Dear Readers,
The Critical Mom will continue to provide "every thought I ever had" on current events, personal experiences, and favorite recipes. I've also launched a new substack, The Beautiful and the Banned, on favorite but "challenged" children's books. The ones I loved in kindergarten, the ones I read my children, the ones most people--not me--think endorse "colonialism" or "racism," terms whose definition has been stretched beyond recognizability, to the point where they're practically meaningless. For example, the artist, academic and civil rights leader Julius Lester, in his afterword to Sam and the Tigers, his charming version of Helen Bannerman's classic, Little Black Sambo, wrote, "many whites had loved Little Black Sambo as children, and were afraid their love of it made them racists now." Of course it didn't (writes this admirer of one of the best children's books of all time.) Each new post of my substack will explore why some poor falsely accused book should never have been challenged. When I read, "many teachers have removed the book from their classrooms," as I did of Claire Huchet Bishop's fabulous The Five Chinese Brothers, then I'll be urging you to put it back on yours. Enjoy The Beautiful and the Banned and consider becoming a paid subscriber.
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