‘McElligot’s Pool’: A Seussian plea for a favorite book
.JPG "Dr. Seuss books, from left, “If I Ran the Zoo,” “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “On Beyond Zebra!” and “McElligot’s Pool,” as well as “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer,” will no longer be published, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the business that preserves and protects the author’s legacy, announced in March.")
“Old woman,” the man laughed,
“You’re sort of a fool
if you think they’ll reissue
‘McElligot’s Pool!’
That case is now closed.
That ship has now sailed.
I’ve seen others attempt such crusades,
and they’ve failed.
It never sold much,
And, you might as well know it,
the ash heap of history’s
where they will throw it.”
“Hmmm …” I considered,
“It may be you’re right.
No one seems very exercised over its plight.
In this brouhaha I have seen two points of view.
Point 1: ‘Seuss was racist, and this book is, too!’
Point 2: ‘Cancel culture! Hysterical libs!
You “super-woke” crybaby flibbertigibs!’
No one mentions this book, though,
since few folks have read it.
No columnist bothered to check it or vet it.
It is clear what is wrong with ‘If I Ran the Zoo,’
and ‘On Mulberry Street’—yeah no, that will not do.
But ‘McElligot’s’? Why? So I picked up my book,
and I started re-reading, and took a close look.
Just what is the problem here? What doesn’t work?
It can’t be the fish who are all going ‘GLURK.’
That dude from the tropics—well, he seems OK.
Is the fish that likes flowers supposed to be gay?
(I don’t think today’s kids would read it that way.)
It must be those fish from beyond Hudson Bay.
The fish—and the human—aren’t caricatured;
I suspect that the problem, instead, is a word,
since ‘Eskimo’ isn’t the term that’s preferred.
But is it a slur? Well, not really. Its origin
is from Montagnais language (of family Algonquian);
it means ‘netter of snowshoes.’ That doesn’t sound bad.
Still … I wasn’t sure. Seuss says, ‘Go ask your dad,’
so I did, and he said that the best policy
is to call people what they prefer. I agree.
The word is outdated. But I’m shedding tears
if because of that word, the whole book disappears.
This is just speculation. We don’t really know
just exactly why each of those books had to go.
There are problems with Seuss—I admit that is right:
you’re an ‘other’ if you’re not a boy who is white.
But Seuss was a genius, and he’s brought great joy
to many a kid who was not a white boy.
Seuss isn’t the be-all and end-all—who is?
But a bookshelf is richer with books that are his.
Now the publishers—it’s their decision, of course.
This is horse-trading, surely, and they own the horse.
But I cannot believe that I’m simply a fool
if I wish they would bring back ‘McElligot’s Pool.’ ”
Dr. Arnson Svarlien writes verse translations of the plays of Euripides and Aristophanes and is a literacy volunteer at William Wells Brown Elementary. She lives in Lexington.
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 10:54 AM.