# Do you know any propaganda children's books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090 "2005-05-02T18:20:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![My\_Dog\_Klaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@My\_Dog\_Klaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/My_Dog_Klaus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/41 "2005-05-03T18:48:00Z")
This might not be strictly propaganda, but it’s definitely trying to put kids in a certain mind frame. When my parents first moved to Germany, a neighbor gave my mom a book called [Der Struwwelpeter](http://www.struwwelpeter.com/) (I still have it). The neighbor said it was required reading for anyone with kids. It was written in 1844. The first english translation was done by Mark Twain. The basic moral of all the stories is “Do what your parents tell you or horrible things will happen to you!”. The children in the book all die or get horribly disfigured. My favorite has always been “The Story of the Thumbsucker”. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/42 "2005-05-03T19:29:18Z")
**Mein Hund Klauss** I’ve heard that Struwwlepeter was actually made as a parody of children’s books at the time. I’ve never seen any proof one way or the other. If I recall correctly, the author’s hometown has statues of the characters. I imagine the children there have some interesting nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/43 "2005-05-03T20:38:49Z")
> [@My\_Dog\_Klaus](#): > > This might not be strictly propaganda, but it’s definitely trying to put kids in a certain mind frame. > > When my parents first moved to Germany, a neighbor gave my mom a book called [Der Struwwelpeter](http://www.struwwelpeter.com/) (I still have it). The neighbor said it was required reading for anyone with kids. It was written in 1844. The first english translation was done by Mark Twain. > > The basic moral of all the stories is “Do what your parents tell you or horrible things will happen to you!”. The children in the book all die or get horribly disfigured. > > My favorite has always been “The Story of the Thumbsucker”. You should see some of the children’s stories from the Georgian period. They’re almost all about how good behavior leads to riches, while bad behavior invariably ends in a horrible death. The Victorians went one better and defined good vs. bad in more religious terms; only later in the period did things get calmed down a bit, so that pretty minor sins wouldn’t lead directly to the grave. We just don’t read those books any more. The only propagandistic book I can think of is my _Rudyard Kipling’s pocket history of England_, which is really something. It has a lot to say about what a great thing the Norman Invasion was, since the Saxons had strengths and weaknesses that were complimented by the Normans, thus producing the wonderful English race. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/44 "2005-05-03T22:46:27Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > **Case Sensitive** considering that many people have seriously claimed that LOTR is an allegory for World War 1 or 2, I don’t know whether you’re being serious or just giving a fine example of dry sarcasm. A little from Column A, a little from Column B: I don’t really believe it, but I think there are enough parallels, despite Tolkien’s repudiation of allegory, that you could have fun arguing the point. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/45 "2005-05-03T23:43:14Z")
When I was in my latish teens, I stumbled upon a book called _Arrows of the Queen_ in the Young Readers section of the library. It was a fantasy novel geared towards the middle school set, set in a quasi-medieval milieu. The whole point of the book seemed to be “traditional marriage/family bad, homosexuality and premarital sex (for twelve and thirteen-year-olds :eek: ) good.” Now, at the time, being quite morally liberal, I thought that these ideas were all well and good, but I was so offended by the blatant propaganda that I didn’t bother with the two sequels. Even at age twelve, I think I could have easily seen through the thin veneer of “story”, which was poorly written, to the blatant political message. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/46 "2005-05-04T05:18:26Z")
> [@tiltypig](#): > > The Chronicles of Narnia? Boy was I pissed when I found out what that series was really about. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/47 "2005-05-04T16:14:31Z")
My favorite for a long time has been [James Clavell’s _The Children’s Story_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children%27s_Story). I suppose you could call it anti-propaganda propaganda for children 🙂 re: _The Story of X_ — > [@](#): > > a shrill feminist missive about a child whose sex/gender is unknown Aww, c’mon, it was hardly a humorless strident feminist polemic. It was cute and light-hearted and playful. It was an xperiment that cost xactly 23 billion dollars and 72 cents. And it made lots of points about how discomfited people get when they don’t know the sex of the person they’re dealing with (a subject to which Saturday Night Live turned for amusements years later with “Pat”). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/49 "2020-03-26T11:50:29Z")
Hey, when the above spam is deleted, how about leaving the thread bumped? New examples would be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/50 "2020-03-26T12:11:00Z")
> [@Rodd\_Hill](#): > > (snip) > > “Propaganda” being, in my opinion, any media used to elicit a response from the receiver, either to think a certain way, or to move the receiver to action of some type. > > (/snip) Sounds like the word you are looking for is “literature”. Goodnight Moon? Where the Wild Things Are? ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/51 "2020-03-26T12:44:46Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Re The Berenstein Bears. I could have sworn that they were Jewish. I’m sure that I’ve seen books with them celebrating the Jewish holidays. I am positive ( I even remember some of the songs) that rather than a Christmas special, their 70 something cartoon was a Thanksgiving special. Well, the original authors were Stan and Jan Berenstain (not “stein”, a very common mistake), the namesakes and models for the fictional anthropomorphic ursines. Stan was Jewish and Jan was Christian. Some time in the 2000s (aughts) they passed the franchise on to their son, who I suppose is the one taking it in an overtly religious direction. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/52 "2020-03-26T13:10:50Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Boy was I pissed when I found out what that series [the Chronicles of Narnia] was really about. How old were you when you read it? (Is this poster still here?) Because I was 12, and it seemed obvious to me, as a non-Christian child living in Christendom. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/53 "2020-03-26T13:46:45Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > How old were you when you read it? (Is this poster still here?) Because I was 12, and it seemed obvious to me, as a non-Christian child living in Christendom. Likewise. I was about the same age, non-Christian, but I was never in any doubt about the Christian theme. It didn’t bother me, and still doesn’t. I wonder what people have to say about the atheist propaganda in Philip Pullman’s _His Dark Materials_ series? I enjoyed the first two books, but I thought it became silly in the third book. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/54 "2020-03-26T15:28:04Z")
[_Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!_](https://www.amazon.com/Help-Mom-There-Liberals-Under/dp/0976726904) > [@](#): > > This full-color illustrated book is a fun way for parents to teach young children the valuable lessons of conservatism. Written in simple text, readers can follow along with Tommy and Lou as they open a lemonade stand to earn money for a swing set. But when liberals start demanding that Tommy and Lou pay half their money in taxes, take down their picture of Jesus, and serve broccoli with every glass of lemonade, the young brothers experience the downside to living in Liberaland. By the same author we have [_Help! Mom! Hollywood’s in My Hamper!_](https://www.amazon.com/Help-Mom-Hollywoods-My-Hamper/dp/0976726912), [_Help! Mom! The 9th Circuit Nabbed the Nativity!_](https://www.amazon.com/Help-Mom-Circuit-Nabbed-Nativity/dp/0976726920), and [_Help! Mom! The Swamp is in My School!_](https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2020/02/blurb-for-political-childrens-book-has-its-own-kind-of-hilarity/) [Another one](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1729436161): > [@](#): > > The rights of every person, every man, woman, and child, are inalienable; though they are written as the law of the land, our rights transcend all of humanity’s laws. They are tantamount to each individual living their most fulfilled life. The rights that we possess are not uniquely American, but rather natural rights that are possessed by all people. What is uniquely American is the explicit nature with which these rights must be acknowledged at all levels of government. As such, it is the responsibility of all Americans to exercise their rights daily, which means that the Bill of Rights must be a recurring study and part of regular discussion. Learning our rights at a young age is an important step in growing to be a conscious citizen; one that will not only defend their own liberties, but those of their neighbors, friends, community, and strangers around the world. I Know My Rights: A Children’s Guide to the Bill of Rights and Individual Liberty presents the original text of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, coupled with an accessible and detailed explanation for each law, based in recent case law and scholarly interpretation. This book will provide a basic understanding of the Bill of Rights, as well as a foundation upon which each child can learn from and grow into active, peaceful, and prosperous individuals who seek personal fulfillment and happiness within their own lives and their communities. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/55 "2020-03-26T16:10:03Z")
There’s **Struwwelpeter,** of course, the classic 19th century German picture book exhorting good little children to eat up all the soup, not play with scissors, nor mock any Africans who happen to be wandering around the neighborhood. Then there’s **Struwwelhitler,** in which good little children can enjoy ol’ Schickelgruber getting his comeuppance. [https://www.amazon.com/Struwwelhitler-A-Nazi-Story-Book/dp/3866710143](https://www.amazon.com/Struwwelhitler-A-Nazi-Story-Book/dp/3866710143) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/56 "2020-03-26T18:11:56Z")
This book briefly became a best-seller after Stephen Colbert mentioned it on his show. The Amazon “reviews” are a riot, although some of the more out-there ones are gone. [https://www.amazon.com/My-Parents-Open-Carry-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00MG1WD5G/ref=sr\_1\_2?dchild=1&keywords=my+parents+open+carry&qid=1585246076&sr=8-2&swrs=03E8A221537836D5AE2A160E5FF734B0](https://www.amazon.com/My-Parents-Open-Carry-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00MG1WD5G/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=my+parents+open+carry&qid=1585246076&sr=8-2&swrs=03E8A221537836D5AE2A160E5FF734B0) For a while, the library I volunteer(ed?) at got a lot of those Rush Limbaugh kids’ books, both paper and audio. The audio books were almost always still in the shrinkwrap, and the books appeared to have never been opened. I also once saw a book at a thrift store about abortion that was aimed at young children, based on its text, and complete with graphic photos. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/57 "2020-03-26T18:21:04Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Likewise. I was about the same age, non-Christian, but I was never in any doubt about the Christian theme. It didn’t bother me, and still doesn’t. > > I wonder what people have to say about the atheist propaganda in Philip Pullman’s _His Dark Materials_ series? I enjoyed the first two books, but I thought it became silly in the third book. As someone moderately versed in Christian theology, it was quite obvious that Pullman is not. A case can be made for atheism but that wasn’t it. Like any other heavy-handed didacticism, it killed the story. But then Pullman beat it to death with a sledge hammer and drank its blood. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/58 "2020-03-26T18:28:02Z")
Yet another, and in this case 36 of them: “Left Behind - The Kids.” That’s right - THIRTY-SIX volumes. The adult books were terrible - yes, I tried to read a couple of them - and the theology isn’t correct either IMNSHO. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/59 "2020-03-26T20:03:56Z")
How about the Harry Potter series? It was very pro-human. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/60 "2020-03-26T20:27:14Z")
When I was a kid in the 1980s, I checked out a book from the public library. I’m sure I selected it purely because it had a picture of a garbage truck on the cover, and I liked trucks. It was a story about a garbage man who started trying to repair and reuse the things people left out on the curb. But ultimately he discovers that it isn’t worth the effort, all that stuff is worthless junk and it really should be taken to the landfill. And the lesson in the end was that garbage is actually good, because it can be used to fill in wetlands (they probably said “swamps” in the book) and then we can build houses on them! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090/61 "2020-03-26T21:04:30Z")
I read \*Bread and Dew, \*mentioned in the OP. It was the only book from Moldova I could find in English when I was reading an author from every country. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-propaganda-childrens-books/302090.md?page=4)