The Sneetches and Other Stories was published by Random House in August 1961 and contains four stories, the title work being Seuss’s most direct attack on racial and social discrimination. The Star-Belly Sneetches have stars on their bellies; the Plain-Belly Sneetches do not. The Star-Belly Sneetches exclude the Plain-Bellies from their frankfurter roasts and marshmallow toasts, from their beaches and their parties. Then Sylvester McMonkey McBean arrives with a machine that puts stars on bellies — and another that takes them off. Chaos ensues as Sneetches race through the machines, adding and removing stars, until no one can remember who was originally starred and who was not. McBean drives away, richer, and the Sneetches — unable to tell themselves apart — finally decide that “Sneetches are Sneetches / And no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches.”
The Stories
“The Sneetches” — Seuss wrote it in direct response to antisemitism, which he had witnessed growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts, and which he had combated in his wartime cartoons. But the fable generalizes effortlessly: any system that assigns status based on arbitrary physical characteristics — skin color, accent, dress, surname — is subject to the same logic.
“The Zax” — a North-Going Zax and a South-Going Zax meet on the Prairie of Prax. Neither will step aside. They stand there forever while the world builds a highway around them. A fable about stubbornness and the cost of refusing to compromise.
“Too Many Daves” — Mrs. McCave named all twenty-three of her sons Dave, and regrets it. A comic catalogue of the names she should have used: Bodkin Van Horn, Hoos-Foos, Snimm, Hot-Shot, and Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate. Pure verbal play.
“What Was I Scared Of?” — the narrator encounters a pair of pale-green pants with nobody inside them. He is terrified. Eventually he discovers that the pants are equally terrified of him. They weep together, become friends, and wave when they meet. A remarkably tender story about irrational fear and the recognition of shared vulnerability.
Collecting The Sneetches
First edition (Random House, New York, 1961): Pictorial boards with dust jacket. First printing has “$2.95” price on jacket flap.
Market values:
- First edition, fine in jacket: $1,500–$5,000
- Without jacket: $200–$600
- Later printings: $10–$25
The book’s anti-discrimination message has made it a classroom staple and a staple of Banned Books Week discussions. Its continuing cultural relevance supports steady collector demand.