Highly Recommended! A LETTER FOR BOB by Kim Rogers, illustrated by Jonathan Nelson

A Letter for Bob

Written by Kim Rogers (Enrolled member of the Wichita Affiliated Tribes)

Illustrated by Jonathan Nelson (Diné)

Published in 2023

Publisher: Heartdrum

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

Several years ago, I was invited to a first grade classroom to talk with the children about Native Americans. One child met me at the school door and was intent on scanning the parking lot. Then he said "Where's your horse?" I told him I had a car and pointed it out, in the parking lot. I don't remember what, if anything, we said after that but his question reflects what young children know--or think they know--about Native peoples. 

If that happened to me today, I'd say with enthusiasm, "You gotta read A Letter for Bob..." 

You (teacher, librarian, caregiver, professor...)... you gotta get copies of A Letter for Bob. Yes. I said "copies" because you can use it in your classrooms and libraries--and you can gift it to families like the one you meet in this picture book. It'll be out in September from Heartdrum.

I got an advanced copy yesterday and started to read it. But then I stopped. The way Kim Rogers wrote the book beckoned me to read it out loud! So, I did! To myself! With such joy! That's what a book can do when its characters and/or the story are like you and your life.   

And Jonathan Nelson's illustrations! There's so many details in them. Native kids, in particular, will love spotting things like "Skoden" on a truck's rear bumper. That truck is parked next to Bob at the Wichita Annual Dance. Bob's trunk is full of the family's regalia and things they need. I especially like that coat hanger on the open trunk lid. That's real. And it resonates, mightily! 

Through Katie's letter to Bob, we join her in remembering key moments in this Wichita family's life. The first Tiny Tots dance. Vacations. Road trips. Tender moments with grandparents and newborns. Bob getting them to baseball games or lacrosse games, and to the library. Most of the time, everyone is wearing the things most people wear: tennis shoes, jeans, t-shirts, and ball caps. And when they're at that Wichita Annual Dance, you see them in traditional regalia. In a couple of places, Katie uses her Wichita language. (When you use the book, take a look at the Glossary! And I encourage you to spend time on the website of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, and on Kim Rogers' website and take a look at Jonathan Nelson's Instagram.) 

Katie's family is growing and they need a bigger car. It is a bittersweet ending, with Katie saying good-bye to Bob. But that, too, is real. The other bit that is plucking on my heart is Katie's dad. He reminds me of my dad (always in a ball cap), taking us places when I was a kid. In A Letter for Bob, there's a page where the family is at a place called Sliding Rock. Katie's dad goes into the water first and tells them "The water is just fine!" But it wasn't! It was cold! That could be my dad calling out "The water is just fine!" And us finding out it was icy! When the final copy is out, I'll be back to add some images. 

I adore this book with a completeness I didn't anticipate. I'll be sharing it at every workshop I do, with librarians, educators, teacher-educators... everyone. 

Book Bans and Native Voices

The year is 2023. 

People continue to take from Native peoples and Native Nations. It started with our lands and our children. It included efforts to destroy our nationhood and cultures by making it illegal for us to speak our languages and tell our stories and practice our religions. 

We persevered. 

In recent years more and more of us are being published. Through books, we are telling our stories to our children and yours, too, in pre-school and kindergarten story times and in high school classrooms. 

But now, our books--our voices--are being removed from libraries and classrooms. 

I have no doubt we will, again, persevere. 

It is important to document what is happening. Today (April 24, 2023), I am starting a log of books by Native writers that are challenged or banned. First, some basic info. 

A challenge is when someone asks that a book be removed. Historically, the book remains on the shelf (available) until a review or hearing takes place. 

A ban is when a challenge is successful and a book is removed from the shelf. 

Sometimes a ban occurs before a book is put on the shelf or made available to children. Confused? I have two cases in mind. Sometimes books are donated by individuals or organizations. The second case is about books a district purchases as part of a curriculum for use in classrooms. In those two cases, a person or persons challenges the book(s) before they are made available. An individual or committee is asked to review the books and they are, by default, not available. Is that a ban? We could discuss that, but my point is this: the book is not available. 

If your district or library (or one you know about) has banned a book by a Native writer, let me know! And if you know of a challenge to a Native book or if a book has been removed from availability and is undergoing "review," I'd like to know that, too. 

Books are listed by title, arranged alphabetically by Native author/illustrator's name and their tribal nation, and the date I add them to the log. Titles are followed by bulleted details and a link to my source of information (for some books, you will see that bulleted details are alike from one title to the next because challenges/bans are often to more than one book in a single school). 

I am focusing on books by Native writers. PEN America has a comprehensive list. 

****

Thunder Boy Jr. written by Sherman Alexie (enrolled member of the Spokane Tribe of Indians). [Date added to log: 4/28/2023]. 

• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie (enrolled member of the Spokane Tribe of Indians). [Date added to log: 4/28/2023]

• Challenged in Indian River County Schools, Fort Pierce, Florida in 2021. It appears on a list of 156 books challenged by Moms for Liberty. The objection includes an excerpt from the chapter "Because Geometry Is Not A Country Somewhere Near France" where the character is talking about masturbation. The books were reviewed by a committee. In reading the local news reports, it is unclear to me if the books were withheld while under review. After the review, five books were removed. It is not amongst the books that were removed. Sources: Hometown News and Sebastian Daily.   

Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army written by Art Coulson (Cherokee); illustrated by Nick Hardcastle (not Native). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms.

Sharice's Big Voice by Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk) and Nancy Mays (not Native); illustrated by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley (member of Wasauksing, First Nation)

[Date added to log: 4/30/2023]

• Challenged in the Hilliard School District, Ohio, in March of 2023. WOSU (public radio) at Ohio State University, reported on April 17, 2023, that Sharice's Big Voice was on a list of 35 books being challenged by a Muslim parental advocacy group. The group characterized the books as "grotesque" and "immoral." The board responded by letting parents know they could block their student from checking out a book. Sources: NBC4 Hilliard parents debate banning books from school libraries and WOSU Book challenges increase in Ohio.

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe); illustrated by Michaela Goade (Tlingit). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Banned in Northampton Pennsylvania Area School District in 2022. It was one of several books donated to the district by The Conscious Kid, an education, research, and policy organization that supports families and educators in taking action to disrupt racism, inequity, and bias. At a school board meeting, the books were characterized as "divisive," "racist," and "socialist." The Conscious Kid was accused of having a Marxist agenda. The board voted not to accept the donated books. Source: Marshall University Libraries in Huntington, West Virginia. 

Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis (Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde); cover art by Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota/Mohegan/Muscogee). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Challenged in York, PA in 2021. It was included on an excellent list of books a diversity committee in the district created in 2020. Some parents feared the books would make white children feel guilty about their race or indoctrinate them. The district chose to "freeze" the books. It is unclear to me what that meant. Some news reports say the book list was frozen until the books could be reviewed. As far as I have found, some teachers already had them in the classroom and some libraries already had them available. I can find no reports of them being removed from their classrooms or libraries but there was definitely an effort to make them unavailable. According to a Sept 20, 2021 article in the York Daily Record, the freeze was lifted after about a year. 
• Banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review, a committee determined its content was not age appropriate and sent the book back to the company. Source: First Coast News.

Fry Bread by Kevin Maillard (Seminole); illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal (not Native). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Banned in Northampton Pennsylvania Area School District in 2022. It was one of several books donated to the district by The Conscious Kid, an education, research, and policy organization that supports families and educators in taking action to disrupt racism, inequity, and bias. At a school board meeting, the books were characterized as "divisive," "racist," and "socialist." The Conscious Kid was accused of having a Marxist agenda. The board voted not to accept the donated books. Source: Marshall University Libraries in Huntington, West Virginia. 
• Challenged in York, PA in 2021. It was included on an excellent list of books a diversity committee in the district created in 2020. Some parents feared the books would make white children feel guilty about their race or indoctrinate them. The district chose to "freeze" the books. It is unclear to me what that meant. Some news reports say the book list was frozen until the books could be reviewed. As far as I have found, some teachers already had them in the classroom and some libraries already had them available. I can find no reports of them being removed from their classrooms or libraries but there was definitely an effort to make them unavailable. According to a Sept 20, 2021 article in the York Daily Record, the freeze was lifted after about a year. 
• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms. Source: First Coast News.

The People Shall Continue, written by Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo), illustrated by Sharol Graves (Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Challenged in York, PA in 2021. It was included on an excellent list of books a diversity committee in the district created in 2020. Some parents feared the books would make white children feel guilty about their race or indoctrinate them. The district chose to "freeze" the books. It is unclear to me what that meant. Some news reports say the book list was frozen until the books could be reviewed. As far as I have found, some teachers already had them in the classroom and some libraries already had them available. I can find no reports of them being removed from their classrooms or libraries but there was definitely an effort to make them unavailable. According to a Sept 20, 2021 article in the York Daily Record, the freeze was lifted after about a year. 

Fatty Legs written by Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton. [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms. Source: First Coast News.

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, for Young People, by Debbie Reese (Nambé Owingeh) and Jean Mendoza (not Native), adapted from the original edition written by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz (not Native). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Banned in some libraries in Texas (such as McKinney Independent School District, shown below) when it was included on a list of 850 books compiled by Texas state Representative Matt Krause. Source: National Public Radio

• Challenged in York, PA in 2021. It was included on an excellent list of books a diversity committee in the district created in 2020. Some parents feared the books would make white children feel guilty about their race or indoctrinate them. The district chose to "freeze" the books. It is unclear to me what that meant. Some news reports say the book list was frozen until the books could be reviewed. As far as I have found, some teachers already had them in the classroom and some libraries already had them available. I can find no reports of them being removed from their classrooms or libraries but there was definitely an effort to make them unavailable. According to a Sept 20, 2021 article in the York Daily Record, the freeze was lifted after about a year. 

Hiawatha and the Peacemaker written by Robbie Robertson (Mohawk), illustrated by David Shannon (not Native). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Banned in 2023 in Duval County, Florida. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning and as of 4/24/2023 is still under review by a committee that is reviewing books to see if the content is age appropriate. Source: First Coast News.

We Are Grateful written by by Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation), illustrated by Frane Lessac (not Native). [Date added to log: 4/23/2023]

• Challenged in York, PA in 2021. It was included on an excellent list of books a diversity committee in the district created in 2020. Some parents feared the books would make white children feel guilty about their race or indoctrinate them. The district chose to "freeze" the books. It is unclear to me what that meant. Some news reports say the book list was frozen until the books could be reviewed. As far as I have found, some teachers already had them in the classroom and some libraries already had them available. I can find no reports of them being removed from their classrooms or libraries but there was definitely an effort to make them unavailable. According to a Sept 20, 2021 article in the York Daily Record, the freeze was lifted after about a year. 
• Banned in Northampton Pennsylvania Area School District in 2022. It was one of several books donated to the district by The Conscious Kid, an education, research, and policy organization that supports families and educators in taking action to disrupt racism, inequity, and bias. At a school board meeting, the books were characterized as "divisive," "racist," and "socialist." The Conscious Kid was accused of having a Marxist agenda. The board voted not to accept the donated books. Source: Marshall University Libraries in Huntington, West Virginia. 
• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms.

At the Mountains Base written by Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation), illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva, Cahuilla, Chumash, Spanish & Scottish). 

• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms. Source: First Coast News.

NOT RECOMMENDED: "California Native American Tribes" series by Mary Null Boulé

If your library has a copy of one of the 26 books in the "California Native American Tribes" book series, get it off the shelf. Let's take a look at it. My hope is that you will see it ought to be weeded, immediately. 

The series is written by Mary Null Boulé. They came out in 1992, and were published by Merryant Publishers. 

The books are similar. They begin with a section of "General Information" that starts out with:

Out of Asia, many thousands of years ago, came Wanderers. Some historians think they were the first people to set foot on our western hemisphere. These Wanderers had walked, step by step, onto our part of the earth while hunting and gathering food. They probably never even knew they had moved from one continent to another as they made their way across a land bridge, a narrow strip of land between Siberia and what is now Russia, and the state of Alaska. 

Historians do not know exactly how long ago the Wanderers might have crossed the land bridge. Some of them say 35,000 years ago. ...

Those Wanderers who made their way to California were very lucky, indeed. California was a land with good weather most of the year and was filled with plenty of plant and animal foods for them to eat. 

Most people remember "the land bridge." But most people do not realize that it is a theory. Boulé gestures to it being a theory when she says "Some historians think..." but the rest of the paragraphs present that theory as if it is a fact. It is not a fact! 

Recently I was in the San Marcos, California area for a workshop. The main presenter was Nicole Myers-Lim, director of the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center in Santa Rosa, California. She began her remarks by saying that nearly every fourth grade textbook incorporates the Bering Strait Doctrine into its content on California Indian history. There are several other, more recent theories, about how humans came to exist on the continents known as North and South America. 

If you're a teacher or parent who has access to a history textbook being used right now in your school, take a look. How does it present that theory? 

As I page through the books in the California Native American Tribes series, I see text and sketches that make me cringe: 

Not only did the California tribes speak different languages, but their members also differed in size. Some tribes were very tall, almost six feet tall. The shortest people came from the Yuki tribe which had territory in what is now Mendocino County. They measured only about 5'2" tall. All Native Americans, regardless of size, had strong, straight black hair and dark brown eyes. 

That's just one example. Through and through, the text and illustrations feel like grotesque anthropology books that suggest Native people no longer exist. The Boulé books are riddled with past tense verbs. They look and feel like dioramas that museums, like the University of Michigan's Museum of Natural History, are abandoning. Here's an excerpt from the article:

What may have been once an effective means to portray how artifacts were used in context of early Native American civilization has become inexpedient, often evoking pejorative connotations, and sometimes fostering perceptions of Indians as “frozen in time,” said Amy Harris, director of the University of Michigan’s Exhibit Museum of Natural History. 

In early January, 14 dioramas at the museum will be taken from public viewing and placed in storage. Until then, Harris said the dioramas are a catalyst for a broader discussion about the role of museums, and the proper portrayal of Native Americans, the only people relegated to be “presented” in natural history museums. 

“We were concerned that we were leaving the impression that Native Americans are extinct, just like the dinosaurs on the second floor,” said Harris, who, since 2000 has met regularly with a range of constituents, including U-M faculty, students and Native Americans around the state. The goal was to gauge the effectiveness of exhibits. Harris soon found out the dioramas were offensive and perpetuated negative attitudes. 

Some of you may cringe, too, reading the paragraph from the Boulé book, but you might be saying 'well, that's what they thought back then' when the series came out in 1992.

I urge you to revisit that justification. Who is 'they' in that way of thinking? That justification suggests such things no longer happen. But the thing is, books with that sort of thing come out, today, in 2023. And I see the Boulé books on library lists of recommended books, today! If you're using them or recommending them, stop! They're completely unacceptable. The paragraphs from the University of Michigan's director can help you think more critically about books -- old or new -- that have a land bridge theory or frozen-in-the past depictions of Native people. 

Highly Recommended! CONTENDERS: TWO NATIVE BASEBALL PLAYERS, ONE WORLD SERIES by Traci Sorell and Arigon Starr

Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series

Written by Traci Sorell (Citizen of the Cherokee Nation)

Illustrated by Arigon Starr (Enrolled Member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma)

Published in 2023

Publisher: Kokila

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

A few years ago, I would do tweet reviews and sometimes, I'd use a platform (Storify) that would gather the tweets into a single document, and then I'd plop that document in a blog post. People liked that tweet-review-turned-into-blog-post a lot. But Storify didn't last long. I still use Twitter to talk about books. Today I did a series of tweets about Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series. I'm pasting them here as my review of the book. I've inserted the time stamp, for reference, and it links to the thread on Twitter. 

April 1, 2023, 7:32 AM

I just finished reading CONTENDERS: TWO NATIVE BASEBALL PLAYERS, ONE WORLD SERIES. Written by Traci Sorell and illustrated by Arigon Starr, it is definitely gonna have a "Highly Recommended" label from American Indians in Children's Literature!

It is packed with info that's gonna appeal to Native and non-Native readers, whether they are fans of baseball or not. Starr's depictions of Native people... powerful mirrors. My uncles played ball. In her art, I see them.

I especially like the double-page spread that shows Native ball players, over time. Note they're done like baseball cards! And the cards have their names and tribal nations. SO COOL!!!!

The two players the book is about are Charles Albert Bender, who was Ojibwe and John Tortes Meyers, who was Cahuilla. Wait... I gotta say that when I came to the page about John's childhood, I leaned in. Why?

 He was Cahuilla!

I'm currently doing workshops with educators in California. They're searching for books that can provide Native students in their classrooms with mirrors. In CONTENDERS, they have that mirror!

If the appeal (for you) is the subject, baseball, and you're a long-time fan, you might remember the 1911 World Series. That's kind of what the book is about. But the focus is the two Native men who played in that series and so, you'll likely learn things you did not know.

For example, this page is about the crap they had to endure. I like that Sorell included that, so succinctly. People called them "Chief" but, she writes that neither one was a tribal leader. Others call them "redskins."

The book is due out on April 11 from Kokila. If you haven't ordered it yet, for your school or public library, do it now. And if you're in California, order several copies!

Highly Recommended: REMEMBER by Joy Harjo, illustrated by Michaela Goade

Remember 

Written by Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation)

Illustrated by Michaela Goade (Tlingit Nation)

Published in 2023

Publisher: Random House

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

Look at the book cover. Above the single-word title, REMEMBER, you will see the name of the author -- Joy Harjo -- and the illustrator -- Michaela Goade -- and in front of their names you'll see these words: "U.S. Poet Laureate" and "Caldecott Medalist." I'm beginning this critique with those words of distinction because they mark a moment in time that demonstrates the resilience and power of Native peoples. 

The words and illustrations once you start turning the pages embody that resilience and power. You'll see brilliance and brightness. Stillness. Tenderness. The connectedness between human beings, the earth, the skies, the elements, creatures of the land and sea. 

The page that makes my heart explode is this one:

The words there are:

Remember your birth, how your mother

struggled to give you form and breath.

You are evidence of her life,

and her mother's, and hers.

I won't say more about the contents of the book, because I want you to get a copy as soon as you can. I want the emotions each page generates to be your own. I think everyone should read each page, sitting with each one for a while and returning to the book or a page, again and again. 

I highly recommend Remember. 

Highly Recommended: HEART BERRY BLING by Jenny Kay Dupuis; illustrated by Eva Campbell

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Heart Berry Bling

Written by Jenny Kay Dupuis (Member of Nipissing First Nation)

Illustrated by Eva Campbell (Not Native)

Published in 2023

Publisher: Highwater Press

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

A few weeks ago, I saw a photo of a person at a conference posing with a copy of Jenny Kay Dupuis's new picture book, Heart Berry Bling. Today, I read an advance sample copy and am here to give it a Highly Recommended rating! 

Here's the description from the publisher's website:

On a visit to her granny, Maggie is excited to begin her first-ever beading project: a pair of strawberry earrings. However, beading is much harder than she expected! As they work side by side, Granny shares how beading helped her persevere and stay connected to her Anishinaabe culture when she lost her Indian status, forcing her out of her home community—all because she married someone without status, something the men of her community could do freely. 

As she learns about patience and perseverance from her granny’s teachings, Maggie discovers that beading is a journey, and like every journey, it’s easier with a loved one at her side.

In this beautifully illustrated book, children learn about the tradition of Anishinaabe beadwork, strawberry teachings, and gender discrimination in the Indian Act.

I'll start by saying that I love stories where a kid is with a grandparent because like many children, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. When the book is about a Native family, however, the content of the story adds to my emotional response to what I see on the pages. 

The story opens with Maggie and her dad in the car. When they park, they walk a while to get to her granny's house. As they walk Maggie hears the sounds of a city. That's important! There is a tendency to think that Native people lived long ago (we're still here!) and that they all lived on reserves/reservations or in rural places. Some did and do, but not everyone does. Showing us granny, in the city, is great!

When Maggie and her dad arrive at her grandmother's house, Maggie can smell the fry bread her grandmother made. On the kitchen table are granny's beads. Granny is on the phone, speaking Anishinaabemowin with her sister. All of these are markers--in print and illustration--of a Native home.

As the two sit on the couch to look at photos that have inspired granny's beading designs, Maggie asks her about a person shown in an old photo. Granny tells her:

"That's me. Back when I lived on the reserve."

She goes on to say that she married a man who wasn't First Nations, and under the laws that existed then, 

"I was stripped of my Indian status and had to leave the community."

Right there is when I paused in my reading, thinking about Native people like Maggie's grandmother, whose identity is taken from them. 

There are many ways in which this happens. There's a long history of social workers deeming Native parents "unfit" to care for their children. Their infants and children end up in foster care and white adoptive homes. There's also a long history of non-Native people thinking they had an ancestor who was Native, so they decide to claim that identity as if it is one within their lived experience. Some trot out a story of tragic separation but that story undermines the realities of the lived experiences of people like Maggie's grandmother. 

On the next page, Maggie's grandmother tells us more about the Indian Act. Maggie asks for more information. It is an outstanding page that I hope readers will sit with. 

As the story moves back to beading, I hear -- in Granny's words -- how beading helped her heal some of the pain she experienced due to the Indian Act. On the book cover we see Maggie looking into a mirror. She's wearing the earrings she made with her grandmother. 

So many teachings are embodied in those earrings! So many memories are sewn into them! From the shiny beads to the tears Maggie shed when she accidentally poked her finger with the beading needle, to Granny's life story... this is quite a magnificent story from Jenny Kay Dupuis! 

As I've noted before, we're seeing more extensive author notes than was the case in the past. In Heart Berry Bling we have a two-page note that tells us Granny's story is the story of the author's own grandmother. There's more details on what was lost when her status was taken from her. We also learn about First Nations women who fought that Act and were eventually able to get some changes to it in 1985, but it wasn't until 2011 that changes were made that made it possible for Jenny Kay Dupuis to have her First Nations status. More changes took place in 2017 and 2019. 

We need books from writers like Jenny Kay Dupuis--people whose families hold these brutal realities in their memory as something they lived through--and people across North America have so much learning to do about Native life and history, and about authenticity of storyteller and storytelling. 

Thank you, Jenny, for sharing this story with us. It is a story with difficult parts, but also the joy in this Native child and her Native grandma, being together!  

Another New Cover for Frank Asch's POPCORN

Back on July 23, 2015, I wrote about Frank Asch's picture book, Popcorn. It came out in 1979 and is about Sam (a bear) who is having a Halloween party. 

It came out again in 2015 with marketing info that said "This refreshed edition of a beloved classic features the original text and art with an updated cover." For the 2023 edition, the promo line tells us that the book has been "...refreshed with new art..." 

Here's the three covers:

The refreshing that was done to the original cover was to remove the jack-o-lantern border and replace it with a yellow one. The refreshed new art for the 2023 version (due out in the summer) replaces the bear's costume. He's no longer dressed like an Indian. In the new edition he'll be a pirate. 

In the original, each guest brings popcorn that reflects their costume:

 

We know--based on the cover--that the interior pages where Sam is shown wearing a headband, feather, and loincloth will be changed, but I wonder about the other costumes. Will the one holding "Walrus Blubber Popcorn" be "refreshed", too? We'll see!