Yesterday was the birthday of Dr. Seuss, the revered children's author who passed away exactly 30 years ago, and the company that distributes his books took advantage of the special date to announce that six of his books, including 'On Beyond Zebra!' and 'Scrambled Eggs Super!" will no longer be printed as they contain images which are considered to be lacking in racial sensitivity.
"These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong," the company said in an official statement as quoted by the BBC, "The cessation of sales of these books is just part of our commitment and our broad program to ensure that Dr. Seuss Enterprises' catalog represents and supports all communities and families."
The other books which will no longer be sold are 'And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,' 'If I Ran the Zoo,' 'McElligot’s Pool,' and 'The Cat’s Quizzer.'
The books contain a number of stereotypical images which were common at the the time they were written, including an Asian person wearing a conical hat, holding chopsticks, and eating rice from a bowl. Another book features and image of bare-footed African men in grass skirts with their hair tied above their heads.
One of the stepdaughters of Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, responded to the announcement that the books would no longer be published by asserting that her stepfather was not a racist.
“There wasn’t a racist bone in that man’s body — he was so acutely aware of the world around him and cared so much," Lark Grey Dimond-Cates told the New York Post.
Dimond-Cates said that the decision to pull the books was "wise" at this time, but added that she hoped they would be put back into print one day.