Monday, February 2 - Little Rebels

Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature, collects four dozen mostly out of print stories, poems, comic strips, primers and other texts written for children that represent efforts by grown-ups to teach, entertain, politicize, delight and move kids and their parents. Organized in eight broad categories --- including civil rights, peace, gender equality and environmental awareness --- they cover the century and include famous names, like Langston Hughes, Walt Kelly, Lucille Clifton and Dr. Seuss, as well as artists and writers mostly forgotten today. My guests, the editors of Tales for Little Rebels, have assembled an impressive collection, but more --- they’ve written introductions to each of the pieces which comprise what amounts to a companion book-within-a-book that explains and contextualizes and provides a guide to a century of radical literature for kids.

Julia Mickenberg is associate professor of American Studies, University of Texas at Austin. She is author of Learning from the Left: Children’s Literature, the Cold War, and Radical Politics in America.

Philip Nel is professor of English and Director of the Program in Children’s Liteature, Kansas State University. He is the author of The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats, Dr. Seuss: American Icon and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels: A Reader’s Guide.

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