Activity Posting 2- Critique a Children's Book

The children’s book I chose to critique is called “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” by Mo Willems, which was published in 2003. This book socializes children into taking responsibility seriously, as well as respecting and obeying adult authority figures by having an adult in the book request that the readers do something for him, and the rest of the book is the “reader” following those orders, even against tough opposition. The book starts even before we get to the page with the copyright information with a full spread giving the initial request from the adult which also seamlessly blends with the book title on the right side of the spread. We are shown a picture of an adult dressed up as a bus driver, with a text box saying, “Hi! I’m the bus driver. Listen, I’ve got to leave for a little while, so can you watch things for me until I get back? Thanks. Oh, and remember: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” The book is written in such a way to make the reader feel involved in the story, even though they have no control over it, as is shown when the pigeon shows up. In fact, much of the remainder of the book is page after page of the pigeon making typical arguments that a child might hear from another child who is trying to convince them to break the rules or go against the wishes of an authority figure. This starts off by simply asking, then by begging, by assuring that he’ll be careful, by trying to compromise, by trying to make the reader feel bad for him, by bribing the reader, and even by exploding with rage. These are all arguments that are very realistic to hear, especially among young children, considering they aren’t of much substance. By not giving the reader any choice but to keep resisting against the advances of the pigeon, the reader gets to the end of the book having taken their responsibility seriously and having obeyed the wishes of the bus driver. It shows the reader that doing this is not very hard, that it is the proper thing to do, and that it can even be rewarding. The ‘reward’ comes when the driver returns and gives the reader a kind thank you. I suppose it could also be argued that the very end, wherein the bus driver drives away and the pigeon sees a semi-truck and dreams of driving it might be a more of a subliminal reward for having stuck it out so long, due to the imagery that would be very funny to child aged 2-6, the recommended ages for this book. Moreover, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention another very obvious socialization theme present in this book, and that is socializing the capacity to say no and stick to it. The back cover of the book even says, “Finally, a book you can say “no” to!” Kids all the way up to adolescents and even beyond tend to be subjected to a lot of peer pressure. It’s important that children know how to say no, as simple as it might sound, and that they know that doing so is ok, socially acceptable, and often expected of them. The book presents the reader with tons of arguments typical in these scenarios and we cannot give in to them. The long term purpose of this book is to help children develop socially into understanding the burden of responsibility and teach them what is expected of them when an adult or someone else requests something of them, as well as what is expected of them when some ne’er-do-well tries to pressure them into doing something they should not be doing. 

Teen Pregnancy, Race, and How it all Comes Back to Contraceptives

There is a huge discrepancy between different races when it comes to teen births. According to 2014 data from Kids Count Data Center, the number of births per 1000 females aged 15-19 is 17 for non-Hispanic Whites, 35 for Blacks, and 38 for Hispanics/Latinos. The rate for both Blacks and Latinos is more than double that of whites (although you’d never guess that looking at the racial makeup of ‘teen pregnancy’ shows, but that’s a topic for another day).

Reasons for this trend are cultural/religious, financial, due to education, and maybe even geographical. For instance, Latinos have the highest overall teen birth rate, and Catholicism is very common amongst them. The Catholic Church is very against any form of contraceptive, let alone abortion. For that reason alone, I would expect any group with a large catholic population to have higher birth rates at any ages. Moreover, Latin culture is known to put a lot of importance on the family. Perhaps Latino teens are more likely to be pressured by parents, grandparents, etc. to start their own families. Another reason why minority ethnic groups/races have higher teen birth rates is because they might have more trouble being able to afford birth control or abortion. It’s no secret that for the better part of this country’s existence, it was a country ruled by and for white people. Between slavery, the Jim Crow era, and just a period of widespread white supremacy, white people have always had an advantage here. The effects of this are still very much visible today, and I don’t have the time nor energy to write out all of the specifics, but put simply, white people are much more likely to be economically advantaged than other races. This in turn means that, in general, schools in primarily black areas or primarily Latino areas probably aren’t funded anywhere close to as much as schools in primarily white areas, and as such might not have the funds for a quality sex education class. Lastly, geography likely plays a role. The proportion of black people is much higher in the Deep South (and the proportion of Latinos is very high in Texas as well), which is known to be very religious and socially conservative. Because of this, schools often aren’t even allowed to teach students about contraceptives and how to use them, instead just telling kids to be abstinent. Furthermore, abortion is VERY taboo. This culminates in high teen birth rates across the board.

This is important because it can help us figure out how to better solve the problem of teen pregnancy. By identifying the causes of teen pregnancy, especially the unique contributors for each ethnic group, we can develop better methods to lower the teen pregnancy rate across the board.

In reality, the specific causes of high teen pregnancy rates are very complex and probably different depending on the state, whether the teen lives in a rural or urban area, and more. If you look at the data on a state-by-state basis, you find that California has rates as follow: White-9, Black-24, and Latino-31. It is almost exactly the same for New York. Both of these states have huge urban centers and large Latino populations. Michigan, on the other hand, has these rates: White-16, Black-42, and Latino-32. Comparatively, Michigan is much more rural and with much smaller urban areas. This suggests that, although the issue follows a general trend, it is also highly localized.

Data retrieved from datacenter.kidscount.org