tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post3046792295032488632..comments2024-03-27T14:08:51.191-05:00Comments on American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL): Not Recommended: DREAMLAND BURNING by Jennifer LathamDebbie Reesehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14972409006633565859noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-85003607396758404202017-08-02T09:52:54.018-05:002017-08-02T09:52:54.018-05:00I'm Black and wrote the SLJ review. I star rev...I'm Black and wrote the SLJ review. I star reviewed this book because it actually acknowledges what happened to African Americans & American Indians. Every book is not perfect, but I believe this is a great book for a teacher to use as a fiction/non-fiction compare and contrast. For teachers to have students look at these two historical events and research more of what happened or that a teenager actually learned that these events happened. <br />I get your concerns, but it's YA realistic/historical fiction. If it was non-fiction accounts I would be more critical, otherwise, it's fiction.<br />Tiffeni Fontnonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-51617465064248747772017-07-10T15:21:43.893-05:002017-07-10T15:21:43.893-05:00Anonymous, relax. The reason I didn't bother t...Anonymous, relax. The reason I didn't bother to look it up was because it was irrelevant to my point. You'll note I discussed a similar discomfort with a novella of mine that ends with the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, an atrocity I know quite a bit about. The issue is with fictionalizing and thus simplifying real people's emotions and thoughts in the service of a narrative. I happen to enjoy historical fiction, but there's an ethical tension inherent in it that I think is worth bearing in mind. In this particular case, I wonder why it's the emotions and experiences of the racist white person the story is foaluzed around. Is really the person we need to create sympathy for?<br /><br />--Veronica Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18255579796886276754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-10951766070302303972017-07-09T17:10:02.999-05:002017-07-09T17:10:02.999-05:00@Veronica--No, she did NOT create the precipitatin...@Veronica--No, she did NOT create the precipitating incident or the violence, as you would know if you had bothered to Google "Tulsa race riot." This tragedy is an important part of Oklahoma history and also American history, and the fact that you know nothing about it just proves more writers should address it.<br />@Debbie--I think you're reaching. I think the author made Will half Osage because she probably felt that she would be remiss in writing about Oklahoma at that time without mentioning the Cherokee or Osage--honestly, even if you write about modern-day Oklahoma, you're missing a big part of the story if you leave out the Nations who were there and still have headquarters there. I think she just wanted to tell readers about the Osage women who were murdered for their money, and that was how she worked it in. Maybe she took on too many topics for one book, but I am glad she tried since the Nations are a huge part of our history and heritage in Oklahoma, and one that gets capitalized on as a tourist trap too often by the state instead of as a legitimate history in which the government and white people were often oppressors or murderers. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-9348285133979917962017-03-29T16:59:51.619-05:002017-03-29T16:59:51.619-05:00I just finished the book yesterday and have been t...I just finished the book yesterday and have been trying to put my finger on what it was that left me unsatisfied. Went back and re-read the reviews; I remembered they were positive, but I forgot how many were stars.<br /><br />Still thinking on this, and I don't always feel so confident in the comments section, so will just say thank you. And thank you, Beverly Slapin for the book recommendation. I knew NOTHING about the Osage Reign of Terror or the oil head rights before reading this book, and I want to learn more.<br /><br />-MayaMayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02053083271882735101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-10587485609655138472017-03-28T09:01:00.729-05:002017-03-28T09:01:00.729-05:00I've been thinking about this book ever since ...I've been thinking about this book ever since I read this review, and I find I'm uncomfortable with the writer creating(?) the precipitating incident and violence of these racist riots. Maybe she didn't? Maybe this is in the historical record? I don't know, but these were real riots that killed and hurt real people, and simplifying that into a fiction (as all fiction is simpler than reality) bothers me. I wrestled with the same issue when I wrote "Burning Girls," which ends with the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Was I erasing the real pain and suffering of one of the dead by inserting my character? Ultimately I decided to do it--I believe there are five women killed in that fire who were never identified, whose stories we don't know and may never know, who have already been erased by that horror--so I decided somehow that made it less erasing? I'm still uncomfortable with my decision, to a degree, and I'm uncomfortable with it here, too.<br /><br />--VeronicaUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18255579796886276754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-92138601118451948512017-03-13T23:49:02.792-05:002017-03-13T23:49:02.792-05:00Thank you for these excellent reviews, Debbie and ...Thank you for these excellent reviews, Debbie and Pam. Wow! (By "wow!" I mean, "Why am I not surprised to see yet another book written by a white author who uses Black and Native characters of mixed parentage or ancestry in a coming-of-age story that takes place in the past and today, using historical acts of genocide--here, the Tulsa Race Riot and the Osage Reign of Terror--as mere backdrops?") <br /><br />I encourage people to read THE DEATHS OF SYBIL BOLTON, in which journalist Denny McAuliffe, Jr., sets out to investigate his family's secret of his grandmother's death, including who killed her. It's a painful story--not a children's book--but it's for real and might give other white writers who think of engaging in junk such as DREAMLAND BURNING pause for thought--or maybe not.Beverly Slapinnoreply@blogger.com