The Sneetches and Other Stories
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The Sneetches and Other Stories

4.3 of 5 stars 4.30  ·  rating details  ·  12,401 ratings  ·  342 reviews
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of its original publication, we're making available for a limited time only a special full-foil covered Party Edition of The Sneetches and Other Stories at the regular edition price of $14.99. The four wildly whimsical stories in this collection—"The Sneetches," "The Zax," "Too Many Daves," and "What Was ...more
Hardcover, 65 pages
Published September 27th 2011 by Random House Books for Young Readers (first published 1961)
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Bird Brian
Bird Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: kids
This book made me think of different things, when I re-read it at different times in my life. The text was the same, but its meaning shifted, like light distorted through the prism of new experiences.

Racism
Let's start with the obvious. On its simplest level, this is a parable about racism. The Sneetches are bird-like creatures whose society is stratified, with class divisions between those with stars on their bellies and those without. An opportunist- Sylvester McMonkey McBea...more
Ronyell
I was reading this book for the Readers Against Prejudice and Racism Club and it was fantastic!

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

I have been reading many of Dr. Seuss’ books ever since I was a child, but out of all the books I have read from him, this book was the most effective book I have ever read! “The Sneetches and Other Stories” is a short collection of stories by Dr. Seuss where each of them detailed how to accept other people for who they are. “The Sneetches a...more
Doug
Doug rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Humans
Why 5 stars? Why rate a children's book? Because there is still prejudice in the world, that's why. If we got the world leaders together, and brainwashed them with this book, war would disappear. Segregation, discrimination, prejudice, sophistry, bias and artificial prominance would go away. In his unique way, Theodore Giesel points out the folly of judging anybody by physical characteristics, or any other inaccurate method.

Lessons learned from this book:

Whether we ha...more
Brad
The Sneetches is my absolute favourite Seuss story. The rhythm trumps all other Seuss stories, and when I am reading this out loud to my kids I joyfully shift from Star-belly Sneetch voices to Plain-belly Sneetch voices to Sylvester McMonkey McBean's voice without even a hint of having to think about the shift. Seuss's rhythm invites that. I can speed up to warp, I can slow down and leave an octo-pregnant pause, and still the rhythm is flawless. Plus, the story's pretty meaningful too. This is t...more
Missy
This is my favorite book to read to my kids. It has "Sneetches" that teaches that "No kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches." Then there's "The Zax" that teaches us how unproductive it is to never compromise. "Too Many Daves" - Scott and I talked about this one last night and how it is a fun little story, but doesn't have and underlying message. Then we decided that it does have a message. It's about making all of your kids feel special and letti...more
Matt Margo
Matt Margo rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: anyone...honestly, anyone.
Though this collection is more generally recommended for an age group between four and eight years old, "The Sneetches and Other Stories" is not at all limited so. Such is also the case with each of Dr. Seuss's works, due to his brilliant exertion of realized adult symbolism along with childhood lessons and poetic wordplay. Many friends of mine have assumed Theodor Geisel to be a one-note, singular-intention children's author. Books such as "Hop on Pop" may not well exemplify...more
Kathy Davie
This is a collection of four stories about silly superiorities, too stubborn for your own good, being lazy and not thinking ahead, and confronting your fears.

The Story
The Sneetches are divided. Some have green stars for belly buttons while others do not. Naturally, the Star-Belly Sneetches are far superior to the Plain-Belly Sneetches…until…one day…an enterprising Sneetch comes along and offers to help the Plain-Belly Sneetches by giving them stars on their bellies. Well, this ju...more
Cindy Kelly
Cindy Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: everybody
Recommended to Cindy by: my mom
SUMMARY
This collection of short stories touches on themes like the value of diversity, the get-nowhere-fast of stalemates, the value of individuality, and confronting fears. There are two kinds of Sneetches in The Sneetches: those who have stars on their bellies, and those who do not. When a man comes along with a star-on / star-off machine, the Sneetches get all mixed up and the resolution is that all sneetches are equal. In The Zax, two Zaxes (a north-going one and a south-going one)...more
Josiah
This is a very impressive book. In the various stories compiled in this one volume, Dr. Seuss addresses several points of social contention with a touch like that of the butterfly's wings, getting his point across with vivid clarity but not a hint of preachiness. The story of the Sneetches is a true classic, showing rather than telling the effects that elitism has not only on the people across the way from us who we look down on, but the effect it has on us, as well. When we begin to consider s...more
Julie (Mom2lnb)
Julie (Mom2lnb) rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: Fans of Fun Children's Books w/an Underlying Message
Reviewed for THC Reviews
I've been a huge fan of Dr. Seuss since I was a child, but until I read The Lorax for the first time a few years ago, I had never realized that he was an author with the heart of an activist. Much like The Lorax, The Sneetches and Other Stories tackles mature themes in a non-threatening, even humorous, way that kids can understand. All four stories in the book have the underlying message of tolerance, acceptance and compromise with those who are different from us or ...more
Emily
I like how at first they aren't being nice to each other, but in the end they end up so messed up that they don't know who is who, forget about stars, start sharing, and from that time on he thinks that you can't teach a sneetch, but he's wrong. You can teach a sneetch.

One day there are two zax, a north going zax and a south going zax and they bump into each other. They start fighting. In the end they stay where they are and they don't budge. They build a highway over them.
...more
Jenn
Sam reads this book, on average, twice a week. He loves how entrepreneurial that Sylvester McMonkey McBean is in exploiting those silly Sneetches bigotry. He also likes the ending when the Sneetches learn to be nice to each other.

Sam also likes the story of "Too Many Daves" and often uses the alternate name suggestions for nicknames for his brother. A favorite is Oliver Boliver Butt.
Connie
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 ...more
Shelley
"The Sneetches" is perhaps my all-time favorite Dr. Seuss story. What a subtle way to teach children that racism and sexism and any of those "isms" are wrong. Dr. Seuss was a genius!

I am also a big fan of "Too Many Daves". It's just too funny!

I have loved these stories (and almost all of Dr. Seuss' books) since I was very small. I remember checking out the maximum number of books allowed - 8 at the time - and all of them were Dr. Seuss ...more
Skylar Burris
"The Sneetches" teaches the positive virtue of tolerance in a way that doesn't make me want to stick my fingers down my throat, and given the state of most of today's overly didactic, moralistic children's literature, that's a real accomplishment.

And it rhymes.

And my daughter absolutely loves it.
Julie
Love this collection! We read it constantly with all three of the kids. Such a great series of subtle lessons on the importance of diversity and acceptance/appreciation thereof!

Sneetches: Racism (or whatever -ism you want to draw from as the example) is silly. So is chasing fads. :)

Zax: Compromise and/or creative problem solving is necessary. (My daughter: Why couldn't one zax lay down and the other hop over him? both could continue in their direction?)

Da...more
Dolly
Dolly rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: parents reading with their children
A classic Dr. Seuss book, including four stories (The Sneetches, The Zax, Too Many Daves and What Was I Scared Of?). All have classic Dr. Seuss rhyming narratives and illustrations and are fun for all ages.
Cameron
I'll never forget when my eleventh grade English instructor whipped out this title to teach us how to find themes in novels. I was fairly speechless as he read to us from the Sneetches.
Alexis Bustamante
This fable is a good example of the many obstacles in society. One can see traces prejudicism as well examples of media persuassion. They can see prejudice in the way the Sneetches treat each other. The division in social class can be a representation of the obstacles some nations still face. When Mcbean comes into play, a clear symbol for of the media can be seen. He is the force that convinces the Sneetches that they need to change in order for them to succeed. If this book is read to elem...more
Amy
Summary: Inventive language at it's finest... Star-Belly Sneetches, the Fix-it-Up Chappie... courtesy of Dr. Seuss, of course. Wittily and humorous, yet contains a moral or two about individuality and contentment. The cartoon-like illustrations compliment the text and make character expressions come to life.

Audience: K-3

Uses: Read-aloud for early elementary. Guided reading or shared for transitional early readers; transitional for independent reading. Great for introduct...more
Sarah
Parents beware of some very unfriendly subject matter in this book, and not in a humorous context. Definitely the darker side of Seuss.
Kathy
John loves this book. The stories are shorter than most Dr. Suess books so it's great for when you need to get in a quick story before bed time. We laugh and laugh at the names that Mrs. McCave wishes she had named her 23 sons, rather than naming them all Dave. John is facinated by the highway that is built over the Zaks. The story of the green pants with nobody inside them is great for when he is afraid, as the pants are just as afraid of the little boy. Of couse the Sneetches with their d...more
Jennie
Jennie added it
Age: 4-8

Genre: Picture Book

Diversity: Differences

Illustrations: Typical Dr. Seuss drawings of real and imagined creatures.

Personal Response: I think that this story contains Dr. Seuss' message of embracing differences the most overtly. All three of the stories contained in this book have a variation on the theme of differences that still resonate today.

Curriculum: All of the stories in this book could be used in conjunction with a lesson on ho...more
Jazmin
This story would be funny and entertaining to kids. I enjoyed reading it as well. I would use this story to introduce the civil rights movement because to me, it reminds me of that issue. The sneetches who didn't have a star on their belly weren't allowed to do stuff the ones with a star would do. This reminds me of how African-Americans weren't allowed to do a lot of stuff, or they had to do their stuff separately. At the end of the story they realized they are all the same no matter if you hav...more
Heather Torgersen
The Sneetches on the beaches are having a problem- some have stars and some have none! Through this funny rhyming story, Dr. Suess shows us that we should never exclude someone because they are different. In the end, the Sneetches were still Sneetches, stars or not, as are all of us. People are people, no matter how we look or what we wear, and we should never treat someone poorly because of our differences. Though this story has a wonderful moral behind it, the overuse of the long e makes it be...more
Jacqueline
I read this to my boys but I bought it years before I had them for myself. I was introduced to it as an adult never having read it as a child. It just doesn't get any better than Too Many Daves and What Was I Afraid Of? My nephew came downstairs one night in the 1990s with his mother's stretch pants pulled up over his head. Ahh... the pale green pants with nobody in them.

Wonderful to read out loud.

The pale green pants, the Zax and the Sneetches stories have a great mo...more
Matthew
I remember reading the Sneetches long ago with my mom, and I still like to read it every once in a while. The Sneetches is a story of not only these fantastic creatures out of the mind of Dr. Seuss, but it is a story of things that still apply to the real world, even though this book was written about 50 years ago. This book reflects real-world discrimination and racism. The illustrations, though rather simple, tell the story of this book perfectly, with no more than five or six colors per page...more
Brennan Wieland
One of the first Dr. Seuss stories I've ever read, and I didn't stop reading after reading the first one. It's surprising how Dr. Seuss can put a message into these stories but he does somehow. This story was about treating others equally even if they might look different in one way or another, the sneetches were treating each other differently because some had stars on their bellies and others didn't. In the end they realize that they are no different whether they have stars or not, and treat e...more
Alma Loredo
The Sneetches with the stars on their bellies thought they were the best. The ones that did not have them were thought of as less. Mr. McBean came and fixed their problem by using his wonderful machine. The Sneeches that had the stars on their bellies first would not know how to distinguish so McBean suggested taking the star off. The Sneeches would put it on and take it off until they ran out of money. Mr. McBean left but the Sneetches decided that with a star or without they were all Sneetches...more
Krista

Children and adults everywhere continue to rejoice and share in the values of Dr. Seuss’ many works, as well as find ways to adapt them to reflect and help explain modern issues. In the vein of his The Butter Battle Book, which addressed the absurdity of warfare and arms race, this work focuses on the equally absurd nature of intolerance based on looks. The value in this story is that can be related as easily to the issue of gender stereotypes and norms (which is at the core of homophobia)...more
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The Sneetches and Other Stories (Paperback)
The Sneetches
The Sneetches and Other Stories (Library Binding)
The Sneetches and Other Stories (Dr.Seuss Classic Collection)
The Sneetches and Other Stories (School & Library Binding)

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Theodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, MA. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both carto...more
More about Dr. Seuss...
Green Eggs and Ham The Cat in the Hat Oh, the Places You'll Go! The Lorax How the Grinch Stole Christmas

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“I said, "I do not fear those pants with nobody inside them." I said, and said, and said those words. I said them but I lied them. ” 74 people liked it
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