On the Essay "A Plea for Radical Children's Literature"

The third essay in Herbert Kohl's book, Should We Burn Babar is titled "A Plea for Radical Children's Literature."

One of the first things he addresses is how, though there is an increasing "personal and social sensitivity represented in young adult literature today, there is an almost total absence of books, fiction or nonfiction, that question the economic and social structure of our society and the values of capitalism."

I am a devoted children's literature reader. Long before I had kids, I had a collection of both picture books and juvenile fiction that presented alternatives the the social norms I saw represented in most kids books. I was, and am, always on the look out for books that show strong female characters, empowered youth, adults that respect children, diverse families, DIY ethics including collective living and working and making things by hand, and people living outside the assumed norm of nuclear family, two-car garage, middle-class America.

My list is growing, if slowly, but I have noticed the same thing that Khol speaks of pertaining to questioning economic and social structure. There are an increasing number of books that deal with revising the role that girls play in fairy tales, but they still take place in the typical fairy tale settings of the white, wealthy, ruling class. This is similar for many of the books I have found with "same-sex" couples.

Even though my focus is on picture books, and not chapter books, I have found it much the same in these books as well. There are great juvenile fiction books/series that have lots of diversity in their characters, and show them encountering many real world situations that teens face including death, pregnancy, and struggles around sexual orientation. But where are the books that are taking it to that next step? Where are the books that are challenging the social norms that govern our culture? Where are the books that show alternatives to capitalism and the insinuated goal of the "American Dream?"

One series of picture books I've found that begins to deal with this topic are the "Henry" books, written and illustrated by D.B. Johnson. These books are based on the writings of Henry David Thoreau, and Henry and his friends are re-imagined as bears. The first book in the four book series, Henry Hikes to Fitchburg tells the story of Henry and his friend who both want to make the journey to Fitchberg. Henry's friend decides that he will work to earn the money to take the train, while Henry chooses to spend the time walking to Fitchburg instead.

The basic question the book deals with is how people spend their time, and how they interact with their surroundings. The fact that the book is beautifully illustrated is a bonus to it's thought provoking message, but I think that the most important part is that it is well written. It doesn't matter what sorts of radical ideas are set forth if no kid will sit still to listen to the story.  As Kohl writes, "Radical tales should nurture the social imagination and at the same time not be dogmatic or preachy."

The subsequent "Henry" books, Henry Builds a Cabin, Henry Climbs a Mountain and Henry Works are equally as thought provoking, beautiful and well written. All of the stories are taken from ideas found in Thoreau's work, and deal with ideas around simple living, paying taxes, and the definition of work.

Another major point in Kohl's essay is what I would call "Social Movements vs. Exceptional Individuals." Kohl points out the disservice that we do to children, to all people, by telling stories (and retelling history) where one exceptional individual overcomes adversity to succeed, in whatever way, when the truth behind history, and the majority of real life examples, is much more complex.

"Books that deal with poor people concern the efforts of individual youngsters or families to escape poverty. Books on social movements center on leaders  and on participants who have performed individually heroic actions, not on the building of movements and the power of people united in struggle."

pg 59

Kohl writes about how nurturing hope and painting images of a world that could be free of oppression could be key to "sparking utopian and hopeful imaginings" that could lead to creative social change.

"When there are no examples of stories for young people that fundamentally question the world as it might be, resignation, defiance, or the quest for personal success become the only imaginable options unless the young have other sources for generating hope."

pg 63

The idea of "exceptional individuals" as opposed to "movements of people" seems like a story we are told, and tell children, over and over again: think Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, or Rosa Parks. In another of Kohl's essays in this book, he deals in depth with the fallacy of the story we tell about the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. By painting Rosa Parks as a tired old woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus out of stubbornness and exhaustion, we take away the power of the true movement for social change behind the actual story. We do a disservice to all people by mis-telling history in this way. To show this moment as exceptional individual action makes us believe that the people who create social change are born with some sort of special quality. The more empowering, and much more complex truth that we could be telling children would be about how we are all capable of creating such change.

"I've come to realize how important it is for young people to hear tales of justice, to learn the sorrows and joys of trying to make a better world."

pg 64

I am interested in searching further for such books: Books that paint empowering images of social change, books that show movements and struggles. Are there any more out there now than there were 15 years ago when Khol was doing his own research? Has the state of children's literature changed, or are we in the same anchored boat, teaching our children to row, and wondering why we reach adulthood without much movement?

In my next posts I am also going to start to detail a list of books that I have found to be liberating and socially positive in one way or another. Very few of them are "100% awesome." The best kid's book I know about gay marriage is also set in a fairy tale using the images of kings and queens and the rest. Some of the most empowering books about gender are still mostly about white people. And, as Khol pointed out, there still are almost none that "question the economic and social structure of our society and the values of capitalism."

Was Kohl's plea heard?