Yertle the Turtle

Title: Yertle the Turtle
Author: Dr. Seuss
Published: 1958
Genre: Children's book

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"

Yertle the Turtle is king of the turtles. He has a nice pond to live in with many turtles to look over. But Yertle the Turtle wants more. He can only see what is under his stone throne and that's just enough. He calls to his turtles and starts stacking. He looks down but it's not enough. More turtles he stacks. Down below, Mack the Turtle tells his king that he is tired and hungry. Yertle is too power hungry. He wants to be king of everything he sees and yells for more turtles. And then, Mack the turtle can't take it anymore and lets out a simple little burp and down comes Yertle which makes all the turtles free... as every animal should be.

Greta's Thoughts
Dr. Suess is a genius. I love how he can take something as complex as equal rights and make a story with it out of turtles.

My only complaint is I felt his turtles resembled the Grinch. But that's not a big complaint. I thought they were cute none-the-less.

This is a great book for boys and girls of any age. You can't go wrong with a legend!