The New York Times reported on the discontinuation of six of Dr. Seuss’s books due to offensive images. Dr. Seuss Enterprises stated, “it had decided last year to end publication and licensing of the books by Theodor Seuss Geisel.” They were also noted saying, “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” The five of the six books include “If I Ran The Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.” The sixth book is Suess’ first book ever published, “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” (1937). Before Seuss became a significant figure in children’s literature, he was a political cartoonist for a New York newspaper, PM, and portrayed harmful stereotypes. He apologized decades later stating, “he was embarrassed by the cartoons, which he said were ‘full of snap judgments that every political cartoonist has to make.’ Dr. Seuss, who I am sure most of us grew up reading his books, is celebrated March 2 and centered around the Read Across America program. He is a highly regarded children’s author and his books have been translated into many languages in countries around the world. With some extra research, I also found that Barnes and Noble have already “prevented” the public from purchasing the books and they will be moved to the banned/challenged book list. I think that this article is relevant to the rights of speech/press and I am curious to see how other countries will handle Dr. Seuss’ works in the future.
-Hannah Kohl (Blog #5)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/books/dr-seuss-mulberry-street.html
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