Be Careful, Little Eyes

Collum, Jason. “Be careful, little eyes.” American Family Association Journal May 2004. Accessed 2 April 2008 on the World Wide Web:

<http://www.afajournal.org/2004/may/504be_carful.asp>

The article Be careful, little eyes by Jason Collum talks about the uproar that occurs after a young girl brings home the book King and King from her school library. Her parents could not believe that this book, which depicts two princes marrying one another, was available for students and demanded that it be taken off the shelves. Their reasoning was that, “My child is not old enough to understand something like that, especially when it’s not in our beliefs.”

The article provides information about a web-site, www.parentsaware.net, that will educate parents, teachers, and librarians about certain books that “may seem innocent and are intended for children” but “really deserve a stern review from parents first.” This website reviews books that are of a “questionable” nature to make parents aware of the material that their children may be exposed to. Although this could be a useful resource for children’s books that depict violence or overt sexual actions, it seems outrageous that GLBTQ books would also be considered necessary to “review.”

Collum goes on to discuss the book King and King in more detail and states that the authors of the book did not intend for the story to have homosexual undertones. King and King co-author Stern Nijland stated that, “It’s a happy story – it’s just two princes, that’s it.” The president of the American Freedom Association responded to this claim by saying, “I realize the authors live in the Netherlands and homosexuality – rather, sin – is accepted in that culture, but to say such a book isn’t an endorsement of that lifestyle is ludicrous.”

The American Family Association claims that its goal is not to get books such as King and King banned from libraries and bookshelves because “Freedom of speech in the United States allows for such fare, no matter how tasteless or disgusting, to exist.” Instead, it is the goal of AFA, as well as the creator of the website www.parentsaware.net to educate parents so they know “that not all books in the children’s section of the library or bookstore should be considered safe.”

While reading this article, I was struck by disbelief that there continue to be people who can be this naïve in today’s world. It saddens me to think that there are people working against making multicultural literature a valued part of libraries and bookstores. Parents need to realize that with or without books, children will not be able to avoid coming into contact with people from various cultures and that books provide a resource for children to become knowledgeable about those who may differ from themselves. This is not to say that parents don’t reserve the right to share their beliefs with their children, but they should do so in a way that does not shut the door and dismiss the diverse body of people who make up our nation. Children’s books such as King and King should be embraced as a learning opportunity and discussion tool rather than seen as a curse to society.