Customer Reviews

Why War Is Never a Good Idea

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I had the distinct pleasure of listening to the author read her book at Town Hall today. There's something added when an author reads her work; something more when she knows how to read well.

In a culture where the Martian god of war is worshiped, where we are told to be all we can be, to be strong, to be an army of one, this book is a helpful corrective. Again and again our culture teaches us from the youngest ages to resort to violence and war- it is the practical and reasonable solution. There is so little out there like Alice Walker's work, teaching the youngest that there is actually an alternative.

The poetry itself is moving and inspiring. It rolls off the tongue and enters the soul. And the pictures- they are exquisite. The jungle is shown in all of it's intense and multi-layered beauty. And equally so we are presented with vivid horrors of war. This is not imagery that will frighten little children or disgust adults, but rather something that shows war to be the ugliness it is, in a way even a little child can understand. And as long as we are called to be like little children, this is a book that even an adult can understand as well.

Also recommended: How to Teach Peace to Children

Why War Is Never A Good Idea written by Alice Walker and illustrated by Stefano Vitale. This is a childrens book for all ages that is written in poem format. I think that most people would disagree with that because some of the wording and illustrations are not appropriate for young children. I think that this book and the topic of war would be appropraite for about age 10 and up. The language of the book is hard for young children to understand and fully grasp and even some adults may not understand the wording. The illustrations are well done they might frighten a child. I would not chose this book to read to students or if I had my own kids. I think that there could be a book about war that is more suitable to introduce children to war. Overall I would give this book a 2/5.

"And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates, well, there ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die"
-- Country Joe McDonald

"Though War speaks
Every language
It never knows
What to say
To frogs."

In her latest picture book, WAR IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA, Alice Walker personifies War, and through a series of verses she reveals the terrible costs and far reaching effects of War's behavior.

WAR IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA will undoubtedly be a very controversial book. I mean, it is one thing to argue over whether or not the war we are in right now is or ever was a good idea. But come on! If any of us were alive in America two hundred and thirty years ago, wouldn't we jump at the chance to get our hands on a muzzle-loading rifle and shoot a ball of lead through the facial features and cheekbone and into the brains of some British family's eighteen-year-old son? I don't care if you're male or female, when it came down to it and the rich white merchants and slave-owning planters had instigated a revolution, wouldn't you have been prepared and psyched to jam a bayonet through the clothing, skin, and stomach muscles, and then in through the vital organs of some teenage creep from across the ocean who was wearing the wrong color uniform?

"But if we didn't do it." students might argue in response, "We'd never have become free. We'd still be part of England now!"

And, responding back, I would offer to organize a debate on the subject after those students had taken the time to prepare by reading from a list of books about the ideas and politics and world events that led to the Revolutionary War such as Natalie Bober's COUNTDOWN TO INDEPENDENCE: A REVOLUTION OF IDEAS IN AMERICA AND HER AMERICAN COLONIES: 1760-1776, or Marc Aronson's THE REAL REVOLUTION: THE GLOBAL STORY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

"It's always the old to lead us to the war
Always the young to fall" -- Phil Ochs

Thus, a discussion of WAR IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA is likely to involve students questioning whether certain wars were actually good wars based upon good ideas, and the teacher or parent who has got his or her act together will channel that inquiry into student research in preparation for waves of great group learning. It doesn't matter whether we are talking about the Revolutionary War or Little Big Horn or Hitler or Vietnam there are great books in print that will lead students to root causes and -- if we're lucky -- have students recognize that something happened before the war to cause it and something happened before that which lead to the causes which led to the war (See my recent review of PREVIOUSLY by Allan Ahlberg.), and that what is going on in the country and the world today -- this very day -- will either lead to a future war somewhere for some reason or will not lead there based upon the decisions of those who we have elected to public office. Higher order thinking is necessary for students to achieve understanding of this Big Picture -- the interrelatedness of events large and small -- and there are many of us who would argue that the development of that sort of thinking does not come about by "teaching to the test." And so this book might be additionally controversial because it could lead to debates over educational philosophies and whether or not we are at all preparing students to be problem solvers who can recognize and assess the Big Picture or are just creating human fodder for the next War.

"Though War has a mind of its own
War never knows
Who
It is going
To hit."

What should not be controversial about WAR IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA is the artwork by Stefano Vitale. In 1995, during my very first season as a Children's Buyer, I was (pardon the pun) blown away by Vitale's paintings that reillustrated Charlotte Zolotow's WHEN THE WIND STOPS, a picture book I'd first read as a young child. The paintings that he has done for WAR IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA are the best work I've seen of his, and I'm seriously thinking about reproducing the last painting -- a circle of faces peering down into a well that has been contaminated by War -- to make myself a custom teeshirt.

"Though War is Old
It has not
Become wise
It will not hesitate
To destroy
Things that
Do not
Belong to it
Things very
Much older
Than itself."

Oh...dear. I was just paging through again, feasting my eyes on those paintings, and I found this verse accompanied by a painting of ruins with a statue from which the head has been detached and the body of the statue has...err...breasts. So, I suppose the paintings are going to be controversial in some quarters as well.

"He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain,
a Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
and he knows he shouldn't kill
and he knows he always will
kill you for me my friend and me for you" -- Donovan

You'd think that a Black woman like Alice Walker -- the Pulitzer prize-winning author of THE COLOR PURPLE would have at least thought that the Civil War was a good idea. But, then again, I expect she knows that if we had not fought the Revolutionary War and had remained part of England, then slavery would have been ended a generation earlier without a war, just as it did in England. Sound like a topic for debate?

"Though War has a mind of its own
War never knows
Who
It is going
To hit."

One of my biggest dreams has just come true for me. I am getting to develop and teach an online class in the spring through San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science on Picture Books for Older Readers. Thanks to Alice Walker and Stefano Vitale, I now have a book to share for my opening class meeting.

I am shocked that this book was written for kids. The photos and heaviness of the book is horrifying for a child. I see no reason to approach this subject in such a heavy and brutal way with children. I understand wanting to have an impact on the people who will eventually be the decision makers of our countries. But at the age of 4 my child does not need to be so worried about something he is so helpless over and doesn't fully understand. Nor should he understand given the choice.
I feel this is an inappropriate was to further a cause.

the illustrations are gorgeous. This book shows children the dark side of war, for a change, without making it scary or overwhelming to them. I read it to my son who is four years old. He was interested in the book and wanted to discuss it's content as we read. I've often wondered how I would explain war to him; this book got a dialogue started. We checked it out at the library, I am so pleased with it that I am going to buy it.

This gorgeously illustrated book is beautiful in words and pictures, and wrenching. It is suitable for a wide range of audiences, from middle school children through adults, and from peace activists to soldiers. Every home should have a copy

"Why War Is Never A Good Idea" ignores the complexities of international relations and feeds to children this unrealistic reality in this bizarrely inappropriate book. Not only does it fail to address the fact that sometimes people just go on a violent rampage (sometimes for insane or even non-existent reasons) and the opposition has to defend themselves (which results in war) and that that is just a sad fact of human existence, it also describes in graphic detail the ways in which war can kill you even if you're not directly involved.

I have no idea when or why you would read this book to you children. This book is meant to prey upon growing minds that don't have any historical knowledge to balance against these words. When you say "War is NEVER a good idea" to a kindergardener they haven't learned about atrocities such as the holocaust. Sometimes you have to go and kick the s**t out of the bad guys for the greater good! And the graphic details on how you will die just makes this book absolutely sickening!

Score one for the activists. You're teaching children that, no matter how many people a rampaging force is killing, you should just try to talk it out despite the fact that they have no interest in compromise. I'm not saying that a country should strait up start a war for kicks, but if war is upon a country it needs to defend itself and its people rather than just lay down and let itself be invaded and its people be slaughtered at will.

Not surprisingly, a reviewer criticized Alice Walker for asserting that war is never a good idea. He suggested that she'd be "cotton pickin'" if not for war. Truth is, there is a lot of debate concerning what the Civil War was actually about, and what is accomplished A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom (A New Press People's History). Some felt it was a "rich man's war, and a poor man's battle." A battle that was followed by continued oppression of African Americans through bigotry, lynchings, Jim Crow laws, etc. - right up until today, where we find hundreds of thousands of African Americans in cages largely due to a war on non-corporate drugs Why Are So Many Black Men In Prison? A Comprehensive Account Of How And Why The Prison Industry Has Become A Predatory Entity In The Lives Of African-American Men; and the plantation owners simply outsourced their slaves to other parts of the globe Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. So, it can be debated how much freedom has been achieved, not just for blacks, but for humanity as a whole. While we may not have chains around our ankles, most of us spend our lives as what old-school Republicans would've called "wage slaves." Moreover, there is the compulsion that comes from modern economic feudalism, indebtedness, and a corporate media/PR industry that manages our perceptions of the world and manipulates our emotions Adbusters.
Obviously, World War I did not "end all wars."
Vietnam was a massive slaughter - with the butchery expanding into Laos and Cambodia.
Many would argue that World War II did not end fascism The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism (The Political Economy of Human Rights - Volume I)
Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II
In fact, the "land of the free" has military operations going on all over the world that the general public is completely unaware of; but that authors like Robert Kaplan are proud of (see Kaplan's "Imperial Grunts: On the Ground with the American Military, from Mongolia to the Philippines, to Iraq and beyond"). This endless, global aggression has been decimating exactly the sort of wonderful communities that Walker's words and Stefano Vitale's illustrations pay tribute to.

While some find their identity and purpose (and financial gain) in war War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, many veterans have learned first-hand to hate war and want it abolished Howard Zinn on War.
Sadly, it appears that the war profiteers and those who subscribe to the dominator narrative will continue to bring us to armed conflict Why We Fight. In this current era of psychotic, industrialized violence, there are instances when armed resistance can be understood When the Mountains Tremble. Yet, even in those rare instances of a "just" war, it is still not a "good" thing, often proves counter-productive, and has negative ramifications (physical, psychic and environmental) for years to come.
To quote General Robert E. Lee:
"What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world."

On the surface this book appears to be for a child ... the illustrations are excellently executed and provide sub-text, but the theme is adult and universal and, given the sad state of global affairs, the pictures may be helpful for comprehension by even our governmental "leaders" and "war mongers." I recommend this highly for any age, gender, ethnicity, or social standing. Bravo! to Ms. Alice Walker.Why War Is Never a Good Idea

I enjoyed "There is a Flower...." but this book was a disappointment. I found the imagery and the language inelegant and unnecessarily harsh for small children. There are more effective ways to convey the message of peace and non-violence. I found it particularly disappointing to have come from such a talented author.