February 6, 2013
Dear Librarians at Champaign Public Library,
While reading The News Gazette yesterday, I read that you had prepared a list of books called "110 Books for Every Child." When I read "every child," I wondered if you were thinking about all children in the area. Were you thinking about American Indian children, too? We are part of the Champaign-Urbana community.
When I clicked on the link and opened the list, I was glad to see some titles on it, like Bud Not Buddy and The Giver and Poppy. But I am disappointed that it also includes Little Town on the Prairie.
On page 257, Laura is amongst the crowds gathered in the schoolhouse, waiting for the "Literary" (performance) to begin. Here's an excerpt:
Then up the center aisle came marching five black-faced men in raggedy-taggedy uniforms. White circles were around their eyes and their mouths were wide and red. Up onto the platform they marched, then facing forward in a row suddenly they all advanced, singing, "Oh, talk about your Mulligan Guards! These darkies can't be beat!"
The five men take the stage (p. 258):
Here's the text on that page, just above the illustration:
When the dancing stopped, the jokes began. The white-circled eyes rolled, the big red mouths blabbed questions and answers that were the funniest ever heard. Then there was music again, and even wilder dancing.
Darkies? Big red mouths?!
Earlier in the book, Laura and Mary listen to Pa tell them a story about how, when he was a little boy, he'd pretend he was hunting Indians (page 53):
When I was a little boy, not much bigger than Mary, I had to go every afternoon to find the cows in the woods and drive them home. My father told me never to play by the way, but to hurry and bring the cows home before dark, because there were bears and wolves and panthers in the woods.
One day I started earlier than usual, so I thought I did not need to hurry. There were so many things to see in the woods that I forgot that dark was coming. There were red squirrels in the trees, chipmunks scurrying through the leaves, and little rabbits playing games together in the open places. Little rabbits, you know, always have games together before they go to bed.
I began to play I was a mighty hunter, stalking the wild animals and the Indians. I played I was fighting the Indians, until all woods seemed full of wild men, and then all at once I heard the birds twittering 'good night.'
Stalking wild animals and Indians?!
I'm not calling for this book to be removed from the library, but I do think it ought not be endorsed as a "good book" for "every child." I don't think its good for any child at all!
Imagine reading it aloud to an African American or an American Indian child. How would you manage those particular excerpts?
I know people who say that reading these books lets kids know that there was racism in America's past, but, isn't endorsing them in 2009 as "good books" a bad idea? Children should learn about racism in the past and present, too, but might that be better done in another way?
See--if you're reading this book aloud to a child, you're probably doing it in a way that will cause them to like the characters. And then you're going to interrupt the reading to explain that, essentially Pa was either a racist, or, engaged in racist thinking. It seems a better idea (to me) to select a book to enjoy that doesn't do that sort of thing.
I wonder how many people actually take time to explain those passages as racist?
My guess is that a lot of people just blow right past them, thereby inserting racist ideology into the minds of the children that are being read to, and/or affirming the already-existing racist ideology that has crept into that child's world view.
And---if a child is reading this book alone (without an adult to mediate it), how will that child make sense of those excerpts?
I have similar concerns about other books on the list and am sharing brief notes on them:
The Indian in the Cupboard is very popular, but it makes people into the playthings of children. This is especially troubling because of the identities of the characters. In it, you have a white child manipulating the life and death of an Indian man.
Island of the Blue Dolphins has stereotypes in it and the information it provides is outdated. Today, we know so much more about the people involved in this story. This book doesn't accurately portray them. Shouldn't we set it aside in favor of terrific stories that don't misrepresent someone, especially when that someone is a group for which most American have little substantive knowledge?
We keep recycling romantic and stereotyped ideas and images of American Indians. Maybe that is what makes it possible for a book like
Walk Two Moons to win awards. It, unfortunately, has a great many stereotypes of American Indians in it.
As I noted earlier, I'm not asking you to remove the books from the library, but I do think their place on a list of "good" books ought to be reconsidered. Perhaps if they were removed from the list, you could replace them with award-winning books that provide children with accurate knowledge about American Indians. Given our proximity to the Great Lakes, Louise Erdrich's
The Birchbark House and its sequels would be terrific additions to the list.
Sincerely,
Debbie Reese
American Indians in Children's Literature
Well, now we’ve gone and done it. Greedy gus that I am, I’ve always found it hugely inconvenient when my favorite authors and illustrators live in other countries. Shaun Tan in Australia. Kate Beaton in Canada (we had her briefly, then lost her again, consarn it). And then there’s that charming Frances Hardinge. When are we going to convince her to move Stateside? Never if the publication of her latest book is any indication. Or, shall I say, the LACK of publication since if you are looking for her latest novel A Face Like Glass here in America you are seriously out of luck. Not entirely without options, mind you, since you can buy a Kindle edition (the hardcover claims to come out May 1st yet has “not yet been released” and has no American publisher) which is pretty much your only option if you’re a Yank. Harper Collins has traditionally been the publisher of all the Hardinge books in the States but is eschewing her latest novel. Unless, of course, they’re just biding their time until the spring. However, if they do not opt for her latest I’d be more than happy to see some other publisher pick up the slack. Recall, if you will, the fact that the last Hardinge won the 2010 Battle of the (Kids’) Books. Just sayin’. Thanks to Dan Levy for the info.
- Speaking of Brits, a fascinating article came out in The Guardian recently posing the question: “Which books offer the best introduction to New York?“ The answer was a fascinating mix of the usual suspects (Mixed-Up Files, Eloise, Little Red Lighthouse, etc.) and stuff that would never occur to me, the New York Public Library Youth Materials Specialist. Grk and the Hot Dog Trail? In the Night Kitchen? The Arrival?!? I pity the poor child that walks into Manhattan with The Arrival as their guide. Think of their disappointment (particularly when you consider that Tan took as much inspiration from classic Australian photographs as American ones). Almost more interesting than all of these is the recommendation to read Rosa Guy’s books. When we think of New York we almost never take her into consideration. As I say, fascinating. Thanks to Playing By the Book for the link.
- Speaking of New York City, heads up, hipsters. Actually, a better way of putting this would be to say heads up those of you who want to hang out with famous people for a reasonable price and an even better cause. 826NYC is having its Dueling Bingos competition, and this season you’re going to have a chance to match your Bingo chops against folks like Sarah Vowell, the guy who plays “Pete” on 30 Rock, Catherine Keener, and maybe even Jon Scieszka if you’re lucky. Are you in town August 1st? Then you have no excuse. Come by, come by . . .
Is it just me or are more people dying this
Whenever I hear the name Laura Ingalls Wilder, or even just think it, a warm homey feeling comes over me like being covered in my grandma's quilt. 
Today I'm getting that feeling a lot, since February 7th is Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday (born in 1867) and she is very much on my mind.
It's been said that Wilder wrote the Little House books to preserve the stories of her childhood for today's children, to help them to understand how much America had changed during her lifetime. Thanks to her foresight, generations of children have vicariously lived the pioneer experience and gained an appreciation of the difficulties the early homesteaders faced in a way that no history book or adult recitation of "how good we have it" could ever accomplish.
The Little House books have also given readers an opportunity to bond across generations, when the books are lovingly passed along from a parent or grandparent who fell in love with the series during their own childhood. Personally, I read my mother's set--which didn't include The First Four Years, discovered many years after Wilder's death--with their odd square shape and cloth covers, purchased during a time when the author was still alive (Wilder died in 1957 at the age of 90). I have warm memories of reading those old books, pretending I was living in the Ingalls cabin alongside Laura and Mary, and I can't wait to share the series with my own daughter. Reading even a fraction of the hundreds of customer reviews tells me that the Little House bond is shared by many, and one of the beautiful things about these books is that they are loved by boys and girls alike.
Wilder was 65 in 1932 when her first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was published and her books have remained in print ever since. In 1954 the American Library Association founded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the first one given to its namesake, and now awarded every two years to "an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." The current winner is Tomie dePaola, who received the award in 2011. Besides the children's book award, there are museums, elementary schools (including one in my hometown), countless books, blogs, and websites--even a crater on Venus named for Laura Ingalls Wilder. And then, of course, there was the wildly popular television show that brought Laura, most notably in the form of Melissa Gilbert, into the homes of millions every week (along with Nellie Olesen, the quintessential mean girl). It's quite a legacy.
Please join me in some Little House nostalgia, as I reminisce about maple syrup candy and falling asleep to the sound of fiddle playing--what are some of your favorite Little House moments? --Seira
The nine books in the Little House series:
By: Seira Wilson,
on 2/7/2012
Blog:
Schiel & Denver Book Publishers Blog
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Whenever I hear the name Laura Ingalls Wilder, or even just think it, a warm homey feeling comes over me like being covered in my grandma's quilt. Today I'm getting that feeling a lot, since February 7th is Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday (born in 1867) and she is very much on my mind.
It's been said that Wilder wrote the Little House books to preserve the stories of her childhood for today's children, to help them to understand how much America had changed during her lifetime. Thanks to her foresight, generations of children have vicariously lived the pioneer experience and gained an appreciation of the difficulties the early homesteaders faced in a way that no history book or adult recitation of "how good we have it" could ever accomplish.
The Little House books have also given readers an opportunity to bond across generations, when the books are lovingly passed along from a parent or grandparent who fell in love with the series during their own childhood. Personally, I read my mother's set--which didn't include The First Four Years, discovered many years after Wilder's death--with their odd square shape and cloth covers, purchased during a time when the author was still alive (Wilder died in 1957 at the age of 90). I have warm memories of reading those old books, pretending I was living in the Ingalls cabin alongside Laura and Mary, and I can't wait to share the series with my own daughter. Reading even a fraction of the hundreds of customer reviews tells me that the Little House bond is shared by many, and one of the beautiful things about these books is that they are loved by boys and girls alike.
Wilder was 65 in 1932 when her first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was published and her books have remained in print ever since. In 1954 the American Library Association founded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the first one given to its namesake, and now awarded every two years to "an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." The current winner is Tomie dePaola, who received the award in 2011. Besides the children's book award, there are museums, elementary schools (including one in my hometown), countless books, blogs, and websites--even a crater on Venus named for Laura Ingalls Wilder. And then, of course, there was the wildly popular television show that brought Laura, most notably in the form of Melissa Gilbert, into the homes of millions every week (along with Nellie Olesen, the quintessential mean girl). It's quite a legacy.
Please join me in some Little House nostalgia, as I reminisce about maple syrup candy and falling asleep to the sound of fiddle playing--what are some of your favorite Little House moments? --Seira
The nine books in the Little House series:
The second passage you quote isn't from LITTLE TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE as you state. Have you read it?
Anonymous,
A correction to the post has been made.
Thank you,
Debbie