Ames, they are more expensive because they circulate through a smaller market so they have to make enough profit from a smaller audience.
Its important to remember that no person (fictional or real) is perfect. If you look at tanach, each person had some big character flaw (some more than others). You can look at the good and bad of the literature you are reading and try to learn from them. At least, that’s the way I look at it.
If you think the books are polluting you, they probably are.
(I don’t think Dr Seuss is treif – its barely real english)