And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street: DR. SEUSS.

• Author: Gillespie, Nick

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937) wasn't just the first book Theodor Geisel published as Dr. Seuss. It was among the six titles his literary estate ceased publishing and licensing last year because they "portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong." The volume is narrated by young Marco, whose father upbraids him for embroidering his humdrum life: "Stop telling such outlandish tales. Stop turning minnows into whales." But the boy can't help it, and, as he walks home from school, he pretends a "broken-down wagon that's drawn by a horse" is an increasingly fantastical procession, including an elephant driven by a "rajah" with a brass band in tow and, alas, "a Chinaman who eats with sticks." In a 1978 update, that last figure becomes "a Chinese man," his pigtail and ostentatiously yellow coloring removed.

Voluntarily ceasing to publish titles is not censorship, to be sure. No threat of government action prompted Dr. Seuss Enterprises' decision--just a grim consultation "with a panel of experts, including educators." But rather than rid the world of offensive books, the decision effectively ginned up interest in these obscure, forgotten works.

The Associated Press reported that in the week after the announcement that And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot's Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat's Quizzer were being pulled, Dr. Seuss...