Read Between the Lines: 10 Classic Kids' Books With Delightfully Subversive Subtext

The Butter Battle Book ($15) is by far Seuss's most blatant antiwar satire. One of his last works, written in 1984 as a reaction to the Cold War, it discusses a longstanding battle between the Yooks and the Zooks over the issue of buttering bread — a clearly senseless topic where no one side is clearly in the wrong. One of Seuss's most criticized works, opponents argue that the book is too soft on communism and thereby inherently anti-American.