Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches had bellies with stars,
The Plain-Belly Sneetches had none upon thars.
The stars weren’t so big; they were really quite small.
You would think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all.
But because they had stars, all the Star-bellied Sneetches would brag, “We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.”
And so begins my childhood favorite and one of the least known Dr. Suess stories. I remember my mother reading this story to me over and over again and then eventually I read it to her over and over again. Actually, I think I just memorized it and pretended I was reading it. She played along with exuberance and feigning pride.
The story goes on about the snootiness of the star belly Sneetches and the plight of the plain belly sort; oh such a familiar state of affairs. One day a scammer arrives on the scene named Sylvester McMonkey McBean and he tells the plain belly Sneetches he has a machine which will put stars on their bellies, for money of course.
They line up and hand over their cash and when the star belly Sneetches see this, they can’t tell themselves apart from the lower class any longer and that just won’t do. 
So, Sylvester sets up his star off machine. One thing leads to another and before long all of the Sneetches are running into and out of one machine and into the other, until eventually, no one has any money left, except McBean. At this point, the Sneetches are all mixed up, they can’t tell each other apart and they begin to realize that it doesn’t really matter.
Awwwww, what a lovely feel good sentiment huh? Parents talk about what a wonderful life lesson this is for children. Well, I can tell you that as a child, I was completely oblivious to bigotry and racism and the point was completely lost on me as I think it is on most children. I just thought it was funny and I liked the rhymes and the pictures.
That day, they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches,
and no kind of Sneetch is the BEST on the beaches.
That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars,
and whether they had one or not upon thars.
I believe children are inherently good and that hate is taught. So, just don’t teach hate; seems simple enough. Perhaps someone ought to write these sort of books for adults. Oh well.
There are three other interesting stories in this book:
The Zax, in which a north going Zax and a south going Zax come head to head and neither will get out of the way of the other.
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Too Many Daves, is about a mother who had 23 children and named them all Dave and the ensuing chaos. Frankly, naming all of her children Dave is the least of her worries.
What was I scared of, is a story about a little boy (creature) scared of a ghostly greenish empty pair of pants. Yeah well, it scared me too.
You can pick up a copy of The Sneetches at Amazon and most book stores. And, yes, my avatar is a Sneetch, the plain belly sort.
I have a theory building in my mind where I see only two distinct human types. The black species and the white species have been evolving from the beginning of time together. Of all the books and stories I have read that touches on this subject, from Plato, Socrates, Descartes, Hume, Christian writings, history from several periods and sources, the one book that stands most in my mind was one I read to all three of my own children over and over again.
Dr. Seuss gave us such wonderful, colourful stories that not only my children enjoyed, but gave me reason to re think some of my own values and priorities in life.
The story I was referencing would be the Dr. Seuss book tiles the “Sneetches” where there were two types of Sneetches, ones with stars on their bellies, and ones that did not have stars on their bellies. Each treated the other with only contempt and prejudice, until one day a con man comes along with a machine that can put stars on the bellies of those without for a price. Business was good, so he took his machine to the ones with stars and for a price, could cover up the stars allowing them to live among the starless Sneetches undetected.
You can see where this is going, and soon there were so many fakes, that no one knew who anyone was anymore including themselves. The warring ceased, con Sneetch and his machine was sent away and all the Sneetches soon understood that there really is only one kind of Sneetch after all. Short term harmony and peace was realized.
So many writers will only guide us down a path of some kind of enlightenment with theories and arguments that will allow us to form an ever evolving and changing theory on one small insignificant fragment of life, what was Dr. Seuss trying to tell us with the story of the “Sneetches”, and where in the harmony and in the nature of life does the meaning make a difference?
Please do not be of the mind that I have missed the intended message the story was attempting to convey. I do understand that the most basic rule in nature among all of its creatures is to live in harmony with those of your own species. We humans need a constant reminder of this most basic innate instinct found inherently in all of the other species on this planet. What was missing in that story, so very well narrated and illustrated, was the fact that both the “Sneetches” with stars, and those without were all yellow unlike us humans that come in such a wide variety of colours and shapes. Perhaps the story would have carried more meaning to our children if some of the Sneetches were black, red or green as well as having stars or not.
But now, I have taken the book to a level that I am sure that Dr. Seuss did not intend the book to go and without attempting to sound like one of those conspiracy theories of the paranoid it may not have been an oversight to exclude the “Sneetches” of different colours or cultures. After all the human way is to find harmony amongst those of us who share the same inheritance, then only will we try to find harmony amongst others of the same species, but who may have different cultures, belief systems, traits that we do not understand. Our children have to start some where, but why then do expend so much energy as our children reach maturity to undo those valuable lessons we taught our children in the infant stages through such wonderful stories as Dr. Seuss gave us.