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If I Ran the Zoo
Welcome to the crazy world of Gerald McGrew, who dreams of transforming his local zoo into a madcap menagerie of weird and wonderful beasts!
In this story, Gerald McGrew imagines the myriad of animals he'd have in his very own zoo, and the adventures he'll have to go on in order to gather them all. Featuring everything from a lion with ten feet to a Fizza-ma-Wizza-ma-Dill, this is a classic Seussian crowd-pleaser. In fact, one of Gerald's creatures has even become a part of the language: the Nerd!
By combining the funniest stories, craziest creatures, and zaniest pictures with his unique blend of rhyme, rhythm, and repetition, Dr Seuss helps children of all ages and abilities learn to read in this Caldecott Honor-winning picture book.
In this story, Gerald McGrew imagines the myriad of animals he'd have in his very own zoo, and the adventures he'll have to go on in order to gather them all. Featuring everything from a lion with ten feet to a Fizza-ma-Wizza-ma-Dill, this is a classic Seussian crowd-pleaser. In fact, one of Gerald's creatures has even become a part of the language: the Nerd!
By combining the funniest stories, craziest creatures, and zaniest pictures with his unique blend of rhyme, rhythm, and repetition, Dr Seuss helps children of all ages and abilities learn to read in this Caldecott Honor-winning picture book.
64 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 1950
222 people are currently reading
3328 people want to read
About the author
Dr. Seuss
962 books18.2k followersAlso wrote as Theodore Seuss Geisel, see https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Theodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both cartoons and humorous articles for them. Additionally, he was submitting cartoons to Life, Vanity Fair and Liberty. In some of his works, he'd made reference to an insecticide called Flit. These references gained notice, and led to a contract to draw comic ads for Flit. This association lasted 17 years, gained him national exposure, and coined the catchphrase "Quick, Henry, the Flit!"
In 1936 on the way to a vacation in Europe, listening to the rhythm of the ship's engines, he came up with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was then promptly rejected by the first 43 publishers he showed it to. Eventually in 1937 a friend published the book for him, and it went on to at least moderate success.
During World War II, Geisel joined the army and was sent to Hollywood. Captain Geisel would write for Frank Capra's Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries (he won Oscar's for Hitler Lives and Design for Death). He also created a cartoon called Gerald McBoing-Boing which also won him an Oscar.
In May of 1954, Life published a report concerning illiteracy among school children. The report said, among other things, that children were having trouble to read because their books were boring. This inspired Geisel's publisher, and prompted him to send Geisel a list of 400 words he felt were important, asked him to cut the list to 250 words (the publishers idea of how many words at one time a first grader could absorb), and write a book. Nine months later, Geisel, using 220 of the words given to him published The Cat in the Hat , which went on to instant success.
In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn't write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham . Cerf never paid the $50 from the bet.
Helen Palmer Geisel died in 1967. Theodor Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond in 1968. Theodor Seuss Geisel died 24 September 1991.
Also worked under the pen name: Theo Le Sieg
Theodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both cartoons and humorous articles for them. Additionally, he was submitting cartoons to Life, Vanity Fair and Liberty. In some of his works, he'd made reference to an insecticide called Flit. These references gained notice, and led to a contract to draw comic ads for Flit. This association lasted 17 years, gained him national exposure, and coined the catchphrase "Quick, Henry, the Flit!"
In 1936 on the way to a vacation in Europe, listening to the rhythm of the ship's engines, he came up with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was then promptly rejected by the first 43 publishers he showed it to. Eventually in 1937 a friend published the book for him, and it went on to at least moderate success.
During World War II, Geisel joined the army and was sent to Hollywood. Captain Geisel would write for Frank Capra's Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries (he won Oscar's for Hitler Lives and Design for Death). He also created a cartoon called Gerald McBoing-Boing which also won him an Oscar.
In May of 1954, Life published a report concerning illiteracy among school children. The report said, among other things, that children were having trouble to read because their books were boring. This inspired Geisel's publisher, and prompted him to send Geisel a list of 400 words he felt were important, asked him to cut the list to 250 words (the publishers idea of how many words at one time a first grader could absorb), and write a book. Nine months later, Geisel, using 220 of the words given to him published The Cat in the Hat , which went on to instant success.
In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn't write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham . Cerf never paid the $50 from the bet.
Helen Palmer Geisel died in 1967. Theodor Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond in 1968. Theodor Seuss Geisel died 24 September 1991.
Also worked under the pen name: Theo Le Sieg
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 677 reviews
March 1, 2025
It’s nice to have a zany sense of humour - most of the time!
Dr. Seuss, of course, was a master of zaniness. And If I Ran the Zoo takes Zany to new limits.
In it, a little kid named McGrew dreams of turning the town zoo into a home for mythical, magical beasts - who become more and more weird with each turning page.
Now I know why I always had an off-the-wall sense of humour!
Too much Dr. Seuss did it - back in those dreary and repressive 1950’s. I was like a tot who’s always high on sugar!
In later life I would pay for those highs in my life, and learn a valuable lesson from them...
Mike was the name of a bright and capable young man who used to work for me, back in the long-ago office days of my mid-career.
One day my director, Brian, contacted me to say Mike had been promoted, and he wanted to give him the good news in his office.
Well, with my downright ugly sense of humour I suggested we play a bit of a joke on poor Mike...
I was the officer in charge of directorate office inventory, on top of my project load - the inventory work meant keeping tabs on furniture and more valuable items - and Mike did most of the hands-on tabulating.
Dumb me - I suggested (concocting my outrageous joke) that the director call the meeting for the purpose of finding some missing computer hardware, and figuring out who was responsible for the theft!
Meaning the prime unmentioned suspect was Mike.
Well, we pulled that ugly joke off - but Mike never respected me again because of it. Rightfully so - my dumb bipolar antics always had a mean streak!
Reminds me of another contemporaneous incident... another coworker, also named Mike - an off-the-wall red-blooded American engineer - worked for an earnestly serious guy upstairs, whose surname was Proctor.
This other Mike (brimming over with one-liners) casually referred to his boss as 'Doc Proc.'
Crack me up? I thought I'd die.
However, those days are now just another of Bullwinkle's Fractured Tales for me now. Too wild by half...
And, you know, books like Dr. Seuss’s, full of outrageous beasties, were common in the distant history of medieval times...
They were called Bestiaries, and each magical beast came with a moral. The Griffin, for example - half eagle, half lion - was a symbol of the Lord on Judgement Day.
Yikes.
I’m sure He'll make some mention to me and Mike of our outrageous pranks on those days. Things which we'd prefer to say we never did, cause our punishments will fit our crimes.
If only my role model, Dr. Seuss, had embedded more valuable life lessons for kids into his stories!
But genius charts its own course, as always, and Dr. Seuss was a free spirit.
And the moral of my long story?
Sure, you can be a little zany...
But never use your practical jokes to make someone else’s life miserable!
Dr. Seuss, of course, was a master of zaniness. And If I Ran the Zoo takes Zany to new limits.
In it, a little kid named McGrew dreams of turning the town zoo into a home for mythical, magical beasts - who become more and more weird with each turning page.
Now I know why I always had an off-the-wall sense of humour!
Too much Dr. Seuss did it - back in those dreary and repressive 1950’s. I was like a tot who’s always high on sugar!
In later life I would pay for those highs in my life, and learn a valuable lesson from them...
Mike was the name of a bright and capable young man who used to work for me, back in the long-ago office days of my mid-career.
One day my director, Brian, contacted me to say Mike had been promoted, and he wanted to give him the good news in his office.
Well, with my downright ugly sense of humour I suggested we play a bit of a joke on poor Mike...
I was the officer in charge of directorate office inventory, on top of my project load - the inventory work meant keeping tabs on furniture and more valuable items - and Mike did most of the hands-on tabulating.
Dumb me - I suggested (concocting my outrageous joke) that the director call the meeting for the purpose of finding some missing computer hardware, and figuring out who was responsible for the theft!
Meaning the prime unmentioned suspect was Mike.
Well, we pulled that ugly joke off - but Mike never respected me again because of it. Rightfully so - my dumb bipolar antics always had a mean streak!
Reminds me of another contemporaneous incident... another coworker, also named Mike - an off-the-wall red-blooded American engineer - worked for an earnestly serious guy upstairs, whose surname was Proctor.
This other Mike (brimming over with one-liners) casually referred to his boss as 'Doc Proc.'
Crack me up? I thought I'd die.
However, those days are now just another of Bullwinkle's Fractured Tales for me now. Too wild by half...
And, you know, books like Dr. Seuss’s, full of outrageous beasties, were common in the distant history of medieval times...
They were called Bestiaries, and each magical beast came with a moral. The Griffin, for example - half eagle, half lion - was a symbol of the Lord on Judgement Day.
Yikes.
I’m sure He'll make some mention to me and Mike of our outrageous pranks on those days. Things which we'd prefer to say we never did, cause our punishments will fit our crimes.
If only my role model, Dr. Seuss, had embedded more valuable life lessons for kids into his stories!
But genius charts its own course, as always, and Dr. Seuss was a free spirit.
And the moral of my long story?
Sure, you can be a little zany...
But never use your practical jokes to make someone else’s life miserable!
April 4, 2017
Quite a ride in a zoo!
WANTED: ZOOKEEPER
But if I ran the zoo,
Said young Gerald McGrew,
I’d make a few changes.
That’s just what I’d do…
It’s a wonderful tale about a young kid imagining what kind of animals,...
...from every strange and oddball places around the world,...
...he’d bring to the zoo and it that way to attract more audience to it.
Illustrates quite well, again, the theme of “Dream Bigger”, but...
...again, the ending (I won’t tell! Don't worry!) is kinda anti-climatic for my particular taste, but still a worthy reading.
It’s said that it’s not about the finish but the journey, but I think that a good ending always it’s relevant for the overall reading experience of a story.
WANTED: ZOOKEEPER
But if I ran the zoo,
Said young Gerald McGrew,
I’d make a few changes.
That’s just what I’d do…
It’s a wonderful tale about a young kid imagining what kind of animals,...
...from every strange and oddball places around the world,...
...he’d bring to the zoo and it that way to attract more audience to it.
Illustrates quite well, again, the theme of “Dream Bigger”, but...
...again, the ending (I won’t tell! Don't worry!) is kinda anti-climatic for my particular taste, but still a worthy reading.
It’s said that it’s not about the finish but the journey, but I think that a good ending always it’s relevant for the overall reading experience of a story.
December 14, 2016
Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss, with his nonsensical words and lovable creatures? This was an adorable story of what a boy imagines he would put in his zoo if it were his, to make it the best zoo in the world. One of a kind creatures, he reasons would surely draw customers and they would be awed at his skill of obtaining (by himself) these hard to find animals from far off places.
We liked this very much, and had many laughs with the story and pictures.
We liked this very much, and had many laughs with the story and pictures.
October 15, 2018
Probably the only Suess book I’ve read that just... doesn’t work?
Reading these rhymes out loud was difficult, and not in a fun way. The sentences were way too long and stretched oddly to make them rhyme. It just didn’t flow well?
But the worst part is the casual racism? While imagining capturing dozens of fictional animals for his zoo, a little boy just mentions “helpers with their eyes all at a slant” and casually jokes about bringing one back too??? It was gross
Reading these rhymes out loud was difficult, and not in a fun way. The sentences were way too long and stretched oddly to make them rhyme. It just didn’t flow well?
But the worst part is the casual racism? While imagining capturing dozens of fictional animals for his zoo, a little boy just mentions “helpers with their eyes all at a slant” and casually jokes about bringing one back too??? It was gross
January 2, 2016
While on the project of re-reading classic children's books with my nine year old brother, If I Ran The Zoo, was the third book of our expedition into Dr. Seuss's world.
Exactly like all of his other books, this one was great. A little journey into weird, and extraordinary nooks all over the fantasy world with one goal, to find and capture, unique animals and bring them back to the new zoo.
The Zoo McGrew, made by little Gerald McGrew, is the place to be if you are an amazing animal, or a curious person. The only place all over the world to see all those unbelievable animals together.
The story was cute, sweet,imaginative, with incredible illustrations and a nice vibe all over. We had a good time reading it, and we laughed a lot while on it.
Gerald McGrew craves to overshadow every other person in his family and
become a legendary Zoo keeper, hopefully one day he will..
Exactly like all of his other books, this one was great. A little journey into weird, and extraordinary nooks all over the fantasy world with one goal, to find and capture, unique animals and bring them back to the new zoo.
The Zoo McGrew, made by little Gerald McGrew, is the place to be if you are an amazing animal, or a curious person. The only place all over the world to see all those unbelievable animals together.
The story was cute, sweet,imaginative, with incredible illustrations and a nice vibe all over. We had a good time reading it, and we laughed a lot while on it.
Gerald McGrew craves to overshadow every other person in his family and
become a legendary Zoo keeper, hopefully one day he will..
November 24, 2009
I don't believe in banning books, but I wish I had been warned about this book. There are, to me, very offensive depictions and descriptions of Asians and Africans in this book. When I turned the page and saw the "helpers who all wear their eyes at a slant", I felt as though a hand had reached up and slapped me.
I love many of Dr. Seuss's books and their messages, but I'll have to let this one by. It's just too hurtful.
I love many of Dr. Seuss's books and their messages, but I'll have to let this one by. It's just too hurtful.
December 6, 2017
Dr. Seuss' famous trademark for his children's book are the rhyming and made-up words, which I have enjoyed in this tale. Once more, he showcased how a child's imagination is immense just like how creative Gerald McGrew is in the story.
February 14, 2023
Oh, the outrage! The gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair this week by such enlightened guardians of our culture and mores, such towering luminaries as little Donny Jr and fathead Ted Cruz!
If I only had a little more time and gave a little more of a darn, I’d write this whole review in anapestic tetrameter...
So Rafael Edward he started to cry,
He gnashed and he clashed and he said, Oh God why?
Oh why have you forsaken Amurka our nation?
Oh why have you let them perform Seuss cancellation?
Then Donny the Little he put down his guns
And looked for a book but he found he had none;
So he asked his dull namesake what the fuss was about
And Donny the big said it was Antifa’s fault
And the Mooslims and blacks and the work of the Jews
To cancel this fellow, the good doctor named Seuss.
Thus Donny the Junior fell into a fuss
That he started to tweet and he started to muss
And he soiled himself with a fierce indignation
All because of this liberal Seuss condemnation.
And Kevin McCarthy read Green Eggs and Ham
On the floor of the House and he called it a sham
That these Mooslims and Jews and these Antifa folks
Would turn our great nation into such a bad joke.
Why can’t we, he asked, return to the days
When blacks knew their places and we had no gays?
When Arabs were funny and Chinese were slow?
When white men like him were in charge of the show?
So...that’s all I got this morning. I have work to do.
++++++++++++++
More than anything, I suppose, the timing this week caught these conservative snowflakes off guard. There it was, Theodore Geisel’s 117th birthday and Read Across America Day to boot, and they awake to the Internet screaming that the good doctor had been canceled and there would be no more Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham for anybody ever again...and in the wake of what these monsters had just done to poor Mr. Potato Head? For shame, America!
Except it was the Seuss estate itself that made the announcement. And it was six books, four of which don’t get read that much anyway. And so instead of being some evil plot by AOC and her atheistic socialistic cabal of American-hating women and people of color, this decision was actually made by a corporation bent on protecting its brand and increasing its future revenues, a private choice based on capitalist concerns, although it immediately gave rise to an illiberal tempest in a teacup stoked by Republican politicians who had themselves just been attempting to overthrow American democracy only weeks before.
Ah, the irony of it all...
So I went down into the basement and pulled out my copy of If I Ran the Zoo and gave it my first read in twenty-some years. It’s okay, not one of the great ones, but standard fare from the doctor, whimsical art and brilliantly rhymed narrative that just flows off the tongue in typical Seuss style. And just so you understand where I'm coming from, "okay" by these standards is better than just about anything by just about any other children's author. So, if we're talking Seussical standards this book gets three stars. But feel free to grant it five if we are talking about children's lit in general.
And yet, despite that high praise, here in this fantasy of young Gerald McGrew who imagines what he would do if he ran the zoo, replacing the everyday lions and tigers with more whimsical, exotic beasts from faraway, make-believe lands, Seuss does transgress a number of our polite contemporary cultural boundaries with his stereotypical depictions of the people of these foreign locales, and that includes a whole laundry list of different folks: Africans, Persians, East Asians, Arabs, Russians, et al, including a lot of dopey looking white Americans. The context is all, as Hamlet might have said...
But does that free up Seuss from any and all contemporary criticism? No siree, Bob. I’m not going to link to any of it here, but Seuss has indeed drawn quite a lot of offensive racist caricatures, some of which are not only horrifying to us today but were shameful back when he drew them in the '20s and '30s. You can find it all on the Interwebs, along with cosplay porn, Alex Jones, and bum fights. (Look for Seuss racist pics at Snopes, if you want a good source.) Viewing these images today makes it hard to wrap one’s head around how the author of Yertle the Turtle, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book or The Sneetches could have ever drawn such awful pictures. But Theodore Geisel was not a real doctor; nor was he a perfect human being.
I read Dr. Seuss as a boy back in the '60s and I read it to my own children in the '90s, and we all turned out okay. And even better than okay. And so one day I’ll read him to my grandchildren, guilt-free, including If I Ran the Zoo, if it’s still on the shelf down in my basement by then.
++++++++++++++
And here’s a piece from today’s Trib by our resident book critic, the Biblioracle, John Warner...he says it all far better than me but without the rhymes. It’s definitely worth a read, "Dr. Seuss Was Canceled? Nope. The Books Needed to Go":
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...
If I only had a little more time and gave a little more of a darn, I’d write this whole review in anapestic tetrameter...
So Rafael Edward he started to cry,
He gnashed and he clashed and he said, Oh God why?
Oh why have you forsaken Amurka our nation?
Oh why have you let them perform Seuss cancellation?
Then Donny the Little he put down his guns
And looked for a book but he found he had none;
So he asked his dull namesake what the fuss was about
And Donny the big said it was Antifa’s fault
And the Mooslims and blacks and the work of the Jews
To cancel this fellow, the good doctor named Seuss.
Thus Donny the Junior fell into a fuss
That he started to tweet and he started to muss
And he soiled himself with a fierce indignation
All because of this liberal Seuss condemnation.
And Kevin McCarthy read Green Eggs and Ham
On the floor of the House and he called it a sham
That these Mooslims and Jews and these Antifa folks
Would turn our great nation into such a bad joke.
Why can’t we, he asked, return to the days
When blacks knew their places and we had no gays?
When Arabs were funny and Chinese were slow?
When white men like him were in charge of the show?
So...that’s all I got this morning. I have work to do.
++++++++++++++
More than anything, I suppose, the timing this week caught these conservative snowflakes off guard. There it was, Theodore Geisel’s 117th birthday and Read Across America Day to boot, and they awake to the Internet screaming that the good doctor had been canceled and there would be no more Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham for anybody ever again...and in the wake of what these monsters had just done to poor Mr. Potato Head? For shame, America!
Except it was the Seuss estate itself that made the announcement. And it was six books, four of which don’t get read that much anyway. And so instead of being some evil plot by AOC and her atheistic socialistic cabal of American-hating women and people of color, this decision was actually made by a corporation bent on protecting its brand and increasing its future revenues, a private choice based on capitalist concerns, although it immediately gave rise to an illiberal tempest in a teacup stoked by Republican politicians who had themselves just been attempting to overthrow American democracy only weeks before.
Ah, the irony of it all...
So I went down into the basement and pulled out my copy of If I Ran the Zoo and gave it my first read in twenty-some years. It’s okay, not one of the great ones, but standard fare from the doctor, whimsical art and brilliantly rhymed narrative that just flows off the tongue in typical Seuss style. And just so you understand where I'm coming from, "okay" by these standards is better than just about anything by just about any other children's author. So, if we're talking Seussical standards this book gets three stars. But feel free to grant it five if we are talking about children's lit in general.
And yet, despite that high praise, here in this fantasy of young Gerald McGrew who imagines what he would do if he ran the zoo, replacing the everyday lions and tigers with more whimsical, exotic beasts from faraway, make-believe lands, Seuss does transgress a number of our polite contemporary cultural boundaries with his stereotypical depictions of the people of these foreign locales, and that includes a whole laundry list of different folks: Africans, Persians, East Asians, Arabs, Russians, et al, including a lot of dopey looking white Americans. The context is all, as Hamlet might have said...
But does that free up Seuss from any and all contemporary criticism? No siree, Bob. I’m not going to link to any of it here, but Seuss has indeed drawn quite a lot of offensive racist caricatures, some of which are not only horrifying to us today but were shameful back when he drew them in the '20s and '30s. You can find it all on the Interwebs, along with cosplay porn, Alex Jones, and bum fights. (Look for Seuss racist pics at Snopes, if you want a good source.) Viewing these images today makes it hard to wrap one’s head around how the author of Yertle the Turtle, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book or The Sneetches could have ever drawn such awful pictures. But Theodore Geisel was not a real doctor; nor was he a perfect human being.
I read Dr. Seuss as a boy back in the '60s and I read it to my own children in the '90s, and we all turned out okay. And even better than okay. And so one day I’ll read him to my grandchildren, guilt-free, including If I Ran the Zoo, if it’s still on the shelf down in my basement by then.
++++++++++++++
And here’s a piece from today’s Trib by our resident book critic, the Biblioracle, John Warner...he says it all far better than me but without the rhymes. It’s definitely worth a read, "Dr. Seuss Was Canceled? Nope. The Books Needed to Go":
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...
May 7, 2021
Brilliant Dr. Seuss with some of the best tongue twisting names for animals and areas of the world you could ever hope to find. A firm favorite in our story book collection - I enjoy reading it to the children as much as they like listening to it.
March 26, 2021
Visiting the city zoo in this rhyming romp of a picture-book, young Gerald McGrew imagines what he would do, if he were in charge. Setting free all of the "boring" animals like lions and tigers, he would go on a worldwide hunt for more unusual creatures, from a ten-footed lion to an Elephant-Cat. What follows is an ever more imaginative list of fictional creatures that Gerald would track down and capture, to make McGrew's Zoo the best in the world...
Originally published in 1950, and awarded a Caldecott Honor in 1951, If I Ran the Zoo was Dr. Seuss' eighth picture-book, and feels very much akin to the earlier McElligot's Pool , published in 1947, and also awarded a Caldecott Honor (in 1948). Both books contain a wildly creative list of fictional creatures - fish and other aquatic life in McElligot's Pool , terrestrial and avian species in If I Ran the Zoo - all dreamt up by the young boy-narrator. Both also feature Seuss' strikingly expressive cartoon-style artwork that makes such excellent use of color and form to create a visual landscape full of both wonder and humor. In McElligot's Pool , the artwork alternated to great effect between black-and-white drawings and full-color watercolor paintings, whereas here, the illustrations are done in black line, with full color accents. This latter may take the form of colorful figures against a white page, or it may consist of a page that is itself a deep color - the black background on the page with the Iota, or the red background behind the family of deer with interconnected horns (AKA antlers) - but in either case, the result is far more colorful than in many of the artist's previous titles. It's easy to see why both of these books received the Caldecott Honor, and it's tempting to read them as companions to one another, although I am aware of the subsequent If I Ran the Circus (1956), which might also be considered a companion.
The text in If I Ran the Zoo seems to offer a further development of Dr. Seuss' wordplay, as there are far more made-up creatures here than in any previous titles - Joats, Lunks, Iotas, Thwerlls, Chuggs, Tufted Mazurkas, and so on - and more onomatopoeic adaptations of existing words: "And, speaking of birds, there's the Russian Palooski, / Whose headski is redski and belly is blueski. / I'll get one of them for my Zooski McGrewski." Unlike so many of Seuss' other books, I never read this one as a child - this is, in fact, my first encounter with it - but if I had, I can imagine that I might well have loved it for its inventiveness. Then again, I might well have loathed it for its blithe acceptance of the idea of hunting down and imprisoning the marvelous, or for its snide attitude toward some of the people Gerald encounters. More on that anon. I chose to finally pick it up at this moment in time because I am currently undertaking a Seuss retrospective, in which I will be reading and reviewing all forty-four of his classic picture-books, in chronological publication order. This is a project that I began as an act of personal protest against the suppression of six of the author/artist's titles - this one, as well as And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , McElligot's Pool , Scrambled Eggs Super! , On Beyond Zebra! and The Cat's Quizzer - by Dr. Seuss Enterprises, an action I consider both absurd and ill-judged.
I am opposed to this decision on the part of Dr. Seuss Enterprises both on principle - the effects of self-censorship on the part of publishers and news media being every bit as deleterious to a culture of free expression, as anything a tyrannical government could enact - and, in the case of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and McElligot's Pool , reviewed previously, on the merits of the individual books themselves. Although there were caricatures in these two earlier titles that I found to be racially and culturally insensitive, they lacked the kind of animus I would think necessary for them to be judged racist, or for any kind of action to reasonably be taken against them (assuming one believed that such an action should ever be taken in the first place). That is, of course, a subjective judgment, and I understand it is by no means universal. As I mentioned in my review of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , it is not my place to tell others what they should find offensive or hurtful in the books they read, any more than it is their place to tell me. Unlike some of the self-appointed guardians of morality out there who seem to be applauding this development in censoriousness, I myself was not offended by the titles in question, and did not find them hateful. Sadly, I cannot say the same with this one.
Unlike the aforementioned caricatures in And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and McElligot's Pool , I found the ostensibly offensive elements in If I Ran the Zoo truly objectionable. I think the difference is that in the earlier books, the depictions in question - the Chinese man with sticks in And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , the "Eskimo" (AKA Inuit) man next to his igloo in McElligot's Pool - were not demeaning, even though they were satirical, and relied upon stereotype (the Chinese person with chopsticks, the Inuit person in the furry anorak). One could argue that all of Seuss' work is satirical, and that everyone depicted in his books is a bit of a caricature, whatever their racial and cultural background. Here however, the non-European characters are all depicted in ways that not only draw attention to their racial status - the Asian helpers who, according to the text, "all wear their eyes at a slant" - but also invariably show them in subservient roles, or else equate them to animals. The aforementioned Asian helpers who go marching along, carrying a cage on their heads, with Gerald McGrew confidently riding along on top. The tribal chieftain from the Desert of Zind, who, like his Mulligatawny steed, would make a good addition to the zoo, in the narrator's opinion. The eight Persian Princes carrying the Gusset, Gherkin, Gasket and Gootch, whose names (unlike those of the animals they carry) don't need to be remembered. The two little beings - apparently meant to be Central African pygmies? - who carry the Tufted Mazurka from the African island of Yerka, whom I didn't even realize were meant to be human at first, given their depiction. All of these scenes were deeply distasteful to me, and so too was the overarching story-line. The idea of scouring the world for the most wondrous and magical of creatures, only to shove them into tiny cages, would have deeply distressed me as a child, and makes me faintly queasy even now, as an adult.
Clearly, If I Ran the Zoo isn't destined to become one of my favorites, when it comes to Dr. Seuss' work, and I can understand why other readers have found it so offensive, given my own reaction to it. As mentioned above, I am opposed to the suppression of this or any other book, through any form of censorship (including self censorship on the part of the publisher or copyright holder), and I certainly did not approach it with any predisposition to disapprove of it. Nevertheless, disapprove of it I did, and I would not choose to recommend it to, nor to share it with young people, nor would I condemn others - parents, teachers, librarians, storytellers - from following that same course. By the same token however, I would not condemn those who continue to read the book, either to themselves or to the children in their care, and I cannot approve of that choice being taken away from them. They are not bound by my opinions, or by the opinions of any other. In a free society it is no one's place to tell them what they should and should not read, and how they should interpret what they do read. I have seen the argument advanced that the suppression of these Dr. Seuss books is meant, like all forms of (supposedly) benign censorship, to prevent harm, but I think the harm created by the suppression of any work of art and/or literature far outweighs any potential harm created by the consumption of that work of art or literature. People like to decide these things for themselves. I know I do, and I reject outright the idea that I should substitute another's judgment for my own. Thus far in my reading project, I have found two cases where I didn't agree with the critics, and one where I did. I will continue to read, and to think for myself, and hope others will as well. Those who would deny me that right would do well to recall that forbidding something, even obliquely, through suppression rather than outright ban, is to give it great power. In the end, censorious acts are not just totalitarian in nature, but ultimately both stupid and futile.
Originally published in 1950, and awarded a Caldecott Honor in 1951, If I Ran the Zoo was Dr. Seuss' eighth picture-book, and feels very much akin to the earlier McElligot's Pool , published in 1947, and also awarded a Caldecott Honor (in 1948). Both books contain a wildly creative list of fictional creatures - fish and other aquatic life in McElligot's Pool , terrestrial and avian species in If I Ran the Zoo - all dreamt up by the young boy-narrator. Both also feature Seuss' strikingly expressive cartoon-style artwork that makes such excellent use of color and form to create a visual landscape full of both wonder and humor. In McElligot's Pool , the artwork alternated to great effect between black-and-white drawings and full-color watercolor paintings, whereas here, the illustrations are done in black line, with full color accents. This latter may take the form of colorful figures against a white page, or it may consist of a page that is itself a deep color - the black background on the page with the Iota, or the red background behind the family of deer with interconnected horns (AKA antlers) - but in either case, the result is far more colorful than in many of the artist's previous titles. It's easy to see why both of these books received the Caldecott Honor, and it's tempting to read them as companions to one another, although I am aware of the subsequent If I Ran the Circus (1956), which might also be considered a companion.
The text in If I Ran the Zoo seems to offer a further development of Dr. Seuss' wordplay, as there are far more made-up creatures here than in any previous titles - Joats, Lunks, Iotas, Thwerlls, Chuggs, Tufted Mazurkas, and so on - and more onomatopoeic adaptations of existing words: "And, speaking of birds, there's the Russian Palooski, / Whose headski is redski and belly is blueski. / I'll get one of them for my Zooski McGrewski." Unlike so many of Seuss' other books, I never read this one as a child - this is, in fact, my first encounter with it - but if I had, I can imagine that I might well have loved it for its inventiveness. Then again, I might well have loathed it for its blithe acceptance of the idea of hunting down and imprisoning the marvelous, or for its snide attitude toward some of the people Gerald encounters. More on that anon. I chose to finally pick it up at this moment in time because I am currently undertaking a Seuss retrospective, in which I will be reading and reviewing all forty-four of his classic picture-books, in chronological publication order. This is a project that I began as an act of personal protest against the suppression of six of the author/artist's titles - this one, as well as And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , McElligot's Pool , Scrambled Eggs Super! , On Beyond Zebra! and The Cat's Quizzer - by Dr. Seuss Enterprises, an action I consider both absurd and ill-judged.
I am opposed to this decision on the part of Dr. Seuss Enterprises both on principle - the effects of self-censorship on the part of publishers and news media being every bit as deleterious to a culture of free expression, as anything a tyrannical government could enact - and, in the case of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and McElligot's Pool , reviewed previously, on the merits of the individual books themselves. Although there were caricatures in these two earlier titles that I found to be racially and culturally insensitive, they lacked the kind of animus I would think necessary for them to be judged racist, or for any kind of action to reasonably be taken against them (assuming one believed that such an action should ever be taken in the first place). That is, of course, a subjective judgment, and I understand it is by no means universal. As I mentioned in my review of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , it is not my place to tell others what they should find offensive or hurtful in the books they read, any more than it is their place to tell me. Unlike some of the self-appointed guardians of morality out there who seem to be applauding this development in censoriousness, I myself was not offended by the titles in question, and did not find them hateful. Sadly, I cannot say the same with this one.
Unlike the aforementioned caricatures in And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and McElligot's Pool , I found the ostensibly offensive elements in If I Ran the Zoo truly objectionable. I think the difference is that in the earlier books, the depictions in question - the Chinese man with sticks in And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street , the "Eskimo" (AKA Inuit) man next to his igloo in McElligot's Pool - were not demeaning, even though they were satirical, and relied upon stereotype (the Chinese person with chopsticks, the Inuit person in the furry anorak). One could argue that all of Seuss' work is satirical, and that everyone depicted in his books is a bit of a caricature, whatever their racial and cultural background. Here however, the non-European characters are all depicted in ways that not only draw attention to their racial status - the Asian helpers who, according to the text, "all wear their eyes at a slant" - but also invariably show them in subservient roles, or else equate them to animals. The aforementioned Asian helpers who go marching along, carrying a cage on their heads, with Gerald McGrew confidently riding along on top. The tribal chieftain from the Desert of Zind, who, like his Mulligatawny steed, would make a good addition to the zoo, in the narrator's opinion. The eight Persian Princes carrying the Gusset, Gherkin, Gasket and Gootch, whose names (unlike those of the animals they carry) don't need to be remembered. The two little beings - apparently meant to be Central African pygmies? - who carry the Tufted Mazurka from the African island of Yerka, whom I didn't even realize were meant to be human at first, given their depiction. All of these scenes were deeply distasteful to me, and so too was the overarching story-line. The idea of scouring the world for the most wondrous and magical of creatures, only to shove them into tiny cages, would have deeply distressed me as a child, and makes me faintly queasy even now, as an adult.
Clearly, If I Ran the Zoo isn't destined to become one of my favorites, when it comes to Dr. Seuss' work, and I can understand why other readers have found it so offensive, given my own reaction to it. As mentioned above, I am opposed to the suppression of this or any other book, through any form of censorship (including self censorship on the part of the publisher or copyright holder), and I certainly did not approach it with any predisposition to disapprove of it. Nevertheless, disapprove of it I did, and I would not choose to recommend it to, nor to share it with young people, nor would I condemn others - parents, teachers, librarians, storytellers - from following that same course. By the same token however, I would not condemn those who continue to read the book, either to themselves or to the children in their care, and I cannot approve of that choice being taken away from them. They are not bound by my opinions, or by the opinions of any other. In a free society it is no one's place to tell them what they should and should not read, and how they should interpret what they do read. I have seen the argument advanced that the suppression of these Dr. Seuss books is meant, like all forms of (supposedly) benign censorship, to prevent harm, but I think the harm created by the suppression of any work of art and/or literature far outweighs any potential harm created by the consumption of that work of art or literature. People like to decide these things for themselves. I know I do, and I reject outright the idea that I should substitute another's judgment for my own. Thus far in my reading project, I have found two cases where I didn't agree with the critics, and one where I did. I will continue to read, and to think for myself, and hope others will as well. Those who would deny me that right would do well to recall that forbidding something, even obliquely, through suppression rather than outright ban, is to give it great power. In the end, censorious acts are not just totalitarian in nature, but ultimately both stupid and futile.
October 21, 2021
Interesting to see the possible origin of the term "nerd"...
January 23, 2011
Mainly due to the phrase "helpers who all wear their eyes at a slant", I can not recommend this book. I was surprised and not expecting to encounter such a statement in a Dr. Seuss book. Guess that showed me. Luckily, I tend to read ahead in my mind and skipped that entire part when reading to my children. People who excuse such comments based on when the book was written annoy me. Because the book was written in 1950, that makes it ok for me to read it to my kids? I do not think so. Otherwise, this book is good, another imagination gone wild, with crazy weird animals all over. My boys enjoyed it, which is why I am rating 3 stars instead of less.
January 18, 2018
This review was originally written for The Baby Bookworm. Visit us for new picture books reviews daily!
Summer Reading Day 48: Today was a busy day, but we managed to squeeze in our book, If I Ran The Zoo by Dr. Seuss. So.... I had not read this book in a very long time, but we just got a new copy of it at the library. So I thought, who doesn't love Dr. Seuss, and brought it home. For those unfamiliar, it's a story of a little boy listing all the fantastic (and fictional) creatures he would populate the zoo with if he were its keeper. It's typical Dr. Seuss fun: crazy rhymes, nonsense words, ridiculous illustrations. This one is a bit long for a one year old, and she got squirmy about 2/3 of the way through.
However, I got squirmy much earlier when I got to the RACISM. I had no memory of the generational racism in this book, so you can imagine my shock when I reached the pages that showed African natives with black skin, nose rings and grass skirts, as well as the painful page that described Asian natives as having "eyes all a-slant" (don't worry, there's an illustration of that too, in case the language was not descriptive enough for you). I mean, yikes. I love Dr. Seuss as much as the next, but there's no way I can recommend this book, mostly because there's no way I would ever let it be a part of JJ's permanent library. Sorry, Seuss, but a big thumbs down.
Be sure to check out The Baby Bookworm for more reviews!
April 16, 2021
Recently because of some media spotlight on Dr. Seuss and his works. I decided to reread the 6 books in question and two others. But alas only had 5 of the 6 on hand. This is the fourth of the reviews.
Dr. Seuss is famous for his many children’s books. Books that spark the imagination. Surprise, and amaze. There is a large collection of old animated shorts based on them. And these has been several movies both animated and life action. He also wrote two books that though written and illustrated in a similar style and format are considered adult books they are The Seven Lady Godivas and The Butter Battle Book. Butter Battle is a commentary on war and is often found in the children’s sections in bookstores and libraries. Godivas I believe is long out of print, I believe the last printing was in 1988. And I am only aware of it because it is the favorite book of a friend.
I do not know a child who has not engaged with these books on some level. My youngest and my wife have a few of them memorized. And recite them to each other before bed, as much as read. My children loved the old, animated shorts, and like most of the movies. I was less fond of the live action movies but appreciate most of the animated ones. But back to this book.
This is yet another story about imagination. A young boy, Gerald McGrew is visiting the Zoo. And it is a perfectly good and respectable zoo. But young Gerald imagines what he would do if he ran the zoo. And soon it is a super, wonderous stupendous zoo filled with zany and crazy animals. Each bigger, better, and stranger than the last.
Seuss at his best creating new animals with crazy names!
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Dr. Seuss.
Dr. Seuss is famous for his many children’s books. Books that spark the imagination. Surprise, and amaze. There is a large collection of old animated shorts based on them. And these has been several movies both animated and life action. He also wrote two books that though written and illustrated in a similar style and format are considered adult books they are The Seven Lady Godivas and The Butter Battle Book. Butter Battle is a commentary on war and is often found in the children’s sections in bookstores and libraries. Godivas I believe is long out of print, I believe the last printing was in 1988. And I am only aware of it because it is the favorite book of a friend.
I do not know a child who has not engaged with these books on some level. My youngest and my wife have a few of them memorized. And recite them to each other before bed, as much as read. My children loved the old, animated shorts, and like most of the movies. I was less fond of the live action movies but appreciate most of the animated ones. But back to this book.
This is yet another story about imagination. A young boy, Gerald McGrew is visiting the Zoo. And it is a perfectly good and respectable zoo. But young Gerald imagines what he would do if he ran the zoo. And soon it is a super, wonderous stupendous zoo filled with zany and crazy animals. Each bigger, better, and stranger than the last.
Seuss at his best creating new animals with crazy names!
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Dr. Seuss.
March 31, 2009
While this book has some great flights of fancy and imagination, it suffers from a lack of any substance or focus to that. When you also add in that Seuss relies on some unfortunate racist caricatures for a few of his visual gags in this book, it is a hard book to recommend. Of interest to the Seuss completist, but by no means essential, and not quite something I'd feel comfortable reading to children.
March 4, 2021
banned by some morons
September 21, 2021
This book is only racist if you're purposly seeking for ways to make it represent that.
October 25, 2012
I've heard Dr.Seuss is great children author and because of that I borrowed from library some of his books. And in the last few days I've read them to my cousin who loves Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! so much that we've bought it.
I wish I would have read this before reading to Kaito. I would have never chosen this book to read a loud to Asian/White child (I wouldn't choose this book for any child whatever race) . "helpers who all wear their eyes at a slant" it was like glass of cold water thrown in my face. I don't think Kaito understood the racial slur because he is too young or because he hasn't heard it.
Anyway the pictures and rhymes like "And eight Persian Princes will carry the basket, But what their names are, I don't know. So don't ask it." I know this was written more than 60 years ago but it doesn't change that it is offensive.
Another issue I've with this book is: the protagonist spends time dreaming how he captures strange and rare animals for zoo. (Kaito said he is sorry for deer family but he was amused by hens)
I wish I would have read this before reading to Kaito. I would have never chosen this book to read a loud to Asian/White child (I wouldn't choose this book for any child whatever race) . "helpers who all wear their eyes at a slant" it was like glass of cold water thrown in my face. I don't think Kaito understood the racial slur because he is too young or because he hasn't heard it.
Anyway the pictures and rhymes like "And eight Persian Princes will carry the basket, But what their names are, I don't know. So don't ask it." I know this was written more than 60 years ago but it doesn't change that it is offensive.
Another issue I've with this book is: the protagonist spends time dreaming how he captures strange and rare animals for zoo. (Kaito said he is sorry for deer family but he was amused by hens)
December 1, 2017
Making a case for politcal correctness
When is censorship a good thing? My answer is: when there is racism in a children's book. Case in point: If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss. I brought this book home because my 5 year old likes Dr. Seuss and it looks fun. Who wouldn't enjoy rhymes about silly animals? Unfortunately, the book describes Asians as "wearing their eyes in a slant" and depicts African servants with grass skirts and stereotypical facial features. This book is useless to me, because I do not want my daughter to think that it is accurate or acceptable to talk about people in this way. If I allowed her to internalize these versions of Africans and Asians, it would make her less prepared to interact with the people of African and Asian descent that she meets in our neighborhood.
This book would only be useful to me if the offensive images were removed.
When is censorship a good thing? My answer is: when there is racism in a children's book. Case in point: If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss. I brought this book home because my 5 year old likes Dr. Seuss and it looks fun. Who wouldn't enjoy rhymes about silly animals? Unfortunately, the book describes Asians as "wearing their eyes in a slant" and depicts African servants with grass skirts and stereotypical facial features. This book is useless to me, because I do not want my daughter to think that it is accurate or acceptable to talk about people in this way. If I allowed her to internalize these versions of Africans and Asians, it would make her less prepared to interact with the people of African and Asian descent that she meets in our neighborhood.
This book would only be useful to me if the offensive images were removed.
May 10, 2019
One of the Seuss books specifically mentioned in the excellent article The Cat is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr. Seuss's Children's Books. This one is ROUGH! Definitely not one I read as a child, and thank god. It is awful that this won a Caldecott Honor because it is frequently indisputably racist (not that racism has stopped them before or since). Gross. Yuck. Get it out of the library. Again, if I had my druthers I would get rid of all but one copy. We don't need more!
December 30, 2012
This was just about the best gol-darndest book ever! ;)
March 8, 2021
My granddaughters and I were reminiscing today about the fun times we enjoyed reading this adorable book together. Our favorite part was the Mulligatawny. We would laugh and laugh.
I reread it today and I will always be grateful that my shelf will always hold this priceless book on it.
Dr. Seuss will always hold a special spot in my heart for his cleverness in helping children love reading.
I reread it today and I will always be grateful that my shelf will always hold this priceless book on it.
Dr. Seuss will always hold a special spot in my heart for his cleverness in helping children love reading.
January 28, 2023
3.5.
من این اثر رو برای اینکه گویا اولین نوشته ای که توش کلمه "nerd" بهش اشاره میشه، خوندم. جالبه که انگار این کتاب ممنوع شده. به طور کلی هم ایدهی کتاب و عکس ها و موجوداتی که نویسنده برای کودکان و نوجوانان خلق کرده تو این کتاب، واقعا سمه😂
من این اثر رو برای اینکه گویا اولین نوشته ای که توش کلمه "nerd" بهش اشاره میشه، خوندم. جالبه که انگار این کتاب ممنوع شده. به طور کلی هم ایدهی کتاب و عکس ها و موجوداتی که نویسنده برای کودکان و نوجوانان خلق کرده تو این کتاب، واقعا سمه😂
March 13, 2021
This book is a zoo itself as a boy dreams of having his own zoo full of amazingly wild animals from far and wide. A (100%/Outstanding)
March 23, 2021
Even good old Dr. Seuss's zany imagination
could not have ever thunk a place as crazy as our nation.
Where decent folks, quite sane in fact, upon one knee quite bended
Fear the cry of "racist!" from the perpetually offended.
Who scream and swear and stamp their feet at everyone else's sins;
They cannot create, they only destroy, so do not let them win!
So here's the thing: I can see why this book is problematic. It has some racially stereotyped and insensitive images of East Asian and African people, that was probably informed by the author's personal prejudices (which he later admitted and denounced). If my children were black or Asian, I would probably skip this one. I already plan to skip the children's books about Margaret Sanger, Malcolm X, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Dr. Fauci...
Wow, that's a lot of politically motivated children's books. It's almost like the same people who want to cancel Dr. Seuss for racism also want to propagandize our children. And that's the real problem I have with our present moral panic over "whiteness" and "white supremacy": it's driven by an agenda that does not actually care about making the world less racist, and will not stop with Dr. Seuss.
This book has some problems. I get that. Does that justify removing it from print and banning it from sale? A lot of useful idiots sure seem to think so, and they are being cynically used by some very nasty (and very racist) people who are pushing for nothing less than a cultural revolution. If you want to be more racially sensitive, ask the Chinese people how that worked out for them.
could not have ever thunk a place as crazy as our nation.
Where decent folks, quite sane in fact, upon one knee quite bended
Fear the cry of "racist!" from the perpetually offended.
Who scream and swear and stamp their feet at everyone else's sins;
They cannot create, they only destroy, so do not let them win!
So here's the thing: I can see why this book is problematic. It has some racially stereotyped and insensitive images of East Asian and African people, that was probably informed by the author's personal prejudices (which he later admitted and denounced). If my children were black or Asian, I would probably skip this one. I already plan to skip the children's books about Margaret Sanger, Malcolm X, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Dr. Fauci...
Wow, that's a lot of politically motivated children's books. It's almost like the same people who want to cancel Dr. Seuss for racism also want to propagandize our children. And that's the real problem I have with our present moral panic over "whiteness" and "white supremacy": it's driven by an agenda that does not actually care about making the world less racist, and will not stop with Dr. Seuss.
This book has some problems. I get that. Does that justify removing it from print and banning it from sale? A lot of useful idiots sure seem to think so, and they are being cynically used by some very nasty (and very racist) people who are pushing for nothing less than a cultural revolution. If you want to be more racially sensitive, ask the Chinese people how that worked out for them.
July 14, 2015
OK all the debating aside, I just didn't like this book all that much. To me it's just a long list of weird animals from places with funny names, coupled with the typical Seuss strange pictures. No real plot, just a collection of animals. At least when Seuss does something crazy like in Cat in the Hat, there's an underlying story behind all the crazy (messy things to do on a rainy day, coupled with the need to clean up very quickly).
I will admit the "eyes at a slant" threw me off and I had to stop and re-read that. Then I checked the copyright. Do I think that Dr. Seuss is necessarily racist and intends that in this book? I hardly think so. I honestly think this book is more a product of the times. My advice, if offended, don't read. But I'm not going to recommend banning books or throwing something away because it portrays something I don't agree with. To start down that road is a dangerous game that ends in places no one wants to go. Just...don't read it if you're easily offended.
That said, would I recommend it? Not really. As I said, the story was tedious and I found myself thinking, "how many animals are left to get?" The whole "human trafficking" aspect of "maybe a chieftain too" is meant to be funny like the rest but doesn't sit well. Overall...not his best work on any level. I'm happy to let this one slide into the past quietly. I won't read it again.
I will admit the "eyes at a slant" threw me off and I had to stop and re-read that. Then I checked the copyright. Do I think that Dr. Seuss is necessarily racist and intends that in this book? I hardly think so. I honestly think this book is more a product of the times. My advice, if offended, don't read. But I'm not going to recommend banning books or throwing something away because it portrays something I don't agree with. To start down that road is a dangerous game that ends in places no one wants to go. Just...don't read it if you're easily offended.
That said, would I recommend it? Not really. As I said, the story was tedious and I found myself thinking, "how many animals are left to get?" The whole "human trafficking" aspect of "maybe a chieftain too" is meant to be funny like the rest but doesn't sit well. Overall...not his best work on any level. I'm happy to let this one slide into the past quietly. I won't read it again.
November 18, 2011
There are many criticisms of the racial stereotypes in this book, but considering when it was written is useful in overcoming these.
The aspect of the book that I had trouble with is the general theme. The protagonist spends time imagining all the strange, rare creatures he will capture to live in his zoo, using all means of lures and/or force to get them. Clearly, he is removing (very rare, probably endangered) animals from their native homes simply for the viewing pleasure of his customers.
Also, this part got me: "And eight Persian Princes will carry the basket, But what their names are, I don't know. So don't ask it." I don't mind the fact that the Persian Princes are dressed in a stereotypical costume (again, 1950), or that the Persian Princes were selected to transport the strange animals from their native homeland. What bothers me is that the zookeeper doesn't think it's important to know their names. He has traveled with these folks from faraway lands all the way back to his zoo, and he still doesn't know their names? That's cold. That's a level of not caring about the cultures of others that goes beyond noticing what they're wearing.
The aspect of the book that I had trouble with is the general theme. The protagonist spends time imagining all the strange, rare creatures he will capture to live in his zoo, using all means of lures and/or force to get them. Clearly, he is removing (very rare, probably endangered) animals from their native homes simply for the viewing pleasure of his customers.
Also, this part got me: "And eight Persian Princes will carry the basket, But what their names are, I don't know. So don't ask it." I don't mind the fact that the Persian Princes are dressed in a stereotypical costume (again, 1950), or that the Persian Princes were selected to transport the strange animals from their native homeland. What bothers me is that the zookeeper doesn't think it's important to know their names. He has traveled with these folks from faraway lands all the way back to his zoo, and he still doesn't know their names? That's cold. That's a level of not caring about the cultures of others that goes beyond noticing what they're wearing.
April 5, 2021
Classic Dr Seuss
The illustrations are worth just perusal, but since the Woke Nation is clamoring to discover evil intentions everywhere you should read it while you can.
The illustrations are worth just perusal, but since the Woke Nation is clamoring to discover evil intentions everywhere you should read it while you can.
March 13, 2021
This review will be political, a bit ranty and different from usual. There is also some strong language so reader discretion is advised.
General thoughts on the book’s quality:
The story is standard kiddie fair, nothing special or even resembling substance but not particularly bad either. The illustrations are pretty decent (except for a few that we’ll talk about later and of course that dreadful fucking cover though I’m not going judge the book just based on that, y’all know the saying and that saying is pretty solid advice). My thoughts on the writing quality and rhymes are fairly mixed: on one hand yes, they are fun and creative but on the other hand it often includes nonsense words which makes the rhymes weaker IMO. I will also say this book is repetitive and WAY FUCKING LONGER than it needs to be. It’s okay overall for a children’s book.
Thoughts on the controversy:
First of all, I’m against censorship and banning of any art including books with little to no exceptions. So the reason this particular one is controversial for some iffy depictions of Asian people (which is on like one page of this entire thing). So the illustrations are less-than-great to say the least. They’re pretty bad, stereotypical and to be entirely honest kinda racist depictions. There’s 2 important things to consider before trying to “cancel” Seuss though.
1- Seuss later in life actually apologized for his racism. He acknowledged it himself and admitted it was wrong (at least that’s what it looked like from the research I have done).
2- This book was published in 1950. While “it’s old” isn’t a particularly good defense, it is rather important to remember it was only 5 years after WW2 ended. I mean, we had terrible stuff just a few years before like propaganda posters of Superman telling kids to “slap a jap” and that’s not even one of the harshest examples so all things considered, it’s not surprising stuff like this was in a children’s book at the time (especially when talking about one page in the ENTIRE FUCKING BOOK).
Personally, I am always against banning and censorship. I also think that while it probably isn’t the best book to read to a child who is still just learning how to read and develop, it’s bad to ignore past mistakes and bad parts of history by just trying to erase it (I mean these are the same people who want to remove confederate flags from history books talking about the American Civil War (witnessed that first hand in a history class in fact, I had a copy of the same exact history book just an earlier printing than the teacher’s and her’s didn’t include images of the confederate flag, even in historic and educational context) or removing entertainment where superheroes fight Nazis because those Nazis had swastikas (Disney+ actually did this with an episode of a Spider-Man cartoon where he fights the Red Skull)).
The problem with “cancel culture”:
Cancel culture seems to wanna ban and be offended by anything. No piece of art or well known person is safe from threats, censorship or even accusations that could potentially fuck up one’s life even before any proof is seen. It’s sad and especially as an aspiring author, makes me scared that society will slowly let art die because of someone’s hurt feelings. This isn’t necessarily anything new of course, even before social media people tried to do this to many artists from Elvis to Eminem (who many idiots have recently been trying to cancel yet again for reasons much more ridiculous than the reasons for wanting to cancel Dr Seuss IMO) but social media and a heated, uncivil political climate (which I don’t blame any one side for especially in the US, both major parties in America want to divide everyone) has made it worse and more widespread I think. From Muppets to South Park and Twain to Tarantino, it’s constant and seems like something that will happen to anybody.
That last example I gave is also a good example of my next point about how anything can be offensive and it’s a rather subjective thing. Personally, part of why I disliked Tom Sawyer so much was that I found the book rather racist but at the same time I consider Quinten Tarantino a pretty good filmmaker and while certain slurs and such make it into his scripts, it’s mostly justified and depicted negatively in context IMO. However, some people would say I’m crazy to be cool with gallons of fake blood and just about every profane word known to man while finding a book that’s considered by many to be essential middle school level reading offensive. See what I’m saying? What is or isn’t offensive is a very subjective thing and really, if you ban everything that offends someone, what are you left with? Especially with how heated and intense society has become, just the other day I saw some idiots trying to say that drinking milk is somehow racist and multiple motherfuckers who think anything with a female villain (even including stuff like the female dinosaur in Jurassic Park) is somehow misogynistic. At this point I’m convinced that some people just want society to be replaced by a bunch of emotionless people with nothing but a glass of water, staring at gray blobs floating aimlessly on a screen as we all silently beg for death. This is why I will fight against censorship of all kinds. Fortunately more and more people are thinking the same way and for that I’m grateful and it brings me a bit of hope in these fucked times.
To end this review I’ll also quote one of my favorites punk bands (Suicidal Tendencies), a line in their song You Can’t Bring Me Down: “Just 'cause you don't understand what's going on
don’t mean it don't make no sense/And just 'cause you don't like it, don't mean it ain't no good/And let me tell you something/Before you go taking a walk in my world, you better take a look at the real world/'Cause this ain't no Mister Roger's Neighborhood/Can you say, ‘Feel like shit’?/Yeah, maybe sometimes I do feel like shit/I ain't happy 'bout it but I'd rather feel like shit than be full of shit/And if I offended you/Oh, I'm sorry but maybe you need to be offended/But here's my apology and one more thing/Fuck you!”
I think that verse actually sums up my thoughts on this subject pretty well (especially for a song that was released in 1990, guess some things don’t change).
3/5
General thoughts on the book’s quality:
The story is standard kiddie fair, nothing special or even resembling substance but not particularly bad either. The illustrations are pretty decent (except for a few that we’ll talk about later and of course that dreadful fucking cover though I’m not going judge the book just based on that, y’all know the saying and that saying is pretty solid advice). My thoughts on the writing quality and rhymes are fairly mixed: on one hand yes, they are fun and creative but on the other hand it often includes nonsense words which makes the rhymes weaker IMO. I will also say this book is repetitive and WAY FUCKING LONGER than it needs to be. It’s okay overall for a children’s book.
Thoughts on the controversy:
First of all, I’m against censorship and banning of any art including books with little to no exceptions. So the reason this particular one is controversial for some iffy depictions of Asian people (which is on like one page of this entire thing). So the illustrations are less-than-great to say the least. They’re pretty bad, stereotypical and to be entirely honest kinda racist depictions. There’s 2 important things to consider before trying to “cancel” Seuss though.
1- Seuss later in life actually apologized for his racism. He acknowledged it himself and admitted it was wrong (at least that’s what it looked like from the research I have done).
2- This book was published in 1950. While “it’s old” isn’t a particularly good defense, it is rather important to remember it was only 5 years after WW2 ended. I mean, we had terrible stuff just a few years before like propaganda posters of Superman telling kids to “slap a jap” and that’s not even one of the harshest examples so all things considered, it’s not surprising stuff like this was in a children’s book at the time (especially when talking about one page in the ENTIRE FUCKING BOOK).
Personally, I am always against banning and censorship. I also think that while it probably isn’t the best book to read to a child who is still just learning how to read and develop, it’s bad to ignore past mistakes and bad parts of history by just trying to erase it (I mean these are the same people who want to remove confederate flags from history books talking about the American Civil War (witnessed that first hand in a history class in fact, I had a copy of the same exact history book just an earlier printing than the teacher’s and her’s didn’t include images of the confederate flag, even in historic and educational context) or removing entertainment where superheroes fight Nazis because those Nazis had swastikas (Disney+ actually did this with an episode of a Spider-Man cartoon where he fights the Red Skull)).
The problem with “cancel culture”:
Cancel culture seems to wanna ban and be offended by anything. No piece of art or well known person is safe from threats, censorship or even accusations that could potentially fuck up one’s life even before any proof is seen. It’s sad and especially as an aspiring author, makes me scared that society will slowly let art die because of someone’s hurt feelings. This isn’t necessarily anything new of course, even before social media people tried to do this to many artists from Elvis to Eminem (who many idiots have recently been trying to cancel yet again for reasons much more ridiculous than the reasons for wanting to cancel Dr Seuss IMO) but social media and a heated, uncivil political climate (which I don’t blame any one side for especially in the US, both major parties in America want to divide everyone) has made it worse and more widespread I think. From Muppets to South Park and Twain to Tarantino, it’s constant and seems like something that will happen to anybody.
That last example I gave is also a good example of my next point about how anything can be offensive and it’s a rather subjective thing. Personally, part of why I disliked Tom Sawyer so much was that I found the book rather racist but at the same time I consider Quinten Tarantino a pretty good filmmaker and while certain slurs and such make it into his scripts, it’s mostly justified and depicted negatively in context IMO. However, some people would say I’m crazy to be cool with gallons of fake blood and just about every profane word known to man while finding a book that’s considered by many to be essential middle school level reading offensive. See what I’m saying? What is or isn’t offensive is a very subjective thing and really, if you ban everything that offends someone, what are you left with? Especially with how heated and intense society has become, just the other day I saw some idiots trying to say that drinking milk is somehow racist and multiple motherfuckers who think anything with a female villain (even including stuff like the female dinosaur in Jurassic Park) is somehow misogynistic. At this point I’m convinced that some people just want society to be replaced by a bunch of emotionless people with nothing but a glass of water, staring at gray blobs floating aimlessly on a screen as we all silently beg for death. This is why I will fight against censorship of all kinds. Fortunately more and more people are thinking the same way and for that I’m grateful and it brings me a bit of hope in these fucked times.
To end this review I’ll also quote one of my favorites punk bands (Suicidal Tendencies), a line in their song You Can’t Bring Me Down: “Just 'cause you don't understand what's going on
don’t mean it don't make no sense/And just 'cause you don't like it, don't mean it ain't no good/And let me tell you something/Before you go taking a walk in my world, you better take a look at the real world/'Cause this ain't no Mister Roger's Neighborhood/Can you say, ‘Feel like shit’?/Yeah, maybe sometimes I do feel like shit/I ain't happy 'bout it but I'd rather feel like shit than be full of shit/And if I offended you/Oh, I'm sorry but maybe you need to be offended/But here's my apology and one more thing/Fuck you!”
I think that verse actually sums up my thoughts on this subject pretty well (especially for a song that was released in 1990, guess some things don’t change).
3/5
November 24, 2018
But if I ran the zoo,
Said young Gerald McGrew,
I'd make a few changes.
That's just what I'd do ...
First published in 1950, the title enters popular culture's
lexicon as a hip motto for a generation of office workers.
Said young Gerald McGrew,
I'd make a few changes.
That's just what I'd do ...
First published in 1950, the title enters popular culture's
lexicon as a hip motto for a generation of office workers.
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