America is again in a period of civil rights activism, and one of the key places that racism continues to hide is books for young people. Was the Cat in the Hat Black? deftly diagnoses this systemic problem and offers concrete suggestions on how we may combat it in children's and young adult literature.
In each chapter, the author demonstrates why he is considered a master in his field, as he faultlessly blends history and anecdote with insightful criticism. The second chapter, which discusses attempts to sanitize books such as Huckleberry Finn, is particularly enlightening. Directly addressing Alan Gribben's edition of the book, which removes the "N-Word," Nel adeptly points out that removing it not only misses the point of Twain's work, but also makes the book's
racism more covert and therefore more insidious...A fascinating and necessary critical work.
