Picture books get political(in very picture-booky ways)

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Most overtly political pictures books are either bios or historicals or heavy-handed nonsense. They are, in other words, not books children would choose for themselves. They are popular in teacher classrooms and as gifts from well meaning old people. Not among children.

But there is certainly a terrific history of political pictures books, overt or not, that are attractive to (don't talk down to) children.

Some obvious examples include The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who!, The Sneetches, Yertle the Turtle, What Was I Scared Of?, The Butter Battle Book . . . .

Hang on. What the heck was Dr. Seuss up to???

Of course, "no book is genuinely free from political bias." But sometimes a book's politics which, in another era, might seem blase (if present at all), are rather cutting. Like these two books from 2018 and 2019.

The Wall in the Middle of the Book

That's right. Someone's built a wall. And that wall is intended to make the little man in his grand armor feel safe "from the other side of the book." The side of the book that he cannot see. Has only heard rumors of.^* When the other side of the book rescues little armor man from HIS side of the book when HIS side of the book becomes uninhabitably dangerous, he overcomes all his prior assumptions and can live happily ever after. It's a book that never preaches. But will give you plenty opportunity to preach once you've read its final page.

The Sad Little Fact

This dystopian nightmare is about a fact---about many facts---who is dismissed as a lie and, when he refuses to "admit that it [is] not a fact," is locked in a box and buried deep under ground with all the other facts. Meanwhile, above ground, "the Authorities" begin fullscale manufactury of fake facts, leading the world to struggle along in ever-increasing darkness. Fortunately, though some people revel in the lies, others hunt out the facts and bring them back to the surface. It's a happy ending, I suppose, but this world is not fully redeemed by facts. Some people still embrace the lies, "turning their backs [on the facts] and walking away in a huff. But for those with minds to think and a need to know the truth, the facts could not be denied." In other words, it's an optimistic book, but its edges are darkened by realism. It's an honest book. And maybe that is what kids need right now.