It was not long ago that Vice President Kamala Harris found it advantageous to go on Twitter and wish the late prolific poet Dr. Seuss a happy birthday. “Happy birthday, #DrSeuss!” she wrote, further quoting him, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

Michelle Obama once read Seuss’s iconic books to children in the White House. Both his quirky Christmas poem about the Grinch and his goofy paean to environmentalism featuring the Lorax are now such prominent fixed points in popular culture that they rival Mom, apple pie, and Mark Twain in their very American-ness.