Exclusive: Dr. Seuss’ stepdaughter speaks out about books removed from print (2024)

Leagrey Dimond adored her “steppop” Theodor Geisel. She also strongly condemns the racist imagery in the author’s early work. But, with some changes, she believes these books can continue to provide lessons to children.

“No one has ever tried to hide them or dismiss them,” says Dimond, a retired bookstore owner in San Francisco. “They’re out there, and with all my heart, I wish they were not out there.”

Dimond wants future editions to remove the illustrations, write introductions explaining the reason for their removal and use the revised books as teaching tools.

“He was born in 1904,” she says of the man better known as Dr. Seuss in an exclusive interview with The Chronicle. “He was a man of his times who moved with his times, and he ultimately transcended his times.”

Dr. Seuss is known throughout the world as the beloved creator of children’s books like “The Cat in the Hat,” “Green Eggs and Ham” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” For most, his name evokes the cadence of his rhyme schemes and childhood lessons about everything from prejudice (“The Sneetches”) to environmentalism (“The Lorax.”) And, like other cultural touchstones, Seuss is being re-evaluated for bias and dated views in his works.

On what would have been Geisel’s 116th birthday on March 2, Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that six of the author’s titles would be pulled from publication, starting with his first book, “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” as well as “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “The Cat’s Quizzer,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “On Beyond Zebra!” The objectionable content includes an offensive Chinese caricature in “Mulberry Street” and offensive African caricatures in “If I Ran the Zoo.” In a statement, Dr. Seuss Enterprises called the removal “part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families,” adding that, “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.”

Bay Area bookstores, parents grapple with racist images in Dr. Seuss books

Dimond and her sister, Lark Grey Dimond-Cates, are the children of cardiologist Dr. E. Grey Dimond and Audrey Geisel, who married Theodor Geisel when Leagrey was 9. The sisters are not involved in running Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which was established by Audrey Geisel in 1993. When her mother died in 2018, Dimond says she received a lump sum inheritance and does not receive royalties from book sales.

In an interview with the New York Post, Lark Grey Dimond-Cates said of the books’ removal: “I think in this day and age, it’s a wise decision,” while also stating of her stepfather: “There wasn’t a racist bone in that man’s body — he was so acutely aware of the world around him and cared so much.”

Geisel’s great-nephew Ted Owens, the only family member on the board of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, did not respond to request for comment.

Leagrey Dimond doesn’t like to trade on her famous stepfather. In her 25 years running Thidwick Books (20 of those on Clement Street), she says she didn’t advertise her connection to one of the most well-known authors in the world, although Thidwick is the title character in “Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose.”

Audrey Geisel’s New York Times obituary claimed that Leagrey and her sister were sent away to school upon their mother’s second marriage because her new husband was afraid of children and their “unpredictability.” Dimond refutes that characterization.

“No one ever met Ted and thought he was cold,” says Dimond.

He also drew and wrote poems for her.

“His nicknames for me were S’nunny and Lee Groo,” says Dimond. “He called himself to me ‘Ezekiel,’ sometimes with extra Es. I was going away somewhere; I must have been in my early 20s, and he left a scrap of paper on my bed. It’s a little cloud, and the cloud is blue and it’s crying, and inside the cloud it says ‘Song of Sad Departure.’”

Dimond reads the poem.

“Who goes? Groo goes.
Girl, Lee Groo, goes.
And my soul is sad as she goes.
Lee Groos makes damned good amigos.
And when the goofy Winds of Spring blow
She’ll flow back in
through my open window.”

He signed the poem “Dr. Who.”

Dimond also says she never witnessed any instances of prejudice from Geisel. Geisel’s work as a cartoonist during World War II is noted for its anti-Japanese caricatures, for which he expressed regret in the 1970s. After a trip to Japan in the 1950s, he wrote the book “Horton Hears a Who,” whose message “a person is a person no matter how small” is seen by some scholars as a kind of apology for his earlier work. He also revised language in later editions of “Mulberry Street” around the offensive Chinese caricature.

One effect of the books’ removal that especially upsets Dimond is that Republican politicians like Kevin McCarthy and Ted Cruz have now turned it into a conservative cause celebre: Geisel was a lifelong Democrat who was aligned with progressivesocial causes.

“He lived by Democratic (party) principles, I can’t state this enough,” says Dimond.

Dimond’s hope is that the books can be seen as part of the whole of the Dr. Seuss canon, and that they can also be an example of how authors, and human beings, evolve in their lifetimes.

“I say, look at the arc of this work,” says Dimond. “It’s important to put him in his time, and in his time, he had regrets.”

Nicola McClung, an associate professor of education at the University of San Francisco, whose focuses include literacy and children’s books (she’s also the cofounder of Xochitl Justice Press), ultimately sees the issue as a potential teaching moment for children.

“One thing we see a lot in children’s literature is dichotomous views of good and evil,” says McClung. “It’s helpful to push kids out of that. Good people can make mistakes; they can be influenced by the environment around them, which obviously he was.”

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