The story is so ubiquitous in K-12 schools that “it’s like the Bible,” said Marek Oziewicz, a professor of children’s and young adult literature at the University of Minnesota who also runs Climate Lit, a resource hub for teachers.īut The Lorax is more than half a century old, and “far more empowering” children’s books on environmentalism now exist, Oziewicz said: “We have moved so far from The Lorax.” A beloved book that can feel ‘stressful’ It’s not.” The book ends with the child receiving the very last truffula seed, in hopes that if he takes good care of a new forest and “protect it from axes that hack,” in time, the Lorax and his friends will come back. The Once-ler tells the child, in a line that has become a famous rallying cry for social and environmental justice, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. All that was left was a big empty factory-and a message from the Lorax that said, “unless.” He cut down a tree to make a “thneed,” an ambiguous piece of fabric, which he quickly realized people would buy in droves.ĭespite the repeated warnings from a creature called the Lorax, who spoke on behalf of the trees, the Once-ler and his family members chopped down every single truffula tree in the valley, until smog filled the air, and all the fish and animals were displaced. The Once-ler tells the child how a long time ago, he came across a beautiful utopia with bright “truffula” trees and cheerful animals. In The Lorax, a child walks through a barren, polluted town to visit a reclusive man named the Once-ler and pays him to tell the story of the past.

Dr the lorax