If I were the last book in existence I would most likely be Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss (1950). Many of Dr. Seuss’s books seem to have underlying messages that are important to not only young children but adults as well.
Yertle the Turtle is about a king who is portrayed as a dictator over his kingdom which starts out as a nice little pond. The pond provided the turtles with everything that they needed and all of the turtles were happy, except for King Yertle, he wanted more. He commanded the turtles to stack up so that he would be higher and see more because he felt that he should be ruler of all that he could see. He let the turtles under him suffer with pain and starvation just so he could gain power. The more Yertle saw the higher he wanted to go. The turtle at the bottom of the stack let Yertle know of the turtles’’ pain and suffering and Yertle's reply was “SILENCE! I’m king and you’re only a turtle named Mack”. “You’ve no right to talk to the world’s highest ruler”. (Yertle the Turtle)
Yertle was not happy with ruling over just the clouds, land and sea; he wanted nothing to be higher than he. He wanted to be higher than the moon and was going to stack the turtles to heaven. His pride became his downfall and it was the plain little turtle named Mack who made it happen with just a burp. This shook the throne of King Yertle which made him fall and that was the end of his rule. “And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he is King of the Mud. That is all he can see. And the turtles, of course…and the turtles are free as turtles and, maybe all creatures should be.” (Yertle the Turtle)
To me this is a powerful message to anyone in power; you should not have self gain at the cost of the suffering of others. And an even more powerful idea, the sufferers should not stand back and let it happen.
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