My good friend at Cauldron Full of Stars blogged about this the other day, and I felt compelled to as well. It's pretty well known that a movie version of The Lorax is being made by Universal. What may not be so well known (but is becoming so) is that the message of preservation and environmental education is not to be included.
The Lorax was (and still is) one of my favorite books. It captures the imagination at the same time it teaches you to treasure what we have while we have it, as well as teaching you to preserve what we have. It's a message that is becoming more and more important, yet is being lost throughout society. Wars are being waged for oil, and environmental legislation is being ignored. I'm ashamed to say that my own country, Canada, has dropped out of the Kyoto Accord - the first country to do so.
Universal has an incredible opportunity. The sad truth is that most of our children these days probably spend more time watching TV than reading books, so choosing to leave such an important message out of a move that most children will probably see - it's inexcusable.
Someone else thinks so too - a classroom of fourth graders from Brookline, MA., who with the help of their teacher has started a petition to ask Universal to stay true to the message of the book. It takes 5 minutes (if that) to sign the petition - we all have 5 minutes. Let's share this message - it's one we can't afford to ignore.
Yay! I'm so excited that you've shared.
ReplyDelete