Beware of Dr. Seuss

While the "children's books" by American writer Theodor Seuss Geisel (I mean "Dr. Seuss") may have been internationally acclaimed and profitable, few people are aware that they have a chance of over 70% of affecting children's minds, and are therefore a negative influence on them in various aspects. Here are several reasons I feel why today's children should never read any of his works:

1. Language: The books are too American, and that can therefore be bad for one's English (especially if the reader is British, Indian or Australian). Also, the way the characters speak, think, and the numerous creatures and terms “invented” by Seuss in the books are likely to affect children's grammar, with most of them believing such creatures may exist. For example, there is a story named The Glunk that got Thunk. There is no such word called “Glunk”, and the past tense for “think” is not “thunk”, but “thought”. According to the WordWeb dictionary, a thunk is “A dull hollow sound”. But this book title can inspire young children to unofficially invent neologisms that can destroy their reputation over time if it becomes a part of their daily life.
2. The story Green Eggs and Ham deals with “Sam I Am” offering an unnamed man the titular food to eat, which the man rejects throughout the story but eventually gives into Sam's pestering. Who knows why he was avoiding the food? Maybe he was allergic to them or was a vegetarian. But what would you do if someone offered you a cigar or drug which you refuse, and they keep pestering you just like “Sam I Am” till you finally give in and accept?
3. The Cat in the Hat is about a tall anthropomorphic creature who invades a children’s house when their mother is out and causes all kind of trouble in the house (though he does not mean evil), because the children did not keep their door locked or initially tell the cat to “Get Out”. They did not even seem to support their talking fish pet, who ordered the cat out. So would you leave your door not tightly locked when nobody’s home or allow any stranger, against who you are powerless? Or would you start to show no trust to your close ones who know better than you? The Cat also says in the story, “I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny. But we can have lots of good fun that is funny!” What grammar is that?
4. Fox in Socks: The titular character is an expert at tongue twisters and continuously tries to persuade a baffled Mr. Knox some of the hardest tongue twisters in town, despite Knox’s lack of interest. When Knox has finally had enough, he punishes the Fox for life by pushing him into a giant bottle filled with “Tweetle Beetles” who are fighting each other with paddles. (No-one knows if the Fox ever escaped) Would you continuously try to bother someone with something they do not like, and eventually end up punished like the Fox? This story is a lot similar to Green Eggs and Ham by featuring a comically annoying character pestering a stubborn man with something they are not interested in.
5. I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew: The protagonist spends the whole book trying to reach a paradisiac place named “Solla Sollew”, where people “never have troubles, at least very few”, while enduring all types of mishaps that lengthen his long Odyssey to as far as more than two weeks. After finally reaching the gateway of Solla Sollew, he is unable to enter the city due to some small mishap, and denying a trip to another paradise (“Boola Boo Ball, on the banks of the beautiful river Woo-Wall, where they never have troubles, no troubles at all!”), he instead returns to his trouble-filled home – the Valley of Vung – because he came all the way for nothing, but decides to give trouble to all his troubles. While his will to end his troubles may seem motivating, would you ever travel miles alone by walk to reach your paradise, if not then reject an offer to go to one such place without difficulties? Also, when the protagonist decides to face his troubles by fighting them, isn’t that violent? But Gandhi’s non-violence movement helped free his country.
6. Yertle the Turtle: This story is about Yertle, the power-hungry king of a pond of turtles who wants to literally reach the greatest heights possible and literally look down at the whole world, with no-one higher than him; not even common birds. He "achieves" this goal by standing on a stack of turtles. If ever he is not satisfied with all he sees and decides to expand further, he adds more turtles to his stack, increasing the burden and pain on the base turtle Mack, who keeps asking Yertle for a respite, only to be rudely refused. When Yertle sees the moon, he tries to rise above it; before he can give the command, Mack, unable to endure anymore, releases a simple burp, causing the entire stack to dissolve and send Yertle from the high skies back down to his pond, leaving him "King of the Mud". While Seuss noted parallels between Yertle and Hitler, this story, despite its title character’s eventual fate, may inspire future generations to get too greedy or megalomaniac, to go to absurd lengths to achieve their goals at any cost. Some may say “Reach for the sky” or “Don’t go for second best”, while others may say “A greedy man can never be satisfied, even if he is given the world”, but it is safe not to literally reach for the sky. It is still rationally possible for man to get to the moon, though.
7. Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose: The eponymous character is true to the book's title; his kind nature allows him to be severely exploited, to the point that he is ostracised from his herd. It all began with him allowing a bug to temporarily stay on his horn; little did he know that it would soon become permanent with more creatures soon joining the bug to “stay” on the horn; Thidwick never explicitly told them that they could live on his horn, but he could not expel them either. When Thidwick reaches the point where a moose sheds its horns, he finally stands up to the “guests”, makes a bold comment at them and releases his horn before he returns to his herd. The animals are killed by hunters and stuffed for display, still remaining on the same horn. The story, even while it talks about the disasters created by hospitality and kindness, may remind future generations that it’s not rude to shun strangers wanting to exploit them for absurd reasons.
8. The Big Brag: The story revolves around two creatures - a bear and a rabbit - who brag to each other about being the "best of the beasts" because of their unique abilities: the rabbit's far-reaching hearing abilities, and the bear's far-reaching smelling abilities. However, they are both dressed down by a worm who has far-reaching seeing abilities, and calls them "the two biggest fools that have ever been seen". The moral of the story? Don't indulge in brazen self-aggrandisement or bragging. But given the prominence of bragging in the story and the popularity of Seuss, it's not unlikely that life will imitate art.

In short, Beware of Dr. Seuss!