A year after six Dr. Seuss books were shelved for racist imagery, the family franchise is doing better than ever.
Flashback: Last year, Dr. Seuss Enterprises discontinued six books containing content that is today deemed racist, including “If I Ran the Zoo,” and “McElligot’s Pool.”
- “Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’s catalog represents and supports all communities and families,” the company said at the time.
The big picture: These efforts to acknowledge the past haven’t slowed down the future.
By the numbers: Dr. Seuss sold more books last year than in the previous three years.
Bottom line: “What is really ironic about that (the book sale surge last year) is the publisher, Penguin Random House controls the decision-making, so they were the ones who decided to take those titles out of print, and they were the ones who benefited from the reaction,” said Kristen McLean, Executive Director in the books and entertainment division at The NPD Group.