The Sneetches & Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
While Dr. Seuss seems like an odd choice as a go-to author for teaching your children moral lessons, you would be mistaken, for in “The Sneetches & Other Stories” that is exactly what he does.
As indicated by the title, this book is actually a collection of shorter stories, four in total, each with its own lesson to be learned (although, some are a little more obvious than others). It is the title story that has the most blatant message: Sneetches are big yellow creatures, some of whom have green stars on their bellies. It is understood that Sneetches with stars are better than those without, and with the help of the Sneetches, children will learn an important lesson in discrimination and racism.
The second story, The Zax, teaches children about the importance of compromise, as the North-going Zax and the South-going Zax find themselves at a permanent standstill because of their stubbornness. “Too Many Daves” is about a mother who named all of her children Dave, which causes obvious confusion from the start. The lesson in this one is a little harder to find, although it could be argued it is about individuality. In “What Was I Scared Of?”, the narrator continually comes across a pair of empty green pants and he becomes terrified of them. In the end, he learns that the pants are just as scared of him as he is of them, teaching children not to be afraid of things we don’t know or understand.