Yertle the Turtle

Yertle the Turtle
by Dr Seuss

This book has three gems inside, and my favorite is Gertrude McFuzz.

I love Gertrude McFuzz! Gertrude is a girl-bird with one feather, who sees another girl-bird who has two feathers. In her jealousy, she consults a doctor and convinces him that she needs more tail feathers. He tells her where to find a pill-berry bush and she starts eating. When she has two feathers she decides that three would be even better. Long story short: she eats enough pill berries to sprout dozens of feathers, which are so heavy that she loses her ability to fly. Her friends come to help her:

"To lift Gertrude up almost broke all their beaks
And to fly her back home, it took almost two weeks.
And then it took almost another week more
To pull out those feathers. My! Gertrude was sore!

And, finally, when all of the pulling was done,
Gertrude, behind her, again had just one...
That one little feather she had as a starter,
But now that's enough, because now she is smarter."

This book helps teach kids to be content with what they have, to not compare themselves to others, and to be glad for what is. If my girls can recognize that Gertrude was just right with her one tail feather, maybe they can recognize that they are just right, right now as is. Isn't it awesome to have one feather and be able to fly, than to be the most feathered friend out there and be stuck? Thank you Dr Seuss.

2020 update
My daughter was recently assigned a book report for her kindergarten class. The only catch: use a pumpkin to recreate a favorite book character. Here you go:

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