**Written by Doug Powers
This woman’s going to be received as a Resistance hero during the Melvil Dewey Appreciation Society meeting at the next AFSCME convention:
Earlier this month, the first lady sent out collections of 10 Dr. Seuss books to one school in each state to mark National Read a Book Day.
In a letter published on the Horn Book’s Family Reading blog, Cambridgeport Elementary School librarian Liz Phipps Soeiro said that her school wasn’t in need of the books, which included famous titles such as “The Cat in the Hat.”
“I work in a district that has plenty of resources, which contributes directly to ‘excellence,’” she wrote. “My students have access to a school library with over nine thousand volumes and a librarian with a graduate degree in library science.”
Instead, she wrote, the White House should worry more about providing support to schools that are underfunded and subject to government neglect.
“Why not go out of your way to gift books to underfunded and underprivileged communities that continue to be marginalized and maligned by policies put in place by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos?” she wrote.
She sounds like she’d be fun at parties:
“My students have access to a school library with over nine thousand volumes and a librarian with a graduate degree in library science. Multiple studies show that schools with professionally staffed libraries improve student performance,” wrote Phipps Soeiro.
“Professionally staffed libraries improve student performance, and besides, if we’re not here who’s going to tell off wives of politicians we don’t like?”
Did you notice that somebody just tried to donate some books and the librarian threw her resume at everybody? Insecure much!?
The school librarian & apparent charter member of The Resistance also criticized Trump’s selection of Dr. Seuss books:
“You may not be aware of this, but Dr. Seuss is a bit of a cliché, a tired and worn ambassador for children’s literature. As First Lady of the United States, you have an incredible platform with world-class resources at your fingertips,” she wrote.
I’m surprised she didn’t add “and ‘Dr.’ Suess is NO doctor!”
Oh, and also the librarian rejected the books because they promote — you guessed it — racist propaganda:
She then characterized Dr. Seuss’s illustrations as racist and said that they were steeped in “racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes,” listing several examples in her letter.
Uh oh, somebody forgot to tell that to the previous residents of the White House:
Soeiro did not note that former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama both read Dr. Seuss books to children several times during their eight years in the White House.
Nor will any mainstream media journalist who’s been super-serious about his/her profession since January 20th bother to ask her about that.
I can’t be sure but as near as I can tell this particular librarian’s harsh allegation about Dr. Seuss books is based solely on the fact that not a single resident of Whoville took a knee during the singing of Fah Who Foraze, Dah Who Doraze.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
