''If I Ran the Zoo'' is a children's book written by

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' anapestic tetrameter Anapestic tetrameter is a poetic meter that has four anapestic metrical feet per line. Each foot has two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. It is sometimes referred to as a "reverse dactyl", and shares the rapid, driving pace of ...

, Seuss's usual verse type, and illustrated in Seuss's pen-and-ink style.

Plot

When young Gerald McGrew visits the zoo, he discovers that the exotic animals are "not good enough." He says that if he ran the zoo, he would set all of the current animals free and find new, more bizarre and exotic ones. Throughout the book he lists these creatures, starting with a lion with ten feet and escalating to more imaginative (and imaginary) creatures, such as the Fizza-ma-Wizza-ma-Dill, "the world's biggest bird from the island of Gwark, who eats only pine trees, and spits out the bark." The illustrations also grow wilder as McGrew imagines going to increasingly remote and exotic habitats, capturing each fanciful creature, and bringing them all back to a zoo now filled with his new wild animals. He also imagines the praise he receives from others, who are amazed at his "new Zoo, McGrew Zoo".

Adaptation

Some of the animals featured in ''If I Ran the Zoo'' have been featured in a segment of ''

The Hoober-Bloob Highway ''The Hoober-Bloob Highway'' is an animated musical special written by Theodor Geisel (the real name of Dr. Seuss) and produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises. The special first aired February 19, 1975 on CBS, and was the last Dr. Seuss special ...

'', a 1975

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

TV special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

. In this segment, Hoober-Bloob babies don't have to be human if they don't choose to be, so Mr. Hoober-Bloob shows them a variety of different animals; including ones from ''If I Ran the Zoo'' (and '' On Beyond Zebra!''). Such animals include: Obsks, a flock of Wild Bippo-No-Bungus, a Tizzle-Topped Tufted Mazurka, a Big-Bug-Who-Is-Very-Surprising, Chuggs, a Deer with Horns-That-Are-Just-A-Bit-Queer, a New Sort-Of-A-Hen, an Elephant-Cat, and an Iota.

"Nerd"

''If I Ran the Zoo'' is often credited with the first printed modern English appearance of the word "

nerd A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tec ...

," although the word is not used in its modern context. It is simply the name of an otherwise un-characterized imaginary creature, appearing in the sentence "And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo/And Bring Back an It-Kutch, a Preep, and a Proo,/A Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too!"

Theme park attraction

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

Islands of Adventure Universal's Islands of Adventure (also known as Islands of Adventure or IOA), originally called Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. It opened on May 28, 1999, along with CityWalk, as part of an ...

. The small play area is located inside the area of the park known as Seuss Landing.

Criticism

''If I Ran the Zoo'' has been criticized for its use of racial stereotypes and caricatures. In a 1988 biography of Dr. Seuss, Ruth K. MacDonald notes the perceived presence of "occasional stereotypes of native peoples—potbellied, thick-lipped blacks from Africa, squinty-eyed Orientals," that "may offend some modern readers." A 2019 study published in the journal ''Research on Diversity in Youth Literature'' noted the perceived presence of dehumanizing stereotypes of

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

n and

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

ern characters. The Canadian Book and Periodical Council's Freedom to Read project listed the book as having been challenged in 2015 for "insensitivity and ethnic stereotyping." On March 2, 2021, Dr. Seuss Enterprises withdrew ''If I Ran the Zoo'' and five other books from publication due to controversy surrounding racist images within those books. Dr. Seuss Enterprises did not specify which illustrations were offensive, but since the book is about animals being collected from all over the world, several nations are depicted in stereotypical ways, for example Nepalese, Chinese, African Pygmys, Persian, Turkish, and Cossack characters.

References