30 Books of Kindness Day 24: The Sneetches and Other Stories

For day 24 we decided to read The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss.

The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Suess has several stories in the book, but we are going to just focus on the Star-Belly Sneetches and the Plain-Belly Sneetches.The Star-Belly Sneetches think they are better than the Plain-Belly Sneetches because they have stars "upon thars," and that makes the Plain-Belly Sneetches feel badly. The brilliant Sylvester McMonkey McBean decides to capitalize on the Plain-Belly Sneetches' angst and bring a contraption that will put a star upon each belly of a Sneetch that pays $3. Soon, all the Sneetches have stars and this makes the authentic Star-Belly Sneetches mad. But, Mr. McBean has a solution to that: he will remove thier stars for a price. Pretty soon, the Sneetches are running in and out of the machines as fast as they can until no one knows who is who. In the end, the Sneetches decide to forget about the stars and just be friends.

I think this book should be required reading for all adults. It is painfully obvious when reading this book with a child that the Sneetches are being ridiculous. However, how many times have you seen grown-ups make decisions based on looks alone- prejudice comes in many forms? It this ultimate lesson of kindness, we are reminded that what matters most is what is on the inside.

Some sites I checked out while writing this post:
Check out this website for some guidelines on fostering the philosophical discussion.
PBS has an interesting description of an independent documentary about the political side of Dr. Seuss.
Or you can play a game of Sneetch Ball with the little ones in your home.