Johnny the Walrus
2022 children's book by Matt Walsh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johnny the Walrus is a satirical 2022 children's picture book by American conservative political commentator Matt Walsh. The story allegorically compares being transgender and non-binary to pretending to be a walrus through the story of a child named Johnny.[1] It was published by DW Books, a division of The Daily Wire.
| |
| Author | Matt Walsh |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | K. Reece |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | DW Books |
Publication date | March 29, 2022 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 30 |
| ISBN | 978-1-956007-05-3 |
Summary
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In the book, Johnny is a boy with an imagination who dresses up as a walrus by using spoons as tusks. When "internet people" find out that Johnny enjoys being a walrus, he is forced to decide between being a boy or a walrus, and he is not allowed to change his mind.[1] The "internet people" also pressure Johnny's mother into feeding Johnny worms and taking him to a doctor with a saw, who suggests turning Johnny's hands and feet into fins.[2] Johnny's mother attempts to take him to a zoo to be with real walruses, but the real walruses do not like Johnny as he is not a walrus. The zoo also refuses to accept Johnny. Eventually, Johnny and his mother realize Johnny is a boy and that it is OK to play pretend while being yourself. They head home as Johnny pretends to be a bird.
Reception
Johnny the Walrus became the bestselling book in Amazon's LGBTQ+ category before Amazon recategorized it in December 2021 to the Political and Social Commentary category. Fox News host Tucker Carlson called the book "hilarious".[3] Conservative news website TheBlaze called it "an effort to push back against radical gender ideology which defies biological reality".[4] Satirist Andrew Doyle, writing in UnHerd, praised the book for mocking the "indoctrination of the young".[5] LGBT news website PinkNews called the book "hateful" and "transphobic".[4] LGBTQ Nation called the book "anti-transgender" and said that the book mocks transgender youth.[3]
See also
- What Is a Woman?, a 2022 documentary by Walsh about transgender issues in which he asks the titular question to various people