My boy and I are reading With the Fifth Army Air Force. He picked it out along with Fighter from the sidewalk shelves of a bookstore on the corner of 20th and P Street. It’s a picture book; we’re following it along. Which led to this exchange this morning.
“Poppa. Are you Japanese?”
“No. Are you Japanese?”
“No! I’m American Flag!”
But it didn’t end there. “You’re an American flag?”
“I’m American Flag! I’m a banana American.”
“You’re a banana American?”
“I’m a outside American!”
I would like to think that there’s some sort of deeper meaning to this particular early-morning exchange, but I doubt it. Other than that reading World War 2 photo books with a 2½-year-old is an interesting experience.
Of course, some people are more modern and believe that little children should never be told anything that might possibly intimate that violence exists.
My wife and I are not of that school. But then again, I thought that this column in the New York Times today had a point. And while I will be very angry if my little girl or little boy (or any future siblings) do what we saw three skinny preteen boys do on Christmas day, I also have to admit that I felt some gratification in watching them skateboard down the middle of East-West Highway with no helmets on. (Two of them were on the shoulder. The third? Trying for a Darwin Award.)
OK, that was your shaggy dog story of the day. Happy day after Boxing Day!
Did you buy your eldest a scooter yet?
Posted by: NYCMT | December 27, 2014 at 07:15 PM
Yes, yes we did! He took it to the playground yesterday.
Posted by: Noel Maurer | December 27, 2014 at 07:16 PM
I've noticed that there are a lot fewer -- as in, almost no -- war books for kids these days. By which I mean both fiction about war, and nonfiction books like "Greatest Fighter Planes of World War Two" or whatever. My 9 year old Jacob is going through a stage of fascination with military aircraft, and there's almost nothing out there that's age-appropriate.
When I was a kid -- basically the 1970s -- the bookshelves and libraries were full of these. My elementary school library had lots of well-displayed and well-thumbed books about The Battle of the Bulge or whatever. WWII stuff dominated -- and I'm pretty sure there was a generational effect there -- but there was a sprinkling of other wars as well.
Today, much much less. And what there is tends to be from a civilian perspective. I don't say that's a bad thing, but...
Doug M.
Posted by: Doug Muir | December 29, 2014 at 10:56 AM
As an extension, Doug, apparently they removed the quaterstaff section from the Boy Scout Manual some time in the last 15 years.
Posted by: Will Baird | December 30, 2014 at 03:28 PM
On a recent trip to Politics and Prose, my wife did buy our boy a comic book about my old National Guard unit, the Harlem Hellfighters. (Not the adult-aimed one by Max Brooks, which is also quite good.) There seemed to be plenty of war-themed books, even for the tiny little ones, but I wasn't really looking and have no basis for comparison.
A bunch of stuff does show up on Amazon under "kids war books." You have to go eight entries in before you lose the serious war books and start getting Ender's Game and the like.
My memory of the libraries at P.S. 130 and P.S. 183 matches yours, but I have not been to an elementary school library recently.
I'm not sure that I accept the premise, Doug. More evidence, please!
(Will, there are reasons beyond creeping middle-class fake pseudo-pacifism to remove the quarterstaff entry. Frex, I had a well-thumbed manual on my shelf for most of my young life, and I have no memory of such an entry! So it probably wasn't getting much use.)
Posted by: Noel Maurer | December 30, 2014 at 09:36 PM
I am declaring victory and will wait for Doug's gracious admission that he is wrong.
Posted by: Noel Maurer | January 28, 2015 at 12:15 PM
Hah! Anyone, anyone, Muir? Bueller?
Posted by: Noel Maurer | May 31, 2016 at 09:50 PM