Anna Nordberg March 4, 2021Updated: March 5, 2021, 3:48 pm
Dr. Seuss children’s books “If I Ran the Zoo,” “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “On Beyond Zebra!” and “McElligot’s Pool” are among the books that will no longer be published because of racist and insensitive imagery. Photo: Christopher Dolan, Associated Press
When Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced on what would have been the author’s 117th birthday that it would stop publication of six of Seuss’ most problematic children’s books, the internet lost its collective mind.
On one end, educators and writers applauded the move as a thoughtful step to remove racist imagery of Black and Asian people from Dr. Seuss’ catalog and preserve the author’s legacy, which spans more than 45 children’s books. Others saw it as an alarming effort to cancel a beloved American figure.