Dr. Seuss' 'Yertle the Turtle' makes its way back to Smithtown Library after 54 years

Smithtown librarians said they received a delightful shock recently when a couple returned a Dr. Seuss book more than five decades after it was checked out.

Someone borrowed the book “Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories” from the Smithtown Library branch on Main Street in the hamlet in April 1970 and it had been due back later that month, according to library officials.

But they said it went missing until about a month ago, when a senior couple walked into the same library branch with the faded green copy of the book in hand.

Library clerk Karen Pruzan, 65, of East Northport, said she was working at the circulation desk and the couple laughed as they presented the book to her. They told her they found it while cleaning their home.

“They kind of laughed and said, ‘We found this book, it was buried somewhere in the house,' ” Pruzan said in an interview. “ … They said they had had it for a long time and they were returning it. So I looked inside, and I said, ‘Oh, yeah, this has been out for a long time.’ ”

Library officials said the couple left before they could get their names.

“We had a very good laugh about it and were kind of amazed too,” Pruzan said. “Some of the people in the library were quite taken by it because they thought it was a great thing that happened.”

Published in 1958 by Random House, “Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories” is one of the more famous children's books from award-winning author Theodor Seuss Geisel, whose pen name was Dr. Seuss.

The main tale tells the story of Yertle, a turtle king whose greed to make his pond kingdom larger leads to his downfall.

Seuss told The Washington Post for a story in 1979 that Yertle represented Adolf Hitler.

Smithtown Library director Robert Lusak said in an interview that the couple's decision to return the book was a lesson in “doing the right thing.”

Lusak said the total fines for the book's late return would have been roughly $1,971, but the library didn't charge the couple anything because libraries in Suffolk and Nassau started waiving late fees in 2021.

Lusak added that the library probably wouldn’t have charged the fine anyway. 

“It was a really, really kind gesture,” Lusak said of the couple's book return.

The Dr. Seuss tale won't be put back into circulation with the library, according to Lusak.

He said library officials plan to display the book — which will take a tour of the branches in Smithtown, Nesconset, Kings Park and Commack — along with a description of the story of how the book was lost and returned.

With Lisa L. Colangelo