tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post3244592491311118939..comments2024-03-27T14:08:51.191-05:00Comments on American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL): Allie Jane Bruce's review of LAURA INGALLS IS RUINING MY LIFEDebbie Reesehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14972409006633565859noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-18404708023314717162018-12-24T19:34:30.092-06:002018-12-24T19:34:30.092-06:00Allie, you said:
"I’ve seen outer space expl...Allie, you said:<br /><br />"I’ve seen outer space exploration and aliens used as metaphors for colonialism and invasion before, in books like The Knife of Never Letting Go, Landscape With Invisible Hand, and The True Meaning of Smekday. I have mixed feelings about them. I appreciate the emphasis on interrogating invaders; and, I think it’s problematic to draw a parallel between aliens and Native humans."<br /><br />A question: where can I find good, unbiased reviews of <i>The Knife of Never Letting Go</i> and <i>Landscape With Invisible Hand</i>? I know the third of those books, <i>The True Meaning of Smekday</i>, is reviewed here, on this blog.<br /><br />And another thing: Have you heard of <i>Hello Summer, Goodbye</i> and its sequel <i>I Remember Pallahaxi</i> by Michael G. Cohen, which are from an alien's perspective and set on a planet with strange weather? Because I think that James Cameron's <i>Avatar</i> would have been a <b><i>LOT</i></b> better if Cameron had written it so that a great deal of the film was from Neytiri's perspective (and in a way that was as sympathetic as those two Cohen books), and that there were more exploration of that Na'vi neural braid thingy (e.g. since the Na'vi use those braids to control animals, Neytiri could have actually hacked into Jake Sully's brain to make him into an obedient spy or servant for her people, and furthermore, a disabled Na'vi horsewoman could use that neural braid to look through her horse's eyes or use the horse as a makeshift wheelchair). And if it had been that better, you'd probably whistle a different tune about parallels between aliens and Amerindians.Sam Jonsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06037969317578064759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-83924728612424705732018-02-11T21:51:38.757-06:002018-02-11T21:51:38.757-06:00I read and loved the Little House books (and Caddi...I read and loved the Little House books (and Caddie Woodlawn, and "biographies" of Narcissa Whitman and Sacagawea ") as a kid growing up in the 1970s. I was proud of my status as a fifth generation Oregonian, with one branch of the family having come to Oregon in wagon trains.<br /><br />I first re-read Ingalls about six years ago, and came across that blackface scene, and ground to a halt. WTF? I was reading with a friend's kid, and when I asked them, hey, do I keep going with this or what? they said they use it as a teachable moment. I thought--or you could just read a book that isn't racist. <br /><br />But it seriously took a few more years for me to realize that the pioneer ancestors I was so proud of were part of a genocidal land grab. The mom's romanticism was part of my childhood. The courage and tenacity, the self-reliance...but it's like giving Jefferson a pass for being a slave owner--who fathered children on an enslaved woman and then enslaved his children--just because he said such great things about liberty and justice. <br /><br />What I'd like to see is a generation growing up that doesn't have to UN-learn this racist BS. Wendyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06296827820807569574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-64165594138832833622018-02-01T10:40:25.174-06:002018-02-01T10:40:25.174-06:00This book should have been about Rose. This book should have been about Rose. Lesliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04831638970740178832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-75869960522238282282018-01-22T14:52:41.155-06:002018-01-22T14:52:41.155-06:00Thank you, Ava, and of course you're absolutel...Thank you, Ava, and of course you're absolutely right that this kind of racism isn't new. We live in a world in which Cliven Bundy boldly claims "I'm not racist", which demonstrates how thoroughly we've had "RACISM IS BAD" hammered into our heads while while neglecting any real education on what racism actually *is*.<br /><br />White people, we must do better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-77135887439769026422018-01-22T08:29:51.017-06:002018-01-22T08:29:51.017-06:00I've got a copy of it, Ava, and am making note...I've got a copy of it, Ava, and am making notes on it. <br /><br />Friends who said that to you had/have a superficial understanding of racism. Superficial. That is what this book feels like to me. That the author read a bit here and there--including my blog, I am guessing--and thought "ok, I can do this" -- but as Allie's review demonstrates, this is a FAIL. <br /><br />Debbie Reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14972409006633565859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-71703500574768840252018-01-21T12:15:44.721-06:002018-01-21T12:15:44.721-06:00I'm so angry at this book for so many reasons....I'm so angry at this book for so many reasons.<br /><br />And then around "Hmong, which is Vietnamese, but not exactly" I wanted to punch through a wall. If I weren't so ill I probably would have. That little dialogue interchange was utterly dehumanizing. And the thing is, it teaches white children that this is a perfectly ok way to talk about us. <br /><br />My rage is incandescent. But I'm Vietnamese, so I imagine a Hmong reader would be somewhere beyond that on the anger scale.<br /><br />But yeah, this is a form of super entrenched racism. I was already exposed to some of it while I was in college, so it's not very surprising. <br /><br />I don't even know anymore. This is bringing back memories of white folks who claimed to be my friends saying racism is of course horrible, and they would never do it, and then calling me their "adorable little chore Eskimo" when I was in no position to argue back. And books like these taught them that this was a perfectly OK way to treat people like me, and taught me that such treatment was my place. This was over a decade ago.<br /><br />I don't even know if this is evolution of racism so much as racism always being this way, and now more folks are just peeling back the skin.Ava Jarvishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01777180628319261015noreply@blogger.com