Dr.Seuss is widely known for his racist political cartoons of the Japanese and sometimes Germans (Hitler, nazis, etc..) during World War II. However, many people are oblivious to the racist depictions within his literature for children. For instance, the children’s book “If I Ran the Zoo” is undeniably racist, but the racism is hidden beneath the grand idea of traveling around the world to bring different and rare animals. The concept of gathering animals (sometimes people) from all over the world would make the ideal zoo kids could only dream of. However, in each of these adventures to different countries, Dr.Seuss does not fail to include racist and stereotypical remarks about people living in these countries. The story makes fun of Asians having slanted eyes, jokes about Russian names ending in ‘sky’ or ‘ski’, and depicts Africans as funny looking black monkeys in tutus. The story has so much hidden racism that kids would often ignore or be oblivious to because of the many fabricated animals Dr.Seuss introduces and the nonsensical plot of the story.

“1950 – If I Ran the Zoo – Dr. Seuss.” Scribd. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. .