Latest / Virtuous Leaders with Dr. Johann D'Souza / Ep.80 – Liz Lantigua: How Parents Can Save Kids from Corrupt Books | Virtue Ethics | Classical Education | Family Conservatives | Legacy Building

Transcript

Ep.80 – Liz Lantigua: How Parents Can Save Kids from Corrupt Books | Virtue Ethics | Classical Education | Family Conservatives | Legacy Building · Virtuous Leaders with Dr. Johann D'Souza

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  Then I realized that the books throughout the years were
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  getting edgier. There was foul language, graphic
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  violence, sexual content, topics of the occult, and the worst
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  part was that the books were deceiving.
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  So as a mom volunteer at my kids school, I couldn't just take the
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  books out because I didn't know which one it was, which ones
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  were bad or good, because the covers of many of them were very
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  wholesome, very cute, and the description was completely
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  different. I was later found in that book
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  that a parent would come to the school and say, Oh my gosh, look
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  what my kid is reading. This is Virtuous Leaders, the
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  podcast for based Catholics who will speak truth, do good or die
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  trying. Here's the show.
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  Ladies welcome. Thank you so much.
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  Thank you so much for having me here today.
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  Can you start by telling us a little bit about what you do?
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  Yes, I'm the founder of Literacy Advocates USA and what we do is
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  we instill the joy of reading in students and provide them with
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  good clean reads and also good media.
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  And we do this with a good news book fair school hosted book
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  fairs And this, you know, the way this all started was because
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  my background is in journalism. And when when my oldest daughter
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  was born, I took some time off, you know, to be with her school
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  life. And that time off took it
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  happened to be, it was supposed to be for a little bit, but it
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  turned out to be a lot of here because I had more kids and I
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  wanted to stay with them, you know, and interact with their
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  school life. And as I interacted with their
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  school life, I participated in the book fairs because of my
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  backgrounds, you know, and I was I'm also traditionally published
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  author. I said, oh, I will volunteer for
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  the book fairs in their school. And then I realized that the
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  books throughout the years were getting edgier.
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  There was foul language, graphic violence, sexual contents,
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  topics of the occult, and the worst part was that the books
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  were deceiving. So as a mom volunteer at my kids
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  school, I couldn't just take the books out because I didn't know
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  which one it was, which ones were bad or good, because the
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  covers of many of them were very wholesome, very cute, and the
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  description was completely different.
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  I was later found in that book that a parent would come to the
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  school and say, Oh my gosh, look what my kid is reading.
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  So I never thought of starting this organization.
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  I wanted an alternative for my children's school.
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  So at that time, I went to different Catholic publishers
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  because I happened to be Catholic.
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  And then I went to other Christian publishers and I went
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  to different places and I said, hey, can you start a book fair
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  company for our school? And then everybody told me, you
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  know, I'm not interested, but you have the passion, you should
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  do it. And so I thought about it, but
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  the whole purpose for me was to stay with my kids and
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  participate in their school life.
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  And that's why I left a career that was very, you know,
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  fulfilling for me in the media. And then so I waited until my
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  youngest was in high school. And during that time, I just
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  became a source of information for other parents.
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  And I read everything that my kids were going to be exposed
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  to. And I let other people know
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  about the different things that were out there and the books
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  that they should, you know, get for their kids.
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  And then when my youngest daughter was in high school, I
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  say, you know, things are not getting any better.
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  The kids are old enough for me to do something.
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  And that's when I felt the calling to start Good News Book
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  Fair. That was in 2014.
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  And our first book fair was 2015, in the beginning of the
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  year. And we're celebrating our 10th
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  anniversary. How do you find those clean
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  books? Clean Media.
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  Well, what we do is, it's a great question.
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  What we do is that we purchase from different publishers both
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  Christian titles in Catholic for the Catholic school and also
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  secular books that and then we have a group of curators and
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  they we select a boat. So we think that would be
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  interested or sometimes now by now, publishers just send us
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  books and then we send it to our curators that we have selected
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  from around the country. And they're composed of parents,
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  authors and media specialists. And they read the whole book and
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  they go through a guideline to see is there positive values in
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  this book? Is there foul language?
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  Is there magic? How is it portrayed?
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  Is there scariness? Is there violence?
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  And then is there sexual content?
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  They go through a whole list of things that we have outlined at
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  the end, they put a little bit of the review of the book.
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  And that's how we make our selection to make sure that you
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  know, it's a clean read. And we buy books from different
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  genres because we know sometimes kids want to read something
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  that's face filled, but other times they also want to read
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  something about dinosaurs or cars.
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  And so we are always in contact with media specialists in
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  schools to make sure what the kids would like to read.
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  We ask kids that we visit sometimes at book fairs.
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  We ask kids what what they would like to read and make sure that
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  all the books, you know, have something of interest and make
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  reading fun. You know, a lot of kids nowadays
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  and as the studies show, are not reading for entertainment.
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  They're not reading for fun. And this is very important that
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  they do this, you know, because while they read, they enjoy
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  themselves. They learn so many virtues and
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  they learn without even realizing it.
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  And so we want to make reading fun.
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  So we have we bring authors to these book fairs and so that the
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  engaged reader will get really excited and the reluctant reader
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  will get excited as well and want to read.
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  So do you have a list that parents can access to see how
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  you rate various books? Well, we don't have a list
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  because we're always changing, but they could go to our
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  website, goodnewsbookfair.com, because we're always changing
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  books because we want to make sure.
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  I mean, schools have a book fair usually twice a year, so they
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  don't want to see the same thing.
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  So we keep the best sellers in the classic, but we're always
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  changing to make it, you know, different and exciting for the
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  kids. I hear you.
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  So it's more about what is the books that you're publicizing
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  now versus having like a perennial list of books that
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  have been been. Correct, correct.
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  And it's very important. I always tell parents, it's very
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  important that your kids see you reading too.
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  So we have a section in our book fairs for parents and teachers
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  as well, because the kids are mostly going to do what they see
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  you doing and that's usually what you tell them to do.
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  So if they see you engaged in in good quality reading, they will
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  see the fun in it and want to do the same.
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  Can you just clarify what you mean by magic and how it's
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  portrayed? Like for example, where would
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  you put Harry Potter? Yes.
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  For example, if they we we carefully look into books like
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  this, does the magic, is it like a magic that has to do with the
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  occult? Is it a magic that has to do
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  with something like a fairy tale?
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  Is it, for example, in Harry Potter, does good win over evil
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  And think that those are the things that we take in
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  consideration? Yeah.
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  OK. So it's is it in the end forming
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  the moral imagination? So just the fact that mentions
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  magic isn't isn't a red flag, but how it's portrayed.
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  Exactly. Exactly.
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  And now that you mention imagination, that's so important
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  because right now in the world we live in, there are lots of
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  active organizations that want to capture the imagination of
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  our kids with things that have to do with their ideology.
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  And therefore, we have to be as parents, as educators, always on
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  guard what our kids are reading and seeing because their
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  imagination is very powerful. I mean, there are studies that
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  show nowadays that doctors are giving kids things to read
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  before, like good inspiring books to read before surgery so
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  that they can be calm instead of medication.
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  And so, you know, it is so powerful, the imagination of a
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  child. If a child starts seeing things
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  that has to do with science, then they will be inclined to,
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  you know, learn more about science.
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  I mean, it's everything that, you know, they capture is like a
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  sponge. Everything that they absorb, you
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  know, really effects them. And that way we have to make
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  sure that the way they do absorb is things that are true, good
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  and beautiful. Exactly.
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  Can you use some examples of Trojan horses you've encountered
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  over the years? So books that, especially ones
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  that are more popular now, that may seem innocuous, but they
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  actually have deformative content in them.
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  Yes, there are a lot and I don't make sure that I don't forget
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  many and but you can always look into our website cuz we do book
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  reviews as well and to make sure that, you know, the books are
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  good. They are books, for example, and
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  and I don't want to say specific because I don't want people to
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  think that they the only those are every book, you know, can be
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  a potential, you know, dangerous thing.
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  So you have to really check and if you can't, then you have to
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  go through sources, the guards that curate because that right
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  now there are books and series books one to third grade that
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  are about biographies of different well known people.
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  And you may think that you know that well known person and it's
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  OK to read about them. But they will include something
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  like some information that's like tabloid.
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  They will say, for example, there's a popular book for
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  children about the story of, of Picasso and they will, and it's
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  for 1st to 3rd graders and they will have an outline of all the
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  women that Picasso had a relationship and their children
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  out of wed wedlock. So imagine, you know, you're
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  going into and you're giving your child a book that is over
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  their head. They don't understand many of
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  these concepts and they don't need to at their age.
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  So it's very important that, you know, parents read that.
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  Sometimes there is a good book, you know, you mentioned about JK
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  Rowling and there's there's biographies about her that are
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  good. But then they go on to talk
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  about how that Harry Potter books were challenged at one
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  point. And then they go on a book, a
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  whole chapter about other books that parents have not liked kids
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  to read. And this is inside a kids book.
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  So they list other books, you know, to pick the curiosity of
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  the child to see, hey, why am I not allowed to read these books?
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  So you have to be very careful. Also with series, there are a
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  lot of series that we grew up with that we loved and were very
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  wholesome. And now they have, they've been
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  re edited and have other contents.
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  There's a graphic novels, for example, of Little Women.
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  And in that graphic novel Little women, you know, there's a
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  sexual component, you know, Joe, you know, has a same sex
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  attraction. And so they, they change things,
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  you know, so it's very important that we read everything that our
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  kids read. And then if we don't have time
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  that we skim through it, we look at book reviews online to make
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  sure that what they're reading is appropriate.
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  That's so diabolical. And on the other hand, what are
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  the positive folks that you'd like to highlight?
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  Oh, we have wonderful positive books.
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  We and and please go to our website so you can see we have
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  books, for example, Wild Ride. It's about a girl who who had
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  the challenge of having cancer. And yet, you know, she dedicated
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  later her life, she survived and she dedicated her life to
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  working with kids who have cancer and she flew and was able
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  to go to the moon as an astronaut.
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  So, you know, we have a lot of our books are, you know,
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  positive books. They're a great series that we
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  have books that instead of, for example, the Wimpy Kid who
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  happens to be a kid that is really a bully actually, and
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  sheets and lies and does everything their parents don't
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  want them to do. We have books that inspire kids,
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  you know, to be different and to be a counterculture to spread
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  the good, like the Warriors series.
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  Like, you know, we have so many books that are just, you know,
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  very inspiring. The Will Wilder series.
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  I mean a lot of other books, you know, the Warriors kids books, I
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  mean a lot of books that are inspiring and that are
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  alternatives to these books nowadays.
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  Yeah. So I just want to summarize an
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  analysis of your message. So your ordinary mom who saw a
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  problem in her community and you tried to get other people to fix
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  it and they wouldn't. So you stepped up and solved the
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  problem. And that's what Virtuous Leaders
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  is all about. So congratulations first on
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  that. Thank you.
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  And it started with by noticing something, but now it's more
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  about we, we are a team. We grew for 10 years.
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  We started as a business. And two years ago, we said, you
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  know, one day when we retire, you know, our kids have their
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  own careers. They're not going to keep up
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  with this. We want this to be a legacy.
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  We want this to more people involved in this with, you know,
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  with great mind. So we became a nonprofit, and
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  that's when we started Literacy Advocates USA.
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  Got it. Yeah.
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  And it is a very important message because these days
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  parents are busy. They're also very naive.
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  The culture is not with you, it's against you.
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  And you can't trust what is popularly accepted.
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  In fact, that's probably an indication that it's going to be
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  harmful. So if this is a good opportunity
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  for parents to wake up to the realistic dangers and you have,
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  you facilitate. They're coming to the truth so
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  that they don't have to do all the work themselves.
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  So they have to do some work. A wise man once said reading has
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  made many Saints like saying they just a Loyola converted to
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  reading. Well, the opposite side of that
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  is bad reading has also destroyed many Saints.
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  So thanks for the work that you do, Liz.
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  Thank you. Thank you very much.
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  And actually that you mentioned about parents and they did a, a
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  recent study, the Rasmussen research in conjunction with
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  Capital Resource and they surveyed voters from all
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  political and demographics. And the conclusion of the survey
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  was that they agree that they don't want obscene books in
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  public school libraries. 77% are concerned school aged children
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  are being exposed to sexual material that is not age
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  appropriate. 55% were very concerned and 20 were not
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  concerned. So that lower that little
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  minority sometimes can be very loud.
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  So I tell people and parents, you know, if you see something,
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  you know, make a difference, go to your schools and tell them
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  there's an alternative and and help, you know, bring good media
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  to your children and to others a lot.
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  There's sometimes when I speak about this in in different
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  organizations and places, they will tell me, you know, I'm so
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  glad that my kids are grown up already and I don't have to deal
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  with that. And they're good readers.
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  But it's not just about your kids.
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  It's about all the other kids around because they grow up and
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  they affect you because they affect the culture.
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  You know, they're the ones that are going to be voters.
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  They're the ones that are coming into the workforce.
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  You know, they don't know how to read or they have different
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  values. It affects everyone around us.
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  That's exactly right. And that's one thing that's kind
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  of radical individualism omits, is that, you know, we have a
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  community of science where we each one's good effects the
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  other and vice versa. Yes, and what we say as literacy
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  advocates USA is that if we change the media, we change the
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  culture and that is our, you know, our vision to be able to
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  reach every child with the possibility of reading because
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  reading it's it's low and it's affects the workforce right now
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  those the scores are low in our country.
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  So be able to have the ability to read, read for fun, to enjoy
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  and have a love for literacy and to give them the right media
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  that they should have. But to reach every child, we
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  started because as Catholics that we are, we started with
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  Catholic school and then we had requests from Protestant
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  schools. And now we're in many Protestant
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  schools around the country. They didn't want the trash that
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  is going on in schools now and libraries.
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  And so now we do charter schools as well.
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  And we're, you know, we're doing public schools too.
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  So you know, they, they have an interest as well.
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  So we're trying to be able to reach every child that we can.
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  Thank you, Liz. Oh, my pleasure, my pleasure.
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  And we want the help of everybody.
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  You know, your time, talent and treasure is so important.
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  It was Pope John Paul the Second that said, you know, don't
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  settle for mediocrity. You know, go out there and do
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  not be afraid. And that's what I tell of
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  parents. You know, it's, it's about
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  making a difference. Mother Angelica always said that
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  as well. You know, it's about making a
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  difference. You know God put you at this
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  time in history so you can do something good in the world.
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  I think that's a beautiful note to end on.
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  Change the media, change the culture.
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  Thanks to Liz Lantigua. Thank you so much for having us
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  here, and everybody that wants more information wants to reach
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  out to help. We're goodnewsbookfair.com.
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  Thanks for listening. Please like, subscribe and share
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  with your friends. See you next time.