This is why I review wine and not books...
Written: May 31 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good lessons and lots of laughs
Cons: It is very short
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| stonehousellc's Full Review: Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories Books |
Yertle the Turtle is a story of greed,
Of power and evil; oppression and need.
It speaks to the children of caring for others,
Be they our sisters, our brothers, our mothers.
How working for equity, and sharing is great,
How not to be vicious, malicious or hate.
This Yertle goes forward, blindly it seems,
Wanting to rule mountains and valleys and streams.
And seeing no path he can take to ascend,
He uses his subjects, stacked up, end on end.
He stacks them first low, and later up high,
All the while thinking he's a hell of a guy.
He thinks of no others, himself, that's the thing,
Since Yertle the Turtle is the turtle King.
He wants to rule all, all that he sees,
And he sees the houses, the shrubs and the trees.
But what he sees first, that isn't enough,
He wants more turtles stacked, and he's taking no guff.
But down at the bottom, the first in the stack,
Is one long-suffering turtle, simply named Mack.
Mack is a turtle who knows he's just one,
But one is the start of a hugely large sum.
At first he tries reason to get Yertle to see,
That it just isn't right to abuse authority.
But Yertle climbs on, trying farther to see,
Trampling over the backs of each turtle with glee.
He began with the lowest, so others cared not,
Each turtle thinking he could never be in that spot.
But more turtles were needed for each cubit, each mile,
And soon all the turtles lost their reasons to smile.
Our Mack tried so hard to find the best things to say,
Never wanting to be accused of lese-majeste.
For you see, in his heart, Mack was a son of this land,
He just felt that his King was a bit out of hand.
He begged and he cried, he cajoled and he pleaded,
But nothing, it seemed, could he say the King heeded.
As Yertle's vision crossed borders and oceans and seas,
The weight of the people crushed Mack to his knees.
He mourned for the children, in eggs, not yet hatched,
Since he knew only time stood twixt them and this stack.
He needed to free his enslaved turtle brothers,
But couldn't yet bring himself to hurt others.
But when all of the turtles had at last been conscripted,
When all were in service, and the king was lifted,
When all had done everything they were turtlely able,
Yertle was still needy, not at all stable.
And Mack had seen all he could possibly bare,
This just wasn't right, it just wasn't fair.
So gathering all of his best turtle might,
He called from the depths of his heart; "let's all fight".
He led a revolution of magnificent force,
His eyes ever glued upon freedom's true course.
Brothers and Sisters rise up and be heard,
Of evil and tyranny our land must be cured.
This book is an allegory, a fanciful flight,
To teach all the young ones that might won't make right.
A lesson of value in the days it was written,
To warn of men like Hitler with whom the people get smitten.
So give this great work to the children you adore,
It is funny and lyrical and very much more.
It is a light to guide them when the way is not clear,
To give the courage they'll need when others might fear.
It tells them to stand up for the things they think right,
That sometimes there are reasons for good folks to fight.
But mostly it fills them with laughter and mirth,
A gift they will cherish into old age from birth.
Please visit the other participants in tonight's children's book write-off. They can be linked from the main books page of visit their member pages at the names listed here:
forkids, Leah, gracef, KristinThomas, caconti, cornelia, conradd,
Grouch, auntnono, halfsweet, taurusmoon, DoubleCoog,
caravan70, kcfoxy, mshawpyle, sleestakk, kchowell, emlin, CurtisEdmonds,
fdknight, WorkingMomof2, expono, kimmiko, Bonies7, pogomom, Redlass,
poseidon, jrk, sweetpaulie, ErgoPropterHoc, andy
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
stonehousellc
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Location: Nashville, TN
Reviews written: 90
Trusted by: 110 members
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