Just read this book in order to see why the publishers felt it was so important to remove it from circulation. Pretty innocuous depiction of an Eskimo. Whatever. Not his best book anyway.

McElligot’s Pool is about a boy named Marco who imagines all the amazing kinds of fish he might catch in a small, not-so-impressive pool. Even though others doubt him, he keeps dreaming big and thinking about all the wild possibilities. The book is full of rhymes, imagination, and colorful ideas, showing how powerful it is to stay hopeful and creative.

In the classroom:
I could use this book to encourage students to use their imagination and write or draw their own “what if” stories about ordinary places turning into something magical.

1947 copyright, renewed 1974 by Dr. Seuss Enterprises.
Tropics stereotype of a Mexican/South American man
Eskimo fish dressed in stereotypical Eskimo furry collars
Australian fish with a "kangaroo pouch"
Rough-neck old Lobster
Far-off Tibet (old man image in a traditional dress?)
Fu Manchu fish with stereotypical mustache

The familiar rhyming of Dr. Seuss is present along with expected drawings of animals and people. The negativity is subtle which makes it all the more insidious in my opinion. I'm glad Dr. Seuss Enterprises has decided to stop publishing this title along with the other five titles.

And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street
The Cat's Quizzer
If I ran the zoo
McElligot's pool
On beyond zebra!
Scrambled eggs super

Certainly not my favorite Dr. Seuss.