For generations, Dr. Seuss has been part of our young reading lives. His wonderful books have sparks imaginations and opened the door to become bibliophiles in our later years.
On Wednesday, it was announced that six of his books would no longer be published due to outdated and racist images.
The list of titles are as follows:
- “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street”
- “If I Ran the Zoo”
- “McElligot’s Pool”
- “On Beyond Zebra!”
- “Scrambled Eggs Super!”
- “The Cat’s Quizzer”
There are two streams of thought about this topic. Some would argue that this is one more example of cancel culture going too far. Others would say that this is progress, making the changes that are necessary to learn from our past mistakes.
My thought that as beloved as these books are, the right decision is to end the printing of new copies. If we want to teach our children to appreciate and respect those who are different from them, it starts with the removal of pictures and other media that perpetuates the stereotypes.
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Writergurlny 
I can’t tell you how torn I am about this. One part of feels as you do, but as a retired children’s librarian I spent a good deal of my twenty-six year career fighting against censorship. I wonder if perhaps these books and Theodore Geisel could be used as a lesson about how when he wrote these books it was a different time period and why the illustrations and some of the wording is so hurtful and unacceptable. It could also be pointed out that even our heroes aren’t perfect. From what I’ve read, Geisel came to regret his racist and anti-Semitic illustrations and although he never formerly apologized, his later books reflected the change in his attitude.
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