Local library reacts to six Dr. Seuss books being pulled from publishing

OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – Earlier this week news broke that six of Dr. Seuss’s children’s books would no longer be published due to the way some characters are portrayed.

The titles included are ‘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’. Director of Fayette County Public Libraries Becky Kellum said that the news came as a surprise to her and isn’t sure why some of the books got placed on the list to begin with.

“I just was really surprised and I don’t know why they would pick some and not others,” said Director of Fayette County Public Libraries Becky Kellum.

Kellum says that some of these titles have been around since the 1950s and isn’t sure what all of their issues are, but she and the staff have gone through at least one of the books that the library has and found nothing that could be construed as inappropriate.

“Well we have one here, ‘On Beyond Zebra’, which is one the list,” Kellum said. “My staff and I looked through it and we really didn’t see anything in there that would be inappropriate. Some of the other ones we do have, but I haven’t gone and looked through them to determine what the issue is.”

The library does plan to keep the books on the shelves for people to check out if they so choose, but does have a process in which a complaint can be made about a book if someone has an issue.

“They would have to come to the library and speak to me,” said Kellum. “We have paperwork that we would have them sign, I would present it to the board, they would probably make the decision and that doesn’t mean we are going to pull it just because somebody has complained about it, but we will take it under consideration.”

All of the other Dr. Seuss books, aside from the six mentioned, will continue to be published.

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