Ten Apples Up On Top: Simple Child's Book or the Underlying Story of the Cold War?

Hey everyone! I know I promised a review of Go, Dog, Go!, but my library didn't have it. So my guest reviewer (Yes! He's- and yes, unless I say differently, this reviewer is a male -here at last!) and I have created a review of Ten Apples Up On Top. Uh-uh-uh! Don't be TOO quick to judge! You never know what you will find if you read into the books as me and my reviewing partner did. I was at the library with my dad, who happens to be my reviewer, and we came across this book as we searched in vain for Go, Dog, Go!. I saw this on the shelf and, being the little child I am, remembered it from my childhood and decided that, since I couldn't find Go, Dog, Go!, I would read and review it instead. Note that my dad and I came up with this review as we were at the library by the children's books, trying not to laugh too loudly as we came up with this stuff. As we went through it, my dad/reviewer realized that THIS was the REAL story of the Cold War, all in a little child's book by Theo LeSieg (A.K.A.) Dr. Seuss. And here it is:

GUEST REVIEWER: Jim Mc

On the back cover of the book Ten Apples Up On Top there is a phrase, "A lion, a dog, and a tiger balance apples on their heads". How simple... How quaint... How misleading!

After exhaustive study, it can be revealed that this 'simple child's book' actually holds a parallel story about the Cold War between the United States of America and the United Socialist States of Russia (U.S.S.R.).

The main characters in the story are a lion, who is joined by a dog, which both later meet up with a tiger. The three of the them have a contest to who can balance the most apples on their heads. At one point, they are threatened by a large bear, some smaller bears, and some birds. All the other animals chase the lion, the dog and the tiger. Finally there is a major collision with a large apple cart pulled by a horse with a driver. Then they all have apples on their heads.

Here is the "actual" meaning. The lion is the United States, and the dog is Europe (lead by the United Kingdom, France and the other free countries). They start balancing apples, which represent many of the attributes of free society (such as democracy, capitalism, freedom of speech, free and fair elections, etc.). They meet up with the tiger, and in this case it represents Japan, which was one of the other leading industrial countries. All three of them are working to outdo each other when it comes to balancing the apples (making each country as strong and as free as possible).

The story takes a nasty turn when they meet up with a large angry bear. The bear is (of course) the U.S.S.R. The bear is after the three Allies and is swinging a mop (the mop stands for the Soviet atomic weapons arsenal). Note that the Allies are threatened soon after they are near a refrigerator (which is the Cold War). Soon, the bear is joined by other smaller bears (the Soviet puppet states, such as the Baltic states). There are also three birds that also go after the three Allies. These are Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam.

The entire crowd eventually collides with the apple cart, and the resulting scene shows all of the characters with ten apples on their heads. This is the wishful idea that the United Nations (the apple cart, the horse and driver) could intervene and make all of the countries live peacefully.

Wait for my next guest review! I'll examine the underlying meaning in the book Ping the Duck!!

~Jim Mc

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed the guest review! I just received book number two of the Warriors series, so I might write the review for that! Please tell me what you think of all my reviews so far!