Friday, November 9, 2007

Finally, Some Fun

If you're a parent to a tween, do you remember how much fun you had when Jerry Falwell outed the Teletubbies? Tinky Winky is purple and carries a purse!!!! Child, turn thy malleable head and get thee a truck (if you have a penis) or a doll (if you don't). That's sorta how I imagine Falwell would make those gender distinctions, anyway. This was such a long time ago, way back when in that other millennium, but damn that was good.

Finally, more fun for Mary!

Forget the Teletubbies, now our wee ones' souls face the great threat of a book, The Golden Compass.

My mother-in-law warned me about this book just last week. When I pulled out copy off the shelf, puzzled ("you mean Satan is in here?" ), she practically needed smelling salts.

Somebody get me a rosary, quick!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So far I agree with your Mom. I plan to read the books or at least look at the further because I hate to not make some sort of informed decision.

Anonymous said...

Maybe you can show the kids some Veggie Tale movies in the interest of being fair and balanced and then you can all watch Fox news as a family event. Well, if it's OK to sell Christianity to unsuspecting children and parents via movies (Veggie Tales and Chronicles of Narnia), then why not atheism. And if parents buy the trilogy for their kids for Christmas, then how ironic would that be? I think I am going to take the children of all my friends to this movie, just to be subversive. Cheney, if you're listening, I am just kidding.

Minnesota Matron said...

Okay -- I'd say I was being the devil's advocate--but.

Adults absolutely are writing children's books to propagate a particular theology or philosophy -- some are obvious and not particularly interesting, others fall under the broad branch of literature.

I haven't read The Golden Compass yet, but I'd err on the side of books that have a moral compass. I don't care if that compass is secular or theistic.

I guess only the book itself will tell and first I have to finish VIrginia Woolf's The Years, which is absolutely breath-taking. Her best.