6 Dr. Seuss books to stop being published because of racist imagery
By Audrey Conklin
Fox News
March 2, 2021
The sales of six Dr. Seuss books will cease over racist and insensitive imagery, according to the business that preserves and protects the author's legacy.
The news comes Tuesday on National Read Across America Day, when schools across the U.S. celebrate reading on Dr. Seuss's March 2 birthday to commemorate the popular children's author, who died in 1991.
"These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong," Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press in a statement.
"Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families," the statement continued.
Copies of "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," "If I Ran the Zoo," "McElligot's Pool," "On Beyond Zebra!," "Scrambled Eggs Super!," and "The Cat's Quizzer" will no longer be published.
The decision to cease publication and sales of the books was made last year after months of discussion, the company told AP.
"Dr. Seuss Enterprises listened and took feedback from our audiences including teachers, academics and specialists in the field as part of our review process. We then worked with a panel of experts, including educators, to review our catalog of titles," it said.
A Virginia school system recently decided to discourage recognition of National Read Across America Day in light of the controversy, prompting discussion of the author and decisions to "cancel" his work on social media. The school system clarified in a Feb. 27 statement that it is not banning the author's books.
Books by Dr. Seuss -- born Theodor Seuss Geisel in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 2, 1904 -- are sold in more than 100 countries.
The "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" author remains popular, earning an estimated $33 million before taxes in 2020, up from just $9.5 million five years ago, the company said. Forbes listed him No. 2 on its highest-paid dead celebrities of 2020, behind only the late pop star Michael Jackson.
As adored as Dr. Seuss is by millions around the world for the positive values in many of his works, including environmentalism and tolerance, there has been increasing criticism in recent years over the way Black, Asian and other characters are drawn in some of his most beloved children’s books, as well as in his earlier advertising and propaganda illustrations.
The National Education Association, which founded Read Across America Day in 1998 and deliberately aligned it with Geisel’s birthday, has for several years deemphasized Seuss and encouraged a more diverse reading list for children.
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Dr. Seuss outrage: ‘The Cat in the Hat’ says don’t cancel that!
By Kyle Smith
New York Post
March 2, 2021
On March 2, Dr. Seuss' birthday, six of his controversial kiddie books were yanked from publication for containing allegedly racist imagery.
On the second day of March
I got out of my bed
And what did I see
That mixed up my head?
Thing One and Thing Two
Were locked up in chains.
My good pals, those sweet imps
Were now writhing in pain!
“Chins up and let’s roll,”
Said I to my boys.
“The Cat in the Hat
Is here to make noise!”
“No, no,” said one Thing.
“We can’t come to play.
The correctness police
Are to keep us at bay.”
“How’s that?” said I.
“Have you lost all your spark?
Let’s jump off of couches.
You sound like a narc!”
“You don’t see what’s happened,”
They told me so sadly.
“The woke are in charge:
They canceled us madly!”
“Woke?” said I, wholly bumfuzzled.
“Take you me for a fool?
What is ‘woke’ against us —
The Lords of Misrule!”
“We break things and shake things,
We rattle the scolds,
We cause mischief and chaos —
We shatter all molds!”
“Not now, it’s not true.
This is twenty-twenty one.
They say we’re offensive.
We had too much fun!”
“How can fun be in danger?”
I asked them, quite vexed.
“Are they trying to troll us?
Is this some kind of flex?”
“Worse than that, it is said,”
Is what was said by my Things,
“Fox in Sox is a racist,
One Sneetch votes right-wing.
“When called upon
in diversity class
The Grinch who stole Christmas
Failed to say ‘Yass.’
“Yertle the Turtle
Said some Zionist stuff.
And Horton heard a Who
Call Cultural Appropriation a bluff.
“Marvin K. Mooney
Was found guilty of mansplaining.
Then we heard Hop on Pop
Hates inclusivity training.
“Oh well,” said my Things,
Just before they were muzzled.
“The world’s gone insane.
It’s a kind of dumb-duzzle.”
“This happened on the birthday
Of old Doctor Seuss?”
I said as I struggled
To believe this refuse.
When Mom came home the fish told her
All of the thinks that we thought
And explained that we did it
When we knew we ought not.
So now we’re all stuck
In this woke training class.
As the Things learn of Thing privilege
I pass gas on this class, which can kiss my cat ass.
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