Politically charged children's books

Well one book series that has been given lots of attention but not for that reason is the Harry Potter Books

*** WARNING - MILD SPOILER AHEAD ***

In some of the later books Harry and his underground group of friends actively work against the government and the establishment. I found this to be very interesting as it's teaching kids realy not to trust authority all the time. It's a great message but everyones after them over the witchcraft piece, so the anti-establishment thread gets lost in the shuffle.

(Mild spoiler if you haven't read all the books) The thing I love about Harry Potter is that it shows that evil does not always show up in a cape with glowing eyes. It comes in the most banal forms- in fact these forms (the Dursleys and Dolores Umbridge)are in many ways harder to fight then the standard villains.
I am sure I will also be born out in my prediction that Snape, despite being an asshole, will turn out to be loyal to the Order of the Phoenix. [img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]

I think all of Seuss' books had messages that may have been considered political at the time of publishing, since his books advocate for equality and cooperation and against bigotry.

Sounds good. I know him as a singer/songwriter. He wrote "The World Turned Upside Down" about the Diggers (the originals).

We should be careful what we mean by "banned".

1. "Banned" could mean "made illegal by the governing authorities to own or distribute." In this sense, certain kinds of pornography are banned in many countries as are certain kinds of hate literature.

2. Sometimes people say that a book was "banned" by a certain library or bookstore if that library or bookstore decided not to carry that book for political reasons. Similarly, people sometimes say that a book was "banned" by a school board, if the school board decided, for political reasons, not to teach the book or to make it available to its students. If a book is banned in the second sense, then people can, of course, legally own and distribute the book.

I assume that the Lorax was banned only in the weaker sense, i.e. sense #2. No school or library has the power to "ban" books in the stronger sense, i.e. sense #1.

A subversive film treatment of a Dr. Seuss classic

quote: Dr. Seuss’s much-loved book Horton Hears a Who! has every appearance of innocence. It’s the story of a large animal — Horton — compelled to protect the Whos, a tiny civilization that lives in a speck on a clover and that only he can hear. Horton’s allegiance to the miniature people of Whoville is now a matter of public record. But who, we may ask, is Horton? An elephant of an irrepressibly plucky disposition — yes. An inhabitant of the Jungle of Nool — true. The subject of harassment, assault and forced confinement for his devotion to the Whos – definitely. One of the most cherished creations of Theodor Seuss Geisel, and now the star of a major animated feature – you betcha.

Yet what do we really know about this pachyderm and his sympathies? Is he the big-eared naпf that he appears to be, or does his sweet nature hide a secret agenda? Chances are, most of the viewers of the new film adaptation Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! will not struggle with these questions — seeing as many of them will only recently have mastered tying their shoelaces and making solo forays to the bathroom, judgments of the movie’s value as political allegory may be beyond them, anyhow.

Many generally progressive writers and other artists took part in the anti-Nazi war effort.

What is sad then is that even Seuss, who did a lot of antiracist stuff after the war as well, fell into horrific racist stereotyping of the Japanese.

Seuss's most political book was the Cold-war allegory The Butter Battle Book.

And The Sneetches was about racism.

[ 02 April 2008: Message edited by: M. Spector ]

Favourite books for kids

Another book I'd recommend was the children's book adaptation of "Brundibar" , with text by Tony Kushner and illustrations by Maurice Sendak.

For those who don't know, "Brundibar" was originally a children's opera produced in the Terezin(Theresienstadt)concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia by adult and child camp detainees. Operating under extreme constraints(as you might imagine)they created a story of children standing up to and defeating a horrible villain(guess who?). Apparently, none of the camp guards or wardens picked up on what they were talking about.

Here's the Wikipedia link to give you a better sense of the story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brundib%C3%A1r

[ 03 April 2008: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]

Heh. Like these guys?

Whine whine.

And check out these promoters of "fair" reporting of the middle east:

quote:These activists also believe in an alternative universe in which Israeli concessions and withdrawals bringing about an end to Palestinian violence – a fairy tale that has been proven false on numerous occasions in the past decade.

Wow, but they're not biased at all, are they? Lying pricks.

[ 07 April 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

Take some acai berry and fuck off, spammer.

Ok, this isn't about books but - when I was a kid, we used to watch "The Wonderful World of Disney" on Sunday nights and my dad would keep up a running commentary, pointing out the American/capitalist propaganda aspects of whatever they were showing. I suppose I could have ended up resenting this but he made a compelling case! It's not a bad way to educate kids politically (and arm them). 

And who could forget the PETA's attempts at getting kids while they're young! I'm a vegetarian and strongly support teaching children about animal welfare, but these ones take it too far. 

Read David Bowie’s "Space Oddity" transformed into the saddest children’s book ever

 

Wow. Gross.

And why is this only causing outrage among American Muslims?