The Sneetches

By Dr. Seuss

Week 2:  Diversity

The "Sneetches" is about a group of Sneetches that live together, but some of the Sneetches have Stars on their bellies and some do not.  The Sneetches that have stars on the bellies feel that they are superior to the Sneetches that do not have stars on their bellies. They leave them out of parties, events, and treat them poorly because they do not have stars.  In comes a man called "McBean" that has a machine that will add stars to the bellies to the Sneetches that do not have them, for a small fee. From there, everything gets turned upside down, but in the end they all learn a valuable lesson on how to treat others. 

My absolute, all time, favorite Seuss book is the "Sneetches."  It is such a wonderful way to introduce segregation.  It makes it look so silly but when compared to history so comparable.  The lesson that it teaches is so important and Dr. Seuss does it in a way that children can really understand the moral of the story.

In the classroom:  This is a great book for having to teach segregation to elementary age students.  I would use it for Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Black History Month.  It can also be used during Read Across America week.  My third grade class did a paper comparing the "Sneetches"  to segregation and there is a great template for that online for teachers to print off. I don't do the writing activity with my first grade class because I feel they are too young,  I do read them the book and discuss how we should always "treat other people the way we would want them to treat us." 

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