Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Vegetarian Propaganda

This reviewer is bothered by a theme in many Thanksgiving books:

I've been looking at too many children's picture books. For though it's true that publishers still turn out Pilgrim- and Indian-themed stories about America's most beloved holiday--with pumpkins, cornucopias and roasted turkey--the aim of a surprising number of children's books about Thanksgiving seems to be to put little readers off their meat. In these stories, succulent turkey is out; crunchy veggies are in. And a plump gobbler isn't served on the table but at it.
This trend extends far beyond Thanksgiving. I've noticed it in all the kids shows that we watch with the boy (version 1) in the morning. All of the humans and animals, even carnivores, are always eating kelp sandwiches and crap like that.

The exception is Little Bear, where the star unfortunately hangs out with animals he should be eating, like ducks and hens, but at least goes fishing all the time. It's especially great when he goes fishing with Father Bear, if only because Father Bear is always wearing slacks, dress shoes, a coat, tie, and vest. Incidently, Mother Bear always wears an apron and bakes cakes and pies for the kids. Good times. (Even if the characters in the cartoon keep saying "oot" and "aboot").

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