"Bartholomew and the Oobleck" by Dr. Suess

This was an extremely bizarre story (as are most of Suess' stories). It talks about a young boy who comes to a kingdom, and a king is unhappy with only rain, snow, and fog coming from the sky - and wishes other things fell from the sky. Eventually, the king is so fed up with routine and sameness that he orders his magicians to conjure up something new to fall from the sky. Suddenly, green goo called "oobleck" begins to fall from the sky, covering everything and making everyone's lives miserable. By the end of the story, the king wishes it was gone - and he is forced to apologize to Bartholomew, even though it makes his skin cringe.

Even though this story was rather long and arbitrary, it teaches a few lessons. I guess the first lesson is "the grass is always greener on the other side." The king wanted so bad for change, but then realized when there was change, it wasn't change for the better. The change he wished for caused everything to go anarchic, and disturbed the environment. Although kids would not pick up this concept, as a teacher you could ask students their thoughts on the book. Also, at the end of the story the king did not want to apologize and admit his mistakes for bringing the oobleck to town. Eventually, he owned up to his mistakes - despite not wanting to do it. He believed that because he was the king, he should never have to apologize. This teaches students that even people in power make mistakes, and should be expected to own up to their mistakes (although in the real world many of them still don't).