Monday, October 8, 2007

Everyone Goose-steps?

When I first heard about Joseph and Chico: A Cat Recounts the Life of Pope Benedict XVI -- the upcoming children's book that uses a poorly drawn cat to tell the story of the new Pope -- I was slightly curious as to how it was going to address his Holiness' years spent as a member of the Hitler Youth. I cynically assumed that they'd simply skip over that portion of his life. I mean, they'd have to, right? Nope. A recent press release promises prospective readers that the feisty little tabby is gonna don the jackboots for at least a couple of pages. Now I don't know about y'all, but I'm crazy-curious to know how the writers/publishers/Pope are going to handle this. Do they dare talk about the millions of people killed in concentration camps at the hands of the Nazi party, or will it be put to the kids via more of an 'everyone makes mistakes' angle, ala Everyone Poops?