- Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian take Dream, True and a friend to see Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christma Daily Mail
- Kris Jenner and Khloé Kardashian Take True and Dream to See ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ Musical — See the Photos! PEOPLE
- Kris Jenner is a doting grandmother as she takes grandkids Dream and True on family outing with daughter Khloe Kardashian HELLO!
- Kris Jenner kisses the Grinch in sweet Christmas photos with True and Dream- but fans can’t get over major… The US Sun
- Kris Jenner and Khloé Kardashian Take True and Dream to “See How the Grinch Stole Christmas” Musical — See the Photos! Yahoo Entertainment
Tag Archives: Seuss
The Analogue Pocket Just Got Its Long-Awaited Jailbreak
Analogue Co.’s Pocket has always turned heads: first for being the most authentic-seeming Game Boy replacement ever announced, then for taking an extraordinary length of time to finally come out. But come out it did, and it was pretty good. For some, its biggest drawback was that it required old, increasingly expensive physical cartridges to play games, as (for the most part) it couldn’t just load convenient ROM files. The Pocket really needed something the kids call a “jailbreak,” at least if it was going to fulfill the fantasy of being the ultimate Game Boy device. Today, that jailbreak just slipped in the side door.
A little place-setting: When the Pocket finally shipped last December, it had only the most barebones operating system, and lacked many of the system’s long-promised features, like save states that backed up your game progress. (Analogue also didn’t release the originally announced Atari Lynx, Neo Geo Pocket, or TurboGrafx-16 cart adapters.) Early adopters, glad as they were to have their uber Game Boys with beautiful retina-quality screens, realized it’d be quite some time before the device in their hands was actually finished.
The same was true for would-be developers eager to make the new machine do fun new stuff. The Pocket contains two field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which programmers can reconfigure to closely approximate the hardware of another device. They are wonderful for simulating classic video game systems, and hobbyist developers could surely put them to great use, perhaps by developing new FPGA cores—meaning software that tells the FPGAs how to configure themselves—to simulate even more consoles. But that feature was delayed too.
Fast forward to today. At 8:01 a.m. PT Analogue finally released a new version of the Pocket’s Analogue OS. Today’s Analogue OS v1.1 beta adds the long-promised “Library” and “Memories” features; the first displays information about games you insert, the second is basically save states. v1.1 also finally opens the system up to developers, under the moniker “openFPGA.” As an example of what hobbyists can accomplish with the newly unlocked FPGAs, Analogue released an openFPGA core that simulates Spacewar!, one of the first video games. Neat.
And that was it. A nice and necessary update, but it wasn’t the jailbreak many folks’d been hoping for, either. See you in another six months! (Actually, Analogue being Analogue, more likely eight.)
But then.
Some three hours later at 11:23 a.m., a Github account called Spiritualized1997, created less than 24 hours before, uploaded a repository called openFPGA-GBA; one minute later, it uploaded another called openFPGA-GB-GBC. Each repository contained a single downloadable file. “To play Game Boy Advance on your Pocket follow these instructions,” said the instructions accompanying the GBA repository, outlining five steps to install a v1.0.0 Spiritualized1997 GBA core on the Pocket and get it running ROM files. The second repository offered similar instructions, but for a core that ran Game Boy and Game Boy Color ROMs.
So to recap: Today Analogue Pocket got the ability to run third-party FPGA cores. Three hours and 22 minutes later the Pocket’s two most popular supported handhelds mysteriously received new, third-party FPGA cores that could Do The Thing that everyone’s wanted the Pocket to do since it came out: load games from ROM files stored on a microSD card. Is this…is this finally the jailbreak?
Yes, yes it is. Or rather, the jailbreak’s finally started, because today’s two v1.0.0 Nintendo cores are just the first wave of what is clearly going to be a longer, more sustained rollout.
So what is happening here? Who is Spiritualized1997, and how the hell did they develop and release GBA and GB/GBC cores for the Analogue Pocket just three or so hours after today’s Analogue OS v1.1 beta release made running such things possible? Why is the account so new?
Most observers’ theory—which, to be clear, Kotaku cannot confirm—is that Spiritualized1997 is Kevin “Kevtris” Horton, a legend in the emulation scene and the FPGA emulation guru behind all of Analogue’s FPGA-based game machines. He’s worked on the Analogue NT mini (which played 8-bit NES games), the Super NT (SNES games), the Mega Sg (Sega Genesis games), and of course the Pocket.
Horton has a history (you’re now thinking of a Dr. Seuss book) of releasing unofficial “jailbreak” firmware for the Analogue Co. consoles he’s helped develop, starting back in 2017 when he uploaded the first jailbreak firmware for the NT mini. “The Core Store is officially open for business!” he wrote on the AtariAge forum, referring to the potential to make the NT mini run games from a variety of systems, when until then it had only played 8-bit Nintendo games loaded off of physical cartridges.
In case that left any doubt, he added, “Yes, this means that it runs ROMs now!”
And that’s how it’s gone for all the Analogue consoles since. Horton got a little more discreet after the NT mini jailbreak, instead releasing his jailbreak firmwares through intermediaries like emulation scene mover-and-shaker Smokemonster. But folks in the scene, with a wink and a nod, understand where these popular, hardware-enhancing bits of software really come from. (Prior Analogue consoles have been closed platforms, so who else could have made them?)
That’s why many people considered it a given that the Analogue Pocket’s wonderful hardware would itself get liberated to play games from ROM files. It’s been a long eight months, but today’s surprise Spiritualized1997 FPGA cores are pretty much exactly what Pocket owners wanted, just in a slightly different form than usual—discrete FPGA cores loadable through the Pocket’s new openFPGA feature. That’s made this “jailbreak” seem a little more subtle than usual. It’s not a firmware replacement, but just alternate cores you run off the microSD card. The end result is exactly the same, though.
But again, this is just the start of a longer jailbreak process that will play out over the coming months. After all, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance are just three of the handhelds people want to play on Pocket, not to mention folks clamoring for it to support TV-based consoles like Genesis and SNES. The Spiritualized1997 FPGA cores, both at just v1.0.0, are also missing a few features enjoyed by the Pocket’s official built-in cores, most notably screen filters. These and further enhancements are coming; the missing filters are apparently just because the openFPGA API is still immature.
Spiritualized1997, whoever they may be, is also being quite active on Reddit. One user bemoaned the lack of a Sega Game Gear core, to which Spiritualized1997 replied, “coming soon.” This seemingly supernaturally helpful individual also released an 80MB archive containing 6,959 title screen images of Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Game Gear games that are in, wouldn’t you know it, exactly the special file format that the Pocket’s new “Library” feature expects. So now you know how to make your Library look pretty.
“This is fantastic! Finally the Pocket awakens from its deep slumber,” said a Reddit user in response to news of the two new FPGA cores. “I haven’t powered on mine [in] months!”
“Today has been a roller coaster.” said another. “Sincerely, thanks!”
So while the heavens didn’t part and there was no neon sign flashing “the jailbreak is here!”, make no mistake, on July 29, 2022 the Analogue Pocket finally got the key feature owners have desired since December. But this jailbreak isn’t once and done; this is slow and steady, and now that the pump is primed, more ROM-friendly cores will come with time. Game Gear first, seemingly.
Kotaku reached out to Analogue Co. for comment.
At the end of today’s Analogue OS v1.1 announcement, the company tweeted, “Analogue does not support or endorse the unauthorized use or distribution of material protected by copyright or other intellectual property rights.”
McCarthy sits for ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ reading: I ‘still like’ Dr. Seuss
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthyKevin McCarthyMcCarthy sits for ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ reading: I ‘still like’ Dr. Seuss Chamber of Commerce clarifies stance on lawmakers who voted against election certification Watch live: McCarthy holds press briefing MORE (R-Calif.) shared a video of himself reading a Dr. Seuss book on Friday night, days after news spread that publication of some of the late poet’s books would stop.
McCarthy tweeted out the video with the caption, “I still like Dr. Seuss, so I decided to read Green Eggs and Ham.”
He added, “RT if you still like him too!”
After reading the children’s book out loud in a dramatic fashion, McCarthy concluded by saying, “Enjoy your day!”
I still like Dr. Seuss, so I decided to read Green Eggs and Ham.
RT if you still like him too! pic.twitter.com/2pbRbSiJD6
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) March 6, 2021
On Tuesday, Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that it would no longer publish six books due to racially insensitive imagery in their illustrations that “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.”
“Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families,” the company told The Associated Press about what motivated the decision.
Following the announcement, sales skyrocketed of the books in question, which include “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!,” “The Cat’s Quizzer,” “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo.”
On Thursday, eBay announced that it would also be banning sales of the offensive Dr. Seuss books, with a spokesperson saying the company was “currently sweeping our marketplace to remove these items.”
Dr. Seuss book sales soar after 6 titles canceled for ‘racist’ imagery
Dr. Seuss’s books seem more popular than ever amid the controversy over a small selection of titles that will no longer be sold because they were deemed to have “insensitive and racist imagery.”
Copies of the beloved children’s author’s most popular books were virtually flying out of Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s warehouses, with his most popular books making up 9 out of the top 10 bestsellers on both companies’ lists as of Thursday evening.
“The Cat in The Hat,” “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” and “Green Eggs and Ham,” three of Seuss’s best-known works, were all out of stock on Amazon but still available at a higher price on Barnes and Noble’s website as of Thursday evening.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which preserves the author’s legacy, announced this week six books – “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!,” and “The Cat’s Quizzer” – would no longer be printed.
6 DR. SEUSS BOOKS TO STOP BEING PUBLISHED BECAUSE OF RACIST IMAGERY
“These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press in a statement that coincided with the late author and illustrator’s March 2 birthday.
“Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families,” it said.
Used copies of the now out-of-print books were being priced by independent sellers on Amazon for hundreds of dollars.
One seller had priced a “good” hardback copy of “The Cat’s Quizzer” at $900.
Online marketplace eBay Inc. said it is working to prevent the resale of the six out-of-print books, although hundreds of listings were still on the website as of Thursday. Many of the listings referenced the books being “banned.”
One listing was offering four of the books for $2,000.
DR. SEUSS BOOKS DEEMED OFFENSIVE WILL BE DELISTED FROM EBAY
Examples of the problematic drawings include an Asian person wearing a conical hat and holding chopsticks in “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and two bare-footed African men wearing what appear to be grass skirts with their hair tied above their heads in “If I Ran the Zoo.”
The National Education Association, which hosts the “Read Across America Day,” once partnered with Dr. Seuss Enterprises for the literary promotion event that lands on his birthday, but has recently become “independent of any one particular book, publisher, or character” because of the need to promote diverse books, according to its website.
The stepdaughter of Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, told the New York Post this week “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 said she understood the decision by Dr. Seuss Enterprises and said people need to be “very gentle and thoughtful and kind with each other” because of the “painful times” we live in.
President Biden stirred some Seuss-related controversy about conservatives when he didn’t utter the author’s name in his “Read Across America” proclamation – a break from his two immediate predecessors.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden’s statement had been written by the NEA.
Seuss remains hugely popular, making an estimated $33 million before taxes in 2020, up from just $9.5 million five years ago, the company said. Forbes listed him No. 2 on its highest-paid dead celebrities of 2020, behind only the late pop star Michael Jackson.
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Within hours of Tuesday’s announcement, Dr. Seuss books filled more than half of the top 20 slots on Amazon.com’s bestseller list. “Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo” were on the list, along with “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”, “Green Eggs and Ham” and others still being published.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The reckoning with Dr. Seuss’ racist imagery has been years in the making
The business that preserves Dr. Seuss’ legacy announced Tuesday that six of the legendary author’s books for children will stop being published because of racist imagery. The move has both sparked backlash from conservatives who call it the “cancel culture,” and reignited the debate over promoting classic, but problematic, books.
The announcement came on Read Across America Day, an initiative to promote childhood reading, which falls on the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises admitted that the books — published between the 1930s and the late 1970s — “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” The decision may have prompted a renewed focus on the classic works, but conversations about racism and prejudice in the author’s books are hardly new.
“In Dr. Seuss’ books, we have a kind of sensibility which is oriented toward centering the white child and decentering everyone else,” said Ebony Thomas, a professor of children’s and young adult literature at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of “The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games.”
“Dr. Seuss was shaped by a completely immersive white supremacist culture,” Thomas said. “Even during that time, our ancestors and elders were protesting racist works and producing alternative stories for our children. How do we decide what endures and what doesn’t endure? It’s our responsibility to decide what kind of books to put in front of kids.”
The debate is a complicated one because it must tackle the fortitude of classic books while reckoning with the place of such stories in a world of diverse readers.
A 2019 survey of Seuss’ works found that just 2 percent of human characters were people of color — 98 percent were white. Portrayal of and references to Black characters relied heavily on anti-Blackness and images of white superiority, the study found.
In “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” a white man is shown using a whip on a man of color. In “If I Ran the Zoo,” a white boy holds a large gun while standing on the heads of three Asian men. “If I Ran the Zoo” also features two men from Africa who are shirtless, shoeless and wearing grass skirts while holding an exotic animal.
While Seuss’ body of work has been called “dehumanizing and degrading” to Black, Indigenous, Jewish, Muslim people, and people of color, according to the survey, he is praised for promoting universal values in children. President Barack Obama lauded the author in 2016, saying, “Theodor Seuss Geisel — or Dr. Seuss — used his incredible talent to instill in his most impressionable readers universal values we all hold dear.”
The books that will no longer be published are: “If I Ran the Zoo,” “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!,” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.” The business said it came to the decision last year after months of discussion and hailed the move as “part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families.”
“I absolutely think this is a commitment to a better, more just, and inclusive world of children’s literature,” Ann Neely, professor of children’s literature at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said of the business’s decision. “We have so many outstanding books for children today; there is no need to continue to publish books that are now inappropriate. We must evaluate books for children by today’s values, not on our own nostalgia. Children need to see themselves, and others who may be different from them, in an accurate and positive way.”
Seuss’ books have come under scrutiny in recent years.
In 2017, a Massachusetts school librarian rejected Seuss books from then-first lady Melania Trump saying they were “steeped in racist propaganda.” That same year, a Seuss museum in Massachusetts vowed to replace a mural that featured images from “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.” A 2019 book titled “Was The Cat In the Hat Black?” argues that “The Cat In The Hat” was based on anti-Black stereotypes and blackface minstrel shows.
Aside from the beloved books, Seuss also published anti-Black and anti-Semitic cartoons in which he depicted Black people as monkeys and referred to them with the N-word. Other cartoons featured sexism and racist depictions of Asian people, according to the 2019 analysis. Thus, the National Education Association — which runs Read Across America — has distanced itself from Seuss in recent years.
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Criticism of Seuss works can be found as far back as the ‘80s. Today, parents and teachers alike are questioning the impact his works can have on young, impressionable children. Children begin forming racial biases as early as 3 years old, and those prejudices are fixed by age 7, according to a study. By 10 years old, children were exhibiting adult levels of race bias, the research found.
“The children of today are not us. We cannot continue to give our babies the same input that we had,” Thomas said. “We know now that there are anti-Asian stereotypes in ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,’ ‘The Cat In the Hat’ is minstrelsy,’ When we know better we can do better.”
Neely added: “By today’s standards, several of his books include illustrations that are quite racist. These outdated stereotypes are not appropriate for today’s children.”
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Stephen Colbert Fires Back at Fox News and Don Jr.’s Dr. Seuss Freakout
If you happened to catch any hour of Fox News over the past couple of days, you may be under the impression that Dr. Seuss getting “canceled” is the biggest news story in America. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that it’s not quite so simple.
As Stephen Colbert explained in his Late Show monologue Tuesday night, Dr. Seuss Enterprises has decided to stop publishing six rather obscure titles from the iconic children’s author because they contain “racist and insensitive imagery.”
“It’s a responsible move on their part,” the host argued. “There hadn’t been an earth-shattering outcry, but they recognize the impact that these images might have on readers, especially kids, and they’re trying to fix it, because Dr. Seuss books should be fun for all people—Black, white, straight, gay, Sneetches both star-bellied and plain, Loraxes, Barb-a-loots, all the Whos down in Whoville and the strange, angry creature called Foo Foo the Snoo.”
Colbert went on to highlight just a few of the Dr. Seuss books that “teach vital lessons to this day,” including the anti-war Butter Battle Book, environmental Lorax and Hop on Pop, which “warns against the dangers of pop-hopping.”
“The Dr. Seuss folks listened to criticism, thought it was reasonable and made what’s called a change,” he added. “Or as it’s known on Fox News: cancel culture.”
After playing a montage that just scratched the surface of how much Fox has obsessed over the story this week, culminating in a full-on meltdown from Donald Trump Jr., Colbert said, “I’m not surprised Don Jr. loves The Cat in the Hat, I’ve always believed he can read at a second-grade level. Also, I think his dad calls him and Eric ‘Thing One’ and ‘Thing Two.’”
Finally, Colbert read aloud from a brand new Seussian book titled “Oh the Books You Can Read,” which began, “So the book news you heard today just got your goose. And now you’re defensive for old Dr. Seuss. If you find that your bookshelf just got a little bit duller, consider these kids books from people of color.”
“There’s lots of new stories you might find quite good,” he continued, “like Imani’s Moon by Janay Brown-Wood. Want more suggestions? No need to keep hopin’. Just pick up Firebird by the Misty Copeland. And this one right here is the real real McCoy, it’s Thomisha Booker’s great book Brown Boy Joy. There’s a whole range of books that will make you feel merry, like this one called Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry.”
“So don’t be so cancel-y, culture-y, whiny,” Colbert concluded. “Read these books after pulling your head from your hiney.”
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Seuss Landing attraction could be changed at Universal Orlando
Universal Orlando said Tuesday that it has decided to pull the six Dr. Seuss books that will no longer be published from its shelves and is evaluating other changes that could be made. The books — including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo” — will stop being published because of racist and insensitive imagery, the business that preserves and protects the author’s legacy said Tuesday.“These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press in a statement that coincided with the late author and illustrator’s birthday.Universal Orlando’s Island of Adventure features a children’s area called Seuss Landing. One of the controversial books, “If I Ran a Zoo,” is featured at Seuss Landing, and Universal said on Tuesday that it is looking into possible changes to its in-park experience. A Universal spokesman told WESH 2 News “…we value our relationship with Seuss Enterprises. We’ve removed the books from our shelves as they have asked and we’ll be evaluating our in-park experience too.”Additionally, Orange County Public Schools officials made the following statement: “Today, the district was made aware that Dr. Seuss Enterprises decided to no longer publish six titles in their catalogue. In light of that decision, OCPS will be reviewing our media center collections. Literature is one of many ways that children learn how to relate to other people, and OCPS is committed to ensuring the books we share in our libraries honor all people and cultures.As we celebrate Read Across America Day, sponsored by the National Educational Association, our teachers are leading a wide variety of student activities that celebrate the importance and fun of reading.”
ORLANDO, Fla. —
Universal Orlando said Tuesday that it has decided to pull the six Dr. Seuss books that will no longer be published from its shelves and is evaluating other changes that could be made.
The books — including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo” — will stop being published because of racist and insensitive imagery, the business that preserves and protects the author’s legacy said Tuesday.
“These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press in a statement that coincided with the late author and illustrator’s birthday.
Universal Orlando’s Island of Adventure features a children’s area called Seuss Landing.
One of the controversial books, “If I Ran a Zoo,” is featured at Seuss Landing, and Universal said on Tuesday that it is looking into possible changes to its in-park experience.
A Universal spokesman told WESH 2 News “…we value our relationship with Seuss Enterprises. We’ve removed the books from our shelves as they have asked and we’ll be evaluating our in-park experience too.”
Additionally, Orange County Public Schools officials made the following statement:
“Today, the district was made aware that Dr. Seuss Enterprises decided to no longer publish six titles in their catalogue. In light of that decision, OCPS will be reviewing our media center collections. Literature is one of many ways that children learn how to relate to other people, and OCPS is committed to ensuring the books we share in our libraries honor all people and cultures.
As we celebrate Read Across America Day, sponsored by the National Educational Association, our teachers are leading a wide variety of student activities that celebrate the importance and fun of reading.”
6 Dr. Seuss books won’t be published for racist images
BOSTON (AP) — Six Dr. Seuss books — including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo” — will stop being published because of racist and insensitive imagery, the business that preserves and protects the author’s legacy said Tuesday.
“These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press in a statement that coincided with the late author and illustrator’s birthday.
“Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families,” it said.
The other books affected are “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!,” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”
The decision to cease publication and sales of the books was made last year after months of discussion, the company, which was founded by Seuss’ family, told AP.
“Dr. Seuss Enterprises listened and took feedback from our audiences including teachers, academics and specialists in the field as part of our review process. We then worked with a panel of experts, including educators, to review our catalog of titles,” it said.
In “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” an Asian person is portrayed wearing a conical hat, holding chopsticks, and eating from a bowl. “If I Ran the Zoo” includes a drawing of two bare-footed African men wearing what appear to be grass skirts with their hair tied above their heads.
Books by Dr. Seuss — who was born Theodor Seuss Geisel in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 2, 1904 —- have been translated into dozens of languages as well as in braille and are sold in more than 100 countries. He died in 1991.
He remains popular, earning an estimated $33 million before taxes in 2020, up from just $9.5 million five years ago, the company said. Forbes listed him No. 2 on its highest-paid dead celebrities of 2020, behind only the late pop star Michael Jackson.
Random House Children Books, Dr. Seuss’ publisher, issued a brief statement Tuesday: “We respect the decision of Dr. Seuss Enterprises (DSE) and the work of the panel that reviewed this content last year, and their recommendation.”
As adored as Dr. Seuss is by millions around the world for the positive values in many of his works, including environmentalism and tolerance, there has been increasing criticism in recent years over the way Blacks, Asians and others are drawn in some of his most beloved children’s books, as well as in his earlier advertising and propaganda illustrations.
The National Education Association, which founded Read Across America Day in 1998 and deliberately aligned it with Geisel’s birthday, has for several years deemphasized Seuss and encouraged a more diverse reading list for children.
School districts across the country have also moved away from Dr. Seuss, prompting Loudoun County, Virginia, schools just outside Washington, D.C., to douse rumors last month that they were banning the books entirely.
“Research in recent years has revealed strong racial undertones in many books written/illustrated by Dr. Seuss,” the school district said in a statement.
In 2017, a school librarian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, criticized a gift of 10 Seuss books from first lady Melania Trump, saying many of his works were “steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes.”
In 2018, a Dr. Seuss museum in his hometown of Springfield removed a mural that included an Asian stereotype.
“The Cat in the Hat,” one of Seuss’ most popular books, has received criticism, too, but will continue to be published for now.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises, however, said it is “committed to listening and learning and will continue to review our entire portfolio.”
The move to cease publication of the books drew immediate reaction on social media from those who called it another example of “cancel culture.”
“We’ve now got foundations book burning the authors to whom they are dedicated. Well done, everyone,” conservative commentator and author Ben Shapiro tweeted.
Others approved of the decision.
“The books we share with our children matter. Books shape their world view and tell them how to relate to the people, places, and ideas around them. As grown-ups, we have to examine the worldview we are creating for our children, including carefully re-examining our favorites,” Rebekah Fitzsimmons, an assistant teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon University, tweeted.
Numerous other popular children’s series have been criticized in recent years for alleged racism.
In the 2007 book, “Should We Burn Babar?,” the author and educator Herbert R. Kohl contended that the “Babar the Elephant” books were celebrations of colonialism because of how the title character leaves the jungle and later returns to “civilize” his fellow animals.
One of the books, “Babar’s Travels,” was removed from the shelves of a British library in 2012 because of its alleged stereotypes of Africans. Critics also have faulted the “Curious George” books for their premise of a white man bringing home a monkey from Africa.
And Laura Ingalls Wilder’s portrayals of Native Americans in her “Little House On the Prairie” novels have been faulted so often that the American Library Association removed her name in 2018 from a lifetime achievement award it gives out each year. The association still gives out the Geisel Award for “the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year.”
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AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed from New York.
Biden removes mention of Dr. Seuss from ‘Read Across America Day’
President Biden apparently removed mentions of Dr. Seuss from “Read Across America Day” amid scrutiny about the alleged “racial undertones” in the whimsical tales for children.
“Read Across America Day,” founded by the National Educational Association in 1998 as a way to promote children’s reading, is even celebrated on the author’s March 2 birthday.
In his presidential proclamation, Biden noted that “for many Americans, the path to literacy begins with story time in their school classroom,” USA Today reported.
But unlike his two predecessors, former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, Biden did not mention Dr. Seuss.
The move comes as Dr. Seuss’ work has generated controversy following a study highlighting a lack of diversity among the author’s characters.
“Of the 2,240 (identified) human characters, there are forty-five characters of color representing 2% of the total number of human characters,” according to a 2019 study from the Conscious Kid’s Library and the University of California that examined 50 of Dr. Seuss’ books.
Last week, a Virginia school district ordered its teachers to avoid “connecting Read Across America Day with Dr. Seuss,” because of recent research that have “revealed strong racial undertones” in many of the author’s books.