Washington Post: Why are parents objecting to books on race and gender for five year olds?

Okay, that’s not exactly the headline the Post used but it’s close: “‘Racist,’ ‘grooming’: Why parents are trying to ban so many picture books.” The article is of course written as if the people who would complain about children’s picture books are all wild-eyed bigots.

The discontent with children’s picture books overwhelmingly centers on titles with LGBTQ characters and storylines, which were targeted in 75 percent of such challenges, The Post found. The top motive, cited in 64 percent of the picture-book complaints, was a wish to prevent children from reading about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary and queer lives. The next most-common reason was books’ “inappropriate” nature, cited in 44 percent of challenges, and the third most-common reason was that books were “anti-police,” a charge included in 25 percent of challenges.

Eventually the author does admit that the overwhelming majority of people polled have a problem with teaching these topics to elementary age children.

As conflicts rage over what and how children should learn about race, gender and sex at school, public opinion seems split. A late-2022 Post-KFF poll found that more than 70 percent of adults feel it is inappropriate for teachers to discuss trans identity in kindergarten through fifth grade, while slightly more than half of adults also believe the topic is inappropriate for grades six through eight.

A common issue with mainstream write-ups of cultural topics like this is that any action taken by conservatives is taken as the leading edge of a culture war while any action by progressives is downplayed or ignored. In this case, the story does at least point out there has been a recent explosion of children’s books on these hot-button topics.

It is also the case, said Skidmore College professor Catherine Golden, who teaches a class on 19th-century children’s literature, that objections are surging because the number of visual-rich picture books portraying what it’s like to have gay parents or be transgender has exploded.

“Picture books are now taking these LGBTQ issues on,” she said. “And the picture makes it easier to jump on it, the picture makes it easier to criticize, because it visualizes something that people might see as objectionable.”

The leftist publishers who are “taking these LGBTQ issues on” are the ones driving this. All the parents are doing (again, a majority of Americans agree with them) is saying no to some of these books. For instance, a former kindergarten teacher saw a problem with Ibram Kendi’s Antiracist Baby.

Sylvia Loosveldt in Washington state wrote in a challenge that Ibram X. Kendi’s “Antiracist Baby Picture Book” should be pulled from schools because it “is teaching young students to become racist” by “telling young children they should look at others only on the basis of skin color.”

Loosveldt said in an interview that she became aware of “Antiracist Baby” when a librarian friend with the Kennewick School District flagged its presence in two elementary schools. She read the book and grew disturbed, especially by an image of a White kid climbing a complete ladder while a Black kid climbs a ladder that is broken at the top. Loosveldt, 64, is retired but said she spent more than three decades teaching kindergarten and first-grade, so she knows firsthand the stakes of what goes into children’s books.

“Those kids just believe everything that you tell them,” she said. “If teachers tell you you can be any gender you want, or that you’re bad because you’re White, kids are going to believe you.”

It’s not a secret that I completely disagree with Ibram Kendi but I would never seek to limit his ability to write or publish what he believes. However, that doesn’t mean his views have to be represented in first grade classes and taught to kids who know nothing else about this topic.

It’s no surprise the majority of challenges involve books about trans issues. For instance this one aimed at 5-6 year-olds:

“When Aidan Became a Brother,” which features a transgender protagonist. The title was the second most-challenged picture book identified by The Post. “They’re treating these books like weapons.”

Parents simply do no want teachers telling 5-6 year-olds that boys can be girls and girls can be boys. Yes, of course, it’s ultimately true that there are trans adults who live as the other sex for most of their lives. But decisions made by adults or even older teens are not the same as ideas directed at kids who can barely read and who have no frame of reference for what they are being told.

Books shouldn’t be banned but just because there’s an explosion of far-left books about race and gender for five year-olds doesn’t mean parents have to go along with having them front and center in schools. In case you’re curious, here’s a reading of When Aidan Became a Brother, a book for kindergarten kids.