Occupy’s 99 percent get children’s book: ‘A is for Activist’

Forget “Green Eggs and Ham” or “Curious George,” Innosanto Nagara has written a book for your preschooler to become a union activist.

Mr. Nagara, a social justice activist from Oakland, Calif., titled his new book, “A is for Activist,” and it is directed toward toddlers “of the 99 percent,” he said in an interview with YES! Magazine.

“It’s pretty awesome to hear a three-year-old saying ‘union power,’” he said.

Other letters in Mr. Nagara’s children’s book include: D is for democracy, G is for Grassroots, L- G- B - T - Q is for Love who you choose, T is for Trans, as in transgendered, and Z is for Zapatistas, as in Mexican revolutionaries.

Besides, who needs fairy tales when you have cooperative workplaces, collective bargaining, feminism and immigration rights?

East Bay Express — an “alternative” Oakland news outlet — said the book is for “grooming your future activist,” according to the book’s website.

“Children’s entertainment comes with no shortage of messages: disobedient princesses learning to obey their parents; giant red dogs urging teamwork; purple dinosaurs imparting the wisdom of just being yourself,” the newspaper wrote. “But with a few exceptions, kids’ books, movies, and music highlight only a narrow range of voices and viewpoints. Most are an implicit endorsement of stratified wealth. (After all, what are princes and princesses if not the embodiment of entitlement?) There’s an acute shortage of voices from queer folks and people of color. Many have outmoded gender norms.”

Author Naomi Klein called the book “[f]ull of wit, beauty, and fun!” Medea Benjamin, cofounder of Global Exchange and Code Pink, said the book gave “a message that is sure to resonate with kids, who have an innate sense of fairness.”

© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.