Okay, I think I figured out my "Test" for kiddie lit, and TV.

(Which I mentioned in my previous entry)

How does this strike you?

• The protagonist (often a child, but not necessarily) is faced with a complex problem.



• The protagonist finds her or his solution to the problem through the experiences encountered in the course of the story,



• without help from (or in spite of) an Authroity Figure.

...And that last part could be why there are so many Fail!kids' stories from Evangelical Christian publishers and producers....

I done bought books...

It started when I was listening on the radio to an interview with the author of a new book that reexamins Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone. That got me thinking about the book Never the Twain Shall Meet, which was a dual history of Bell and Gallaudet, and their opposing views on the education of the Deaf. I went onto Amazon, to see if Never the Twain Shall Meet was still in print (I read it as one of the texts in my ASL 101 and 102 classes, back in mumblemumble), and I really enjoyed it.

I never got that far; I got led down the primrose path of "Why was this recommended to me?"

First, one of the books on the opening page was recommended because I'd bought Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, only somehow, it never arrived inside my door, and got returned to sender by the post office, and I was still too lost in the fog of grief over my father's death to follow up on it, and I'd completely forgotten about it (this was three years ago). So I went back and reordered myself a copy, this time getting the paperback, instead of the hardcover.

Following a about three or four links further down the chain of "Customers who bought this, also bought..." led me to: Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership (Now, when you go to that book's page, it's grouped together with Cosmopolitanism directly; I think I did that. ;-)).

And then, I went ahead and added Praise Song for the Day: A Poem for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration to my shopping cart because, even as I was listening to Elizabeth Alexander recite it live, I knew I'd want to go back and reread it at least a couple of times.

These purchases were entirely spur of the moment, and they may not have been strictly prudent. But there you go. I may make up some bookplates for them, with my return mailing address, and I may mail them to friends who are interested in reading them after I have finished them, if and only if, they promise to mail them home again. I may also cast a Gaes upon them, too, as that is exactly how I lost my copy of Never the Twain Shall Meet...

I'm feeling an odd sense of detatched squee of anticipation for a book I didn't even know existed

So. I didn't even know Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership even existed five hours ago, and now, I'm kind of feeling squeeful and anticipatory about it, even though it looks to be one of those Serious Academic Books.

The reason I'm so looking forward to reading it? This quote of a review on its Amazon page:

Prevailing ethical theories neglect three important subjects: the treatment of persons with disabilities, the scope of justice beyond the nation state, and duties owed to non-human animals. Martha Nussbaum's landmark book offers a courageous and bold approach to these issues based on fellowship and respect. Honest about where it builds on past theories and where it departs from them, Frontiers of Justice boldly and elegantly charts the territory for much needed theoretical and policy debates.
--Martha Minow, Harvard Law School

I'm an old English Major, not a philosophy or political science major, so I don't know, what, exactly, the "Prevailing ethical theories" are. But still, I've felt sort of oddly left out, in a way I can't put my finger on, in discussions of human rights and social obligations.

This here review gives me a clue that maybe that sense I've had nearly all my life, of being invisible in terms of social justice hasn't been "all in my head," after all.

So yes. I'm looking forward to reading this. Maybe it will give me better words to describe my feelings than the ones I've used in this post.