While some recent books for children are clever and uplifting, too many are being written by ideologues with an ax to grind. This is deadly serious, as is the “woke” BLM curriculum being forced on children in government schools. 

I was saddened last month upon hearing of the death of Norton Juster, most famous for his superb children’s book “The Phantom Tollbooth.”

Illustrated by Juster’s friend, Jules Feiffer, the book takes a boy, Milo, through a fantastic journey in his miniature car into the Kingdom of Wisdom, divided into Dictionopolis, where words are supreme, and Digitopolis, where numbers rule.

Published in 1961, “Phantom” is whimsical, fast moving and, as far as I know, non-ideological. Perhaps the “woke” censors won’t get around to finding something fatally wrong with it as they’ve done with Dr. Seuss, Laura Ingalls Wilder and a growing list of Disney fare.

While some recent books for children are clever and uplifting, too many are being written by ideologues with an ax to grind. This is deadly serious, as is the “woke” BLM curriculum being forced on children in government schools. As Vladimir Lenin reportedly said, “Give me your four-year-olds, and in a generation I will build a socialist state.”

Would Norton Juster have gotten his masterpiece published today by a major house without being forced to sully it with PC references? Probably not.

How would you like your toddler to be told that she’s growing up in a hate-filled nation full of White supremacists? If that’s your thing, you can read her “Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness,” by Anastasia Higginbotham. It’s part of the Black Lives Matter–Kids! List. In the 64-page picture book, children are told to “seek out and listen to the truth about racism and white supremacy, and prepare to be changed, heartbroken, and liberated by this experience.”

If your child is White, she needs to repent and confess her guilt. Or she can be treated to one of several new transgender books and choose to be a boy. Whatever. As for White boys, well, they’re beyond redemption unless they confess hourly or, better yet, want to become girls.

Meghan Cox Gurdon, who writes weekly in The Wall Street Journal about children’s books, recently reviewed a handful of new books that should give any sensible parent nightmares.

Macmillan introduces small children to “Chakras,” “Crystals,” “Meditation” and “Astrology” in a four-volume “Mind Body Baby” series.

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