''Scrambled Eggs Super!'' is a 1953 book by American children's author
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel (;["Seuss"](_blank)
'' scrambled eggs
Scrambled eggs is a dish made from eggs (usually chicken eggs) stirred, whipped or beaten together while being gently heated, typically with salt, butter, oil and sometimes other ingredients.
Preparation
Only eggs are necessary to make scramble ...
prepared from eggs belonging to various exotic birds.
Plot
At the beginning of the story, Peter T. Hooper brags to his sister, Liz, in his mother's kitchen about what a good cook he is. He tells the story of how, when he became fed up with the taste of regular
scrambled eggs
Scrambled eggs is a dish made from eggs (usually chicken eggs) stirred, whipped or beaten together while being gently heated, typically with salt, butter, oil and sometimes other ingredients.
Preparation
Only eggs are necessary to make scramble ...
using hen's eggs, he decided to scramble eggs from other birds. He tells of how he travelled great distances and discovered a variety of exotic birds and their eggs.
He explains his criteria for choosing some eggs, because of their sweetness, and avoiding others. He takes the eggs home but decides that he still needs more, and he calls on the help of some of his friends from around the world, including a "fellow named Ali". After each bird Peter finds he states the phrase..."Scrambled Eggs Super Dee Dooper Dee Booper Special Deluxe a la Peter T. Hooper".
Critical reception
Ruth C. Barlow of the ''
Christian Science Monitor
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
'' called it a "gay extravaganza".
It also received positive reviews from ''
Chicago Sunday Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are ...
'' and ''
The New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'' for Seuss's illustrations of the birds.
Phillip Nel, in the book ''Dr. Seuss: American Icon'', wrote that ''Scrambled Eggs Super!'' was one of Seuss's less politically oriented books.
Withdrawal
On March 2, 2021, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the owner of the rights to Seuss's works, announced that ''Scrambled Eggs Super!'' and five other books would no longer be published because they "portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong." The possible scene perceived as "hurtful" is a two page illustration of five persons in a boat from a fictional location (named "Fa-Zoal") near the
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
, wearing
hooded fur parkas (i.e., the moustached white assistants seen elsewhere in the book in cold-weather gear), as these persons endeavored to collect eggs from fantastical birds called "Grice" which "lay eggs on the ice". After the books were removed, nine of the top ten, including the top four, books on
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
's charts in the United States were Dr. Seuss books, though none were the books removed.
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...
also delisted the title for "offensive content".
References
{{Dr. Seuss
1953 children's books
American children's books
American picture books
Stereotypes of Inuit people
Siblings in fiction
Books about birds
Eggs in culture
Race-related controversies in literature
Books by Dr. Seuss
Random House books