Are you reading "American Indians in Children's Literature" in Finland? Italy?

According to the stats report of the blog, readers are logging in from Finland, Italy, Belgium, Bermuda, Australia, Ireland, the Philippines and Canada (note: the report does not provide personal information that can be traced directly to a reader; only "location" such as Makati, Rizal, in the Philippines).

If you come back to read the blog again, I'd really like to hear (send me an email) what children in your country know and are taught about American Indians. What children's books do they read? Little House on the Prairie? While it is hailed as a classic here, it has a lot of problems with regard to its representation of American Indians (some of which are noted in the linked review).

Forrest Carter's EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE

Most people are surprised to learn that the author of The Education of Little Tree is Asa Carter, the former Klansman and speech writer for George Wallace. In addition to discussion of his identity, leading scholars of American Indian literature have soundly criticized the story Carter tells.

Apparently unaware of the controversy and shortcomings of the book, teachers use the book in classrooms across the country. A google search of “Education of Little Tree” +K12 returned 12,600 hits.

Amy Kallio Bollman has an essay that captures the debate over the book. Titled “The Education of Little Tree and Forest Carter: What is Known? What is Knowable?”, it includes an extensive bibliography.

Two articles from my files that are not included in Bollman’s bibliography are:

Krupat, Arnold (2005) “Representing Cherokee Dispossession” in Studies in American Indian Literature, volume 17, no. 1, pp. 16-41.

Smith, Paul Chaat (1996) “Be Like Nick” in Winds of Change, volume 11 no. 2, pages 53-57.

And here’s one an article from Salon.com, from 2001:
“The Education of Little Fraud” by Allan Barra. If you’re not a Salon subscriber, I think I can email the article to you.

Critical Literacy Podcast

I'm taking time this morning to listen to the Critical Literacy in Practice (CLIP) podcast. It is far easier than I expected. All I did was click on the "listen" button. I didn't have to open an audio program like RealPlayer, so I don't know how this works, or if it will work on your computer.

As noted in an earlier post, Vivian Vasquez's CLIP podcast was planning to feature Arigon Starr's song "My Heart is on the Ground." She did that, but it looks like there are two segments featuring Native content. I'm listening to the podcast as I write this post, to a song by Jesse James, who is the lead singer for Diga. According to the Diga website, James is from the Tlicho (Dobrib) community of Fort Rae in the Northwest Terrorities, and Diga's music "tells the stories of the culture, the elders, and the land." On that podcast (Show #6 "Unpacking Stereotypes Continued..., dated Monday August 14th, 2006), Vasquez poses a series of questions about the Tylenol ad I noted a few weeks ago.

The previous week (Show #5, August 7th) the podcast was titled "Rising up against stereotypes." It was on that show that Vasquez played Arigon Starr's song. In this show, Vasquez plays a clip by Dianne Lafferty, who relates an experience her daughter had in a skating show with a Walt Disney theme.

Take time to visit Vasquez's site and listen to her podcasts. And if you know of Native people doing podcasts, let me know. If they're related to education and/or children's book, I'll link to them.

Debbie

INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD series by Lynne Reid Banks

The software that monitors traffic on my site includes a list of words and phrases people use that bring them to American Indians in Children's Literature. (Note: the software doesn’t provide names, email addresses or any information that can be traced back to you.) One that pops up often is “Indian in the Cupboard” and “lesson plan.” Due to the many problems with that book, I do not recommend Indian in the Cupboard or any of the sequels. Here are some on-line reviews and an article about the book:

“A Demand for Excellence in Books for Children” by Jan LaBonty, published in the Journal of American Indian Education
http://jaie.asu.edu/v34/V34S2dem.htm

Review from Oyate:
http://www.oyate.org/books-to-avoid/indianCupboard.html

Review from Paula Giese
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/books/middle/mi228.html

And here’s another article, not available on-line. If you don't have access to it through a library, send me an email and I'll send you a copy:
Tyler, Rhonda Harris (Jul/Aug 2000) Indian in the Cupboard: A Case Study in Perspective International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), Vol. 13, Issue 4

If any readers know of other reviews/discussions of this book, let us know.