American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)

"Mom, Look! It's George, and He's a TV Indian!"

In 1998, I wrote an article for Horn Book, which is the most prestigious children's literature journal. The title for the article came right from my daughter, Liz. (In my post on Sunday of this week, I referred you to a page that is an account of her experience trying to work on positive climate for Native, African American, and Latino students at her high school.)

Back then, Liz was 'Elizabeth' --- a kindergartener, and she came out of her kindergarten classroom, as indigant as could be, to show me that one of her favorite characters, George, of the George and Martha books, was dressed like an Indian. Or, to use the phrase we had developed to describe these fanciful stereotypes, a "TV Indian."

In his blog post today, Horn Book's editor, Roger Sutton, refers to UIUC's Chief Illiniwek, to my article, and to this blog. Thanks, Roger!

Here's a link to the article:
"Mom, Look! It's George, and He's a TV Indian"

Here's a link to Roger's blog, called "Read Roger," dated Tuesday, Feb 20, 2007:
Hell with the Chief