- Her name... doesn't it call to mind Disney's Pocahontas?!
- These goofy hyphenated Indian-sounding names (oh dang, I used a hyphen, too) are dreadful. So many writers come up with names like these for characters. But heck. A little research, please! Osborne could have looked for someone who speaks one of the Mayan languages, and found out what their word is for jaguar, and used that, right? Or a translation of it, from that language into English? Maybe Osborne thinks there's no Mayan people around? Surely, though.... doesn't she listen to, or read, national news? Like this story?
Wanted: Speakers Of Mayan Languages, Many Of Them
Enlarge this image On a weekday morning, in an upscale area of Arlington, Va., the suburban silence is as thick as the foliage save for the hum of a leaf blower or an occasional car. In one of the homes, Sheba Velasco is thinking of snacks for the children.
- Did you catch that... Heart-of-the-Wind/Pocahontas... talking to animals?
- I wonder if Osborne has a Magic Tree House story where Jack and Annie travel to... the Vatican. I wonder if that book would be dismissive of what they see there?
- Osborne's other books with Native people include THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY.
THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY, by Mary Pope Osborne
A friend (you, Diana!) asked (on Facebook) for books that a first grader could read on Kindle. Several people suggested Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Treehouse Series. I chimed in to let Diana know that Osborne's Thanksgiving on Thursday is one that I do not recommend. Here's why.- There's a review of BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST in A BROKEN FLUTE: THE NATIVE EXPERIENCE IN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. No surprise... it is a #Fail, too!
- Guess what the wise old Lakota grandma in Buffalo Before Breakfast names Jack?
- Rides-Like-Wind (I guess Osborne is partial to names with wind in them).
- I know some of you think I'm mean, being snarky and all towards Osborne's writing. Some of you may even think what I've said should be ignored. Because... tone. Some of you think that criticism has to be delivered in the proper way.
- Sometimes, snark is the only way to get through a book. I hope Osborne reads this Storify. I hope her editor does. Reading Shadow of the Shark is one of those many times when I read a book and think HOW DID THIS GET PUBLISHED???
- Whether you like my tone or not, I hope you'll click on away, with the info I've shared in mind. Don't screw up if you're writing about Native peoples. Someone will probably write to me about your screw up. And then you'll see your book on my site in the "Debbie--have you seen" series...
Established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books. Dr. Jean Mendoza joined AICL as a co-editor in 2016.
Friday, September 16, 2016
SHADOW OF THE SHARK by Mary Pope Osborne
Mary Pope Osborne's Shadow of the Shark was published in 2015 as part of the best-selling Magic Tree House series. Osborne's Thanksgiving on Thursday did not fare well, here, at American Indians in Children's literature. Her Shadow of the Shark is just as bad. I tweeted as I read it, on September 15, 2016, made the tweets into a Storify (inserting comments between the tweets), and used the copy/paste function to paste the Storify here.
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6 comments:
Debbie ~ Maybe instead of spending all your time trashing other people's work and being angry about what you find you should start writing books for children that meet your standards. Just a thought. ~ A School Librarian
Dear School Librarian,
Hmmmm.... is that what you say to other professional reviewers and literary scholars when they are critical of a book?
On a tangent, I am wondering why writers insist on translating names into English instead of transliterating them. I mean, my name is not "True Image" or "Bearing Victory" (depending on which etymology you go with); it's "Veronica," and it'll stay "Veronica" no matter what language a person is speaking. And, to choose a person from a different culture at random, Achlles iis not called "Grief of the People" in English translations of The Iliad. He's just called "Achilles." This kind of needless translation robs people of their true names as well as makes American Indians seem unusual in having names with meaning.
--Veronica
Writers do some odd things. Thanks for noting that, Veronica. I've got something similar in my mind today as I read a book from 2002 or thereabouts. White writer. Native character who time travels from present back to 1500s. There, he's with his tribe, but in that period. He speaks. They understand him and wonder why he knows their language because they don't recognize him. He marvels about that a bit (that he is speaking that language). That's fine, but here's the odd thing. Interspersed here and there, in the English they speak to each other (which is supposed to be that language), are words, in italics that actually are of that language. Not sure I'm making sense!
You're totally making sense! They're trying to throw in "authentic" words to give it a flavor, and doing so in a way that is exoticizing and kind of creepy.
--Veronica
You're not going to believe this, Debbie. But I just found out, that book IS supposed to be based on a real event (although I agree, its depiction of it is really flawed). Yohl Ik'nal was the first recorded female Mayan ruler. She ruled from 583 to 604. And her name meant "Lady Heart of the Wind Place", but as you have correctly pointed out, she should be referred to as "Yohl Ik'nal", NOT by that English translation Osborne used (which, as you can see, was not made-up but really a result of (deliberate?) omission--just as bad, I think). Thank goodness for her being listed under Wikipedia's "On this day..." (although in a sadly subdued way).
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