I recently read about a new vegan children’s book that came out this week. The book is Vegan is Love, by Ruby Roth. The book is intended for children between the ages 4 and 10, and educates them on how horrible it is to eat animals. Roth argues that kids should be raised vegan because it’s the right thing to do for the Earth. I am not a doctor or a scientist but I personally believe children should not be brought up vegan from birth because of the possible health implications. It might be easier for children to become malnourished since so many are picky eaters. Also, it’s a decision someone should make on their own terms. But then again it can be argued that being fed meat should be a personal decision. The book offers cute illustrations of animals as friends but also includes some questionable drawings of bleeding, slaughtered animals in overcrowded cages, hanging bloody pieces of meat, circus animals being abused, and describes their deaths as violent and sad. Not only does the book express the downside of eating meat, but it encourages parents and their children to stay away from attractions like zoos, aquariums, and circuses. I like the idea of giving children the appropriate literature to understand what it is to be a vegan, but children are very impressionable and the illustrations may frighten some into becoming vegan rather than making a well thought-out decision. Although, Roth makes a good point in that if telling children about where their food comes from or how animals are treated is too scary, then we shouldn’t being eating meat in the first place, “If it’s too scary to talk about, the reality of where those pieces of meat come from, then it’s certainly too scary to eat,” she said on the Today show earlier this week. Do you think this is a good book to teach children about veganism?
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