The idea is they are to compare and contrast the two books. Nov 18, 2018 the butter battle book is full of references to the ussoviet cold war, from the building of the berlin wall to the deployment of more and more kinds of advanced weaponry. The language amuses, the drawings are zesty and humorous, and the demand for this book will be large. The butter battle book is about two groups of people, the yooks and the zooks, who fight over an extremely trivial matter, which side of the bread the groups eat their butter on. The wall the iron curtain red ussr blue usa grandpa represents the us military vanitch represents the soviet military. The main characters are members of the yooks, who appear to represent the us and nato countries, while the antagonists, the zooks, appear to represent the soviet union.
In the story the butter battle book, the yooks and the zooks have a conflict over who butters their bread correctly. The butter battle book discusses the arms race between the united states vs. Aug 29, 2011 this seuss book parodies the cold war arms race through the fighting between the yooks and the zooks. Your ending must include a paragraph that explains your ending and be colored. The butter battle book hidden meanings in childrens books. Critics usually read the yooks as the united states and. The narrator of the story is a yook child whose grandfather takes him to the wall, explaining he is a retired soldier. The timeless and topical rhyming text is an ideal way to teach. The timeless and topical rhyming text is an ideal way to teach young children about the issues of tolerance and. Explore pictures, learn new vocabulary, and follow along with three fun ways to read. 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. Jul 30, 2008 nowadays the yooks and zooks have come out of their hole and resumed their lives. Butter side up yooks democracy usa butter side down zooks communism ussr symbolism in the book. It portrays this event as a parody by using two different armies fighting over the way to butter your bread.
Grandfather yook makes this very clear in a warning his grandson, the narrator and chief player in the book. Seventh grade lesson the butter battle book betterlesson. The yooks wear blue clothes, but the zooks wear orange. The book ends with powerful weapons ready to attack the adversary, and without much harm done to either side. The book came out in 1984, and in 1989, the book was adapted into a television special. P redic t, c onnect, q u estion, visualize, e valuate, and c larify. Seussthe butter battle book analysis essay 1549 words. Seusss classic cautionary tale, introduces readers to the important lesson of respecting differences. 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. Each lives on one side of a large stone wall that divides their territory. In the butter battle book, the factions form over a trivial issue and escalate to the point of nearly destroying each other.
Seuss is clearly portraying the social issues that were arising between the soviet union and the united states during the cold war. The timeless and topical rhyming text is an ideal way to teach young children about the issues of tolerance. Seussthe butter battle book analysis essay example. The butter battle book the butter battle book is a picture book written by dr. A cold war between two lands over a ridiculous dispute leads to a perilous arms race. Encourage literacy skills with highlighted narration follow. 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. After reading, have a discussion about what precipitated the conflict between the zooks and the yooks. The yooks the zooks the wall there is a wall in the book that separates the two sides.
It could be a book, a movie or something someone told you. Join the yooks and zooks in this interactive book app as they argue over eating bread with the butter side up or butter side down. After all, the buttering schism leads to an arms race for increasingly sophisticated and powerful weaponry until at last the yooks and zooks find themselves in a stalemate of potential mutual annihilation. The difference between the two cultures is that one group eats their bread butterside up while the other eats their bread butterside down.
What could have been done to diffuse the situation. Seusss classic the butter battle book and talk about ways to peacefully resolve reallife disputes. The butter battle book classic seuss kindle edition by. Examine how history is present in many unexpected places. The butter battle book is about two groups of people. This book was published in 1984, and it was written as an allegory to the cold war. According to the butter battle book, the people who need to be kept apart are the yooks and the zooks who have two very different approaches to buttering their bread. The two groups manufacture extremely similar weapons and are on opposite sides of a wall dividing the two. In my language arts class my students had to read the sneetches by dr. It is an antiwar story about the arms race, mad, and nuclear weapons. The butter battle book is full of references to the ussoviet cold war, from the building of the berlin wall to the deployment of more and more kinds of advanced weaponry. Over the issue of how the yooks and zooks butter their bread. Seusss tale is an allegory for the nuclear arms race during world war ii and the.
There is a wall that separates the two, similar to the berlin wall in germany. The butter battle book tv short 1989 the butter battle. 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. While reading the butter battle book, take note of the number of times the conflict escalates. The conflict between the yooks americans and the zooks russians seems so trivial but can easily relate to the nuclear arms race that was mainly fueled by national pride and.
Written and published during the cold war, it was a parable about the arms race, and taught a heavy lesson. His latest work, the butter battle book, to be published today to mark his 80th birthday, is an arms race allegory that welcomes two new creatures to the seuss menagerie the yooks and the zooks. The butter battle book hidden meanings in childrens. 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. The worlds bestloved nonsense poem inspires a fresh, enchantingly surreal treatment in this beautiful edition from an exciting new talent. The butter battle book, like the cold war, was an arms race. The butter battle book was a controversial childrens book for its time. Nowadays the yooks and zooks have come out of their hole and resumed their lives. One of his last works, written in 1984 as a reaction to the cold war, it discusses a longstanding battle between the. The butter battle book and the cold war literature circle. The characters are relateable and the drawings are typical dr. This book was written in the cold war era about the concerns of the time, and how all of life could be destroyed by nuclear war. Join the yooks and zooks in this interactive book app as they argue over eating bread with the butterside up or butterside down.
The butter battle book is an allegory for the nuclear arms race and the state of mutually assured destruction mad that occurred during the cold war. The butter battle book teaching children philosophy. The butter battle book hey kids comics wiki fandom. 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. The butter battle book classic seuss kindle edition by dr. Your ending must be at least 2 paragraphs long and be in the style of dr. Engaged in a longrunning battle, the yooks and the zooks develop more and more sophisticated weaponry as they attempt to outdo each other. The butter battle book discussion guide scholastic. Think of examples of factions religious, political, local, sportsrelated, etc. 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 and the cold war english project. Have students brainstorm constructive ways to solve the conflict, and write their responses on chart paper. The butter battle book discussion guide ask students to discuss the conflict in dr. Jul 11, 2019 join the yooks and zooks in this interactive book app as they argue over eating bread with the butterside up or butterside down. This story thus lends itself to a discussion with children about the concept of war itself, the moral issues related to war and the outcomes of retaliatory acts. Seuss, grandpa is portrayed as the united states military while van itch is the soviet union military. I first read this book, from a book fair, while waiting on a parent to arrive at her scheduled conference with me.
The butter battle book and the cold war english project by. The story is told by the perspective of a yook border patrol guard who tries to outwit a zook name van itch with the latest yooks weapon. In the butter battle book, there is a conflict between the yooks and the zooks over how to butter bread a conflict is clash or serious disagreement. Jul 30, 2018 the blue yooks who butter their bread butterside up and the orange zooks who butter their bread butterside down engage in an escalating arms race that features weapons like a kickapoo kid, loaded with powerful pooadoo powder and ants eggs and bees legs and driedfried clam chowder, carried by a spaniel named daniel. Seuss rhyming option 2 draw an ending to the story. It was published by random house books for young readers on january 12, 1984. The butter battle book is a rhyming story written by dr.
Butter battle arms race wall street international magazine. With charles durning, christopher collins, miriam flynn, clive revill. 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. Dec 07, 2017 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 yooks eat their bread butter side up while the zooks eat their bread butter side down. 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. The blue yooks who butter their bread butterside up and the orange zooks who butter their bread butterside down engage in an escalating arms race that features weapons like a kickapoo kid, loaded with powerful pooadoo powder and ants eggs and bees legs and driedfried clam chowder, carried by a spaniel named daniel. The butter battle book deals with some scary stuff. The butter battle book was a new york times notable book of the year.
The butter battle book isnt really about buttering bread. Seuss, an arms race allegory about yooks and zooks. Needless to say my very knowledgeable sixth graders proceeded to tell me how the butter battle book is actually a political story about the cold war. It was published by random house on january 12, 1984. Which of the following does not mean the same as conflict.
Or if it is, were reading way too much into it more likely, dr. Butter battle assignment on notebook page 104106 choose 1 option 1 write an ending to the story. Seusss tale is an allegory for the nuclear arms race during world war ii and the cold war. Special techniques they were all bravely marching, with banners aflutter, down a hole.