Children's Book Celebrates Chicken Killing as

[Guest guest]

Alert:Children's Book Celebrates Chicken Killing as

Boyish Mischief

 

 

Received from BHGazette 4/19/01 10:53 pm

 

Subj: Alert:Children's Book Celebrates Chicken

Killing as Boyish Mischief

4/19/01 4:45:31 PM Central Daylight Time

franklin (Franklin Wade)

 

Book Title: TOM

Author & Illustrator: Tomie dePaola

Publisher: Penguin Putnam

Target Audience: Kindergarten & Elementary School

Children

First Published 1993. Republished 1997

 

Contact:

Mr. Doug Whiteman, President

Penguin Putnam Children's Group

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

 

Victoria Wells, Editor

G.P. Putnum's Sons

345 Hudson Street

New York NY 10014

Ph: 212-414-3703

Fax: 212-414-3396

Email: vwells

 

TOM centers on the relationship between a boy named

Tommy and his grandfather for whom he is named. The

two of them do different things together until the

action moves to the grandfather's butcher shop,

butcher table, and the killing of chickens at the

shop. The cover of TOM shows the grandfather smiling

at his meat counter with a row of defeathered chickens

hanging upside down in shackles with their faces still

on in the background. In the book, the grandfather is

shown in his back room chopping up chickens while

others he has killed there hang upside down in

shackles. The grandfather hands Tommy a dead chicken's

head to bury in the ground to grow a " chicken bush. "

Then the grandfather teaches Tommy to scare his

classmates and teacher with dead chickens' feet.

Several pages show Tommy perfecting this tactic. He

paints the claws' toe nails bright red.

 

___________________

" Grandfather: 'See that little white string thing?

It's called a tendon. If you pull it, the chicken foot

opens and closes. Try it.'

 

" Tommy tried. It was scary, but it made him giggle.

Tom put two chicken feet in a bag and tied it with

string. "

 

___________________

 

In response to United Poultry Concerns' complaint,

Penguin Putnam replied on April 5, 2001, " we received

many starred reviews citing the book's way of

'reinforcing the bond between generations' and

praising the author for championing 'the special

relationship he had with his grandfather.'

 

TOM is an irresponsible book with a desensitizing

message. It treats chicken killing and butchering

animals as humorous. Scaring women and girls with body

parts is presented as hilarious. Tommy is sent to the

principal's office for his " prank, " not for the cruel

and sadistic delight he exhibits.

 

This book gets away with its machismo and inhumaneness

by being placed in a " cultural diversity-old world

charm " perspective. The theme of " boys will be boys "

is presented as integral to family humor, " male

bonding, " and a cute old grandfather.

 

TOM is unfit for children. It teaches that it's cool

to be cruel without any comparable teaching about what

animal slaughter truly entails or how " girls " feel

being taunted by fresh little boys. At the end

grandfather and grandson are " wink[ing] " and

" think[ing] of something else to do. "

 

* Write to Penguin Putnam (see contact information for

Doug Whiteman and Victoria Wells above) and politely

request that TOM be removed from its booklist

immediately.

 

* Express your concerns to Our Children, the official

publication of the National PTA, which addresses

education from preschool through grade 12, including

how to create safe and nurturing environments.

Contact :

Barbara Sargent

Assistant to the President

National PTA

330 North Wabash Avenue #2100

Chicago, IL 60611-3603

 

* Contact:

Assistant Secretary

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

U.S. Department of Education

400 Maryland Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20202-6100

1-800-USA Learn (872-53276)

 

* Contact your State Department of Education. To learn

who to write to and where, go to:

http://www.ed.gov/Programs/EROD/ERODmap.html. You will

see a map of the United States. Click on your state.

 

* If you have a child in school, see if TOM is on the

library shelf and if so, request that it be removed.

The book is both sexist and speciesist.

 

Please request written replies from everyone you write

to. Please keep your own letter short, firm,

professional, and to the point.

Thank you for helping to get rid of TOM.

___________________

 

franklin

Franklin D. Wade

Promoting the compassionate and respectful treatment

of domestic fowl

United Poultry Concerns - http://www.upconline.org

 

The Moment You Turn Your Back You Are Involved

 

 

 

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