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Reviewed by:
  • Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature
  • Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (bio)
Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature. Edited by Julia Mickenberg and Philp Nel. Introduction by Jack Zipes. New York: New York University Press, 2008.

Julia Mickenberg and Philip Nel begin their text, Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature, with the claim that “The very idea of ‘radical children’s literature’ may be surprising, because we do not commonly think of the connections between children’s literature and politics” (1). Certainly if one did not think about those connections before reading their text, one would be fully aware of the complexities of children’s literature and politics after reading it. Mickenberg and Nel’s text is a well-researched and interesting compilation of distinctly political stories for children.

The book is structured around eight radical themes: “R Is for Rebel,” “Subversive Science and Dramas of Ecology,” “Work, Workers, and Money,” “Organize,” “Imagine,” “History and Heroes,” “A Person’s a Person,” and “Peace.” Glancing over the titles of each section it is apparent that Mickenberg and Nel have taken a broad definition of “radical” when assembling the text. Although there is a heavy socialist influence, the text also covers gender discrimination, environmental decay, and the importance of imagination [End Page 291] in encouraging a radical children’s consciousness.

Each section is made up of an assortment of stories aligned with one of the eight themes, although there is definitely some overlap among stories. Mickenberg and Nel introduce each section as well as each story, an element of the text that shows the depth of the research that was involved in creating the overall collection. They have done background research on the scope of each theme within the category of children’s literature and highlight their chosen stories. Then they introduce each story, forty-four in total, with information about both the author and illustrator. The research included on the authors, illustrators, and context of publication is some of the most valuable for an academic audience, and it is well-presented and clearly cited.

As far as the primary sources themselves, there are definitely some jewels in this collection. I find the section “Subversive Science and Dramas of Ecology” to include some particularly strong stories. Notably, The Day They Parachuted Cats on Borneo: A Drama of Ecology is a succinct explanation of what a local ecosystem is and what happens when you disrupt even one part of that carefully orchestrated system. Red Ribbons for Emma brings the human cost of both discrimination and environmental degradation to light as it tells the true story of Emma Yazzie, a Navajo woman who fights the expansion of the power plant next door to her home. The proximity here is ironic, for while the plant is literally right next to her, none of the electricity gets routed to her modest home. For those who teach gender-related issues there are several valuable selections, as well as the inclusion of the great X: A Fabulous Child’s Story, which details what happens when “a very important Secret Scientific Xperiment” (234) asks two parents to raise their child without ascribing one gender or another to it.

Scholars looking for a text that critically or theoretically evaluates radical children’s literature in depth should not look to this particular volume. However, I cannot say that this is a fault of the collection because it never claims to do these things. In fact, if one were interested in doing a full-length critical study of radical children’s literature, this is one of the first texts I would recommend for research. A potentially more serious criticism is that while the collection includes forty-four works, some are excerpted while others are included in full. Occasionally it is frustrating to have excerpts only, and the logic behind which texts were included in full and which were shortened is never entirely made clear.

As Mickenberg and Nel note in their introduction, “Now is an opportune moment for this collection of radical children’s literature, both because many social, economic, and environmental efforts associated with the Left...

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