In the Ohio Sea Grant education program office in 1986 (Ohio’s Year of the Lake) they were two graduate students who acted to make a difference. Students Claudia Melear and Marjorie Pless saw that children reading Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax were encountering a view that no longer fit the better environment. These students wrote and asked if Dr. Seuss would consider changing the line “…in search of some water that isn’t so smeary. I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie.” since it was not accurate. To everyone’s delight he answered and agreed to remove the line in future editions of The Lorax. He also thanked the writers “for the great Loraxian work you have been doing.”
Follow this link to learn more.
Follow this link to learn about the Lorax Project.
Sourced from:
Ohio Sea Grant;
Sandusky Register;
and Seuss, and Random House. The Lorax, 1971