[CALIBK12] Babar Promotes Imperialism?

[Thomas Nixon]

While I readily admit that I am probably a left-wing critic upon occasion, I also don't believe that we need to go back and write some sort of revisionist history of children's literature. Yes, there are some rather offensive things in some of those old books, but that offensiveness comes from 2008 eyes.

That being said, I think we do need to be careful about what ends up in our libraries through attrition and/or lack of weeding. As I have been weeding the books in my library from the 1940s and 1950s (and loyal readers should note that our school did not open until 1973), I have been more than a little perturbed at what I have found. In particular, some of the language used and some of the pictures displayed would not be found in a modern-day book (and thankfully so!).


Tom Nixon
--
Tehipite Middle School
630 N. Augusta Street
Fresno, CA 93701
Web: http://www.tehipitelibrary.org<http://www.tehipitelibrary.org/>
Blog: http://notyourmotherslibrarian.blogspot.com<http://notyourmotherslibrarian.blogspot.com/>
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