Dr. Seuss said the Lorax had a bossy voice. His readers agreed. And some of them didn’t like that bossiness at all!

The Lorax stands apart from Dr. Seuss’s other books. You can tell just by looking at the pictures. Dr. Seuss used different colors. Instead of primary shades—bright yellows, reds, and blues—he used mauve, purple, and sage-green. The story is different too. Dr. Seuss wanted The Lorax to send a strong message about protecting the environment.

To some people, the message seemed a little too strong—especially to families who logged trees for a living. “After all,” they said, “not all people who cut down trees are greedy Once-lers!” Did Dr. Seuss create the character just to yell at them? Critics thought so. To them, the Lorax seemed like an angry policeman for the environment. The Bible says that “a harsh word stirs up anger.” (Proverbs 15:1) That’s exactly what happened when some people read The Lorax.

But what if the Lorax isn’t just a scolder? What if he only wants to protect his home? Researchers think people will read the book differently if they think of the Lorax connected to the patas monkey. Patas monkeys depend on whistling thorn acacia trees for more than 80 percent of their diet. They are losing their homes as people cut down trees and clear land. If the Lorax is really like the monkey, he has good reason to be upset. His home is vanishing! Dr. Seuss died in 1991. We can’t ask him whether he had the patas monkey in mind when he first drew the Lorax. But we do know this: Even though not everyone liked it, Dr. Seuss said The Lorax was his favorite of all his books.