Georgia Trembley

First of all, the books are not even being banned! Even the school district in Virginia that was reported to have banned them, said themselves that they did not ban them. It was Dr. Seuss Enterprises who decided to stop printing 6 of the over 60 books which T.S. Geisel (Dr. Seuss) wrote. Moreover, for 20 years Dr. Seuss Enterprises was partnered with the National Education Association (NEA), which sponsors Read Across America, as well as National Reading Month, but that contract ran out in 2019, at which time the NEA decided that it wanted to move away from the sole focus on Dr. Seuss books for Read Across America (his books are still featured and the day still coincides with T.S. Geisel's birthday but they wanted to feature other children's authors as well. This is also the reason that President Biden did not focus on Dr. Seuss in his Read Across America Day presidential proclamation. Second, as a school librarian, I can tell you that books go "out of print" all the time for LOTS of reasons, none of which have anything to do with banning them. The books in question were not even among his most beloved, such as Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, and The Grinch Stole Christmas; all of these and so many others will still be in print. Third, they will still be available in bookstores which still have them, libraries, and any other place which sells/loans books. Fourth, the 6 books in question have been very difficult to find for some time now (trust me, I have been trying to add to our Seuss collection and many are difficult to find in stock). Fifth, I can tell you that I set up a display in our school library yesterday, but could only put out about half of what we have because so many were checked out. His books are still checked out, still read, and still very popular. In fact, of the 20 best-selling children's books on Amazon, 15 of them are Dr. Seuss titles and the Publisher's Weekly ranking of top-selling children's books show 5 of Dr. Seuss' books currently in the top 10. These are not going away or being banned...period! Sixth, after much deliberation with a "panel of experts," including educators, Seuss Enterprises made this decision because THEY felt it was best for the image they want to project going forward. THEY felt that some of the illustrations depicted certain ethnic groups in stereotypical derogatory ways which is not in alignment with that image. This was not something foisted upon them by any other entity, local, federal, or otherwise. Seventh, Dr. Seuss did a lot of political cartoons in the 30's and 40's, some of which did portray ethnic groups (especially the Japanese, not surprising considering what was happening at that time) in a very derogatory manner. He himself later apologized for some of his earlier illustrations, realizing that they were rather inappropriate in retrospect. Eighth, despite this, much of his work was actually very much that of an activist. Through his political cartoons, he spoke out against Hitler, the Sneetches speaks out against racism, and The Lorax speaks out about the environment, so, despite some possible early faltering, of which we have all been guilty (I know I am not perfect), he certainly proved "a person's a person, no matter how small," and "nothing is going to change, unless someone does something soon." Please take the time to research things you hear. before getting upset and playing the blame game. Have a wonderful day, everyone! :-)