The Red Menace in the children’s aisle
By Dave
January 10th, 2009 | Leave a comment
Some of us suspected all along. Children’s books are overflowing with left-wing idealism: sharing and caring, protecting the well-being of Chicken Littles everywhere. Even Dr. Suess’ The Lorax, an environmentalist manifesto, has fallen under suspicion. Professors Julia Mickenberg and Philip Nel have exposed this pattern in Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature.
Caleb Crain writes about this New York University Press publication in that bastion of liberalism, The New York Times.
Lest we get ourselves in a lather over this commie threat in perfect binding (it could already be on your bookshelves!), Crain divides the works into three categories: Charming, Insufferable and Inappropriate.
The charming stuff you pat on the head and think, Well, isn’ that cute? The Insufferable will make you (or your kids/grandkids/wards of state) roll their eyes and the Inappropriate will probably leave some readers wondering, What was the editor thinking??
In other words, impressionable young minds will soon outgrow the message, for better or for worse.
To read the Sunday Times essay, CLICK HERE.
From NYT essay:
“Julia L. Mickenberg and Philip Nel document in Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature (New York University, $32.95), Marxist principles have been dripping steadily into the minds of American youth for more than a century. This isn’t altogether surprising. After all, most parents want their children to be far left in their early years — to share toys, to eschew the torture of siblings, to leave a clean environment behind them, to refrain from causing the extinction of the dog, to rise above coveting and hoarding, and to view the blandishments of corporate America through a lens of harsh skepticism. But fewer parents wish for their children to carry all these virtues into adulthood. It is one thing to convince your child that no individual owns the sandbox and that it is better for all children that it is so. It is another to hope that when he grows up he will donate the family home to a workers’ collective.”
