A Barnes & Noble bookstore in Washington on April 30, 2012 (Karen Bleier / AFP)

Barnes & Noble does not shelve books satirizing Trump in children’s section

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on February 12, 2020 at 20:39
  • Updated on February 13, 2020 at 21:19
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP USA, Manon JACOB,
Facebook posts shared more than 20,000 times claim that Barnes & Noble has placed books satirizing President Donald Trump in its children’s section. This is false; the bookstore has denied it, and the books are marketed to adults.

“These are on the Barnes and Nobles shelf and this is the kids book section!,” reads text that appears over an image of two books -- “If You Give a Pig the White House” and “Dumpty” -- in one post.

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A screenshot taken on February 11, 2020

“This is not just making fun of our President but teaching our children to be disrespectful to the highest office in the country!!!,” the text says. 

“This sort of thing is inappropriate for kids,” one person commented on the post, while another wrote: “Totally sad and disrespectful!!”

Similar posts have been shared on Facebook here, here, and here, as well as on Twitter here and here

Barnes & Noble denied that the books were shelved in the children’s section.

“We have always carried political satire books, including the ones you mention, in the humor sections of our stores, not the children’s sections,” Alex Ortolani, director of corporate communications, told AFP by email. 

The books are also marketed to adults, according to their publishers.

“If You Give a Pig the White House” is described by publisher Castle Point Books as “the adult parody of the beloved children’s cautionary tale, ‘If You Give a Pig a Pancake.’”

The book tells the story of “a coiffed and blustery pig” that “shoved his way into the White House,” it says.

And “Dumpty” is “not a children’s book,” Jenn Jensen, associate director of marketing at publisher Chronicle Prism, told AFP by email.

“It’s definitely for an adult audience,” Jensen said.

The book is described as “a satirical poetry collection” that chronicles “the last few raucous years in American politics.”

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