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Jun 08, 2007

Billy rated it:

This was my favorite book when I was a child. I read it over and over again, memorizing every line, and taking in every lesson about vanity that Dr Seuss was teaching. As an adult I found a whole new appreciation for the book, as I learned that the character of Yertle was based on Adolph Hitler. Seuss used Yertle to demonstrate the rise of fascism in Europe, and show is distaste for it. In the final lines of the story Seuss's true intent comes out as he proclaims that all turtles and every c More...

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Feb 02, 2012

Bridgette rated it:

What makes a children's story a complete book? When can it stand alone and when does it belong in an anthology? Sometimes the mechanicals of publication pull tales together in a collection. Other times, an author might publish a series of short stories to view the same theme from a different perspective. I suspect a little of both in Dr. Seuss' Yertle the Turtle and Other Short Stories.

These stories were originally copyrighted by the McCall Corporation in 1950 and 1951, with the copyri More...

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May 15, 2010

Connie rated it:

Well, he certainly had an interest in sharing political views. Whether this is good or bad depends, I guess, on whether you agree with him. He did it in a way that's not too preachy or annoying, that's a point in his favor.

Here we have three stories, whose names I don't care to remember at this time. (The book is visiting Grandma with my nieces, so I have to post from memory. Forgive me.)

In the first one - Yertle the Turtle! - we have a grandiose turtle king who insists o More...

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Dec 13, 2008

Samantha rated it:

Be kind to others.
Be happy with yourself just the way you are. Dont try to be someone you are not. Dont be greedy.
Be humble.

I just LOVELOVELOVE this one! I cant believe that I dont own a copy!

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Oct 23, 2008

Dolly rated it:

Great stories by Dr. Seuss that are relevant to adults as well as children. The concepts of not making yourself better at the expense of others and the idea that you are not necessarily better than someone else or that you should be happy with who you are are fundamental lessons everyone should take to heart.

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Aug 04, 2007

Shala rated it:

Stories are still a bit on the long side for my 4 month old, but she's a trooper and stayed with me until almost the end of the Yertle the Turtle story -- fidgeting only when the story became, in her opinion, two pages too long. This is one we'll definitely pull off the shelf again when she's older.

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Mar 17, 2010

Stephanie rated it:

This one is another Seuss gem, though not quite on par with Horton and Places, in my opinion. I read "Yertle the Turtle" to my students and they came up with "Don't be greedy" and "Treat others like you want to be treated" as morals of the story. Fun and short.

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Dec 05, 2010

Lauren rated it:

Yertle the turtle, the King of Salama-Sond wanted to see far away and thought he should sit up higher. So Yertle the turtle stacked up the other turtles underneath him to see far far away. But he kept wanting the tower to be higher so he stacked up more turtles making the weight at the bottom even greater until the little turtle at the very bottom couldn't take it anymore. Yertle the Turtle sees the moon higher than he and barks that there must be more turtle to stack up. Until, the tower collap More...

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Mar 06, 2009

Sean rated it:

Genre: Picture Book

Age Level: Tansitional; Grades 3 and up

World View: Not Limited to any class or color

Theme: Greed and Social Importance

Literary Elements: The classical AA BB rhyme scheme from doctor Seuss.

In the Classroom: Fun for poetry, and teaches students the importance of any position in life they have. No matter their place in life, everything they can have a larger effect on life.

Illustrations: funny and fitting. More...

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Mar 03, 2010

Suzanne rated it:

Red Hot Chili Peppers / Yertle the Turtle

There are three Suess fables in this book. I read the first and last and will have to go back and finish the book. The moral of the stories seem to be about not being snobbish, or a bragger ...

Yertle wanted to be "king of the pond" but instead ended up in the mud. Dr. Suess really does a good job of getting a message across in a funny, fantastical way! More...

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Jul 09, 2011

Jennie added it

Age: 4-8

Genre: Picture book

Diversity: Differences

Illustrations: Typical Dr. Seuss drawings with limited use of color.

Personal Response: I love Yertle the Turtle and enjoy The Big Brag, but my favorite story in this book is Gertrude McFuzz. I think that in light of the current debate about role models for girls and the unattainability of photo-shopped perfection the idea that one should be happy with what one is born with is important.

Curriculum More...

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Jan 22, 2010

Dianna rated it:

This book contains three stories:

Yertle the Turtle, a story about a turtle king whose ambitions turn a little too high; Gertrude McFuzz, who is jealous of her friend's tail and gets herself into a mess because of it, and The Big Brag, a story about two animals who argue about who is best, ending with a very wise worm.

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The message of these stories is to be content with what you are and have—that you are special the way you are and that there's no need to do s More...

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May 06, 2009

Jack Kirby and the X-man rated it:

Surely "'bout two hundred" stacked turtles should make it into the GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS.... And Yertle had the single-minded vision to ensure his record was nearly uncontestable by stacking "'bout five thousand, six hundred and seven" turtles. Focus and determination such as this is are admirable qualities which should be encouraged in our children so they can all become elite sportspeople and entrepreneurs...

Wait... that was the moral that everyone More...

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Dec 05, 2009

Sarah rated it:

Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories has three short stories, one against fascism, one against jealousy and one against bragging. The two my kids enjoy reading most are the first and third, "Yertle the Turtle" and "The Big Brag."

Back when Theodor Geisel was working as a political cartoonist, he drew an anti Hitler cartoon showing a stack of turtles in a V-shape. The caption said "You can't build a substantial V out of turtles!" You can see it reproduced i More...

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Sep 15, 2010

Kate rated it:

My brief review of Yertle the Turtle: http://ow.ly/2EXcd

A great blog post on the Lessons Learned from Dr. Seuss: http://sourcesofinsight.com/2010/02/23/l... Seuss|61105|Dr. Seuss|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1193930952p2/61105.jpg]Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories

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Feb 19, 2009

Mandy rated it:

Several short stories that are fun to read to your kids! I think I enjoyed them just as much as my kids. They were also good little stories to jump off of into a spiritual conversation with my 5 year old. She picked up on the wrong attitudes of the characters and we were able to have good discussion on what they should have done to please God. Fun, light reading that can lead to some serious conversation with your kids!

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Dec 30, 2010

Ali rated it:

Lisa Simpson once seriously - but hilariously - said, "And please don't deprive yourselves of wonderful books like ... 'Yertle the Turtle' -- possibly the best book ever written on the subject of turtle stacking." Ever since I saw that episode, years ago, I've wanted to read Yertle the Turtle, not so much for the sake of reading it, but to better appreciate the Simpsons joke. Well, I just read the book, and indeed my appreciation for the joke has increased.

It's a cute story More...

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May 09, 2009

Josiah rated it:

Yertle the Turtle might not be Dr. Seuss's most quickly identifiable story, but surely it ranks among the top few.
Once again in these three stories Dr. Seuss lays out germane warnings as pertain to hubris. These lessons are clear, without being too heavy-handed for younger readers to enjoy the pictures and zany rhymes. The compilation of these three tales is a strong effort from the one-of-a-kind Dr. Seuss.

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Jan 19, 2011

Hazel rated it:

I've only been exposed to Dr. Seuss when I already had a son and we got to know Dr. Seuss and his quirky, fun and sensible characters together. This was our latest venture to his books and by far my favorite!

We were both laughing out load at the last story (The Big Brag) me for the irony, him for the "slapstick" sense of it.

Dr. Seuss is timeless and ageless!

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Sep 28, 2011

Chris rated it:

Yertle the Turtle: Yertle the turtle king demonstrates that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The turtle proletariat stages a coup, and the result is peaceful anarchism.

Gertrude McFuzz: A story about self-image and conceptions of beauty. Ultimately about acceptance. A great story for kids.

The Big Brag: Lesson: There's no point in bragging, everyone is good at something different.

The illustrations of these stories were kind of plain for Seuss.

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Feb 06, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

Of the three stories included in this collection, Yertle the Turtle, Gertrude McFuzz, and The Big Brag, my little one preferred Brag and my older one preferred Turtle. I preferred Turtle but for reasons that flew above my kids heads. The story was interesting, if predictable, and I loved the moral.

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Oct 11, 2011

Heidi rated it:

I stinking LOVE this book. It became a favorite in high school actually and now my little man gets to appreciate it early in life. If you haven't read it, do it and read it to your kids. King Yertle has a lesson to learn and boy does he learn it! Gives me a little bit of "hope" about some other "kings". . .

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Jul 19, 2010

John rated it:

Yertle the Turtle is a great way to start off an economics,or market section of a social studies curriculum. The character of Yertle is likely to be quite a polarizing figure in this class, and spark a vibrant debate between students of different political, or personal, opinions. While definitely it wouldn't be good to just read this book and allow for a free for all, Yertle the Turtle is an excellent conversation starter.

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Apr 25, 2010

Christine rated it:

This book is about a power hungry turtle that wants to rule over as much land as he can see, so he makes a bunch of other turtles pile beneath him so that he can see over more land to rule. This is a great book to teach students about the negative things that happen to those who become too greedy.

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May 27, 2010

Susan rated it:

I just read Yertle the Turtle to my students on our very last day. I didn't know until this year that Dr. Seuss wrote with Yertle as a symbolic Hitler and Mussolini. My new book includes some quotes of an interview with Dr. Seuss. Kind of interesting. He's one of my favorite authors.

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Apr 08, 2009

Valerie added it

As children, we (my brothers and I) had LPs of several Dr Seuss books, and I'm p sure this was one. The book, like many Dr Seuss books, is best read aloud, and the LPs were accompanied with illustrations by Dr Seuss. Not quite the best of all possible worlds, but I liked it.

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Jan 31, 2012

Shana rated it:

Growing up, this has always been my favorite Dr. Seuss book. I believe the message is very powerful and should be shared in all classrooms. In my opinion, this book teaches the lessons that are most important in a person; respecting others, loving yourself, not changing for others, and being thankful for what you have.

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Jul 22, 2009

Erik rated it:

Yertle the Turtle is a tale of the megalomania of leadership, false consciousness, ensuing class oppression and the revolutionary role of the proletariat told and illustrated by the inspired labor artist, Theodor Seuss Geisel.

God knows, it changed my life!

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Nov 16, 2009

Eileen rated it:

HAD TO ACT OUT A LAWSUIT, THE TURTLES BACKS WERE BROKEN... I WAS THE ONE WITH THE BROKEN BACK... IN 4TH GRADE, OR SOMETHING!!! TO GET KIDS INTERESTED IN LAW?!? THIS BOOK HELPED ME TO FIND MY INNER TURTLE, SOMETHING ALL OF US MUST SOMETIME IN LIFE ACCOMPLISH.

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Nov 29, 2008

Janice rated it:

Although I love all Dr. Seuss books, this one is numbered among my favorites. I still have the story of Gertrude McFuzz memorized, and the Big Brag teaches such a great lesson. It is hard to find a better children's book than this.

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