Hacker News Reader

Comment by doomslice | Hacker News Reader

I happened to read this to my 4 year olds a few weeks ago after finding it at my Mother-in-law's house. I can tell you that at least for 4 year olds, it's just a book about buttered bread.

My son asked for butter side down bread at lunch and my daughter asked for butter side up.

View on HN

Indeed. To the degree that Dr Seuss' books had a sociopolitical moral, whether or not I picked up on it depended how old I was when I (re)read it and what i was aware of in the world at the time. I picked up on the environmental message in the Lorax the first time through. But then again, "Save the envrionment, kids!" was very much a part of the zeitgeist from the late 80s into the mid-late 90s. The anti-discrimination message of the Sneetches on Beaches didn't hit me until I was old enough to realize that having different skin color was an intrinsic thing that people cared about only if they wanted to be meanies, and not simply people who'd gotten more sun tanning time than me.

The idea, I think, is that introducing the concept of tragic arms races between people who are enemies for silly reasons is enough for that child to grow up, read about the cold war, and immediately recognize it for what it was.

Yup. Back in kindergarten it was just another Dr. Seuss book. Reread it in high school and the allegory was obvious.

My son asked for butter side down bread at lunch and my daughter asked for butter side up.

Best comment in this entire thread - brought a terrified smile to my face!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com