I think Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches should be required reading by all world leaders. Remember the story about the star-belly Sneetches who act superior to the plain ones? The plain Sneetches feel left out until Sylvester McMonkey McBean, who calls himself the Fix-it-Up Chappie, comes along with a machine that changes everything. In the end, McBean gets rich off the Sneetches prejudice but they finally learn to get along.
“Just pay me your money and hop right aboard!”
So they clambered inside. Then the big machine roared
And it klonked. And it bonked. And it jerked. And it berked
And it bopped them about. But the thing really worked!
When the Plain-Belly Sneetches popped out, they had stars!
They actually did. They had stars upon thars!
Theodor Seuss Geisel published more than 60 children’s books. Along with his wonderful rhymes and funny made-up words, he usually has a message in his books such as this one. Also, there is a driving rhythm in his word choices. I learned the poetic meter Seuss often wrote in was anapestic tetrameter which has two unstressed syllables followed by a strong one. So that’s the secret behind his books which make them so fun to read aloud.