tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post4530068669282777837..comments2024-03-27T14:08:51.191-05:00Comments on American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL): GONE WITH THE WIND is no longer in DiCamillo's BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIEDebbie Reesehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14972409006633565859noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-91125895788787252582022-11-17T11:12:34.827-06:002022-11-17T11:12:34.827-06:00As a teacher (and as a human), I was horrified at ...As a teacher (and as a human), I was horrified at the idea of a little Southern white girl reading "Gone with the Wind" to an elderly African-American woman to the extent that I searched the internet, wondering if anyone else shared my dismay. I was so glad to see that newer editions will not refer to the book, which makes every encounter between Opal and Gloria cringeworthy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-69335850266246488272021-04-06T14:13:19.879-05:002021-04-06T14:13:19.879-05:00It is also interesting that DiCamillo chooses Davi...It is also interesting that DiCamillo chooses David Copperfield, as that is the book that Melanie reads to "the ladies" in GWTW when their husbands (as Klansmen) go to avenge Scarlett's attack.erinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07094388132119785332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-60100316318009683822021-03-22T16:14:34.965-05:002021-03-22T16:14:34.965-05:00I'm glad she changed it. As a white person, it...I'm glad she changed it. As a white person, it's difficult for me to imagine how I'd feel if my child read the original and I saw GWTW being praised as a great book. Classics are only classics because some people (mostly white men) decided they were special. There is nothing magical about them, and no reason they can't be edited.wife2abadgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01633409352031994057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-45411127192003209992021-03-20T14:21:20.418-05:002021-03-20T14:21:20.418-05:00Jessica Groen, teacher/parent
My feeling is that ...Jessica Groen, teacher/parent<br /><br />My feeling is that the original published text of children's books should stay as is, with future editions including annotations or afterwords by scholars who could have educated the publisher and author (at time of original publication) about the infused bias or limited investment of self-critique or dominant cultural critique that the white author had during her own cultural formation or years of highest popularity. <br /><br />Our children's school system read an updated and "cleansed" version of Cricket in Times Square 2 years ago and I knew something was off, since I had read the original version so many times in the 80s during my own childhood. There was no commentary in the new edition, or by the school sponsors, of the changes from original edition and its racist portrayals of several characters. <br /><br />Since so many casual readers do not pay attention to editions, reasons for new editions, and changes, editors should clearly mark, especially on award-amplified books, what they changed, why, and acknowledge how the author's biases have a damaging impact in such a way as reduce the integrity of the entire work. <br /><br />Otherwise we are pushing for "classics" to perpetually stay classics, as long as they get lightly "cleaned up" from overt passages of racism here and there. Leaving the offensive parts in old books helps teach readers and teachers that we can't forget that throughout the genre's history, the process of determining classics is influenced by biases in the writing, platforming, publishing, awarding and recommendation processes that take place throughout the children's book market. J Groenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07453464163960689138noreply@blogger.com