There has been a cultural war brewing in this country dating back to the final days of the Civil War, as Reconstruction tried to rebuild America from the ashes. Shortly thereafter came Jim Crow Laws, Ku Klux Klan, the 1960s March on Washington, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and, most recently, the murders of African-Americans in cities all over the country.
In the midst of it all came the removal of statues honoring Confederate heroes and the removal of names honoring presidents and founding fathers from colleges and the changing of mascots at high schools all over the country. Now, there are two very prominent conspiracy theories gaining traction in the past few weeks. One is known as Cancel Culture: a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person, such as former President Donald Trump and many of his followers. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to have been "cancelled". The other is known as Woke Culture: a term that refers to a perceived awareness of issues that concern social justice and racial justice. It derives from the African-American Vernacular English expression "stay woke".
The latest has recently tried to eliminate the works of one of America's most beloved children's authors, Theodor Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, claiming they are racist in nature. And, now that Dr. Seuss is an “outlaw,” and many people are stockpiling copies of his books before they are banned by EBay, parents across the land face a desperate conundrum. What can they possibly read to their children?
The Great Seuss Hysteria of 2021 is a faux controversy if ever there was one, worth following only for what it reveals about children’s literature and the limits of adults’ imaginations.
The short, sensible summary is as follows. Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which controls Theodor Geisel’s copyrights, decided not to print more copies of six works that contain racist imagery. This ought to be relatively uncontroversial. The books will not be pulled from public consumption, as Disney did with “Song of the South,” or edited to comport with different values. No one proposes treating Dr. Seuss like Woody Allen, a figure whose alleged transgressions render his work untouchable. Everyone seems comfortable with the other 90 percent of Dr. Seuss’s books. But, because conservatives do not do much except fight the culture wars these days, they inflated an act of corporate image-burnishing into a catastrophic book-burning, and the rest of the story is predictable.
Amid this thicket of dishonest outrage, however, it is useful to recognize two things that are actually true. First, some Dr. Seuss books for children contain depictions of people of color that, like his cartoons of Japanese people during World War II, are repulsive. Second, insisting that Dr. Seuss books are the alpha and omega of children’s literature shows a tiresome lack of imagination.
As parents of toddlers become reacquainted with the Seussian canon: Green Eggs and Ham and Happy Birthday to You! are in heavy rotation in homes - and their limitations are clear.
The wordplay can be fun, but its cleverness is undercut by Geisel’s penchant for invented words, which is a kind of cheat. Anyone can stick a rhyme scheme or invent a clever rhythm if they do not confine themselves to the English language. Political fables like The Lorax and Yertle the Turtle are all well and good, if a little dated in their scolding tone. And the Cat in the Hat, perhaps Seuss’s most famous character, is more frenetic than emotionally engaging.
Were I to assemble a canonical list of children’s-book authors, Dr. Seuss would rank below, say, Peter Spier, the Dutch-American illustrator whose gorgeous picture books were a staple of many childhood homes and now are vital reading again a generation later. People, his compendium of the variety of human society, is a lovely introduction to the world for any young person; it is also proof that even 40 years ago artists could look at difference with excitement, not viciousness. Bored — Nothing to Do, about two brothers who occupy themselves by building a propeller plane, and Oh, Were They Ever Happy!, which follows three children as they decide to paint the house while their parents are out, are charming tributes to youthful ingenuity and imagination.
I would also list the husband-and-wife team of Alice and Martin Provensen, and the writer and illustrator Barbara Cooney. Among the former’s accomplishments are Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm and A Year at Maple Hill Farm, which depict a world that is more bravely engaged with the realities of life, death and idiosyncrasy than the one Dr. Seuss’s characters occupied. And in books such as Miss Rumphius and Hattie and the Wild Waves, Cooney offered readers glimpses of life that are unconventional but graspable.
And, at risk of letting a list of past masters dominate this blog, I will turn to the present. What a gift it is to have Mo Willems’ help in probing the complex emotions and everyday dilemmas of childhood in his "Elephant & Piggie" series. During a year of isolation, Raúl the Third’s "Little Lobo" books have transported children to the markets and lucha libre rings of a Mexican border town. And as much as Please, Baby, Please has the power to inspire children to new heights of misbehavior, it is a pure delight to have an artist as remarkable as Kadir Nelson making work for the very youngest readers.
Cooney famously said, “Children in this country need a more robust literary diet than they are getting … . It does not hurt them to read about good and evil, love and hate, life and death. Nor do I think they should read only about things that they understand … a man’s reach should exceed his grasp. So should a child’s.”
No, Dr. Seuss has not been canceled. But, if the only author we think to reach for is Dr. Seuss, our children’s literary worlds will be smaller and poorer for our own lack of curiosity.
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