The Butter Battle Book: (New York Times Notable Book of the Year) (Classic Seuss)

Kid loved it

I bought a digital copy (Kindle) and was pleasantly reminded of reading childhood stories in elementary school or with my parents before bed growing up. Suess had a way of bringing joy to everything he touched. Reading it with far more life experience and historical context, I certainly picked up on the mutually assured destruction and arms control motifs throughout the book. I must admit, he had a clever disguise to address his feelings on the topic, especially during the Cold War. On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure that this is a wise book to read to children primarily due to the difficult pronunciation of Suess' wordsmithing efforts. If it's a classic in your house, by all means buy it. If you're new to the book, just be aware of the difficulty it may pose at bed time when you're exhausted and ready for the kiddos to be asleep.

I teach history in 12th grade and bought this book to treat my students. One student reads it to the class projected on the wall and they have a grand time acting young and silly for that lesson, but it is in its silly way quite powerful in explaining the arms race in the Cold War which is what we are in the middle of learning.

Dr. Seuss takes one of the most historic eras of the twentieth century and transforms it into one of life's lessons that may appeal to young and old. The Butter Battle Book was first published in 1984 during the latter part of the Cold War of the mid 1980s. The story involves two communities, the Yooks and the Zooks, and what can they possibly be in conflict with? The right and wrong of spreading butter on a piece of bread, the Yooks argue that butter should be spread on top of the bread while the Zooks believe it should be spread on the bottom side of the bread. What arises after each cannot come to a consensus?The entire premise of the story involves building new inventive concoctions to deter the opposing group. As all of this is going on within each side, the Yooks and the Zooks simply cannot see an end to the conflict. Instead, they continue to build and build bigger walls and massive machinery with the attempt that one will give up. However, neither side gives in. And as one reads the story, one of the resolutions that neither side even attempted, a peaceful means of negotiation through communication and speaking with each side rather than producing more unnecessary inventions that simply have not worked. So where does the story end? Where it began.The Butter Battle Book is one of Dr. Seuss's classic stories that falls within the same vein as other controversial storylines that speaks to the masses and offers a lesson, The Lorax. This story also leaves much room for further discussion almost twenty years after it was written as well as within the present day.

I love this book. It was one of my favorites as a child. After re-reading it as an adult and understanding the Cold-War context in which Dr. Seuss wrote, I'm convinced the man was something of a modern day prophet. Provides a great message about how conflicts can escalate for the simplest of reasons.

The book is great for a couple reasons. The inventions are Suessian and whimsical and the message is a true today as it was decades ago. What's so civil about war anyways?

On our first read through, we got to the end of the book and it just sort of stopped. I wondered if I got a defective copy. Then we found ourselves talking about what might have happened if the story continued, and how it reminded us of other stories from history. Somewhat unsatisfying as a "story" but an excellent discussion starter. Perfect as a reminder that everybody is different and fighting over our differences is silly.

Even I was kind of stumped that the book doesn't have a neatly tied together ending. Only because I was reading it to my 4 and 6 year old, and an ending like that, open-ended, was a bit of a reach for them. The 4-year old just walked away, didnt seem to care. My 6-year old up until that point had never really experiences a book that doesn't have a traditional "ending" so mostly had a lot of questions as to what happens next, how do we know...versus really thinking about the subject matter. She and I did engage in a brief discussion about that, but still it was a bit over her head. It was tough explaining about bombs and destruction, she still isnt aware about what war is, the history of the world, that sort of thing.Neither child has asked to read it again. So...I dont know, it really isnt a grabbing story, not my fave Dr Seuss book, but because I do think its clever and teaches a very important and deep ideas to kids, I gave it 4 stars. I like that is isnt really dumbed down.

Was so excited to find somewhere that sold this book, I've been looking for it for ages, and when it arrived I was so so excited!Absolutely fantastic book, great quality, and would recommend to any Seuss fan.

Fabulous send-up of religious disputes inspired by Jonathan Swift.

One of the many things this book does, is that it makes people think. Think by themselves and for themselves. Something which is not encouraged today. Like all Dr. Seuss books, it exposes stupidity and evil. In this case, of building unnecessary walls between groups of people. At the very end it shows how dangerous it is to follow the leader blindly (the whole population of the Yooks went obediently to the hole in the ground, quietly, in line, one by one, as instructed by the leader). Wonderful book. Just what the hungry minds of children, discouraged from thinking on the daily basis, need a lot!

Loved it. Should be mandatory reading.

Schon wegen der unheimlich originellen Reime und englischen, teils total witzigen Wortschöpfungen absolut anschaffenswert.Natürlich auch pädagogisch sehr wertvoll und einfach darstellend, wie Aggressionen sich hochschaukeln, wenn nicht einer vertraut und die Kette durchbricht. Ob es eine deutsche Übersetzungsversion gibt, fand ich bisher nicht heraus, es scheint aber dass das Buch ausgerechnet in Deutschland nicht erfolgreich war. Man kann den Text intuitiv durchaus auch teils verstehen oder lustig finden, wenn man kein Englisch kann, denn die Bilder dazu sagen fast alles. Klar gibt's inzwischen das Ding auch als Youtube Video, aber das Original in Händen ist halt doch auch was Schönes. Vor allem antiquarisch wie hier bestellt, mit schneller super Lieferung und den (natürlich erwarteten) Eselsohren. Alle bestens - danke !