TORONTO – Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss “encourages children to use violence against their fathers” and should be removed from the Toronto Public Library.
That, according to a complaint from a library user who wanted to see the book by the beloved children’s author removed from the shelves. The complainant also demanded the Toronto Public Library “issue an apology to fathers in the GTA and pay for damages resulting from the book.”
The library refused, noting the book is “humorous” and “well-loved by children,” regularly appears on “best of” lists, was written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and well, the children “are actually told not to hop on pop.”
On Monday, the city’s public library system released its annual list of books that patrons had asked to be removed. It reveals customers asked for seven books to be banned along with Dr. Seuss.
Lizzy’s Lion – a children’s story that won the Canada Council Award for Children’s Book Illustration – was criticized for being “violent and disturbing” and apparently having “no place in a children’s library.” The animated story, told in rhyme, follows Lizzy whose pet lion saves her from a robber by eating him.
According to the Toronto Public Library, it was written “to help children deal with bullies as it shows a little girl facing her fears and finding her own inner strength, depicted by the lion.”
The books included in 2013’s list were:
- Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot
- Hop on Pop
- A Kiss Remembered
- Complete Hindi
- Flesh House
- That’s My Boy
- Lizzy’s Lion
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