--- title: Dr. Seuss' Hop On Pop Ban Proposed in Toronto Libraries description: The complainant claims the children's classic encourages violence and should be banned from Toronto public libraries canonical: https://time.com/81560/dr-seuss-hop-on-pop-ban-toronto/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-29T20:16:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:14.822Z og:title: Grinch wants libraries to ban violent propaganda "Hop on Pop" og:description: The complainant claims the children's classic encourages violence and should be banned from Toronto public libraries og:url: https://time.com/81560/dr-seuss-hop-on-pop-ban-toronto/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d65974594919d44/69868d063bc999cf561a3324/51pyuvwtgl.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: hop on pop og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Grinch wants libraries to ban violent propaganda "Hop on Pop" twitter:description: The complainant claims the children's classic encourages violence and should be banned from Toronto public libraries twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d65974594919d44/69868d063bc999cf561a3324/51pyuvwtgl.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Grinch Wants Dr. Seuss' _Hop On Pop_ Banned by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 29, 2014 8:16 PM UTC  Hop on Pop by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 29, 2014 8:16 PM UTC A [father’s rights advocate finally stood up and said _enough_ to librarian apologists](http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-public-library-asked-to-pull-dr-seuss-book-hop-on-pop-1.1797204) who spread the lascivious gospel of Dr. Seuss’s classic _Hop on Pop._ The Toronto Public Library released its [annual review committee notes Monday](http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/content/about-the-library/pdfs/board/meetings/2014/apr28/15%5F1.pdf), which included a request to ban the 1963 Dr. Seuss classic for “encourag\[ing\] children to use violence against their fathers.” The traumatized complainant not only asked libraries to pull the book from its collection and issue a formal apology to the fathers of Toronto, but also that they “pay for damages resulting from the book.” Even American dignitaries have been complicit in spreading Seuss’ dangerous propaganda. First Lady and former librarian Laura Bush touted _Hop on Pop_ as one of her personal favorites to the [Wall Street](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB115956694469978469)[ _Journa_](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB115956694469978469)_l,_ recalling when her daughters took the book “literally” and (trigger warning ahead) jumped on President Bush’s stomach. “We have the pictures to prove it,” she said. To our knowledge, Barbara and Jenna were never charged in the incident. The Toronto Library system did not submit to the complainant’s belly aching. The book remains in circulation in part because the children in the book are, in fact, told _not_ to hop on Pop. Now is when we’d make jokes about [GMO protestors launching a campaign](http://www.realsceptic.com/2014/04/23/like-monsanto-gmos/) against _Green Eggs and Ham_ … but we don’t want to give anyone any ideas considering it was already banned in China for its [“portrayal of early Marxism”](http://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/09/24/banned-books-week-green-eggs-and-ham) and briefly in California for allegedly [touting acts of homosexual seduction.](http://voices.yahoo.com/five-banned-childrens-books-will-surprise-you-12323874.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/81560/dr-seuss-hop-on-pop-ban-toronto/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/81560/dr-seuss-hop-on-pop-ban-toronto/"},"headline":"Grinch Wants Dr. Seuss' Hop On Pop Banned","datePublished":"2014-04-29T20:16:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:14.822Z","description":"The complainant claims the children's classic encourages violence and should be banned from Toronto public libraries","url":"https://time.com/81560/dr-seuss-hop-on-pop-ban-toronto/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Books","Bizarre","Toronto","Ban","Libraries"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d65974594919d44/69868d063bc999cf561a3324/51pyuvwtgl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d65974594919d44/69868d063bc999cf561a3324/51pyuvwtgl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"hop on pop","caption":"","creditText":"Hop on Pop","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/81560/dr-seuss-hop-on-pop-ban-toronto/","name":"Grinch Wants Dr. Seuss' Hop On Pop Banned"}}]}] ```