Valarie and I are gearing up for Multicultural Children’s Book Day on January 27th, 2017, so I thought this might be a good time to explain what I perceive to be the differences between two different but similar groups: Multicultural Children’s Book Day and We Need Diverse Books. In a business analogy, one is a…
Before Dr. Seuss was famous, he drew racist political cartoons during the 1920s through the 1940s. Was Dr. Seuss himself a racist, or did he just draw these cartoon for a paycheck? He was a racist. Geisel himself was vocally anti-Japanese during the war and had no trouble with rounding up an entire population of…
After the brouhaha from Thoroughly Modern Millie, I feel like I am way more sensitive to racism and when I get asked “Where am I from?”, this video immediately comes to mind. So where am I from? Or where am I from … from?! I was born in Anaheim, California, not far from Disneyland. I grew…
Today I am on the front page of The Boston Globe for the past week of posts that I wrote on my microblog, I Love Newton, about the anti-Asian racism in the local high school musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie. School play’s stereotypes bring outcry and apology. “Millie” touches nerve in Newton by Ellen Ishkanian, Globe…
I am going to make a point of reading these banned and challenged books, if only to understand where on the continuum they belong in my children’s hands. How about you? How do you feel about banned or challenged books? Please comment!