[lbo-talk] Re: bending young saplings to the right

Seth Kulick skulick at linc.cis.upenn.edu
Tue Jun 7 03:25:09 PDT 2005



> jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>
> >>Are there similar books teaching socialism to children? Seems like I saw
> >>a childrens book about a blue cows adventures once when I was looking
> >>for young childrens books that taught lessons that were the antithesis of
> >>the above title. I gave my youngest niece "The Three Little Pigs Buy the
> >>White House" but it isn't strictly a childrens book.
> >>

I forget the author/illustrator names, but "Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type" is pretty good, about farm animals going on strike for better working conditions. We bought it at the IWW headquarters, a few blocks away from us, on a May Day sale. It's also sold at mainstream places as well. There's an earlier similar book by someone else called "Farmer Duck".

Also, going back a bit, take another look at Crockett Johnson, who did "Harold and the Purple Crayon" and "Barnaby". He also did cartoons for The New Masses - see http://www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/purple/early.html#new_masses and http://www.marxists.org/subject/art/visual_arts/satire/johnson/index.htm "Barnaby" was in PM, I think. Don't know if that was the same time as when Dr. Seuss did editorial cartoons for them. http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/

There is an interesting article that doesn't seem to be on the web unfortunately: --. "'Never overlook the art of the seemingly simple': Crockett Johnson and the Politics of the Purple Crayon." Children's Literature 29 (2001): 142-74.



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