Recently I have been talking (online) with people from places outside of North America. I was familiar with stereotypical images (in art and illustration) with Karl May's books, and those by Herge, some of the Babar books, and others. I asked folks to send me things they come across.
Today, I'm sharing an interior page from Paco le Reveur by Alex Cousseau and Olivier Latyk. It was published by Belin Education in Paris in 2017. Here's the cover:
And here's the interior page:
AICL's readers will see the problems right away. The authors do not specify a tribal nation for the main character. This means the information is a mish-mash of anything those who created the words and illustrations associate with "Indian." In this case we see renderings of tipis and totem poles in a place that suggests Monument Valley. I can't read French, so don't know what any of the words mean.
Cousseau has won awards for his work (not this one, as far as I can tell). I might make time to look, later. For sure, I would not recommend his book. If you happen to have books in French in your library and this is amongst them, I recommend replacing it with ones that don't misinform readers about Native peoples.
2 comments:
Rough translation: Paco is the most discreet Indian in the village. The other children play at war. They yell. They muscle their arms like their fathers. As strong as rocs, they invent battles. Their hearts are volcanoes filled with fire.
(Caveat: My French is the product of 13 years of school in Montreal, Quebec. It's possible that some of the words/nuances could have slightly different meanings in French (i.e from France) French. But that is the gist.
Thanks, Ellen!
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