Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born March 2, 1904 in Springfield Massachusetts. As a young artist, his work became familiar to Americans throughout WWII as he drew cartoon posters and other propaganda for Uncle Sam. After the war, he started writing and illustrating children’s books. Books that not only taught the difference between “Red Fish, Blue Fish”, but also entertained and engaged generations of kids. He passed away in 1991, but his books are still published and sold today, earning $33 million in 2020, to make him the second highest paid dead celebrity that year. Right behind Michael Jackson.

I guess that means popularity has never been higher for the author who taught children to listen to “The Lorax”, try new food in “Green Eggs and Ham”, and to laugh at the tyrant in “Yertle the Turtle”. Dr. Seuss shared, as best he could, new ways of looking at familiar things.

Get this, apparently he had flaws. Viewed through the lenses of modern perspective, Dr. Seuss Enterprises has decided that six of his titles will no longer be published, including “To Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street”, and “If I Ran the Zoo” due to apparent racist and insensitive imagery within.

If you own copies of these books (also including “McElligot’s Pool”, “On Beyond Zebra”, “Scrambled Eggs Super”, and “The Cat’s Quizzer”) they will soon become rare.

Full disclosure: I have not read all of Dr. Seuss’ catalog, and publishers stop printing books all the time. But I have read other books written decades, sometimes even hundreds of years ago. (I like reading, what can I say?) History comes alive in these, sometimes precisely because we are offended by what happens in the story, as it is so different than the world we live in today. Other times, the characters and situations can seem so familiar that we recognize similarities. Either way we would not have an authentic picture of the past without these challenges.

Or a place to begin the conversation with our kids.

So, Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss – thanks for sharing your perspective and teaching us to try – just one bite – of Green Eggs and Ham.