Hillary Clinton, through her spokesman, twice denounces best-seller kid's book that features a villainous Hillary look-alike. Joins chorus of liberals in denouncing popular illustrated story. International media intently follows this U.S. controversy.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 2, 2005 -- What kind of children's book, written by an unassuming 35-year-old mother of three, could possibly provoke the ire of Hillary Rodham Clinton's press secretary on multiple occasions? The answer, it appears, is one that features a cartoon villain who bears an uncanny resemblance to the New York Senator taxing and regulating a child's lemonade stand.
Katharine DeBrecht's illustrated “Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed” (Kids Ahead; hardcover $15.95; ISBN 0976726904) has been a hit in U.S. bookstores and garnered an international media following, but twice in the past two weeks it has attracted the wrath of Senator Clinton's top spokesman.
Last month, the influential Congressional newspaper The Hill quoted Clinton's press secretary Philippe Reines as dismissing the book, which also features look-alikes of fellow liberal icons Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter. Reines was quoted as saying, “(I) can't wait for the sequel, 'Help! Mom! I Can't Read This Book Because Republicans Have Cut Literacy Programs!'”
"It's ironic that Hillary's press secretary would call for more government intrusion into our lives while bashing my book," author DeBrecht replied at the time. "Who needs parents when you've got bureaucrats in the Department of Education taking care of our kids? Evidently Hillary thinks it takes a village to teach a child to read!"
When asked by The Hill's reporter last week to respond to DeBrecht's remarks, Reines fired back, this time insinuating that her book was not selling well. “It's not the liberal under the bed that they should be worried about,” he crowed, “it's the sales that are in the basement.”
“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed” has consistently been among the top selling children's books on Amazon, and at one point it hit #1 on the Barnes & Noble bestseller list. The book has been on the market for only six weeks and the publisher is already preparing for a third printing.
Hillary Clinton's spokesman is not the first liberal to denounce DeBrecht's satirical book. Talk show host Alan Colmes called it "brainwashing," pundit Andrew Sullivan likened it to Chinese dictator Mao Tse-Tung, and MSNBC host Ron Reagan said he wanted to do his own book portraying conservatives as "hating black people." The popular website Democratic Underground also named DeBrecht to their "Top 10 Conservative Idiots" list.
The strident liberal response to this children's story has attracted the attention of reporters all over the world. Publishers Weekly, the Washington Times, and U.S. News & World Report have profiled the picture book, as have international newspapers such as London's Telegraph, Melbourne's The Age, and The Calcutta Telegraph.
“Hillary Clinton might not like 'Help! Mom!' since it advocates traditional values, but apparently she doesn't object to left-wing children's books,” adds DeBrecht. “She hasn't criticized 'Rainbow Fish,' where a beautiful fish is hectored into giving away his shiny scales, or 'King & King,' where a young prince rejects a princess and marries her brother. I guess Senator Clinton thinks these liberal books are ideal for public schools -- maybe she can propose a federal program to purchase more.”
About Kids Ahead:
Kids Ahead is an imprint of Los Angeles-based World Ahead Publishing, the West Coast's premier publisher of conservative and libertarian books. To learn more, visit www.worldahead.com.
Contact Information:
To interview author Katharine DeBrecht, contact Special Guests at (630) 848-0750.
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