Nearly a year ago, Roald Dahl was canceled. The acclaimed author of popular children’s books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, it emerged, was anti-Semitic. I was devastated. I grew up reading Roald Dahl. In many ways, his books engendered my love of literature, built my vocabulary, and taught me social skills. But the strong evidence that he was anti-Semitic appeared condemning.

Six months passed, and Dr. Seuss became another beloved children’s author-turned-villain. After being gifted 10 Dr. Seuss books by First Lady Melania Trump, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, librarian said his work was “steeped in racist propaganda.” Dr. Seuss’s publisher decided to shelve six of them because of how “hurtful and wrong” they are.

My aim in this article isn’t to get into whether any of this is true. There are varying opinions on the matter. The Washington Post, for example, admitted that Dahl’s alleged anti-Semitism had “no obvious effect” on his writings.

But the fact of the matter is that these renowned authors and their books are being removed from the shelves. Many other comparatively less well-known authors are likely being canceled too.

The all-important question therefore is: If these books aren’t what children should be reading, then what should children be reading, and who decides?

The radical left has already decided. Left-leaning literature has been around for ages. But more and more bookstores across America are beginning to be dominated by “wokeness.” Many more children’s books are attacking traditional stances on sexuality, championing perceived social injustices, and railing against allegedly universal forms of discrimination.

The implication is that this is what children should be taught, instead of the “hurtful” literature now being discarded.

What if the outrage over Roald Dahl, Dr. Seuss and others like them was just a ruse? What if it’s all an excuse to find a way to introduce woke literature? What if this woke literature is really a tool that allows radicals to indoctrinate America’s future with left-wing propaganda?

That’s a lot of ifs. But let’s take a closer look at what the new children’s books are teaching.

Daddy, Papa & Me

I visited my local Barnes & Noble bookstore to see if it too was turning a new page. While there were many innocuous books on offer, some of the titles for ages 3 to 5 were Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag; The Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets; and Bling Blaine: Throw Glitter, Not Shade.

As the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender crusade has grown in popularity, it follows that more books are championing that lifestyle. One of the reasons for that growth is that the youth have been specifically targeted.

A Gallup poll released earlier this year found that “lgbt identification has been increasing over time” because “younger generations are far more likely to consider themselves to be something other than heterosexual.” Over the last decade, there has been a rapid increase in pro-lgbt television, music and curricula. Books are beginning to join the fray.

Here are some of the more popular “woke” children’s books:

• Daddy & Dada
• Daddy, Papa & Me
• Mommy, Mama & Me
• Two Grooms on a Cake: The Story of America’s First Gay Wedding
• LGBT Families

These books are aimed at children as young as 3 months old. Many of them aren’t explicit about being lgbt themed. Titles like Stella Brings the Family and Donovan’s Big Day sound harmless enough. They all seem to be aimed at promoting family values. But they are only promoting pro-lgbt “family values.”

And they only get worse from there.

Just last month, a Texas mother found a book titled Gender Queer in a school library. It contained “legitimate visual porn” of homosexual teenage boys. And according to Dave Seminara, “lefty literature is coming to a library near you.”

Writing for City Journal, Seminara recounted how he perused the list of recommended books by the American Booksellers Association. The list included a “‘feel good contemporary romance’ about a young trans athlete fighting against a ‘discriminatory law targeting trans athletes’; a book about a young lesbian with pansexual and nonbinary friends who denounced her white privilege,” and “a ‘queer coming of age story’ about a young lesbian who joins the boy’s football team.”

Other books on offer begin to blend in even more bizarre and disturbing levels of intersectionality.

There was one “young-adult novel about gender-fluidity by a non-binary writer who is the mother of a transgender child.” Another was “a ‘tale of self-discovery’ about a bisexual love triangle” as well as “a book about a transgender witch named Wyatt.”

There was even “a ‘fabulously joyful’ novel about ‘drag, prom, and embracing your inner queen’ that featured ‘a fat, openly gay boy stuck in a small West Texas town.’”

This doesn’t mean there is now a complete absence of children’s books featuring traditional families, but they are rapidly disappearing and being replaced. Amazon has an array of new children’s books along these same intersectional lines.

Youth are specifically being targeted for indoctrination. Their minds are the battleground for an ideological struggle that the left is determined to win.

‘A’ Is for Activist

As such, many other children’s books are aimed at the outright radicalization of children, even toddlers. They are peddling radicalism masqueraded as harmless rhymes and bright colors.

Antiracist Baby makes the assertion that “antiracist baby is bred, not born.”

Woke Baby is “for all the littlest progressives, waking up to seize a new day of justice and activism.”

A Is for Activist is for “families who want their kids to grow up in a space that is unapologetic about activism, environmental justice, civil rights, lgbtq rights, and everything else that activists believe in and fight for.”

Children are being taught to “fight the power” when they’re barely out of the crib. They are being taught that they are born racist and have to be bred not to be. Children as young as 3 years old are being indoctrinated in leftist talking points before they even have the ability to reason for themselves.

What can 3-year-olds possibly know about fighting for civil rights? More importantly, how can they know about the radical left’s weaponization of race?

And it’s the left’s big guns that are taking the lead in shaping the next generation. Barack Obama has a self-titled children’s book: Barack Obama: Son of Promise. Child of Hope. Jill Biden wrote an adulatory biography on her husband, titled Joey: The Story of Joe Biden. Kamala Harris has a book written about her for 3-year-olds, titled Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice. She also authored one called Superheroes Are Everywhere.

Why do the leading members of the Democratic Party have self-aggrandizing books aimed at children who barely even know what a politician is?

Who Decides What Children Read?

I won’t even get into the fact that there are several books for 3-year-olds essentially telling them to go vote. But it’s a lot bigger than just wanting to influence the next generation of voters to be fans of Barack Obama and the Democrat machine.

It’s a lot more important than who goes to the polls. It’s about foundational ideals. It’s about reshaping society.

Ideals either form or destroy civilizations. They determine the natural progression of a society. They impact social harmony, economic prosperity and even geopolitical policy.

And the longevity and impact of a set of ideals depends greatly on what children are being taught.

Communist Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union, famously said, “Give me just one generation of youth, and I’ll transform the world.”

There’s a transformation happening in the United States. Obama himself promised in 2008 to “fundamentally change” America. The U.S. is undergoing a radical transformation from a constitutional republic to a Communist state, of which indoctrination of the youth is a hallmark.

Communists want to reshape society. They want control over your children. They want to keep parents out of education and out of instruction. They want to teach your children that they were born racist, that there are as many genders as there are letters in the alphabet, and that they should rebel and protest anyone who says differently. They want to funnel all of this into children’s minds from a young age so that they never think differently. They don’t want the next generation to be able to think independently.

That’s what the Communist infiltration is all about.

America’s youth are increasingly aligned with these destructive ideals. They enthusiastically wave the rainbow flag, rebel against their parents, topple statues, engage in violent protests, and adhere to the new age of intolerant “tolerance.”

But as a result, they are miserable. Suicide is the second-most common cause of death for young adults. Lesbian, gay and bisexual kids are three times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual kids. Forty-one percent of transgender adults attempt suicide. And as far as protesting is concerned, the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests were the most expensive in U.S. history, at around $2 billion in damages. The hatred and division they spawned will prove to be even costlier.

Whose interest is it in for children to be raised up in these destructive ideals? Why would anyone want children to learn things that ultimately make them miserable? What kind of an evil being would intentionally do that?

Who is the real author of “woke” children’s books that ultimately lead children into lifestyles that cause misery, depression, anxiety and the highest rates of suicide?

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in “Overcoming Satan’s Worldwide Rule”: “Many people scoff at the idea of the devil, yet he is the god of this world! (2 Corinthians 4:4). He has deceived all mankind.” The Bible calls Satan a liar and a murderer (John 8:44). He is the author of the lies children are being indoctrinated with. He is the murderer responsible for the tragic deaths that come about because of his lies.

“Satan has awesome power,” Mr. Flurry continued, “but he is no match for God. We must rely on God to protect us from this evil being.”

Relying on God begins with trusting what He says. Proverbs 22:9 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” God says there is a way children should be raised. He decides. He is the authority. He knows what is best for them. He knows what they should read. He knows what leads to happiness.

God is the author of peace and happiness. We need to follow His law to protect our children from the evil Satan wants to indoctrinate them with. We need discernment in what is foundational instruction for our children. We need to be actively involved in what they learn. And we need to be relying on God to guide us throughout. That is the only way to overcome Satan’s worldwide rule.

Please request your free copy of Child Rearing With Vision to learn how.