Although from time to time we have talked about the most controversial books in historyToday I am going to place special emphasis on a genre, children's literature, whose analysis by critics is usually stricter than with respect to other works, especially due to the audience it is focused on and the most important opinions: those of the parents .
At times, some censorship has been fully justified. On the other hand, in others an excessive conservatism has condemned small gems like these most controversial children's books in history that today we rescue for the new generations and among those who do not lack gay penguins or the great adventure of a small sperm.
Where Willy Went
In the life of every parent (or at least in that of almost everyone) there is always that delicate situation in which you have to explain to your child "how babies are really made" and all those things to prevent that from happening sooner. of time. A task that Nicholas allan tried to save those future parents by giving life to this book published in 2005 and starring Willy, a sperm that starts a race Against 300 others of his kind for reaching "the egg", a kind of "island" which, upon reaching it, results in the pregnancy of Mrs. Browne. Interesting.
It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana
Illustrated and published by Ricardo Cortés, one of the most prestigious cartoonists in The New York Times, It's Just a Plant is, as many of you will have deduced, marijuana cultivation and its influence among young audiences. The story stars a girl named Jackie, who discovers her parents smoking marijuana one night. After taking her to the farm where a good friend grows seven-leaf grass, the girl is convinced to vote in favor of legalization in the next elections. After its publication in 2005, the book raised such controversy that Cortés himself was invited to television to discuss the book with the famous political commentator Bill O'Reilly after half the Republican Party railed at a book that other intellectuals considered "useful "And" different.
In the Night Kitchen
Published in 1970, In the Night Kitchen is a book written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak whose protagonist is Mickey, a boy who one night dreams of a trip to the dreamlike "Night Kitchen", in which he helps to prepare a cake that will be ready for the next day. At first, this story of little kitchen children might seem harmless. However, the factor for which the book came to be censored was due to the fact that show mickey naked on some of the pages of the book (yes, TOTALLY naked) and various illustrations of waterfalls and milk bottles so necessary to prepare a cake.
All my friends are dead
Conceived as a comic book and perhaps too ironic, All my Friends are Dead, written by Avery Monsen and Jory John and illustrated by Avery Monsen It was published in 2010 by Chronicle Books. Throughout the mini pages of this book, special emphasis is placed on the friends of a dinosaur (yes, a meteorite), the friends of a tree (all of them turned into tables), the 3284 Facebook friends of a nerd (a which he does not know), and so on until he is illustrated with a gallery of characters and situations in which various individuals and entities question their lives through the whereabouts of their friends. A gift of the book made after its publication became the most shared of the Tumblr social network in all its history.
And Tango Makes Three
Mentioned on one occasion or another, And Tango makes Tres is the book of controversial children's books par excellence, especially by the fact of using animals to explain new lifestyles that some conservative sectors still do not tolerate. If to this we add the factor that the Existence of two real gay penguins at New York's Central Park Zoo, Roy and Silo, the fact of telling that two homosexual animals can raise the child of another couple becomes a provocation for those who have not yet overcome that Darwin's Theory is valid. The book, written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole was published in 2005 and named as most controversial book of 2006, 2007 and 2008 by the American Library Association.
These most controversial children's books in history they try to take away the iron from certain taboos for which, according to many parents, children are not yet ready. The education that inspires their children depends on each one, but it is clear that, of course, these books will not leave any parent indifferent with enough tolerance to accept some of the great millennium debates around family, drugs or sex.
Would you buy any of these books for your children?
If I would buy all those books for my children and read them with them. I would like to have them, although the youngest of my children is already 12 years old. For my part with my children I have talked about all the controversial issues, current and difficult for many of the parents. Children must know from a young age and with words appropriate to their age, of all the issues for some polemicists, for me that are essential for their formation in this complex society.
I don't know what those parents are afraid of, as if talking to them about sex and drugs automatically turns them into lustful drug addicts: S