BOSTON (AP) – Six books by Dr. Seuss – including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo” – will cease to be published because of racist and insensitive images, the business that keeps and protects the legacy of the author said Tuesday.
“These books portray people in harmful and wrong ways,” says Dr. Seuss Enterprises. he told The Associated Press in a statement that coincided with the birthday of the late author and illustrator.
“Stopping the sale of these books is just part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure that the Dr. Seuss Enterprises catalog represents and supports all communities and families,” he said.
The other affected books are “McElligot’s Pool”, “On Beyond Zebra !,” “Scrambled Eggs Super !,” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”
The decision to stop publishing and selling books was made last year, after months of talks, the company told AP.
“Dr. Seuss Enterprises listened to and received feedback from our audience, including professors, academics, and industry experts as part of our review process. We then worked with a group of experts, including educators, to review our catalog of titles, ”he said.
Dr. Seuss’s books – Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 2, 1904 – have been translated into dozens of languages as well as Braille and are sold in over 100 countries. He died in 1991.
It remains popular, earning about $ 33 million before taxes in 2020, up from just $ 9.5 million five years ago, the company said. Forbes ranked him 2nd on his highest paid celebrities from 2020, behind only the late pop star Michael Jackson.
As much adored by Dr. Seuss as millions of people around the world for the positive values of many of his works, including environmentalism and tolerance, there has been growing criticism in recent years of how blacks, Asians and others are attracted to some of his most important works. beloved children’s books, as well as in his previous advertising and propaganda illustrations.
The National Association for Education, which founded Read Across America Day in 1998 and deliberately aligned it with Geisel’s birthday, has for several years focused on Seuss and encouraged a more diverse reading list for children.
Also, school districts across the country have moved away from Dr. Seuss, causing Loudoun County, Virginia, schools just outside of Washington, DC, to become extinct. rumors last month banned the books altogether.
“Research in recent years has revealed strong racial overtones in many books written / illustrated by Dr. Seuss,” the school district said in a statement.
In 2017, a school librarian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, criticized a 10-book Seuss gift from First Lady Melania Trump, saying many of her works were “full of racist propaganda, caricatures and harmful stereotypes.”
In 2018, a Dr. Seuss museum in his hometown of Springfield removed a mural which included an Asian stereotype.
“The Cat in the Hat”, one of Seuss’s most popular books, has also received criticism, but will continue to be published for the time being.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises, however, said she was “committed to listening and learning and will continue to review our entire portfolio.”
Numerous other popular children’s series have been criticized in recent years for alleged racism.
In the 2007 book, “Should We Burn Babar?”, Author and educator Herbert R. Kohl argued that the books “Babar the Elephant” were a celebration of colonialism because of the way the title character leaves the jungle and returns later. the “civilization”. his animal colleagues.
One of the books, “Babar’s Travels”, was taken off the shelves of a British library in 2012 because of its alleged stereotypes of Africans. Critics also blamed the “Curious George” books for the premise that a white man was bringing home an African monkey.
And Laura Ingalls Wilder’s portraits of Native Americans in her novels “Little House on the Prairie” have been so often mistaken that the American Library Association removed her name in 2018 from a lifetime achievement award she awards each year. .
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AP national writer Hillel Italie contributed from New York.