The butter battle book, like the cold war, was an arms race. The butter battle book is a rhyming story written by dr. More specifically, its about the yooks and the zooks. Seusss tale is an allegory for the nuclear arms race during world war ii and the. What drives the yooks and zooks in the butter battle book to outdo, oneup, and top each other. Books similar to the butter battle book the butter battle book. While reading the butter battle book, take note of the number of times the conflict escalates. The characters are relateable and the drawings are typical dr. But their clothing is different, and, most important, they butter their. The wall falls you and three others will write an ending to dr. Each time the yooks or zooks introduce a new technology, the other rushes to catch up and gain dominance. The yooks wear blue clothes, but the zooks wear orange. Seuss satirical lesson on nuclear armament and the. Seuss, an arms race allegory about yooks and zooks.
Explore pictures, learn new vocabulary, and follow along with three fun ways to read. A cold war between two lands over a ridiculous dispute leads to a perilous arms race. Then finally he said, with a very bad shake of his very old head, as you know, on this side of the wall we are yooks. Critics usually read the yooks as the united states and. The butter battle book and the cold war english project. Seuss, grandpa is portrayed as the united states military while van itch is the soviet union military. With charles durning, christopher collins, miriam flynn, clive revill.
The difference between the two cultures is that while the yooks eat their bread with the butterside up, the zooks eat their bread with the butterside down. Though both of them had this very powerful weapon, we do not know whether or not grandpa yook or van itch applied this to their defense for their country. Seuss the butter battle book, he manages to provide an entertaining story for young children while also imprinting an important lesson that can be. Seusss classic cautionary tale, introduces readers to the important lesson of respecting differences. The butter battle book has been banned from some libraries, probably because of its strong message and moral. The butter battle books begins with a yook grandfather telling his grandson the story of how the war began. Have students brainstorm constructive ways to solve the conflict, and write their responses on chart paper. The butter battle book is full of references to the ussoviet cold war, from the. Butter battle arms race wall street international magazine. Seuss chronicles the feud between the yooks and the zooks from slingshots through sophisticated weaponry, until each side has the capacity to destroy the world. Study 19 terms the butter battle book flashcards quizlet. From what i understand so far, the yooks represent the united states and the zooks represent the soviet union during the cold war. His latest work, the butter battle book, to be published today to mark his.
Just like the yooks and the zooks in the butter battle book, these walls lead to discrimination. The wall dividing the yooks and the zooks represents any wall that divides people, literally or figuratively. Encourage literacy skills with highlighted narration follow. I first read this book, from a book fair, while waiting on a parent to arrive at her scheduled conference with me.
I think the butter battle book is a terrifying, unsettling story. Butter battle book state college area school district. The narrator of the story is a yook child whose grandfather takes him to the wall, explaining he is a retired soldier. It portrays this event as a parody by using two different armies fighting over the way to butter your bread. The butter battle book, released by random house in the middle of ronald reagans transformative presidency, is about the cold war. Albert einstein once wrote in his tribute to spanish cellist pablo casals that the world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything. The main characters are members of the yooks, who appear to. Recall those boys in the back room they are the manhattan project, and mutual assured destruction m. No big shots where actually fired between the us and the soviet union. Seuss books and charactersyooks and zooks wikiversity. In the story the butter battle book, the yooks and the zooks have a conflict over who butters their bread correctly.
Its all about being bigger, better, and newer than the adversary. The timeless and topical rhyming text is an ideal way to teach. The story continues in relatively predictable fashion, with the patrolman falling. The butter battle book was a new york times notable book of the year. His latest work, the butter battle book, to be published today to mark his 80th birthday, is. Over the issue of how the yooks and zooks butter their bread. Who will win the great battle between the yooks and zooks in the end. This seuss book parodies the cold war arms race through the fighting between the yooks and the zooks. It was published by random house on january 12, 1984. The butter battle book concerns two nations, the zooks and the yooks no gooks need apply, separated by a wall and a minor cultural difference. After reading, have a discussion about what precipitated the conflict between the zooks and the yooks. The butter battle book deals with some scary stuff. The book ends with both the yooks and the zooks developing a bomb called the bigboy boomero, which parallels the us and the ussrs development of.
The yooks and zooks share a love of buttered bread, but animosity brews between the two groups because they prefer to enjoy the tasty treat differently. Brief summary of lines 929 in the butter battle book analyzed by phd students from stanford, harvard, berkeley. The butter battle book spoke powerfully against the hacks behind the militaryindustrial. Or if it is, were reading way too much into it more likely, dr. The butter battle book isnt really about buttering bread. My job is to analyze the satire and theme of the butter battle book. Seuss book, the butter battle book, he attempts to open the eyes of the world by using interpretation, symbolism, and rhyme scheme as an effective tool for achieving peace. Seuss and undoubtedly his darkest written during and intended to reflect directly on the cold war, it tells the story of an arms race between the yooks and the zooks, whose villages are divided by a wall all because they cant agree on which side of their bread to butter, leading up to what is all but stated to be a mutually assured. Overview and detailed summary of the butter battle book by phd students from stanford, harvard, berkeley. Sure, it was published during the reagan era while cold war tensions were still high, but the young yook faces the same questions that we do today in a world where nuclear weapons are a reality yes, the berlin wall is long gone, and the united states and the russia no longer threaten each other with mutual annihilation, but a quick look at. I have to explain examples of propaganda in the story and what this book makes an argument for. The butter battle book the eric carle museum of picture. He was left with a neck deformity that was luckily covered by most of his clothing.
Butter battle assignment on notebook page 104106 choose 1 option 1 write an ending to the story. Seuss properly pronounced, it rhymes with royce has entered the atomic age. The timeless and topical rhyming text is an ideal way to teach young children about the issues of tolerance and. The butter battle book was written during the cold war that the. Your ending must be at least 2 paragraphs long and be in the style of dr. Seusss classic stories that falls within the same vein as other controversial storylines that speaks to the masses and offers a lesson, the lorax. The grandfather and grandson are both yooks, on the other side of the wall. Which of the following does not mean the same as conflict. Seuss rhyming option 2 draw an ending to the story.
Seussthe butter battle book analysis essay example. Explaining the very serious differences between the zooks and the yooks, a zook grandpa tells his grandchild the unspeakable truth. An example of propaganda i found was the posters that said butter the side up or. This story also leaves much room for further discussion almost twenty years after it. The butter battle book is a great seussian look at the follies of mankind as we attempt to have the biggest, best, fastest, mostest weapons. The butter battle book discusses the arms race between the united states vs. Political messages in dr seuss childrens books english. Engaged in a longrunning battle, the yooks and the zooks develop more and more sophisticated weaponry as they attempt to outdo each other. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.
The butter battle book author vesves illustrator dr. Yooks and zooks are characters in the butter battle book, by dr. The timeless and topical rhyming text is an ideal way to teach young children about the issues of tolerance. And it only stops when they reach a gadget thats newer than new 165. These are goofy looking humanoids, clearly of the same species but wearing blue and orange outfits. What could have been done to diffuse the situation. The butter battle book discussion guide ask students to discuss the conflict in dr.
1547 803 54 1025 1235 474 990 371 469 1286 1424 494 1467 1529 1176 1208 14 1328 467 331 681 668 1473 971 851 10 1340 249 562 1415 523 898 1525 861 1159 1047 1305 841 650 162 215 562 1420 603 1111 169 323