"The Butter Battle Book" by Dr. Suess

I haven't read this book in over a decade, but so far this is my favorite new Suess book I can recall. It's amazing the different things you see in stories as you age, and gain new knowledge. This story is fantastic, in that it is about two different towns who "spread their butter on toast" differently, thus they are separated by a wall to stay away from one another. Throughout the story, they continuously threaten each other with newer and newer technology, until finally at the end of the book they invented a little weapon that would completely clear out the opposing town. At the end of the story, both sides are holding this "little weapon" over each others town, waiting to see who will drop these little magic eggs first.

Although this story was adapted to children's literature, it seemed almost completely paralleled to the Cold War. I checked the publication date, and it was in 1984 (which was still around the cold war). Obviously the "little eggs" in the story that could destroy each others' towns symbolized nuclear weapons, however, little kids would most likely not pick up on that concept. I think this story is fantastic to read in the classrooms because it shows the consequences of not negotiating and accepting others' differences. I thought Suess did an excellent job in adapting realistic global issues into a children's story to help teach children the importance of tolerance and negotiation.