Reports on social media claim that Virginia’s largest school district is the American author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as dr. Seuss, “canceled,” “because his books do not contain enough minority characters.” It’s misleading: Virginia’s Loundoun County Public Schools (LCPS), the state’s third largest school division (not the largest), bans Dr. Seuss. However, the author will no longer be the center of the national Read Across America Day celebration in the district’s schools. The district said it is aimed at encouraging children to read a variety of books rather than celebrating a single author, although it also calls some ‘strong racial undertones’ in some Dr Seuss work.
One message that reads’ Virginia’s largest school district has Dr. Seuss canceled because his books do not contain enough minority characters’, can be seen here and a following
On March 2, 2021, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the organization that manages the rights to his work, announced that six children’s books had been removed from publication by the author because they contained racist and insensitive images (here).
The claims spread online after conservative media reported on the subject with headlines that the Virginia school department had ‘canceled’ the author (here, here, here).
LCPS Public Information Officer Wayde B. Byard told Reuters in an email that they “did not cancel Dr. Seuss’ books.”
In a statement published here on their official website on February 27, 2021, the LCPS stated that the author will no longer be the focal point of their Read Across America Day, an annual event in the US aimed at encourage children and teens to read (here).
“Dr. Seuss’s books are not banned and are available to students in our libraries and classrooms. However, Dr. Seuss and his books are no longer the focus of Read Across America Day in Loudoun County Public Schools,” the statement said. “We encourage our young readers to read all kinds of books that are comprehensive, diverse and reflective of our student community, and not just to celebrate Dr. Seuss.”
As for the motive behind this decision, LCPS calls ‘strong racial undertones’ found in some of Dr Seuss’s work, according to recent research. The statement is linked to a 2018 report by the School Library Journal on the National Education Association (NEA) ‘turning point’ decision not to make the celebration just about Dr Seuss and to open it up to more racial writers (here).
Launched by the NEA in 1998, Reading Across America Day was historically celebrated on Geisel’s birthday of March 2 (here).
Until 2019, the association has a licensing agreement with Dr. Seuss Enterprises (here) had, with a Seuss character, the cat in the hat, which is part of the program’s logo (see here). It has shifted its focus away from the author (here) over the past few years.
The association says here that ‘the Read Across America brand is now one that is independent of any particular book, publisher or character’, due to a ‘growing need’ to promote and include different books.
VERDICT
Missing context. Virginia’s Loundoun County Public Schools District has not banned Dr. Seuss: according to the district, his books are still available to students in the schools’ libraries and classrooms, but Dr. Seuss will no longer be the focal point of the Read Across America Day celebration. .