Saturday, November 14, 2015

Suess on Saturday #46

The Butter Battle Book. Dr. Seuss. 1984. Random House. 42 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: On the last day of summer, ten hours before fall...my grandfather took me out to the Wall. 

Premise: Readers learn about Yooks, the "good" guys who eat their toast butter side up, and the Zooks, the "bad" guys who eat their toast butter side down. The book is a dialogue between a grandfather and grandson. The grandfather is essentially explaining the war--and the wall--to his young grandson. It ends on uncertain terms.

My thoughts: The Butter Battle book is a great example of a picture book for older readers. It is one of the books my seventh grade English teacher read aloud. I also remember her reading What Was I Scared Of? aloud to us! The Butter Battle Book is NOT anything like The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham. This isn't a happy-cozy story to read to preschoolers. There's nothing funny or amusing about war about escalating hostilities between two countries. The subject is serious, and, it's well-treated, in my opinion. 

Have you read The Butter Battle Book? Did you like it? love it? hate it? I'd love to know what you thought of it!

If you'd like to join me in reading or rereading Dr. Seuss (chronologically) I'd love to have you join me! The next book I'll be reviewing is You're Only Old Once.

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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