kid reading in treeYou’re killing me, kid.marko2marko via Flickr Creative Commons

OK, parents. We know it’s tough raising kids, but as you read Junior a touching tale about sloths in the Amazon, you may be doing more razing than you think.

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The Rainforest Action Network (RAN), an environmental activist group, perused the pages of children’s books and found that 60 percent of the sample’s fibers was inked to paper cuts in Indonesian rainforests. And nine of out ten of the leading kids book publishers should stand in the corner and think about what they’ve done to contribute to that.

Not even books on the subject of saving the rainforests escaped the blade of blame. That slash burns!

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Now, RAN’s study was a small sample — 30 books, all made in China — but do you want to explain to your offspring why the only rainforest Mr. Sloth will be hanging in is an illustration on the paper made from his former home?

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