This morning, Drew Hayden Taylor (author of The Night Wanderer), posted a photo of children's books... in Switzerland. Taylor is there to give some lectures. Here's the photo he shared on Twitter (sharing it here with his permission):
He captioned it with these words:
Some of the children's books on Native people available in Switzerland book stores. I brought the wrong wardrobe.
Within Native circles, we sometimes joke about what people expect us to look like. And when we don't, they think we aren't "real" Indians. Depictions in children's books, no matter where they are published, carry a lot of power. They shape those expectations, and because those images are so bad, are a reason I write about them so much. It isn't one image here or there. It is pervasive.
Some of the words on the covers ("Minitou" and "Winnetou") tell me the people who wrote, illustrated, and published those books were/are deeply influenced by Karl May's stories, which were nothing more than stereotypes of Native peoples of the U.S.
I may see if I can get copies of one of those books, or at least see some of them online in greater detail. If you know of others, let me know.
They are worth studying, for those of us who study stereotypes, but I think their factual misrepresentations mean they ought not be given to young children.
There are many great books, Taylor's included, that you can give to them! See the lists at my
Best Books page.
If you like scary books, or know a teen who does, give them Taylor's
The Night Wanderer. I vividly recall reading it, in a hotel room at a Native writer's conference. Once the sun went down, I did not want to look out the window.
***When a mysterious young man arrives to stay in the middle of the night, sixteen year old Tiffany does not take much notice. She has her own problems. Her mother recently left her father for another man, her father and her are fighting and she is n
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The Peasant Prince
, just published in Australia, tells the inspiring and now beloved story of author
Li Cunxin in a picture book format. From a childhood of near starvation in the Chinese countryside to stardom in the highest echelons on classical ballet, Li told his story first in the 2003 adult memoir
Mao’s Last Dancer, now in development as a film with director Bruce Beresford.
Encouraged by his friend, children’s book illustrator Graeme Base, Li pitched the memoir to Penguin and was enthusiastically encouraged first to write more, then to write in more detail, and eventually to cut some of the many hundred thousand words he had delivered. The finished book, an immediate success, soon came out in a young readers’ edition. The former dancer, by then a stockbroker, began doing book tours, where parents and schools urged him to do a picture book.
Li had read books illustrated by Anne Spudvilas to his own children and had loved them, so when she was suggested as illustrator for the picture book, he knew immediately that she would be “fantastic.” Anne got a grant from the Australia China Council to accompany him on a trip he was making to China, where she met his family, dance teachers, and ballet school friends. “She soaked it all up,” he said in a recent radio interview, and even decided to study Chinese painting. “Her first batch of illustrations took my breath away,” he said. He was especially impressed with how Anne had captured his family members.
“It’s been a great experience,” Anne emailed me recently, after we met at the book launch party for Elise Hurst. Li agrees. The illustrations really help tell the story. “Kids today are so privileged,” he said on the radio. “I think the picture of our family table when I was young, with just a tiny bit of food on it, might help them see how different my life was. Even my own kids seem to appreciate my story more since the books came out.”
The Peasant Prince is coming out soon in the U.S. as Dancing to Freedom. More on Anne’s adventures in China coming soon…
Books Illustrated in Melbourne launched Elise Hurst’s 50th book in 11 years, The Night Garden, with a champagne party and an exhibit of illustrations from the book. A big crowd showed up! Before reading the book to a thrilled and energetically participating audience, Elise explained that two years ago she had only the germ of an idea–a garden “where everything happens, with each picture extraordinary.” A publisher was interested, but, big surprise, wanted a story. It’s an “escape artist” story, Elise discovered, of looking out on a magical garden in the middle of the night. She remembers falling asleep herself at the window as a child, dreamily gazing out the window into a possible magical garden she herself has now escaped into through her young character, Sally.
Elise’s husband, Peter, talked about the hard work of getting the text and the illustrations right. Discussing two particular pages, he explained that “in 40 words, with illustrations, Elise first got across the idea that Sally is adventurous and feels the magic, but her cat, Strange, is reluctant. Then Elise transitions into the mystical world outside, ‘to the edge of here and there.’ The garden is like an opera set, and the whole garden appears on the end papers.”
PaperTigers recognized Elise’s work some time ago with a gallery feature, and Elise remembered us when I introduced myself. I’m looking forward to writing about more about the vibrant community of illustrators, publishers, and writers that I’ve met through Ann Haddon and Ann James of Books Illustrated. Thanks for a great launch party!
[…] Anne received an Australian Council grant that allowed her to focus exclusively on illustrating the story of Li’s remarkable life. It’s a luxury for an illustrator to work on only one project […]