There are few children’s book authors who occupy their own section on the shelves of libraries and bookstores. Dr. Seuss is one of those authors. His works are classics and continue to be celebrated almost 90 years after his first book, And to think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was published in 1937. His books have sold over 650 million copies, have been professionally translated into 20 different languages, and have been made into tv shows, movies and a Broadway Musical. “Dr. Seuss’s long list of awards includes Caldecott Honors, the Pulitzer Prize, and eight honorary doctorates. Works based on his original stories have won three Oscars, three Emmys, three Grammys, and a Peabody,” (Dr. Seuss, 2026). To say that Dr. Seuss is an icon would be an understatement.

When I was deciding on an author for this assignment I really wanted to focus on a children’s book author, particularly an author of picture books. As a preschool teacher reading books in my classroom happens daily multiple times a day. Finding a children’s picture book author who had multiple book challenges was slightly difficult. There have been several challenged children’s picture books; In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak, And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson, My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kildavis, and I am Jazz by Jessica Herthel are just a few examples. When I saw that 6 of Dr. Seuss’s books had ceased being published due to racist imagery I was interested in learning more.

My school library has many Dr. Seuss books on the shelves, and they are frequently read in my classroom. Interestingly the library does not have any of the 6 books that are no longer being published. I am unaware if this was on purpose or our library simply never included them because they are not as well-known as some of his other books. Either way these are books that will not be used in my classroom. I wanted to explore why these books are no longer being published and what alternatives could be used instead.