Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories (2024)

A really good titular story!

COWABUNGA, DR. SEUSS!

And the turtles, of course… all turtles are free.

As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be,

It’s said that Yertle the Turtle exemplifies Hitler, and while I have no doubt of that,...

...I think that he could be King Nimrod (from Tower of Babel’s story) as well, but again,...

...I think that Yertle the Turtle exemplifies all tyrants, cruel to their own people; and fools, wanting to be higher than anybody else.

Yertle the Turtle was king of all that he can see, but that wasn’t enough for him, and started an absurd “tower” made with their fellow turtles, not caring if they weren’t able to sustain such kind of pointless endeavor.

An important lesson: Tyrants keep their power as long as their people remain silent.

From the Wikipedia article "Political messages of Dr Seuss":

Yertle the Turtle was published in 1958. There are many connections through the book to the rise and fall of Hitler. The book is about how all creatures should be free.

Ultimately, the dictatorial leader, symbolizing Hitler, falls. The book was removed from many schools for being 'too political.' The quote from the book, "I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here on the bottom, we, too, should have rights" was one of the lines identified as a reason for removal of the book from schools, purportedly to protect the children.

“And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course . . . all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.”

The first story is the most well-known and well-written of the bunch. It is about Yertle, the King of the Turtles. He enjoys his pond and effectively governs it, but power corrupts, and Yertle craves more. He constructs his throne, confident that he will be able to rule over everything he can see. His throne, however, is made of turtles. He can only grow his kingdom through dictatorship, and he evolves from the pleasant smiling turtle at the start to the snarly, snappy turtle at the conclusion.
Honestly, shouldn’t we all have autonomy over ourselves?

The little humans are gonna love this. Also as they grow up they willincorporate sound moral lessons from it.

Grab your copy here or here.

I had read many Dr. Seuss books over the years, since I am a huge fan of his work! Now, I had finally come back to one of my childhood favorite stories of all time, “Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories” and I still enjoy it to this very day!

There are a total of three stories in this book which includes “Yertle the Turtle,” “Gertrude McFuzz” and “The Big Brag.”

Yertle the Turtle

In this tale, Yertle the King of all the Turtles, wanted to have a throne where he could see everything from high above. So he decided to have the rest of the turtles climb up on each other so he could sit on them to make a throne that would reach up high into the sky. But once Yertle the Turtle became too unbearable, will the other turtles defy him in the end?

Gertrude McFuzz

In this tale, a young bird named Gertrude McFuzz wanted to have a beautiful tail like Lolla-Lee-Lou. So, she decided to visit her uncle Dake and he tells her that in order to grow a beautiful tail like Lolla-Lee-Lou, she has to eat a pill that grows on the pill-berry vine on the top of the hill. But, will Gertrude go too far once she decides to eat all of the pills on the pill-berry vine?

The Big Brag

In this story, a rabbit and a bear were both arguing amongst themselves about who is the best animal in the world and they try to outdo each other with their sense. But when a worm comes by, will he set both the rabbit and the bear straight?

Dr. Seuss has once again created a truly brilliant and engaging book where each story details the consequences of letting too much pride cloud your good judgment. I enjoyed all of the stories in this book as each story shows a different take on characters becoming too self-absorbed into themselves in certain situations, such as “Yertle the Turtle” showing the consequences of letting the power go to your head, “Gertrude McFuzz” which shows that you should just be yourself and “The Big Brag” which shows that there are better things to do than just bragging. Probably the story I enjoyed the most was “Yertle the Turtle” since I loved the solution to the problem of Yertle making all the other turtles stand on each other to build a throne that can reach the sky (it is a pretty funny solution)! Dr. Seuss’ illustrations are as usual creative and humorous to look at as it is mainly done in black and white colorings with green and blue being the only other colors in this book, which gives the illustrations a distinctive feel.

Overall, “Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories” is a truly fantastic collection of stories that can be used to teach children about the importance of being humble in your actions and to not become too self-absorbed in yourself. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book and the format would be easy for smaller children to understand.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

This was my favorite book when I was a child. I read it over and over again, memorizing every line, and taking in every lesson about vanity that Dr Seuss was teaching. As an adult I found a whole new appreciation for the book, as I learned that the character of Yertle was based on Adolph Hitler. Seuss used Yertle to demonstrate the rise of fascism in Europe, and show is distaste for it. In the final lines of the story Seuss's true intent comes out as he proclaims that all turtles and every creature should be free.

That's quite a bit of political theory for a children's book, don't you think? The other two stories have similar themes, mocking competitions of vanity and jealousy.

Seuss was no stranger to morals and references to real-world issues. The former political cartoonist took on the Cold War in The Butter Battle Book, Richard Nixon in Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!, and the environment in The Lorax.

In my opinion Yertle is his best work, and one that I hope lives on with future generations.

I spent all this space on Yertle the Turtle and I have yet to mention the "Turtles all the way down" theory of astronomy. Well, that's not really in here, but it sure would be cool if it was.

This one probably requires a five year old to fully grasp the lessons about pride that are inherent in the mile-high Yurtle, the far-sighted worm and that silly long-tailed bird. But it is still fun to read and one day will probably help me to explain a lesson…

Yertle the Turtle, possibly the best book ever written on the subject of turtle stacking.

Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

I love it when Dr. Seuss gets preachy.

Now, I know my fair share of Dr. Seuss books, but for some reason I'd never heard of Yertle the Turtle until a colleague of mine said I should read it when I teach governments next year.

To that colleague: thanks a lot. I just might do that. In fact, I might do that this year as a little review.

Yertle is the absolute monarch defined. It's his power becoming absolute and corrupting. It's his greed. It's his fall from the top.

He can be happy that the proletariat didn't send him to the guillotine. ...Of course, I'm not sure that that particular method would work for turtles since they would just pull their head back into their shell.

Firing squad. Sorry Yertle. If it were up to me, I'd have you sent toThe Hague.

The other stories were fun as well. Vanity and boastfulness - not admirable characteristics according to Mr. Geisel.

This is a children's book. I repeat, a children's book. Again, It. Is. A. Children's book. However, Dr. Seuss embodies Adolf Hitler's invasion of Europe using a turtle and a pond.
I KNOW!!! BRILLIANT!!! T_T
And it's poetic too!

Here's a part of an article from Wikipedia about the book:

"Seuss has stated that the titular character Yertle represented Adolf Hitler, with Yertle's despotic rule of the pond and takeover of the surrounding area parallel to Hitler's regime in Germanyand invasion of various parts of Europe."

This is a YouTube link for the story with narration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqjEst...

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Again, just trying to get ahead on my reading goal...

Dr. Seuss presents three short stories, each highlighting a particular moral lesson, in this classic picture-book. In the eponymous Yertle the Turtle, that chelonian ruler attempts to make himself greater and greater by forcing his fellow turtles to pile themselves up in a great column, so that he can sit at the very top and survey his "kingdom." Like all tyrants, he is brought low again by the instability of his rule. In Gertrude McFuzz a young bird with only one feather envies a peer - the pretty Lolla-Lee-Lou - who has two, eventually pestering her doctor uncle into telling her how to increase her tail feathers. Unfortunately, Gertrude goes a little bit too far in her quest for beauty, and must pay the price in a painful way. Finally, in The Big Brag, a rabbit and bear get into a competition to see who is the better of the two, one demonstrating great hearing, another great smell, before a humble worm puts them both in their place, by pointing out how foolish they have been...

Originally published in 1958,

Leaving that aside,

All in all, a wonderful book, one which presents a number of valuable lessons for the child reader, packaged in such a way as to be entertaining, rather than preachy. While it's true that The Big Brag has never quite struck the same never with me, as the other two stories - I have few memories of it, from my girlhood, whereas I can recall reading and greatly enjoying the other two - overall

Be kind to others.
Be happy with yourself just the way you are. Dont try to be someone you are not. Dont be greedy.
Be humble.

I just LOVELOVELOVE this one! I cant believe that I dont own a copy!

By combining the funniest stories, craziest creatures and zaniest pictures with his unique blend of rhyme, rhythm and repetition, Dr. Seuss helps children of all ages and abilities to read.

Dr. Seuss makes reading FUN!

'Yertle the Turtle and other stories' is another Dr Seuss classic with his trademark crazy creatures, zaniest rhymes and intriguing pictures.

In the first of the stories, featuring our eponymous hero Yertle the Turtle, there is trouble brewing from the start as Yertle knows he is king of the pond and decides that his perch on a stump of a throne is not high enough for him to survey all he rules.

So he takes steps to remedy the matter by ordering nine turtles to sit on top of each other so as he can sit atop them all and thus survey far more than previously. This they do but he is still not happy and, even though the bottom turtle, named Mack, complains about a headache with every other turtle piled on top of him, he increases the number of turtles in the pile until it is an inordinate number.

The sight of the moon above him, which he thinks is wrong for he is king and should be highest, encourages him to keep piling up the turtles. But there are then disastrous consequences when Mack makes a burp ... and then it is interesting to see, as Yertle is brought down to earth with a bump, just where he lands!

The second story is of Gertrude McFuzz a girl-bird who had a very small tail. She is not happy with this as she sees others with two tails which are much bigger. She aspires to something similar so she asks her doctor uncle's advice. He sends her to a pill-berry vine on the top of a hill.

She eats one of the berries and another tail grows so she goes to extremes and eats a whole host of berries ... and just like Yertle the consequences are horrendous. Gertrude goes through trauma trying to sort the situation out but eventually does so and is much happier with her small tail ... and she is then much smarter!

The third story, 'The Big Brag' concerns a rabbit who brags that no animal that lives is better than he is. A bear comes along to disprove the rabbit's theory and comparisons are made until a tiny worm appears on the scene.

And in an ingenious ending the worm shows both of them that their claims are indeed just one big brag as he shows, really ingeniously, that he can outdo them both!

Fabulous stuff and as the back cover blurb states, 'wonderful bedtime stories for younger [and much older] children'!

I must've missed this one in my childhood, because I don't remember it at all. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though, even as an adult.

Even though this book was published decades ago, the themes within the three stories it contains are still fresh and valid. In fact, I think certain politicians should read them (not that it would make much difference; they're as oblivious to their own faults as the rabbit and the bear in "The Big Brag").

The book is almost 100 pages, but it doesn't feel like it. Each of the stories could be a great bedtime read. The rhyming text would be great fun read aloud.

Overall, this is a pretty strong trio of stories from Dr. Seuss. For those looking for tales about greed, vanity, and pride, these are some good contenders.

Quotable moment:

As always with Dr Seuss, the pictures are a delight – and worthy of 5 stars even without the accompanying great stories. In this book there are three separate stories, each with their own lesson to be learned – although, I think the ‘lessons’ taken might be different for adults than for children, and will probably differ even between adults, depending on their starting points and interests – all of which makes these stories highly flexible and fascinating.
From ‘Yertle the Turtle’, the lesson for me, was that you should never forget the needs of the weakest, the people at the bottom. However great your empire (tower), if you do not support your foundations, their support may be (inadvertently?) be withdrawn and the whole edifice will tumble. I feel Karl Marx would have approved of this story. I also got quite mad at the arrogance of Yertle, that (apart from his exploitation of his subjects) he felt entitled to claim kingship over the cows, cats, mules … simply because he could see them – regardless of what they might want or need. Similar to the way human empires such as the British, Roman, Mongol … (and now USA, China …) simply annexed other peoples, countries that they saw (‘discovered’). Lots to think about – the ways and the unfairness of power politics.
‘Gertrude McFuzz’ was my least favourite of the three tales. This could be seen as a lesson in being grateful for what you have, don’t aspire for more than your lot, or a reiteration of the 10th commandment about coveting your neighbours goods. However, I chose to see it as a warning, that occasionally things are the way they are for a very good reason. Also, that ‘more’ is not necessarily ‘better’, and ‘be careful what you wish for’
‘The Big Brag’ was probably my favourite story. For me, it was about how everyone has something that they are very good at – and it may not be what your neighbour is good at. All abilities may not be equal, but all are of equivalent worth, and to brag about one particular ability you possess, and to consider that that makes you better than everyone else, is to grossly underestimate the incredible variety of abilities that are vitally important to a vibrant society. It is one of my bugbears, that schools often focus entirely on academic ability, and – especially in the UK – push all pupils into aiming for university. Pupils who have great artistic, musical, athletic, organisational, practical and/or emotional skills – but not academic prowess – are often deemed failures.
All in all, this is a marvellous book for children (and for adult) – with so much to discuss. And we can all come out with different conclusions as to what each story means.

Great stories by Dr. Seuss that are relevant to adults as well as children. The concepts of not making yourself better at the expense of others and the idea that you are not necessarily better than someone else or that you should be happy with who you are are fundamental lessons everyone should take to heart.

Overall, it's an engaging read that really has adult themes while still being appropriate for children. Love, love, love Dr. Seuss! We really enjoyed reading this book together. It's not our girls' favorite of his stories, but it is one of mine.

This book was featured as one of the selections for the March 2015 Dr. Seuss reads for the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.

***Rated by my son***

My brother got this book from a book giveaway at his school. It was a very funny and good book.

Acabo de escuchar/leer la versión en App y está muy divertida.
Es una lectura muy corta pero con todo el encanto de Dr. Seuss, y las rimas tan ocurrentes que lo han caracterizado durante tantas décadas.

La versión en App viene un narrador, que hace un trabajo estupendo e hilarante (en el buen sentido), y a algunos efectos de sonido muy precisos.

Una buena lectura para pasar un rato pequeño.

When it comes to short stories, I am not an expert on how to rate the book because sometimes there are stories that you fall in love with the characters and the plot whereas others feel like nails on the chalkboard. I do not have wide range of favorite short stories so you can imagine I was a bit apprehensive when reading this book especially since this is a children's book. Rest to be sure I really enjoyed this book and it feature real-life animals which isn't typical Dr. Seuss to showcase especially since his imagination has no limits. I will be rating this book by the individual stories.Yertle the Turtle: 5 Stars

I really loved this story because it showcases the story that people can relate to in real life especially very selfish people. Yertle the Turtle is the King of this miniature pond and he doesn't that theres barely any area to rule as King so he decides to make his throne bigger by stacking turtles on top of each other and for him to sit at the top. When he does that he gets a bigger view of the world around him and definitely wants a bigger view. So he keeps adding turtles without considering others and one of turtles name Mack tells the King that everyone is exhausted and that their shells are bound to crack.

Yertle tells him to shut up and obey orders until Mack has enough. He burps and makes the King tumble down where he is now King of the mud while the other turtles laugh at him. For me the message that I discover is that you are not the center of everyones world. If you ask for help do not take advantage of those who are helping you and be thankful with what you have in your life.

I enjoyed this short story but the reason why I didn't love it like the others is because the plot is typical and has been used so many times in our history. Gertrude McFuzz is a bird who has one short feather and everything was completely fine until another bird name Lolla-Lee-Lou who has two very long beautiful feathers. Gertrude McFuzz gets jealous and wants to grow longer and more hair to make Lolla jealous. Gertrude succeeds the mission of growing more feathers but the consequence is she became excessive about growing them.

She discovered this pill-berry vine and each time you eat a pill, you grow more feathers and longer and unfortunately she took too much of the pill and feather became so long and heavy that she was unable to fly. In the end the other birds help her fly back home where they remove everything except the original feather. I honestly believe that even though each story is different, the messages are extremely similar in terms of being excessive and not knowing your limits.

I do not know about this particular book but as I was reading this it gave me this feeling like I was reading an episode of Looney Tunes. I wouldn't be surprise if Dr. Seuss got the inspiration from Looney Tunes because every short story of this book features real life animals. We are introduce to mischievous rabbit who believes he is the best animal in the world (Does that sound familiar?) until a bear comes and challenges him. The rabbit has the ability to hear from far distance but the bear can smell farther than him.

Then amongst the battle that was erupting, a worm appeared and told them that he can see farther than both of them and wins. I love the message that no matter how talented or great someone can be there is always someone else who is more talented, stronger, better looking than you. I learn that message early on in my life especially in music and discovered that no matter how talented someone can be there is something unique inside of you that they cannot replicate or beat.

Yertle the Turtle:
4 stars & 4/10 hearts. This was a really good allegory about tyranny. Yertle’s desire to be the TOP OF THE TOP and higher than the moon, and his incessant screaming for the turtles to get under him and hoist him out, really made you see how stupid and unfair such behaviour is. (I learned subsequently that Yertle was a parody of Hitler.) The climax is very good.

“Your Majesty, please… I don’t like to complain,
But down here below, we are feeling great pain.
I know, up on top you are seeing great sights,
But down at the bottom we, too, should have rights.”

Gertrude McFuzz:
4 stars & 4/10 hearts. Aha, a great little story about the price of vanity and pride and greed! Very fun to read, too.

The Big Brag:
4 stars & 4/10 hearts. This is a short story, but packs a great message about boasting and arguing about who’s better….

“And I saw on this hill, since my eyesight’s so keen,
The two biggest fools that have ever been seen!
And the fools that I saw were none other than you
Who seem to have nothing else better to do
Than sit here and argue who’s better than who!”

This book contains three stories:

Yertle the Turtle, a story about a turtle king whose ambitions turn a little too high; Gertrude McFuzz, who is jealous of her friend's tail and gets herself into a mess because of it, and The Big Brag, a story about two animals who argue about who is best, ending with a very wise worm.

---

The message of these stories is to be content with what you are and have—that you are special the way you are and that there's no need to do silly things or to argue about it.

The verse! Some of Dr. Seuss's rhyming books are better than others, and I loved this one. The meter is perfect and pleasantly slipped off my tongue as I read it to my son. It wasn't annoyingly hard to read like Fox in Socks and some other books of his; it was a pleasure to read and is perfect for reading out loud.

Enjoyed this collection of three stories, the theme this time seems to be about ego.

Yertle is a turtle that is the king of all he sees, one day he realises that if he was higher up he would see more and because of that he would rule over more land. so he makes a throne out of turtles and like all good leaders he abuses those at the bottom.

the next story is about some bird with a rubbish tail and who is jealous of another bird who has a pretty tail. so she hatches a plan to get a better tail with disastrous consequences.

The final story is a rabbit and a bear fighting each over bragging rights for who is the best, little do they know that I am in fact the best.

Good fun stuff and another Dr Seuss book crossed off the list as read.

I remember reading this one at my grandma's house, and also at my house growing up. I read it over and over. My favorite of the longer Seuss books, and my younger son says that he likes it a lot, too. It has 3 separate stories. Yertle is the king of all that he can see, so he makes other turtles pile up so he can stand on their backs (I read somewhere that this story was Seuss's commentary about Hitler).

Definitely a 5-star parable. Actually, like all Dr Seuss books I have ever read or had read to me, all three of the stories here are parables -- about power-seeking (Yertle the Turtle), vanity (Gertude McFuzz) or boastfulness (The Big Brag). After a reading hiatus of several decades from when my children were young, I now find Dr Seuss has stood the test of time exceedingly well.

Nice collection of short stories from the good Doctor. Each has a little moral, but so entertaining it never feels preachy.

What an amazing book. It follows a Turtle King that was written from Hitler but honestly I think this cruel Turtle King could be many people in power. Standing on people regardless of their pains. I highly recommend this book to kids of all ages. In fact, adults could take more from these stories.

This is a funny tale of a turtle with delusions of grandeur. He tries to convince himself that he is king of all until he falls from his imagined high thrown and lands in the mud where turtles belong.

so many great little lessons!