Dr. Seuss Silenced

The students in Mr. Wells’ fourth grade class in Brookline, Massachusetts love The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. They love the story, the character, and they especially love the book’s environmental message.
So when the Lorax movie was announced they were super excited to see the story on the big screen.  Unfortunately, when the kids went to the movie’s website, they found Universal excluding the environmental education aspect of the story that they loved. There was nothing about pollution or standing up for what you believe, just information on how to buy tickets.

photo credit: teachingchildrenphilosophy.org

Georgia, age 10 and a member of the class, was upset to find that “The website is more about making money than helping the planet, and that’s exactly what the book says not to do.”

So Mr. Wells’ kids decided to take matters into their own hands — they started a petition on Change.org asking Universal to include environmental education on The Lorax movie website. Click here to sign their petition now.
According to their petition, “We’d like to see the movie live up to the potential of the book. We’re encouraging Universal to make an improved Lorax movie website that Dr. Seuss would be proud of.”

The hope is that if Universal executives see that their target audience feels strongly about the inclusion of environmental education in The Lorax website and other promotional materials, they’ll make the changes.

It seems these kids have really taken to the other message presented in the book.  That it is important to stand-up for what you believe in because, as the Lorax says, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing’s going to get better, it’s not.”

For more information, click the link below:

http://www.change.org/petitions/z-let-the-lorax-speak-for-the-trees