A parody children’s book that mocks transgenderism with a story about a boy who wants to become a walrus unexpectedly became the number-one best-selling Amazon book in the LGBTQ+ category this week.
‘Johnny the Walrus’, by conservative writer and Daily Wire host Matt Walsh shot to the number-one position after pre-orders became available, beating other LGBTQ+ titles from such best-selling authors as Taylor Jenkins Reid and Adam Silvera.
Praised as “hilarious” by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the book follows “a little boy with a big imagination” who likes to pretend to be a dinosaur, a knight, and a puppy.
“But when the internet people find out Johnny likes to make-believe, he’s forced to make a decision between the little boy he is and the things he pretends to be – and he’s not allowed to change his mind,” the book’s description explains.
Even though it’s not scheduled to be published until March 2022, ‘Johnny the Walrus’ has already garnered 90 reviews on Amazon, with one person describing it as a “refreshingly relevant book for kids” that is “great material for toddlers or PhDs.”
Walsh boasted of his literary success by changing his Twitter name to “Bestselling LGBT author Matt Walsh” and tweeting, “I now have the number one LGBT book in the country. Any further criticism of me or my book is now homophobic. Checkmate.”
The dramatic rise of ‘Johnny the Walrus’ to LGTBQ+ fame was not universally well received, however, with some on social media urging Amazon to take action and remove the “stupid book” from the list.