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James Clavell is best-known for his series of novels set in parts of Asia, several of which were bestsellers that were made into hit television series and movies. Shogun is an example of one of these. Clavell was a prisoner of war of the Japanese in World War II and later became successful as a screenwriter, director, and novelist. When his young daughter came home from school one day proud that she had memorized the Pledge of Allegiance, he realized that she didn’t understand it all. After queries of many people, teachers and others, he realized that no one seemed to understand what the words truly meant and no one took the time to explain the words to children. Clavell then thought how vulnerable a child’s mind is, when no background truth is given, which led him in 1963 to write the magazine short story, The Children’s Story. The story was later published in book form.
The story is set in an America that has recently been conquered. In a second-grade class, the old teacher has been replaced by a new, pretty, young teacher, called the New Teacher in the story. In thirty short minutes, using the techniques of Marxist propaganda in her kind manner, she proceeds to have the class cut up the American flag, reject the Pledge, and realize that praying to Our Leader is better than praying to God. The New Teacher is able to do all this because the children have no real understanding of the Pledge, the Flag, and the nature of God and prayer. The Children’s Story is a pleasantly-written but chilling book that is very convincing. It is written at a simple upper elementary school level but it is the kind of book that needs to be discussed with an adult. In fact, this would be a wonderful book for starting a discussion about God, prayer, and what the Pledge of Allegiance really means. The story opens up so many avenues of thought.
I recently re-read this story to refresh my mind for this review. I had first read it at least thirty years ago. As I said above, the premise of the book is America being taken over by a presumably communist country, which of course has not happened. But as I read the words again, I realized that in many parts of our country, our schools have already been conquered by left-wing Americans, who are using similar techniques to change children’s minds so that they come to reject the great truths of Western Civilization, which is founded on the truth of God and the Bible. When this thought came to me, suddenly The Children’s Story became even more chilling.