Handy, Bruce. “ How ‘The Story of Ferdinand’ Became Fodder for the Culture Wars of Its Era,” The New Yorker, Dec. 2017. Reading Rainbow, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” PBS, 1993.

The children’s book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" offers a lesson about capitulation, newly relevant as Trump bent Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to his will.

"If you have kids or if you've been a kid yourself recently," Steele explains, "you've probably heard of the famous children's book 'If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.' It's the cautionary tale about ...