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Move over Dr Seuss, here's Dr Fauci: COVID Czar to to feature in children's book, as censorship row rock's country

The new publication, which will release on June 29, is written by children's author Kate Messner and will focus on the life of the doctor who has emerged America's face in times of the pandemic

Dr Anthony Fauci, who became a household name as America fought the coronavirus pandemic, is set to feature in a new children’s book that will focus on his life. The book, named ‘Dr Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became America’s Doctor’ and written by children’s author Kate Messner, will be released by Simon & Schuster on June 29. The book’s illustration has been done by Alexandra Bye and besides chronicling the veteran’s life, it will also give information on vaccines for kids. 

“Before he was Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci was a curious boy in Brooklyn, delivering prescriptions from his father’s pharmacy on his blue Schwinn bicycle,” the book’s description reads on Simon & Schuster’s website, the book’s publisher. “His father and immigrant grandfather taught Anthony to ask questions, consider all the data, and never give up—and Anthony’s ability to stay curious and to communicate with people would serve him his entire life.”

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The cover of the book was revealed by Brian Stelter, the host of CNN’s ‘Reliable Sources’ program on the network while Messner shared a clip of the same on social media. 

“Exciting morning here - @CNN’s @brianstelter just revealed the cover for DR: FAUCI: HOW A BOY FROM BROOKLYN BECAME AMERICA’S DOCTOR on @ReliableSources,” Messner said while captioning the video on Twitter.

The publisher has promised that the book will be an “engaging narrative” that will draw “from interviews with Dr Fauci himself”. It will throw light on his growing years in Brooklyn and the time he spent at the medical school and how he fought the pandemic with successive American presidents. Dr Fauci had a less-than-settled working stint with the maverick Donald Trump with whom he had differences over dealing with the pandemic. Currently, the 80-year-old doctor is the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden. 

News on Fauci book comes weeks after Dr Seuss censorship

What has made the news about the new book on Dr Fauci interesting is that it has come just weeks after books of famed author Dr Theodor Seuss Giesel were censored over claims that they promoted racist imagery that sparked controversy. Dr Seuss, who died in 1991, was also a children’s author, and the decision to unpublish six of his books drew the conservatives’ wrath who slammed it as an example of “cancel culture”. The fact that President Biden did not mention Dr Seuss in his statement commemorating Read Across America Day on March 2 added to the fuel. 

Fauci himself has also been a controversial figure during the pandemic. While he had differences with Trump, the veteran expert had a public spat with Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul recently where the latter accused Fauci of engaging in theatrics by sporting two masks. 

Fauci, who has become the medical face of the pandemic for much of the public, has at times been a controversial figure throughout the pandemic. “If we’re not spreading the infection, isn’t it just theater?” the Kentucky lawmaker asked Fauci during his latest Senate hearing. “If you’ve had the vaccine and you’re wearing two masks, isn't that theater?"

“No, it’s not — here we go again with the theater,” Fauci said, adding: “Let me just state for the record that masks are not theater. Masks are protective.”