Children's Politerature
I really like G-mail, however when I opened my account I didn't really choose a very good address (JDIWild). Anyway I have all these folders set up in "Entourage" (the mac version of Outlook), and I am just scared to sever my ties. Anyone have any hints about making the conversion less painful (I would also like to import all my work e-mails into G-mail, can I do that)?
Speaking of G-mail sometimes the ads that pop up in association with the content of an e-mail a person has sent are pretty funny. Brandon sent me something referencing President Bush and this ad came up:
"Why Mommy is a Democrat - littledemocrats.net - The book George Bush doesn't want your kids to read!"Of course I clicked on it to see if it was for real, and it definitely is.
Check out these sample pages from the book. Pay particular attention to the background information in the illustrations.
So here's the challenge (I don't know if this will be hard or not) is there a "Why Mommy is a Republican" out there (and no, the Bible doesn't count)? I am hoping we can get a literary analysis from either these two Children's Lit experts (you know who you are!)
2 comments:
ARGH! You've got to be kidding me. Did you LOOK at those sample pages. I could go on and on about the horror. However, I'll try to focus my rant.
First of all, the language is tremendously irresponsible. Equating how Democrats keep us safe like mommy is one thing - but you could easily have a book that mimics the language but switches the Democrats to Republicans. So, why not say the government, legislators, judges, etc. Instead of explaining the differences between the two parties, this book tries to satirically poke fun of Republicans through the (poorly done) illustrations. This is clearly for the adults. Because if a child sees this book I'll tell you exactly what they'll think: They'll ask why do the squirrels happily share and play together while there is a homeless man being ignored by the rich in THE SAME picture? Is that the message? Democrats only care about their own? I hope not.
There is a page where the mom is protecting the little squirrels from the elephant walking by. Now that's a good thing we want to teach the kids about government. If parents explain that the elephant represents Republicans that's the wrong message we should be sending them. If the random elephant is not explained by a parent, it is absolutely useless, distracting, and out of place in the story.
So, one might think that it's for an older child who already has a basic knowledge of our government. Well, then the language is yet again inappropriate. The "just like mommy" repetition is for children much too young to have that basic knowledge yet.
The book is atrocious on so many levels I can't believe parents are buying this crap unless it's as a gag gift for their adult friends.
And let me just add that if this book was done the same way with Republican switched for Democrat, I would still condemn this book. Books are all too influential to children and this book poorly communicates a poor message.
Brilliant
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