The Butter Battle Book

When this book came out, there was an uproar about the subject. Everyone should read this book at least once. If it doesn't make you consider our lives and how we progress along the road of weapons, I worry for you.

With enchanting rhyme and whimsical illustrations, Dr. Suess delivers a children's book with lots to consider. The butter side up Yooks and the butter side down Zooks are a parody of the cold war, and the crescendo builds as the trivial evolves into a weapons race, culminating with a stalemate with each side having a "Big Boy Boomeroo". The younger readers will be enchanted by the rhythm of the tale and the lesson that grandpa imparts will be better understood by the older readers. Actually, a wonderful book for all ages. Pair this book with THE LORAX (a once "banned" Suess book!) and you'll have my favorite baby shower gift.

This is our family's favorite Dr. Seuss book. It has some very clever rhymes and makes a very valid point about the flaws in humans that can lead to a situation such as the cold war, or any war for that matter.

This is a beautiful book showing how "ignorance, prejudices and lack of dialogue" can lead to clash of civilizations. It is not only for children but also for adults. It would be beautiful and I think it is necessary if an adult can read this book with his/her children and discuss it. The beautiful rhymes in the story are so catchy and fun eventhough the story is sad. I recommend it to everyone.

Strange book. I don't know whether Dr. Seuss meant it to be an anti-war parable or a warning parable about the necessity to maintain vigilance and a strong defense capability. I guess it depends on whether you are a Liberal or a Conservative. Whichever way you lean, this odd little story will support your belief, whether it be "peace through weakness" or "peace through strength." I won't say which lesson I draw from the book--to me it's clear, but you should read it yourself.

This book is a fairly transparent parallel of the cold war arms race. While other Seuss books put more distance between the actual topic and the text of the book, this one lacks that divide. This is not one of the better Seuss books.

Sometimes there is a real right and a real wrong, but even without getting into a political debate about the genuine evilness of communism and how it was that the USA so fortunately won the Cold War, I do not care for this book on other levels as well. Basically this book was not even written for kids... it was written for adults or maybe just for the author himself. Small kids are not going to know what the tiny pill-like bombs at the end represent, and if the book did give them any inkling of that it would be entirely inappropriate for small kids. Also the story runs in a sort of a loop that was handled so clumsily that I as an adult was confused by it.

Well, this is the Seuss book that riles the feathers of some adults. It's got a definite anti-war theme and deals with the consequences of a military arms escalation.

Who's at war? It's the Yooks and the Zooks. Essentially the same sorts of people, they clash over whether bread should be eaten butter side up or down. The story is told from a little boys (?) perspective and is the only Seuss book I can recall that ends on an ominous note.

"Grandpa!" I shouted. "Be careful! Oh gee!
Who's going to drop it?
Will you...? Or will he..."
"Be patient," said Grandpa. "We'll see.
We will see..."

It's hard to say whether kids pick up on these various messages. My own impression is that they won't, unless you sit and have a chat with them. They will be far too busy listing to the clever rhymes and gazing at the wild Seussian artwork.

Meant for practice reading, the Accelerated Reading designation for "The Butter Battle Book" is 3.9 which means that end of year 3rd Graders should be able to read this book themselves without getting too frustrated by words they don't know.

The "Official" Interest Level is given as Preschool thru 2nd Grade, but that makes no sense given the reading level. And personally, I would say that it's more appropriate for First thru Fourth Graders.

My own two children showed moderate interest in the book and they are currently 6 and 8; boy and girl. They requested multiple reads and the book is a pretty good read-aloud. Not amongst Seuss' best, in my opinion. It IS definitely worth a read.

Pam T~
mom and reviewer for [...]

Well, this is the Seuss book that riles the feathers of some adults. It's got a definite anti-war theme and deals with the consequences of a military arms escalation.

Who's at war? It's the Yooks and the Zooks. Essentially the same sorts of people, they clash over whether bread should be eaten butter side up or down. The story is told from a little boys (?) perspective and is the only Seuss book I can recall that ends on an ominous note.

"Grandpa!" I shouted. "Be careful! Oh gee!
Who's going to drop it?
Will you...? Or will he..."
"Be patient," said Grandpa. "We'll see.
We will see..."

It's hard to say whether kids pick up on these various messages. My own impression is that they won't, unless you sit and have a chat with them. They will be far too busy listing to the clever rhymes and gazing at the wild Seussian artwork.

Meant for practice reading, the Accelerated Reading designation for "The Butter Battle Book" is 3.9 which means that end of year 3rd Graders should be able to read this book themselves without getting too frustrated by words they don't know.

The "Official" Interest Level is given as Preschool thru 2nd Grade, but that makes no sense given the reading level. And personally, I would say that it's more appropriate for First thru Fourth Graders.

My own two children showed moderate interest in the book and they are currently 6 and 8; boy and girl. They requested multiple reads and the book is a pretty good read-aloud. Not amongst Seuss' best, in my opinion. It IS definitely worth a read.

Pam T~
mom and reviewer for [...]

The Butter Battle Book offers a clear allegory to US/Soviet relations during the Cold War Era from the 1940s to the 1990s. Various made-up weapons are substituted in place of nuclear warheads proliferated during this time. Eventually an actual bomb is made on either fictional side in the book and the story ends in a stalemate, much like the actual day-to-day relations between the USA and the USSR during the Cold War. This book is great for adult Seuss fans and perfect for young students learning about the Cold War in class. Seuss makes a clear anti-war statement in the book, that the two sides weren't all that different and in the end the war was a foolish near-catastrophic event for both parties involved. For the sake of an allegory for kids, the metaphor is perfect, but in retrospect the parable is quite obvious and maybe too simple for most literary tastes. The sides literally build nukes at the end, so the message is pretty obvious and his anti-war sentiments are clear and thus perhaps easily thrown-out by pro-war readers who see through the allegory and then don't receive the message.

It's about Nuclear War, who knew!? This is probably a great one for parents as much as kids. Might be able to get some good discussion out of older children too, what with the significant subject matter. Just a fun read for the little tykes.

The Butter Battle Book was written by Theodore Geisel, commonly known by his pseudonym: “Dr. Seuss”. The book is a political commentary on the state of affairs between the United States and the Soviet Union during the cold war disguised as a playful and poetic children’s book.
Geisel’s work is notorious for carrying subtle messages concerning the politics of his day. Other works, such as Yertle the Turtle (concerning Geisel’s notes on Adolf Hitler), add to his repertoire of mature stories under the guise of fantastical children’s tales.
Below is a summary I’ve previously written that covers the literal plot of The Butter Battle Book:
“Two nations, both alike in dignity, engage in an arms race over the way they butter their bread. The story begins with a child visiting the wall dividing two nations, the Yooks and Zooks. The young Yook is with his grandfather who explains to him the everlasting feud between the two nations and how he used to patrol the wall to keep the Zooks out. The story abruptly ends with the two sides in a standoff. Both have a bomb that could destroy the other, but neither would use the bomb because using it would mean the annihilation of both sides.” (Larson)

The subliminal implications indicate references to the situation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s. Geisel points out the novelty in the motivation of the conflict between the two fictional nations, the Yooks and the Zooks, by making the conflict as trivial as the difference between eating buttered bread butter side up or butter side down. It would seem Geisel is making a point to say he believes the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was trivial. In the story, the Yooks and the Zooks are separated by a grotesque barrier that violates the beautiful landscape surrounding it. This wall is an illustrated representation of the Berlin Wall, a large source of conflict during the Cuban Missile crisis. There are many other instances of allusion to real life events in the book, however, I’ll leave those for you to find on your own.
Regardless of the mature themes presented in The Butter Battle Book, the story remains a children’s classic that encourages the development of linguistic skills in young readers. Please enjoy this timeless classic.
AL

I remember hearing about this book some years ago, but it was only recently that I began to think of it again. When the images coming out of the middle east and Israel began circulating, and it seemed that retaliation by both sides kept building and building to the point of human nonsense, this book came to mind.
The story contains the Zooks and the Yooks. They are both similar in their looks, but it is by the means which they butter their bread, that they are at odds with each other. Zooks butter their bread upside down, while yooks right-side up. It is this dispute that causes them to not get along, as an older Zook tells his grandson. Then one day, Grandpa patrols the wall, when his guard device, a "Snickberry Switch," is destroyed by a Yook named Van Itch. It is this that leads to the chain reaction of arms and almost total foolishness, as the Zooks and the Yooks begin building larger and stranger devices to keep the other at bay. finally, it all comes down to the "Bitty Big Boy Boomeroo." A tiny device about the size of a gumball. It causes both Yooks and Zooks to take cover, but the Grandfather Zook and Van Itch stand at the wall, waiting to see who will drop their first. In a children's story, this is quite a world view. Much as the Lorax was on the fact of nature and the care it must have to be maintained, this book delves greatly into the human psyche. Why is it that becuase of subtle differences, we, ashuman beings, cannot look past these and accept the others. Mainly, I read this book thinking of the Arab and Plaestinian conflict in thet middle east. If a child needed a book to read to show them the follies to avoid in their adult life, I'd recommend this one for sure.