Dr. Seuss Controversy: Authors Boycott 'Racist Mural' in Springfield

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Controversy surrounding the work Dr. Seuss spotlighted by a Cambridgeport School Librarian continues this week in Springfield as three children's authors announced they would boycott a Children's Literature Festival there.

Authors Mo Willems, the writer and illustrator behind the Pigeon and Knuffle Bunny books, Lisa Yee and Mike Curato shared a joint letter explaining why they would not be attending the Oct. 14 event at The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum.

According to the trio, the decision was prompted by a mural currently on display at the museum, which depicts a “jarring racial stereotype.”

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The mural features illustrations from the Dr. Seuss's first children’s book, “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.” In the mural, a Chinese man is depicted with chopsticks, a pointed hat and slanted slits for eyes.

“We find this caricature of ‘the Chinaman’ deeply hurtful, and have concerns about children’s exposure to it,” the letter reads. “Displaying imagery this offensive damages not only Asian-American children, but also non-Asian kids who absorb this caricature and could associate it with all Asians or their Asian neighbors and classmates.”

The event, which has since been canceled, was described by the museum as “a day filled with books, costumed characters and famous authors.”

According to the Museum's spokesperson Karen Davis, organizers have not yet rescheduled the event.

In a statement, Susan Brandt, President, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. said organizers have begun working with an artist to create a new design.

Brandt said it will reflect Dr. Seuss’s body of work and could include a menagerie of beloved characters such as Marco from Mulberry Street, Thidwick the Big Hearted Moose, Sam I Am, Fox in Socks, Yertle the Turtle and others.

After the museum offered to take down the mural, the authors said they would attend, but the museum has not said if the festival is back on. Dr. Seuss, real name Theodor Geisel, was born and raised in Springfield. The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum opened in the city earlier this year.

Dr. Suess' work has been at the center of discussion in Cambridge as well as Springfield over the two weeks.

In late August, a Cambridge Public Schools librarian explained why her class would not be keeping a donation of books donated by First Lady Melania Trump.

In an open letter on the book review site, Horn Book, Cambridgeport elementary school librarian Liz Phipps Soeiro explained that her school already has thousands of books and noted there were schools in greater need of the donation. She also criticized the policies of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

In the post, Soeiro criticized Dr. Seuss’s illustrations as "steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes."

Open one of his books (If I Ran a Zoo or And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, for example), and you’ll see the racist mockery in his art. Grace Hwang Lynch’s School Library Journal article, “Is the Cat in the Hat Racist? Read Across America Shifts Away from Dr. Seuss and Toward Diverse Books,” reports on Katie Ishizuka’s work analyzing the minstrel characteristics and trope nature of Seuss’s characters. Scholar Philip Nel’s new book, Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books, further explores and shines a spotlight on the systemic racism and oppression in education and literature.

Less than a week later, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno fired back at a the Cambridgeport librarian, saying Soeiro had gone too far.

"'One fish - two fish - red fish - blue fish' - I think her comments 'stink' and are ridiculous towards our beloved Dr. Seuss," he said. "Her comments that this is 'racist propaganda and that Dr. Seuss is a bit of a cliche and a tired and worn ambassador for children's literature' is 'political correctness' at its worst."

(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Dr. Seuss' never-before-published book, 'What Pet Should I Get?' is seen on display on the day it is released for sale at the Books and Books store on July 28, 2015 in Coral Gables, United States. The manuscript by the author Theodor Geisel is reported to have been written in the 1950s or 1960s and stashed away in his office until his widow found it in 2013.