Book teaches kids about affirmative action

Take a look at this interview with Tony Robles, the author our new bilingual children's book, Joey Gonzalez, Great American. As one of the first kid's books to be published in both English and Spanish, this illustrated story teaches young people not to judge others by their race, a realization that Joey and his friends come to when their teacher puts affirmative action into practice.

As Robles passionately says in the interview, "...[A]ffirmative action tends to teach our kids that their ancestry is a weakness that needs to be overcome, and affirmative action teaches that they need to rely on special preferences to succeed. I don’t believe that. Affirmative action steals your dignity."

Q&A with author of anti-global warming kid's book

Townhall's Bill Steigerwald recently interviewed Holly Fretwell, author of our Kids Ahead book The Sky's Not Falling: Why It's OK to Chill about Global Warming. Steigerwald calls Fretwell's book "a good, reasoned, 115-page antidote to the Chicken Little hysteria and propaganda found in the mainstream media and in places like Laurie David’s kids book The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming."

Kids now being protected from...Sesame Street?

Following yesterday's item regarding kid's books being edited to omit references that could be seen as dangerous, the NYT reports that DVDs of the original seasons of Sesame Street will carry warnings that the shows are "intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child." Evidently the show's dingy masonry, trusting relationships between adults and children, and comic outbursts by Oscar the Grouch are considered inappropriate for today's preschool set.

Other problematic themes cited in the article include the skepticism showed by the adult cast members over the existence of Big Bird's giant, hairy, and unseen friend Snuffleupagus, as well as the dietary habits of the sweet toothed muppet Cookie Monster. And these are just the episodes from the early '70s, well before the real trouble erupted when Burt joined the jihad.

Kid's books being "purged of risks"

The Telegraph reports that children's books in the UK are increasingly being "purged of risks" in an effort by publishers and editors to shield themselves from parental criticism. Walking alone, carrying a sharp object, and climbing a ladder are mentioned as examples of specific edits that were requested to make sure books don't "[go] against health and safety."

Sen. Inhofe lauds global warming kid's book

Sen. James Inhofe praised our children's book The Sky's Not Falling: Why It's OK to Chill about Global Warming in a speech on the Senate floor today. He also used a blow-up of the book's front cover as a backdrop for his remarks:

A video of Sen. Inhofe's speech is embedded below. His comments on the book begin around the 6:30 mark.



You can also read his press release for further quotes and links to additional excerpts.

AFP picks up on politics and kid's books

Agence France-Presse just published an article on children's political books that quotes me and mentions our books The Sky's Not Falling and Liberals Under My Bed. I've blogged on the issue of kids and political books before (see here and here), so I won't belabor the subject now.

However, I will say that the Alice Walker book it mentions (Why War is Never a Good Idea) is a real piece of work. I'm seldom at a loss for words, but words escape me when it comes to this book.

My appearance on the Daily Show

Last night I appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. And, yes, I'm a Comedy Central fan, so I knew what I was getting myself into.


In case anyone's interested, we didn't make an offer for any of John Oliver's book ideas. (But we are trying to sign the white rabbit to a multi-book deal.)

Scholastic global warming book comes up short

Steven Milloy has an editorial on FoxNews that compares Laurie David's Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming with Holly Fretwell's The Sky's Not Falling. According to Milloy:

While Scholastic may want to risk its reputation with the David-Gordon book, parents who want their children to have the correct information about the pivotal relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperature may want to check out Fretwell's "The Sky's Not Falling."

While Fretwell's book does not come close to matching the number and visual quality of distract-from-the text illustrations that the David-Gordon books contains, Fretwell's strength is that her text is easy to read and, most importantly, is scientifically accurate.

LA Times bashes our global warming kid's book

The L.A. Times published a book review of several global warming books, including Laurie David's Down to Earth Guide and our own The Sky's Not Falling. Reviewer Sonja Bolle liked David's "easy-to-read blocks" and lauded her desire "to raise awareness and persuade children to consider the environment in the choices they make in daily life." Ours? Well, not so much. I think author Holly Fretwell lost Bolle with the "Chicken Little" analogy.

Which is fine by me. The reviewer's political bias is what I would expect from the L.A. Times, and at least Bolle is upfront about it. She actually interrupts her review to advocate environmental regulation, so her activist viewpoint is clearly labeled. (Why her editor would let her go off topic in the midst of a book review is another question.)

Unfortunately, Bolle let bias get in the way of asking some tough questions about this book that David wants to get into the hands of kids. As I previously noted on this blog, David spends little time defending the science behind her left-wing beliefs, and what little effort she makes is largely based around a deceptively labeled graph. David has also clearly stated that her goal is to manipulate children on global warming in order to influence their parents.

I did notice one instance in her review where Bolle didn't trip over ideology, though. She does concede that schoolmarmish Al Gore could only write in a "dignified and elegant" tone with "many revisions."

Laurie David's weak defense of her global warming kid's book

Laurie David, writing in her Huffington Post column, defends her new left-wing kid's book, The Down to Earth Guide to Global Warming. The Hollywood producer turned children's author is attacking a recent study for catching that a graph used as in her book mislabeled CO2 and temperature in an advantageous way. She writes:

It turns out one of the illustrations in the book was accidentally mislabeled. This has got the gang at the at the Science and Public Policy Instituted up in arms -- or at least pretending to be -- no doubt hoping to ride our coattails, create some controversy, and promote their own new book.

First of all, The Sky's Not Falling: Why It's OK to Chill about Global Warming , written by Prof. Holly Fretwell, is not SPPI's book -- it is ours. David is falsely impugning SPPI's motives.

Second, the error that SPPI caught is not minor. I have read David's book, and she and Cami Gordon do not make much of an effort to prove that mankind's activities are causing global warming, or that the current trend of temperature change is abnormal when compared to prior cycles. Instead, she takes this for granted and offers a passing reference to a graph with CO2 atmospheric concentration and temperature (p. 18) as proof that economic activity threatens to wipe out penguins and polar bears.

Perhaps David was in too much of a hurry to give kids directions on becoming little activists to spend time proving her hypothesis. I guess science isn't as much fun as suggesting that kids mail out petitions to their mayor (p. 71), play "count the hybrids" on road trips to annoy their parents into buying a green car (p. 86), or watch her movie "An Inconvenient Truth" at school assemblies (p. 84). Of course, since David has previously stated that the goal of her book is to manipulate children, we shouldn't be surprised that the entire second half is comprised of nothing but tips like this.

I'd like to request that Laurie David read chapter 2 of The Sky's Not Falling, entitled "Global Temperatures Go Up and Down -- Naturally," for a more careful treatment of the facts that she butchered and omitted from her own book. I'd be happy to send her a copy.

Charity auction for 9/11 Freedom Concert and VIP day at WABC, Hannity & Colmes

World Ahead and Jill Vitale (a.k.a. the Sean Hannity Show's "Flirty Flipper" and the author of our new kid's book Freddie, the Free Range Chicken) are pleased to announce our online charity auction to benefit Freedom Alliance. The winning bidder will receive an amazing package that includes a pair of tickets to Hannity's Freedom Concert on Sept. 11th in New Jersey, which features Montgomery Gentry, LeAnn Rimes, and Lee Greenwood. But that's not all. The winner and a lucky guest will also get an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour with Jill of "The John Gambling Show" at WABC Radio and a taping of "Hannity & Colmes" at Fox News, plus autographed copies of Jill's book, signed by her and Sean.

Click on the banner below to visit the eBay auction page for more details on this extraordinary opportunity. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to attend an amazing concert and get VIP media access with Jill, all while supporting a good cause.

Scholastic declines comment on Laurie David book

WND reports that Scholastic declined to comment on Laurie David's admission to Publishers Weekly that she hopes to manipulate children with her upcoming global warming book.

What size is Laurie David's carbon footprint?

Laurie David, who just revealed that she wants to manipulate children with her upcoming kid's book on global warming, has come under scrutiny by David Frum for her enviro-hypocrisy. Frum writes:

It seems almost an iron law: Sexual moralists get hoisted by their own petard.

But there is another form of hypocrisy, very nearly as ubiquitous, about which we hear much less -- and that is the hypocrisy of the celebrity environmentalist...

If environmentalism is to Democratic America what religious morality is to Republican states, there is at least one Laurie David for every Ted Haggard.

Scholastic author: manipulate kids on global warming to influence parents

Since it can be difficult to sell liberal beliefs to adults, children should be manipulated in an effort to influence their parents. Or so states Laurie David, the liberal activist and co-author of Scholastic's forthcoming global warming book for kids, The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming. In a jaw-dropping PW interview published online today, the producer of "An Inconvenient Truth" makes it clear that her Sept. book is meant to indoctrinate children:

Both David and [co-author Cambria] Gordon see children as true agents for change. “Kids are the most optimistic human beings—they only see the future ahead of them and it’s bright,” David says. “Kids also are the number one influence on their parents, so if you want to reach the parents, go to the kids.”

Gordon agrees, “At times the adult world is getting burnt out,” coping with existing crises and forecasts for disaster. But “children’s concern is for their adult life—they don’t have the cynicism adults have.” Gordon foresees children reading the Guide in eco-clubs and after-school
programs, using it as a basis for classroom projects and fund-raisers, and checking its advice on green habits.

David and Gordon are suggesting that since presenting logical arguments to adults is too difficult, it's best to manipulate children with a book they encounter in their classrooms and after-school programs. In other words, bypass parental control and instead use kids to guilt-trip their moms and dads.

I've seen the preview copy of their book, and it's heavy-handed. It states that global warming is undeniably caused by industrial activities, and it shows pictures of little animals like the golden toad that it claims have been made extinct by climate change. What should kids do? Nag your parents to buy a hybrid.

This is exactly why we're publishing kid's book entitled The Sky's Not Falling: Why It's OK to Chill about Global Warming. We not only wanted to print a book that steers clear of this kind of fear-mongering, but we also wanted to make sure that parents have a choice if they decide to educate their kids on this complicated topic. As I discussed in a post earlier this week, unlike Scholastic, we won't aim our sales and marketing energy at kids, but rather take our message to their parents.

Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like Scholastic has any hesitancy when it comes to peddling politics directly onto kids. Laurie David makes that pretty clear.

CNN interview on political kid's books

Last night CNN aired a segment on political books for kids that included an interview with me. Overall I thought it was a fair piece, although it didn't include all the reasons I outlined for our decision to publish the Kids Ahead imprint.


Politics have long been present in children's books, but in the past decade liberals have flooded the market with a host of titles (e.g. King & King, Rainbow Fish, It's Just a Plant, And Tango Makes Three, Hoot, etc.) that have an uncanny knack for winding up in public schools and libraries. Last year the UN even got into the act with an absurd book on global warming featuring a sea goddess, and Scholastic is gearing up to release a book on this topic by activist Laurie David in September.

Parents with traditional values have responded by seeking books that convey their beliefs, and our imprint was started to address this need. As I articulated in an earlier post, we have opted for a sales and marketing approach that speaks to parents as opposed to targeting kids through public schools and "cause marketing," which seems to be the left's modus operandi. Critics of Kids Ahead denounce our books such as The Sky's Not Falling, our upcoming rebuttal to Scholastic's release, but they overlook how liberal publishers and authors have long aimed their message directly at children.

My ABC News interview on Kids Ahead

I recently visited ABC's Los Angeles studios to discuss Kids Ahead, our imprint for children's books. It's a video essay, so instead of a traditional Q&A format, they recorded me talking for long periods of time and then stitched the quotes together with illustrations from several of the Help Mom books.

The Ted Kennedy voice over they added is brilliant. But I could live without the background music...