A review by jackiehorne
Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children's Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books by Philip Nel

4.0

An odd book for a bedtime read-aloud, but I wanted to see how a non-children's lit person would think about the issues Phil raises in this provocative book. My husband kindly agreed to take a month and read this one aloud to us both. He was and is a big Dr. Seuss fan, but found Phil's arguments persuasive and compelling. For me, the arguments were familiar from previous scholars' work in the field, as well as Phil's own original conference presentations on the topic, but still a powerful reminder of the major work the field still has to do to confront systemic and institutional racism. Especially valuable is the book's final chapter, which presents a list of suggestions for ways everyone, but primarily white people, can work to create and support anti-racist children's literature. Most helpful lines for me: "I aspire to be an ally, but I would never call myself an ally. A member of a dominant group cannot confer allyhood on himself or herself. Nor, of course, does the power to confer allyhood reside in any one member of a group facing institutional oppression. Howeve, that individual has a better ability to evaluate allyhood than I do" (211).