In 1988, a school district in California kept the book on a reading list for second-graders, though some in the town claimed the book was unfair to the logging industry.[10][11]
In the mid-1990s, Terri Birkett, a member of a family-owned hardwood flooring factory, authored Truax, a 20-page booklet illustrated by Orrin Lundren and published by the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers' Association (NOFMA).[12] Truax offers a logging-friendly perspective; as with like The Lorax, it consists of a conflict between two people: a logging industry representative who promotes efficiency and re-seeding efforts; and the Guardbark, an anthropomorphic tree who personifies the environmentalist movement. In Truax, the Guardback behaves like the Onceler, refusing to listen and lashing out; but in the end, he is convinced by the logger's arguments. Truax was criticized for what were viewed as skewed arguments and clear self-interest, particularly a "casual attitude toward endangered species" that answered the Guardbark's concern for them. The book's approach as a more blatant argument instead of one worked into a storyline was also noted.[13][14][15]
The line, "I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie," was removed more than fourteen years after the story was published after two research associates from the Ohio Sea Grant Program wrote to Seuss about the clean-up of Lake Erie.[16] The line remains in the home video releases of the television special, in the audiobook read by Rik Mayall, and in the UK edition published by HarperCollins Children's Books.
