Should we Burn Babar? : : Essays on Children's Literature and the Power of Stories

Locations
Call Number: 809.892 Ko
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	809.892 Ko	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Should we burn Babar?: questioning power in children's literature -- The story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott revisited -- A plea for radical children's literature -- Wicked boys and good schools: three takes on Pinocchio -- The good old days: I was there, where was they?: a fictional history of public education in the United States.
The title essay, a consideration of Babar the elephant, raises the question of what to do with a charming and widely-loved book whose messages, nonetheless, need to be challenged. Also included in this volume is Kohl's acclaimed essay on Rosa Parks, available here for the first time in book form. In it Kohl points out the subtle, but real, racism inherent in the usual telling of the Rosa Parks story and offers another, more truthful version entitled "She Would Not Be Moved." This retelling illustrates how Mrs. Parks's actions were part of an organized struggle for freedom, not a mere personal act of frustration. Throughout, Kohl provides new perspectives on well-known children's stories, highlighting instances of racism, sexism, and condescension that detract from the tale being told. He provides strategies for detecting bias in other works for young people and offers powerful ideas for better ways to tell children stories.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Or Racism, Sexism, and Classism in Our Childhood Favorites submitted by sdunav on August 28, 2017, 2:32pm These are sometimes really fascinating and on-target - but sometimes overly pedantic and dated - looks at racism, sexism,and class in traditional kid lit (especially Babar, as you might expect). I liked the title essay, and the one on Rosa Parks and why her story is so often mis-told, but the essays on what a radical (in the revolutionary sense) kid's lit should look like, Pinocchio and multiculturalism in the early 1900's, and why progressive education is not a new idea dragged more than a bit. I learned quite a bit, but it wasn't scintillating reading.

I would love to see this updated from 1995, though.

And no, we shouldn't burn Babar, but we don't need to give him to kids without some critical examination of his hidden messages. ;-)