Kyla Thomas (1st Period)- Satirical children's book cover illustrations draw criticism

Summary: "Bad Little Children's Books" is a collection of children's book covers that parody serious topics such as race and discrimination. The book covers also deal with death, violence, or have sexual connotations, which are not things that most parents would want to expose their children to. The question that is raised in this instance is if this book would be considered as bigotry or satire. "There comes a point when 'funny' becomes straight-up hate and when that hate is straight-up racist," wrote former librarian, author and blogger Kelly Jensen. This is the kind of humor that shouldn't be put in to a children's book or into any book at all. It can be offensive to people of a particular race or social group so they shouldn't be said. In an opposing opinion, Ibrahim Hooper, called it a wild claim. Hooper exclaimed, "It is probably wild that they claim it is to expose intolerance and bigotry," Hooper told CNN. "I think it had the opposite effect of promoting it and exploiting it. Bottom line is they have the right to publish this kind of material, but should they? And I think given the divisions we have seen in our society I don't think it is the best use of the First Amendment." They idea of having a freedom is speech is also something that should be considered as well, because they do have the right for their voice to be heard, but there is a fine line between satire and bigotry. Some satire could turn out to be hurtful and should all figure out where that line is an consider other views.

Analysis: In my opinion, I think that racial jokes, violence, derogatory stereotypes, and controversial topics and opinions if anything, should stay out of children's books. It is too often that children lose their innocence and imagination because of the damage and garbage that is put into their minds daily. Hate starts in the household and if children are allowed to read this in their house hold, they are being trained to already have a bias or stereotype against people. We should have positive and good children's books that are motivational and uplifting. In relation to history, wars and violence happen because of division and hatred between either a group of people or nations. The backgrounds of people have a deep relation to how they behave in real life. War really does start in the household. Murderers, rapists, terrorists, and many other negative people in the world all start off as children who have no sense of what is right and wrong based on the foundation that was laid out for them. That's how wars and bad things are started. This may seem like a minor issue, but there are always consequence for everything and we should not let our children read these books.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/03/us/satirical-book-outrage/