“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”“From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!”“Step with care and great tact, and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.”“I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.”“Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store.”“I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful one-hundred percent!”“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
Today is Dr. Seuss’s birthday. His books played a huge part in my life in helping me become a better reader. Dr. Suess books have been part of the National Association for Read Across America Program for over two decades.
I read these books to my younger sister and to my two daughters who just adored and devoured his stories. His books are poetic, funny, tongue-twisting, and downright silly.
These days, his books are now being considered racist because in this one article, “researchers concluded that only 2 percent of all the characters in Dr. Seuss books are characters of color. What’s more, that the majority of the depictions of these characters were aligned with harmful racial stereotypes and tropes.”… Instead we need to become, “more culturally responsive and racially conscious.”
I get this. But really? What do children ages 2-7 know about race and color? Unless we make it a big deal about differences of skin color, it will always be the focus. I have to believe we are brighter than the color our skin. Integrity sees no color. Respect sees no color. Talent sees no color. Goodness sees no color.
The Bible even tells us we are made in God’s image and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Let’s focus on that instead!
Psalm 139:13-16 13For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Unfortunately, we are living in #cancelculture where if it doesn’t agree with one group, we outright remove it. This Virginia school district is no longer emphasizing Dr. Suess books during #ReadAcrossAmerica. Look at what’s happened with #AuntJemima syrup and #MrPotatoHead, and countless other products.
How do writers become better writers if they are not reading different books? We can’t change history, but we can definitely learn from it.
“Only you can control your future.”
One writer had a good point from this article, “The point was, here’s what this book does well,” Saxena says. “Maybe they weren’t everybody’s favorite books, but they were good examples of … the craft of writing.”
“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
For as long as I’ve known, today is #DrSeuess birthday and today is #ReadAcrossAmerica.
References:
Is Dr. Seuss Racist? Is Dr. Seuss Canceled? Racist Undertones, Explained (distractify.com)
Six Dr. Seuss books won’t be published anymore due to racist imagery (msn.com)
Dr. Seuss Books Can Be Racist, But We Still Keep Reading Them : Code Switch : NPR