Author: Emily Schneider

Emily Schneider is a writer and educator living in New York City. She has published on children's literature, feminism, and politics in Tablet, The Foward, Jewcy, and Family Reading at The Horn Book. She is a regular reviewer for The Jewish Book Council.

Oh, the Thinks You Can Think about Dr. Seuss

A Review of  Was the Cat in the Hat Black?  by Philip Nel, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2017

The recent opening of the newly renovated museum dedicated to the work of Dr. Seuss in Springfield, Massachusetts, has brought attention to a more controversial aspect of the beloved author and illustrator’s work, his unthinking acceptance of racial stereotypes in some books and early political cartoons. 04SEUSS1-blog427

At the same time, the just–released book by Philip Nel, Was the Cat in the Hat Black? (Oxford University Press, 2017) analyzes the implicit racism in much of children’s literature partly through the lens of Dr. Seuss, arguing that his famous zany and white-gloved cat is rooted in appropriation and distortion of black culture.

Yet Nel’s book reflects the same oblique racism of which he accuses other authors.  Continue reading “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think about Dr. Seuss” →