Make children’s books great again

American Thinker ^ | 4 Mar, 2022 | Nancy Andersen

[MtnClimber]

Not only are leftists indoctrinating children with racial incitement, they are erasing the books that teach us to put wisdom in our minds and hearts.

Asra Nomani, journalist and parent, testified on March 1st to the House Judiciary Committee on critical race theory in education. She brought children’s books such as Not My Idea to show how radical ideologies appear in kindergarten materials: “Whiteness is a bad deal… it always was,” communicates this book to young minds. This is one of many books that dumb-down decades-old fringe critical theories from academia to present to children as “real” history.

The debate over books in public-school libraries has become a political battleground. In progressive counties, school boards use this debate to intimidate parents. Mark Robinson, the lieutenant governor of North Carolina, just released a statement clarifying his arguments against books like Gender Queer and The 1619 Project. Unfortunately, the emphasis on diversity and inclusion in early literature pushes aside the children’s books that we should be introducing to our most innocent.

Recently I read a favorite book from my childhood -- Petunia by Roger Duvosin -- to a lower elementary class. The kids loved it. They talked excitedly afterwards about the importance of reading. The message is quite powerful. Petunia is a silly goose (literally). She overhears a man talking about the importance of books. She finds a book and carries it with her, thinking she is now wise. She boldly shares her “wisdom” with fellow animals, of course causing more confusion than clarity. Despite her errant advice, she grows prouder and prouder, and her neck stretches longer and longer. Ultimately, she finds a box and tells the farm animals it is safe to open because it reads "Candies” when it actually reads “Danger Firecrackers.”

[MtnClimber]

Communists have taken the long view for decades. It is now so far along it is no longer hidden.

[mewzilla]

Two words: McGuffey Readers.

[real saxophonist]

This is an actual book, on the shelf at the local Target:

[KarlInOhio]

That cover is just begging to have “Mengele” added after Doctor.

[heartwood]

I used to read to groups of small children. They want humor, a gentle scare, surprise, triumph, resolution.

Sure you could sell a story written by a commissar, but they tend to be about good and evil only, and some of the children sense that they don’t really have a choice about how they are supposed to react.

I always thought really good illustrations helped...not commercial commissar hacks, but a personal vision.

There were some books by black authors with black characters that I loved. I even dared tell Brother Rabbit and the Tar Baby, no dialect. I wouldn’t today. And there was a gorgeous, lavish Sambo that I only read at home.

[Albion Wilde]

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