Another New Cover for Frank Asch's POPCORN

Back on July 23, 2015, I wrote about Frank Asch's picture book, Popcorn. It came out in 1979 and is about Sam (a bear) who is having a Halloween party. 

It came out again in 2015 with marketing info that said "This refreshed edition of a beloved classic features the original text and art with an updated cover." For the 2023 edition, the promo line tells us that the book has been "...refreshed with new art..." 

Here's the three covers:

The refreshing that was done to the original cover was to remove the jack-o-lantern border and replace it with a yellow one. The refreshed new art for the 2023 version (due out in the summer) replaces the bear's costume. He's no longer dressed like an Indian. In the new edition he'll be a pirate. 

In the original, each guest brings popcorn that reflects their costume:

 

We know--based on the cover--that the interior pages where Sam is shown wearing a headband, feather, and loincloth will be changed, but I wonder about the other costumes. Will the one holding "Walrus Blubber Popcorn" be "refreshed", too? We'll see! 

POPCORN by Frank Asch

Eds. Note on July 31, 2017: This racist book is now available as a board book for the youngest readers. Racism sells. 

Eds. Note on March 11, 2023: There is a new edition coming out in summer of 2023 that replaces the Indian costume with a pirate one. Some info here: https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2023/03/another-new-cover-for-frank-aschs.html 

Dear Editors at Aladdin/Simon & Schuster,

A reader of AICL wrote to ask me about Frank Asch's Popcorn. It is an older book (pub year 1979, from Parents Magazine Press) that I haven't written about before. As a former elementary school teacher, I do remember one of the books about Sam (the bear). Not this one, though. Perhaps I saw it and decided not to use it. With good reason. In it, Sam (the bear) is having a Halloween party. Here he is in his costume:

Source: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_RDXFS33SaM/maxresdefault.jpg

Here's the old cover:

Source: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5474/10652326993_4d45e9c8a1_b.jpg

And, here's the new one, published in 2015 by Aladdin/Simon and Schuster. The synopsis at Amazon tells us "This refreshed edition of a beloved classic features the original text and art with an updated cover." 

It must have made a fair bit of money for you, Aladdin, to be giving it to us again in 2015, with this "updated" cover---but it has racist material! Do you not follow any of the national conversations around stereotyping of Native people? Or, about mascots?

Giving children this book, in 2015, suggests that either you're ignorant of those conversations and the research studies about the harm of such imagery, or, you know about it and don't care.

It is definitely a Book to Avoid. And, it is definitely another book for AICL's "Foul Among the Good" page.

Any chance you can 'stop the presses' so to speak? Or maybe recall what you've already sent out?

Sincerely,
Debbie Reese
American Indians in Children's Literature