale green pants with nobody inside 'em. I spent many nights both horrified and fascinated by that concept. I swear it's why I write the morbid stuff I write today.
Of course, I know now that Seuss was only trying to teach his readers that what we fear are things we don't recognize. Seuss is like that. With his acid trip art and jaunty, rhyming narratives, it's easy to get lost in a story and forget the moral. So much the better.
This book, and others like it, is as much for adults as it is for children. I've bought several copies of "The Sneetches and Other Stories" for nieces and the young children of friends. I do it for the kids, of course, but I always give it another read before handing it over.
Of the Suess books, this is my favorite. Of course, I'm all grown up now. I only think about those pale, green pants in the darkest months when I'm alone and my imagination is particularly Suessified.