tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post3413074491395608902..comments2024-03-27T14:08:51.191-05:00Comments on American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL): Not Recommended: HARRIET THE SPY by Louise FitzhughDebbie Reesehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14972409006633565859noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-23300741785532725542021-12-10T05:07:08.297-06:002021-12-10T05:07:08.297-06:00Lisa -- You said "a child's observation t...Lisa -- You said "a child's observation that especially in 1964, was innocent of prejudice." Unsaid is the child who makes that observation, the child who saw (or sees) it as "innocent." Is that a Native child? Debbie Reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14972409006633565859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-100897675230802072021-12-08T16:19:11.611-06:002021-12-08T16:19:11.611-06:00To deny a child the classic Harriet the Spy becaus...To deny a child the classic Harriet the Spy because of two off-the cuff comments that are completely irrelevant to the plot, characters or style of the book is throwing the baby out with the bath water. These examples are not even microaggressions. One is a common nursery rhyme and the other is a child’s observation that especially in 1964, was innocent of prejudice. That’s it. I hope a wise parent can see past these distractions and appreciate HTS for the wise and wonderful book that it is. Harriet has been an essential friend to generations of children, especially girls who appreciate such a brave and unique heroine. She is part of why I am a writer today.<br />Lisa Bailes<br />Parent and WriterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-67097655700277802992021-05-05T21:57:18.758-05:002021-05-05T21:57:18.758-05:00If I were editing the book, I'd wanna change &...If I were editing the book, I'd wanna change "Indian chief" to "police chief". ("Fire chief" doesn't quite fit the rhyme, because of the number of syllables.)<br />By the way, do you know if the film version perpetuates the racist stereotypes? (I haven't seen the film.)Sam Jonsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06037969317578064759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-70514517258061437242021-02-24T09:09:29.059-06:002021-02-24T09:09:29.059-06:00Hmm. I never thought that Harriet or the reader wa...Hmm. I never thought that Harriet or the reader was meant to laugh at Ole Golly's having a private life, rather that Harriet was baffled in the way children often are when they come to face the fact that their parents/caretakers have lives beyond taking care of them. (Although, I also loved the cook's past in the Resistance in the Madeline movie--it was one of my favorite parts, in part because the first Madeline book came out in 1939 and features a doctor named Dr. Cohn, and as an adult, I worry about what must have happened to him in subsequent years, so I enjoyed the acknowledgment.)<br /><br />That said, I completely agree that there are other books that can do what Harriet the Spy did, and that there's no reason to preserve/pass down books that mock Native people. <br /><br />--VeronicaUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18255579796886276754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-31543106217213434392020-12-18T11:54:03.513-06:002020-12-18T11:54:03.513-06:00Love the way you respond to the objection that the...Love the way you respond to the objection that these books,are still "important"!<br />I dont like the way Ole Golly is portrayed anyway. It is like,the cook in the movie Madeline. Because she is a servant we are meant to laugh along with the protagonist at the "absurd" thought that she has a,life outside her job. maecarmelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17458018705740015151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-43837914854400745392020-12-03T07:20:04.433-06:002020-12-03T07:20:04.433-06:00Ellen,
I was going down that rabbit hole of the ...Ellen, <br /><br />I was going down that rabbit hole of the various editions, who did what, US versus Europe, etc. but realized I was gonna be in that rabbit hole for a long while and wanted to get the post finished. <br /><br />I think an article on that rhyme would be fascinating! If you do one... let me know!Debbie Reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14972409006633565859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-83041798585219129142020-12-02T21:16:00.032-06:002020-12-02T21:16:00.032-06:00You know, reading this, I remembered my mother rea...You know, reading this, I remembered my mother reading poems to me out of A.A. Milne's "Now We Are Six." The rhyme you quoted, I thought, came from that book, from a poem titled "Cherry Stones". But when I looked for an online copy, I discovered that Milne had actually changed the line you're calling out. As you can see here: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.167556/page/n31/mode/2up (he also changed "beggar man" to "ploughboy".<br /><br />So now, I'm wondering whether Milne was writing with the awareness that his readers might be hailing from different walks of life, be they cultural, ethnic, or socio-economic. (I should also note that the online edition is the 16th Dell printing, but the book was originally published in 1927 by E.P. Dutton & Co. So, it's also possible that edits were made at some point in the publishing history, but if they were, they're not mentioned on the copyright page.)<br />Ellen Fleischerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09266071733436809256noreply@blogger.com