Six Dr. Seuss books to stop being published over ‘hurtful and wrong’ portrayals
The verdict is in on some Dr. Seuss books being eyeballed in a 2021 light:
Stink, stank, stunk.
Six Seuss stories are being retired after decades of criticism over racist imagery in the illustrated children’s books.
But before the folks at Fox in Socks, er, Fox News, hop on top of this story as a green-eggs-and ham-handed example of cancel-culture craziness, it should be noted the decision comes from Seuss’ camp itself.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the organization that carries on the author and illustrator’s legacy, announced Tuesday that it will stop publishing and licensing “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “The Cat’s Quizzer,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “On Beyond Zebra!”
“These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” the organization said in a statement, adding that the decision was made last year with a panel of experts, including teachers.
“Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’s catalog represents and supports all communities and families.”
Random House Children’s Books, which publishes the titles, said Tuesday it “respects” the decision to avoid images modern authors wouldn’t touch with a 39½-foot pole.
The announcement fell on the birthday of Dr. Seuss, born Theodor Seuss Geisel in Springfield, Mass., on March 2, 1904.
While the children’s classics are still revered around the world, renewed criticism has spurred second looks at his depictions of some communities and people of color.
Among the concerns are the stereotypical drawings of African men in “If I Ran the Zoo,” drawn with bare feet and grass skirts, and an Asian person with yellow-tinted skin and a conical hat, drawn using chopsticks to eat from a bowl in “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.”
A 2019 study published in the Research on Diversity in Youth Literature journal examined 50 Dr. Seuss children’s books and 2,240 “human characters.” Of those, only 45 characters of color appear in just eight books. Of those 45 characters of color, 43 had “characteristics aligning with the definition of Orientalism,” including 14 with “stereotypical East Asian characteristics” and 29 in turbans. Two characters are identified as African.
The male characters of color were most often portrayed in “subservient, exotified or dehumanized roles,” particularly in relation to white counterparts.
“Most startling is the complete invisibility and absence of women and girls of color across Seuss’ entire children’s book collection,” the researchers wrote.
In the mid-1940s, Geisel also collaborated with director Frank Capra to produce propaganda videos for the Army called “Know Your Enemy: Japan” and “Our Job in Japan.”
In a 1976 interview with his alma mater, Dartmouth, Geisel offered a makeshift apology for the political cartoons he published in the liberal newspaper PM between 1941 and 1943.
“When I look at them now, they’re hurriedly and embarrassingly badly drawn,” he said of the cartoons that frequently included racist, stereotypical, anti-Japanese drawings. “And they’re full of snap judgments that every political cartoonist has to make.”
Over the weekend, Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia announced it would deemphasize Dr. Seuss books on Read Across America Day, an annual event that coincides with the author’s birthday, over “strong racial undertones” in his work, including “anti-Japanese-American political cartoons and cartoons depicting African Americans for sale.”
Fans of “There’s a Wocket in My Pocket” needn’t worry. That wholesome tale with the titillating title survives.
