''The Sneetches and Other Stories'' is a collection of stories by American children's author

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ;"Seuss"
'' National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college st ...

listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012 it was ranked number 63 among the Top 100 Picture Books in a survey published by ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...

'' – the fifth of five Dr. Seuss books on the list. "The Sneetches" and "The Zax" were later adapted, along with ''

Green Eggs and Ham ''Green Eggs and Ham'' is a Children's literature, children's book by Dr. Seuss. It was published by the Beginner Books imprint of Random House on August 12, 1960. The book follows Sam-I-am as he follows an unnamed character, repeatedly asking ...

'', into 1973's animated TV musical special '' Dr. Seuss on the Loose: The Sneetches, The Zax, Green Eggs and Ham'' with

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's '' Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's ...

voicing the narrator and both Zax,

Paul Winchell Paul Winchell (''Birth name, né'' Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, humanitarian, and inventor whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted ''The Pa ...

voicing the Sneetches, and Bob Holt voicing Sylvester McMonkey McBean. In 2022, it was announced that a 45-minute CGI animated special based on ''The Sneetches'' was in development for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. In 2025, it was announced the special was now turned into a television series that will be released in fall 2025.

Stories

The Sneetches

The first story in the collection tells of a group of yellow bird-like creatures, the Sneetches, some of whom have a green star on their bellies. At the beginning of the story, Sneetches with stars discriminate against and shun those without. An entrepreneur/

con-artist A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibil ...

named Sylvester McMonkey McBean (calling himself "the Fix-It-Up Chappie") appears and offers the Sneetches without stars the chance to get them with his Star-On machine, for three dollars. The treatment is instantly popular, but this upsets the original Star-Bellied Sneetches, as they are in danger of losing their special status. McBean then tells them about his Star-Off machine, costing ten dollars, and the Sneetches who originally had stars happily pay the money to have them removed in order to remain special. However, McBean does not share the prejudices of the Sneetches and allows the recently starred Sneetches through this machine as well. Ultimately, this escalates, with the Sneetches running from one machine to the next, : "Until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew : Whether this one was that one... or that one was this one : Or which one was what one... or what one was who." This continues until the Sneetches are

penniless Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse

opposition to antisemitism The opposition to antisemitism or prejudice against Jews, and, just like the history of antisemitism, the history of anti-antisemitism is long and multi-faceted. Strategies Omer Bartov argues that a key Zionist belief is that antisemitism canno ...

. The Sneetches first appeared in a short poem, also called "The Sneetches", but including neither McBean nor his machine, that was published in ''

Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Communications, Hearst magazine division. It is one of the "Seven Sisters (magazines), Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publicatio ...

'' magazine in 1953.

The Zax

In "The Zax", a North-going Zax and a South-going Zax meet face to face on the Prairie of Prax. Each asks the other to make way, but neither budges, saying it is against their upbringing to move any other way. Because they stubbornly refuse to move (east, west, or any direction except their respective headings) to get past each other, the two Zaxes then face off against each other with their arms crossed. The Zaxes stand so long that eventually a

highway overpass An overpass, called an overbridge or flyover (for a road only) in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries, is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that is over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass ...

is built around them. The story ends with the Zaxes still standing there "unbudged" in their tracks. A different version of the story, "The Zaks", with a more absolute outcome for its differently-named characters, was printed in ''

'' magazine in 1954.

Too Many Daves

"Too Many Daves" is a very short story about a mother, Mrs. McCave, who named all 23 of her sons Dave. This causes minor problems in the family when she calls one of them, but instead, they all come, and the rest of the story lists unusual and amusing names she wishes she had given them, such as "Bodkin Van Horn", "Hoos Foos", "Snimm", "Hot-Shot", "Shadrack", "Stuffy", "Stinky", "Putt-Putt", "Buffalo Bill", "Oliver Boliver Butt", "Biffalo Buff" or "Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate". The story ends with the statement that "she didn't do it, and now it's too late."

What Was I Scared Of?

"What Was I Scared Of?" tells the tale of a character who frequently encounters an empty pair of pale-green

pants Trousers (British English), slacks, or pants (American English, American, Canadian English, Canadian and Australian English) are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separatel ...

in dark and spooky locations. The character, who is the narrator, is initially afraid of the pants, which are able to stand freely despite the lack of a wearer. However, when he screams for help, the pants also start to cry, and he realizes that "they were just as scared as I!" The empty pants and the narrator become friends. This is one of the few Seuss works in verse that is not

Anapestic tetrameter Anapestic tetrameter ( British spelling: anapaestic) is a poetic meter that has four anapestic metrical feet per line. Each foot has two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. It is sometimes referred to as a "reverse dactyl", an ...

Distribution by NATO in Bosnia

In 1998,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

translated the collection into

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

and planned to distribute 500,000 copies to children in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, as part of a campaign to encourage tolerance. This was later scaled back to 50,000 copies at a cost of $120,000 as well as looking for a more appropriate source of funding such as an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

, private charity or corporation, as this expenditure did not meet the "Minimum Military Requirement" test for NATO common funding eligibility.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sneetches And Other Stories, The 1961 short story collections 1961 children's books Books by Dr. Seuss American picture books Fiction about discrimination Children's short story collections Random House books Works originally published in Redbook American short story collections Opposition to antisemitism in the United States Short stories about talking objects