# Is Dr. Seuss "a bit of a cliché, a tired and worn ambassador for children's literature"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530 "2017-09-28T16:41:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/1 "2017-09-28T16:41:26Z")
Story [here.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/librarian-explains-why-she-rejected-books-donated-by-melania-trump/) A librarian at the Cambridgeport Elementary School rejected Melania Trump’s gift of some books and said, among other things, that “You may not be aware of this, but Dr. Seuss is a bit of a cliché, a tired and worn ambassador for children’s literature. As First Lady of the United States, you have an incredible platform with world-class resources at your fingertips.” Is he really? My kids are grown now but they loved the books and couldn’t get enough of my wife and I reading them or the kids reading them on their own once they were old enough. Is the good Doctor actually out of vogue or is this a somewhat extreme point of view on behalf of the librarian? To the mods: I had no idea where to put this and wouldn’t object to any movement except the Pit. I’m hoping that the thread stays civil and doesn’t devolve into a political argument. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/2 "2017-09-28T16:48:51Z")
My son still loves the stuff. Books like _Fox in Socks_ are a fun challenge to read and we’ve had a lot of fun with it at bed time. Same for _Green Eggs & Ham_ where we switch off as Sam-I-Am and the reluctant eater. Really, I have no idea what her problem is. It’s not as though having some classics means that you don’t expand beyond or read other stuff as well. And the classics are classic for a reason. I have no love for Trump (though I don’t have any malice towards his wife) but this lady sounds like an self-important nutjob. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/3 "2017-09-28T16:52:29Z")
The librarian must have no current experience with pre-literate children. When my grandchildren visit my bookshelf for children, Dr. Suess is picked more often than any other author. Three of my grandchildren went through phases during which Green Eggs & Ham was their bedtime story choice every night. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/4 "2017-09-28T16:53:15Z")
The Good Dr. is part of the reading rotation for my two-year-old she’s a little young for a lot of his stuff but she digs his alphabet book. It’s not all we read and we’ve already dropped Hop on Pop from the rotation but I can’t imagine a child growing up without having been read most of his books. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/5 "2017-09-28T16:53:29Z")
Crazy librarian lady. Dr. Seuss is definitely still in. Now if the librarian wanted to make the argument that they get plenty of Dr. Seuss material, (because he is still incredibly popular) then that’s a different matter. ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/6 "2017-09-28T16:53:35Z")
I have no idea if he is out of vogue with the librarian and children’s literature crowd. I know my 2 1/2 year old daughter loves them when I read them to her. She learned her ABCs from The Alphabet Book\*, laughs endlessly to Hop on Pop, and I must have read her Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb\* a thousand times now. As she gets older, we’ll hopefully enjoy Horton Hears a Hoo, Green Eggs and Ham, and The Grinch together too. I’m no fan of Trump, or FLOTUS for that matter, but this just smacks of a librarian allowing politics to negatively impact her judgement. - - Not Dr. Seuss exactly, they are from the Seuss/Random House Bright and Early Board Books. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/7 "2017-09-28T16:55:55Z")
That librarian is crazy. The good Doctor is the touchstone of children’s literature. If you still love it 50 years later, it means he got it right. “Then the Grinch did the same to the other Whos houses Leaving crumbs much too small for the other Whos mouses.” (I’m sorry, I can’t begin to punctuate that correctly; I’m laughing too hard.) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/8 "2017-09-28T16:59:51Z")
> [@MeanJoe](#): > > I’m no fan of Trump, or FLOTUS for that matter, but this just smacks of a librarian allowing politics to negatively impact her judgement. Aye; +1 from me. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/9 "2017-09-28T17:01:28Z")
Dr. Seuss is only cliched in the way Shakespeare is. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/10 "2017-09-28T17:01:35Z")
4 year-olds don’t care that a book is an overdone cliche, or that it’s tired and worn. Yeah, you’re an adult librarian and you’ve read “The Cat in the Hat” 500,000 times and you’re sick of it. So the fuck what? The books aren’t for you, they’re for kid who has, get this, never read “The Cat in the Hat” before, because they were just born. Everything is brand new to them, and can never be a cliche, or tired, or worn. What an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/11 "2017-09-28T17:05:16Z")
Call it a hunch this particular librarian would graciously have accepted the same gift from Michelle Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/12 "2017-09-28T17:10:53Z")
How can a librarian not know the concept of “classic”?? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/13 "2017-09-28T17:14:55Z")
I wonder if she gets this pissy about “Goodnight Moon”. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/14 "2017-09-28T17:18:45Z")
As much as I dislike all things Trump, I think that this librarian should go suck a green egg. ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/15 "2017-09-28T17:20:09Z")
This seems a classic example of an axiom I tell my wife regularly - “You do not sacrifice your child on the mountain of your political views”. If you don’t like Trump, I hear ya and probably agree with your reasons. But if a Seuss book was sent to my kid from FLOTUS I’d happily accept it and create wonderful memories reading that book with my daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/16 "2017-09-28T17:22:05Z")
Dr. Seuss is not cliché to _kids_. They don’t know or care the books have been around for half a century or are culturally ubiquitous. You don’t have to keep coming up with new things to capture a child’s attention. I agree with **Voyager** - would she call Shakespeare “cliché”? She should tilt her nose back down before the next rain shower drowns her. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/17 "2017-09-28T17:33:18Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > A librarian at the Cambridgeport Elementary School rejected Melania Trump’s gift of some books and said, among other things, that “You may not be aware of this, but Dr. Seuss is a bit of a cliché, a tired and worn ambassador for children’s literature. As First Lady of the United States, you have an incredible platform with world-class resources at your fingertips.” It beggars belief that this librarian would treat the same donation from Michelle Obama in the same way :dubious: The librarian should’ve checked the urge to take a potshot, and perhaps donated those unwanted Seuss books to children in need. Many, many children in America grow up without books in the home. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/18 "2017-09-28T17:33:33Z")
As I recall, while she did feel that the books are cliche etc, she had two objections: First, that the gift of the books went to their well-funded, successful school instead of one where the funds were limited that could really have used them; and only secondarily that there are a bunch of great, newer books that they could have given instead of ones they already had. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/19 "2017-09-28T17:42:38Z")
The librarian is just wrong. Suess is one of the great authors of the 20th century. Great children’s literature is great literature, because it works on many levels. I had a biology professor read us from _Horton Hears a Who_, and pointed out that the illustrations were physiologically correct. Horton’s mass-to-surface ratio is much different from the Who’s - Horton’s physiological problem is heat retention, and the Who’s is heat loss. Thus the Who is furry and Horton is not. Plus the simple morality of the repeated phrases > [@](#): > > I meant what I said, > And I said what I meant. > An elephant’s faithful, > 100%. True chivalry, and from an elephant. And the part that speaks directly to the heart of every child who has been demeaned, or belittled, or regarded as less than he is, because he is a child. > [@](#): > > A person’s a person, no matter how small. A light touch, and a deep message. Horton will live forever. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530/20 "2017-09-28T17:45:14Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > As I recall, while she did feel that the books are cliche etc, she had two objections: First, that the gift of the books went to their well-funded, successful school instead of one where the funds were limited that could really have used them; and only secondarily that there are a bunch of great, newer books that they could have given instead of ones they already had. On one hand, I can accept the premise that giving a children’s library Dr. Seuss is probably giving them something they already have plenty of. But I don’t see where that warrants the snitty shot at Seuss’s material as “a bit of a cliché, a tired and worn ambassador for children’s literature”. The polite and normal thing would have been to retire the old books and shelve in the Melania Trump collection. Even if she was trying to take a side shot at Melania Trump, she comes across more as someone bitching about Seuss with an utterly bizarre “Oh, you’re into THAT? That’s fine I guess if you like the same boring stuff” hipster attitude towards children’s books. But she managed to get the SDMB to unanimously defend a Trump so that’s certainly something. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dr-seuss-a-bit-of-a-cliche-a-tired-and-worn-ambassador-for-childrens-literature/797530.md?page=2)