The Library and Yertle the Fascist Turtle

Trey reads in the children's section of the library.We’ve been living in Macon for two years now so we’re way past due to join the local library. Our library isn’t a quaint little building surrounded by trees. No, this south Macon library is in a trashy strip mall next to the Dollar General and Food City.

Just like books though, you shouldn’t judge it by its cover – inside we found plenty of books, computers, and… ssshhh…. silence.

My new Macon library card!While I got a library card, Trey picked out his first two books (though the library’s limit is 50 books at a time, I limited him to just two). We came home with Dr. Seuss’ Yertle the Turtle & Other Short Stories, as well as slightly odd book about a family of bears singing “Jesus Loves Me” as they go about their day.

So I’ll leave you with a couple interesting facts I learned about Yertle the Turtle:

  • It is #125 on the list of best-selling children’s books of all time
  • It was written as “a reaction against the fascism of World War II” and Yertle represents Hitler
  • It was controversial at the time for its use of the word “burp”. It became the first children’s book to feature the act of burping.
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote a TERRIBLE song called Yertle the Turtle that shortly follows the song “Sex Rap” on their explicit album “Freaky Styley”
  • There is an animated version of the book narrated by John Lithgow – you can watch it on YouTube

One thought on “The Library and Yertle the Fascist Turtle

  1. Sarah Span

    I just heard this morning on NPR a song made for children during the war about duck and covering during a bomb raid. It was about a duck who when he heard a loud noise duck and covered… something like that. This is so funny… makes me want to do some research on the girls picks.

Comments are closed.