Children’s Books : POLITICS AND HISTORY : Talking About Real Life in Front of the Children

The debate continues in children’s literature over whether children should be exposed to books addressing controversial social issues. Publishers, librarians and teachers are understandably wary of politically sensitive topics, particularly during a time when some parents express their disapproval of the books their children are reading by suing school boards, or demanding that certain books be removed from library shelves.

If nothing else, such controversies prove that the pen (or should it be, word processor?) is still mightier than the sword. (How the pen or word processor stack up against a nuclear missile remains to be seen.)

To their credit, publishers, librarians and teachers continue to provide potentially controversial books for children, perhaps realizing that a good book remains one of the more powerful ways of learning that one belongs to the human family--even when one feels most alone in his or her own family. And who needs to know this more than a child?

The most recent books released on politics or social issues take a variety of approaches, from innovative to conventionally dispassionate.

Written in a straightforward, readable style, Encyclopedia of Presidents (Childrens Press: $15.93; 98 pp. each) is a series of brief biographies of American presidents that give children a basic sense of the person as well as set forth the basic historical facts.

Dee Lillegard’s volume on Richard Nixon does not avoid the controversies of Nixon’s career. Neither does it reduce Nixon’s career to Watergate, as some adults are wont to do. Eminently fair in telling the Nixon story, it does not sit in judgment. That is what any child deserves who reads about Nixon for the first time. A cursory examination of the volumes on presidents Jefferson, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Johnson indicate that the entire series would be a valuable addition to any school or public library.

Getting Elected: The Diary of a Campaign (Lodestar Books: $13.95; 48 pp.) by Joan Hewett documents the campaign of Gloria Molina for the Los Angeles City Council. The photographs by Richard Hewett on every page make this an attractive book and convey the excitement and hard work of a political campaign, while the text gives young, aspiring politicians an introduction to the nuts and bolts of how a campaign is organized.

Lisa’s War by Carol Matas (Scribners: $12.95; 111 pp.) is a young adult novel about teen-age Danish Jews during the Nazi occupation. Based on the experiences of the author’s family and friends, it reads like an adventure story as Lisa and her brother, Stefan, become involved in the Danish resistance movement. For those who still maintain that Jews did not resist, “Lisa’s War” chronicles one such story of resistance, creating young characters any teen-ager will identify with. The novel assumes a prior knowledge of the Holocaust, though, never defining organizations such as the Gestapo and leaders like Eichmann. That is not a safe assumption.

One of the most controversial figures in the latter half of the 20th Century was the black leader, Malcolm X. A follower of Elijah Muhammad and head of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X offered blacks an alternative to Martin Luther King’s nonviolent philosophy. Malcolm X’s articulation of the right of self-defense and what he saw as the need for revolutionary change frightened white America and exhilarated many blacks. Since his assassination in February, 1965, Malcolm X’s influence has grown, and today he is widely accepted as one of the great black leaders of this century.

Malcolm X, Jack Rummel’s biography (Chelsea House: $16.95; 110 pp.) is part of the Black Americans of Achievement series of biographies of 50 black men and women. If Rummel’s book is indicative of the series, then the entire series deserves space on library shelves. Written for young adult s , Rummel’s biography reads easily and quickly, without oversimplifying the man or his times. Because the portrayal of Malcolm is sympathetic, the reader more easily understands what his appeal was and is.

Judith Hemming’s Why Do Wars Happen? (Franklin Watts/Gloucester Press: $9.90; 32 pp.) approaches its subject through a series of questions: Why do people fight? Who fights in wars? How do we create enemies? Who suffers in a war?

The answers provided to these and other questions are unsatisfactory. People fight because “you may feel that is the only way to protect yourself or someone else. . . . You do not have to fight.” I’m not certain how convincing such wars would be to a child who is mugged for his lunch money on the way to school every morning. “Why Do Wars Happen?” is one instance in which the word processor is not mightier than the flame-thrower.

What would a social issue look like if an author and illustrator brought to it the imaginative play of creativity? Umberto Eco and Eugenio Carmi collaborate as author and illustrator on The Bomb and the General and The Three Astronauts (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: $12.95 each; 32 pp.).

“Once upon a time there was an atom. And once upon a time there was a bad general who wore a uniform covered with gold braid.” The world is made of atoms, the story continues, and that includes milk and mom and us, and all is right in the world as long as the atoms are in harmony. However, “when an atom is smashed,” an explosion occurs. “This is atomic death.” The general puts atoms into an atomic bomb, which makes them very sad. Well, the story is so engaging and delightful I am tempted to tell it all. However, it gives away nothing to say that at the end, the general has become a hotel doorman in his braided uniform.

“The Three Astronauts” finds an American, Russian and Chinese landing on Mars in separate spaceships. At first antagonistic to each other, they find a common humanity in the uniqueness of a Martian with six arms. However, their antagonism to the Martian must be re-examined when they see the Martian cry.

Umberto Eco is the same author many adult readers will remember as the creator of the best-selling medieval detective novel, “The Name of the Rose.” Eugenio Carmi is a well-known Italian artist. Together they have created two absolutely delightful and joyous books on issues of deep social concern.

Their message and point of view are very clear. But Eco and Carmi know that what is more important is how you tell the story, and if you tell the story well, you will touch the spirit of the child.