AICL Cringes: ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS is the all-time best selling Newbery Medal winning book.

Editor's Note: On 2/24/2014, I inserted "AICL Cringes" to the initial title of this post, to clarify how I feel about ISLAND being the all-time best selling Newbery Medal book. I also added a link to a presentation I developed on the book, using Prezi. 

Over at SLJ's 100 Scope Notes, Travis Jonker posted a infographic about books that have won the Newbery Medal. I like infographics. They are way cool, and I want to learn how to make them.

Here's a blown-up chunk of the infographic:

Island of the Blue Dolphins is making a lot of money for its publisher, but should any teacher be using it as though it is a reliable story about anyone who is in the book? The Aleuts? The people of San Nicolas?  Learning, as Jonker reports, that it is the all-time bestselling Newbery Medal winning book helps me understand why its publisher wants it listed on CBC Diversity's Bookshelf of "diverse" books. Having a "diversity" stamp on it gives it some credibility it does not deserve.

Lets take a look at some of the "knowledge" the book imparts. Check out this video, titled "Massacre on the Island of the Blue Dolphins" in which one student poses as a reporter who is "reporting live from San Nicolas Island." She is interviewing Kimki, who she says may be the next leader of the Ghalas-at people.

The massacre the reporter is talking about is one in which the Aleut people kill the Ghalas-at people.  One reason the book is a best seller is that it fits with what most people "know" about Indigenous people as warring savages who killed each other as a matter of course, but that's not the case.

There's always more to the story.

More context is vital to understand any warfare or killing. In this case, the Aleut men who worked on the Russian ships were enslaved and if they didn't do as they were told, their women and children would be killed. Whether or not O'Dell knew that when he wrote his book doesn't matter. What does matter is what kids "learn" by reading it today.

In reading Island of the Blue Dolphins, kids "learn" that Aleuts killed all these Ghalas-at people.

That alone is enough reason for me to say that IF it is going to be taught, it should be taught in a critical framework wherein children question what O'Dell wrote.

My source for the info about enslaved Aleuts is Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia, published in 1996 by Garland Publishing.

Update on 2/24/2014: 

Please see the Prezi presentation I made of this book: "An Island of Well-Intentioned Ignorance"

A Peek at American Indians in Children's Fiction Published from 1955-1965

Nancy Larrick's article, The All White World of Children's Book, was published in 1965. I wondered what I might find if I did a search in the Children's Literature Comprehensive Database, using "Indian" as the search term and limiting the search for fiction published from 1955 to 1965. What, I wondered, were her options for books about American Indians? She was, for those who don't know, looking particularly at depictions of African Americans and was very troubled by what she found. Hence the title of her article "all white."

I ran the search and got 337 titles. I am pasting the results below. As you scroll through the list, you'll see duplicates and you'll see books that obviously don't belong on the list (for example, The Elephant that Galumphed).  

Some observations:

There aren't any authors on the list that I recognize as being Native.

I see that James Fenimore Cooper is on it several times. I'm thinking we can likely credit him with being responsible for a wide range of stereotyping. Good Indians, bad ones, ones who disappear into the mists of time...

Looks like there are several stories of whites who befriend Indians, and, stories of whites who are captured by Indians...

And how 'bout that Bread and Butter Indian by Anne Colver? Interesting title, don't you agree? Wondering what that one is about, I did a quick look-see at Google Books, learned that the illustrations are by Garth Williams! Here's the cover:

And here's the summary of the book:

A little girl named Barbara befriends a hungry Indian, offering him the bread and butter. Later she is kidnaped by a strange Indian. The story describes how the "bread-and-butter" Indian comes to her rescue.

What do you think? Is that Indian on the cover the hungry one? Or the strange one!

Some books on the list make me shudder because they are over-the-top in how they present Native characters (borrowing Rudine Sims Bishop's words about early books about African Americans) as objects of ridicule. Let's take a look at a few of them.

Check out Syd Hoff's Little Chief, the lonely Indian boy with an upside-down feather who finds friends among a wagon load of white kids:

Little Chief was/is an early reader. I don't think its still being published. Thank goodness for that, but believe it or not, Benchley's Red Fox and his Canoe, illustrated by Arnold Lobel, is still being marketed and used as an early reader. Here's an illustration from Red Fox and his Canoe:

Another one still in publication is Good Hunting, Little Indian by Peggy Parrish. But wait! The title is now Good Hunting, Blue Sky! I'll have to see if I can find the older copy so I can compare text and illustrations. For now, here's the covers. The original publication was in 1962, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. The one with a new title has new illustrations, by James Watts.

Here's a page from inside Good Hunting, Blue Sky:

I'll wrap this up for now and do more analytical work with the list. One thing I'll probably do for a more closely aligned comparison, is limit the search to the specific years of Larrick's study. She looked at books published in 1962, 1963, and 1964.

Before I close, though, I'm going to suggest that no child in your classroom or library gains anything useful by reading Little Chief or Good Hunting, Blue Sky.  Please consider setting them aside.

Sources cited:

Bishop, Rudine Sims. (2012). "Reflections on the Development of African American Children's Literature," Journal of Children's Literature, 38(2), pp. 5-13.

Larrick, Nancy. "The All White World of Children's Books," Saturday Review, September 11, 1965, pp. 63-65+

________________________________________________

CLCD Search

Use your browser's save and print functions to save or print this report.
Use the Back button to return to your search results.Search was for: The word Indian (All Fields).
Singular and plural forms were searched.
Search restricted to books published between 1955 and 1965.
Only works of fiction were retrieved.

AUTHOR	TITLE	YEAR	PUBLISHER	ISBN	ANNOTATIONS
Harrington, M. R.	The Indians of New Jersey; Dickon among the Lenapes,	1963	Rutgers University Press		First ed. published in 1938 under title: Dickon among the Lenape Indians.;
Cooper, James Fenimore	The deerslayer : or, The first war-path	1962	Collier Books
Stoutenburg, Adrien.	The mud ponies : based on a Pawnee Indian myth	1963	Coward-McCann
Kendall, Lace.	The mud ponies : based on a pawnee Indian myth	1963	Coward-McCann
Ward, Nanda Weedon.	The elephant that ga-lumphed,	1959	Ariel Books.		After a series of misadventures a noisy baby Indian elephant learns to walk quietly. Grades 1-3.;
Adams, Audrey	Karankawa boy.	1965	Naylor Co.
Adams, Audrey.	Karankawa boy.	1965	Naylor
Allen, T. D.	Tall as great standing rock.	1963	Westminster Press
Allen, Terry.	Tall as great standing rock	1963	Westminster
Cooper, James Fenimore	The last of the Mohicans : a narrative of 1757	1956	Scribner		While guiding a small party of English settlers to the protection of a fort during the French and Indian War, Hawkeye, a frontier scout, and his two Indian friends, the remaining braves of the Mohican tribe, struggle against the evils of Uncas who desires a white maiden for his wife.;
Cooper, James Fenimore.	The deerslayer, or, The first warpath	1963	New American Library
Cooper, James Fenimore	The last of the Mohicans	1957	Washington Square Press
Annixter, Jane.	Buffalo chief	1958	Holiday
Annixter, Jane.	Buffalo chief	1958	Holiday
Annixter, Jane.	Buffalo chief	1958	Holiday
Annixter, Jane.	Buffalo chief	1958	Holiday
Annixter, Jane.	Buffalo chief	1963	E. M. Hale
Annixter, Jane.	Windigo	1963	Holiday House
Armer, Laura (Adams)	Waterless mountain	1963	D. McKay Co.
Armer, Laura Adams.	Waterless mountain	1959	David McKay
Armer, Laura Adams.	Waterless mountain	1959	McKay
Arnold, Elliott.	White Falcon	1958	Knopf
Arntson, Herbert E.	Two guns in old Oregon	1964	Watts, F.
Whipple, Mary Anne	The first Californians	1962	Shinozaki Shorin		Title on cover: The first Californian.;
Overholser, Wayne D.	The Meeker Massacre,	1964	Cowles	0402141016 ; 9780402141013	Two boys, one Indian and one white, become involved in the growing conflict between an inflexible Indian agent and a Ute tribe.;
Baker, Betty.	Killer-of-death	1963	Harper & Row
Baker, Betty.	Killer-of-Death.	1963	Harper & Row
Baker, Betty.	Little Runner of the longhouse	1962	Harper & Row	0005091829 ; 9780005091821
Baker, Betty.	Little Runner of the longhouse.	1962	Harper	0060203412 (lib. bdg.) ; 9780060203412	A young Indian boy, too young to join the older boys in part of the New Year celebration, celebrates his own way with his family.; Reading Counts-Scholastic; Interest Level K-2; Reading Level 2; Title Point Value 2; Lexile Measure 430; 0430; 00 01 02; 020; 002;
Baker, Betty.	Little Runner of the longhouse.	1962	Harper
Baker, Betty	Walk the world's rim.	1965	Harper & Row	0060203811 (lib. bdg.) ; 9780060203818	Bibliog; As they journey to Mexico, Chakoh, a young Indian boy, and Esteban, a Spanish Negro slave, become friends and teach each other their ways;
Baker, Betty.	Walk the world's rim	1965	Harper & Row	0064400263 ; 9780064400268	Bibliography: p. [169];
Balch, Glenn	Little Hawk and the free horses.	1957	Crowell
Balch, Glenn	Spotted horse.	1961	Crowell
Baldwin, Clara.	Little Tuck.	1959	Doubleday		An undersized frontier lad, anxious to grow up and share the chores and fun of his big brothers, catches his own turkey, helps shear sheep, finds honey, befriends an Indian, and kills a bobcat.;
Baldwin, Clara.	Little Tuck.	1959	Doubleday		An undersized frontier lad, anxious to grow up and share the chores and fun of his big brothers, catches his own turkey, helps shear sheep, finds honey, befriends an Indian, and kills a bobcat.;
Ball, Zachary	Joe Panther	1961	E. M. Hale		In an endeavor to earn money for school, an industrious Seminole becomes a deck hand on a tourist boat and accidently is involved in a smuggling ring.;
Bannon, Laura.	Hop-High, the goat.	1960	Bobbs-Merrill		A Navajo Indian family comes back from town with a new stove and a naughty, spoiled goat that causes many troubles before he becomes useful as leader of the flock of sheep.;
Bannon, Laura.	Hop-High, the goat.	1960	Bobbs-Merrill		A Navajo Indian family comes back from town with a new stove and a naughty, spoiled goat that causes many troubles before he becomes useful as leader of the flock of sheep.;
Bealer, Alex W.	Picture-skin story	1957	Holiday
Beatty, Patricia	Indian canoe-maker	1960	Caxton Printers
Beckhard, Arthur J.	Black Hawk.	1957	J. Messner		Includes bibliography.; A biography of Black Hawk, the Sauk Indian who became chief of his tribe in 1788 and whose refusal to yield his tribal lands to the white man resulted in the Black Hawk War.;
Beckhard, Arthur J.	Black Hawk.	1957	J. Messner		Includes bibliography.; A biography of Black Hawk, the Sauk Indian who became chief of his tribe in 1788 and whose refusal to yield his tribal lands to the white man resulted in the Black Hawk War.;
Beebe, B. F.	Coyote, come home.	1963	D. McKay Co.		A coyote, orphaned as a pup, is rescued and befriended by an old Apache seeking companionship, and provides the aged Indian with loyalty and affection which protects them both.;
Beebe, Burdetta Faye.	Chestnut cub	1963	McKay
Benchley, Nathaniel.	Red fox and his canoe / (paper)	1964	Harper & Row	0064440753 ; 9780064440752	A young Indian boy receives a larger canoe along with some unforseen complications.; Accelerated Reader; Interest Level Lower Grade; Book Level 2.2; Accelerated Reader Points 0.5; Accelerated Vocabulary, Recorded Voice Quizzes; 00 01 02 03; 022; 000; Lexile, MetaMetrics, Inc.; Lexile Measure 260; 0260; Reading Counts-Scholastic; Interest Level K-2; Reading Level 3; Title Point Value 2; Lexile Measure 260; 0260; 00 01 02; 030; 002;
Benchley, Nathaniel.	Red fox and his canoe	1964	Harper & Row	0060204761 ; 9780060204761	A young Indian boy receives a larger canoe along with some unforeseen complications.;
Benchley, Nathaniel	Red fox and his canoe.	1964	Harper & Row		A young Indian boy receives a larger canoe along with some unforseen complications.;
Benchley, Nathaniel	Red fox and his canoe.	1964	Harper & Row		A young Indian boy receives a larger canoe along with some unforseen complications.;
Benchley, Nathaniel	Red fox and his canoe	1964	Scholastic Book Services		A young Indian boy receives a larger canoe along with some unforseen complications.;
Berry, Erick.	Valiant captive ...	1962	Chilton Co.
Berry, Erick	Valiant captive; a story of Margaret Eames, captured in 1676 by the Indians from the New Settlement, which later became Framingham, Massachusetts	1963	Chilton
Booker, Jim.	Trail to Oklahoma	1959	Broadman Press
Borland, Hal Glen	When the legends die. (paper)	1963	Lippincott	0553113380 ; 9780553113389
Borland, Hal Glen.	When the legends die	1963	Lippincott	039700303X: ; 9780397003037
Borland, Hal, Glen	When the legends die	1963	Lippincott	0553257382 (pbk.) ; 0881030570 (Econo-clad) ; 9780553257380 ; 9780881030570	Cover: A Bantam starfire book.; Accelerated Reader; Interest Level Upper Grade; Book Level 5.2; Accelerated Reader Points 13; Accelerated Vocabulary, Literacy Skills; 09 10 11 12; 052; 013; Lexile, MetaMetrics, Inc.; Lexile Measure 850; 0850; Reading Counts-Scholastic; Interest Level 6-8; Reading Level 6; Title Point Value 20; Lexile Measure 850; 0850; 06 07 08; 060; 020;
Borland, Hal	When the legends die	1963	Bantam Books
Borland, Hal	When the legends die.	1963	Lippincott
Borland, Hal	When the legends die.	1963	Lippincott		An orphaned Ute Indian boy wins stardom on the rodeo circuit, but becomes disillusioned by the new ways and searches for his identity in the old ways of his ancestors.;
Borland, Hal	When the legends die	1964	Bantam Books	0553257382 (pbk.) ; 0553226428 (pbk.) ; 9780553257380 ; 9780553226423	"A Bantam Starfire book."; An orphaned Ute Indian boy wins stardom on the rodeo circuit, but becomes disillusioned by the new ways and searches for his identity in the old ways of his ancestors.; Accelerated Reader; Interest Level Upper Grade; Book Level 5.2; Accelerated Reader Points 13; Accelerated Vocabulary, Literacy Skills; 09 10 11 12; 052; 013; Lexile, MetaMetrics, Inc.; Lexile Measure 850; 0850; Reading Counts-Scholastic; Interest Level 6-8; Reading Level 6; Title Point Value 20; Lexile Measure 850; 0850; 06 07 08; 060; 020;
Borland, Hal	When the legends die	1964	Bantam Books	0812416945 (Cover Craft) ; 0553257382 (pbk.) ; 0881030570 (Econo-clad) ; 0881030570 (Econoclad) ; 9780812416947 ; 9780553257380 ; 9780881030570 ; 9780881030570	Cover: A Bantam starfire book.; Accelerated Reader; Interest Level Upper Grade; Book Level 5.2; Accelerated Reader Points 13; Accelerated Vocabulary, Literacy Skills; 09 10 11 12; 052; 013; Lexile, MetaMetrics, Inc.; Lexile Measure 850; 0850; Reading Counts-Scholastic; Interest Level 6-8; Reading Level 6; Title Point Value 20; Lexile Measure 850; 0850; 06 07 08; 060; 020;
Borland, Hal	When the legends die	1965	Bantam Books		An orphaned Ute Indian boy wins stardom on the rodeo circuit, but becomes disillusioned by the new ways and searches for his identity in the old ways of his ancestors.;
Bowers, Gwendolyn.	Journey for Jemima.	1960	Walck, H.Z.
Breedlove, Caroline H.	Billy Black Lamb	1958	U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs		"Developed in the Workshop in Navajo Education, Arizona State College, Flagstaff, Arizona, May 26-June 6, 1958.";
Brick, John.	Captive of the Senecas.	1964	Duell
Brick, John.	Captives of the Senecas.	1964	Duell, Sloan and Pearce
Brick, John.	Captives of the Senecas.	1964	Duell
Brick, John.	Eagle of Niagara; the story of David Harper and his Indian captivity.	1955	Doubleday
Brick, John.	Tomahawk trail.	1962	Duell
Buff, Mary (Marsh)	Dancing Cloud : the Navajo boy	1957	Viking
Buff, Mary (Marsh)	Dancing Cloud, the Navajo boy.	1957	Viking Press
Buff, Mary	Dancing Cloud, the Navajo boy.	1957	Viking Press
Buff, Mary.	Hah-Nee of the Cliff Dwellers [by] Mary and Conrad Buff.	1956	Houghton Mifflin
Bulla, Clyde Robert.	Indian Hill	1963	Crowell
Bulla, Clyde Robert.	John Billington, friend of Squanto.	1956	Crowell		A young Pilgrim boy is always causing trouble for Plymouth Colony until one day his mischief results in more friendly relations with the Indians.;
Bulla, Clyde Robert.	John Billington, friend of Squanto.	1956	Crowell		A young Pilgrim boy is always causing trouble for Plymouth Colony until one day his mischief results in more friendly relations with the Indians.;
Bulla, Clyde Robert.	John Billington, friend of Squanto	1956	Crowell		A young Pilgrim boy is always causing trouble for Plymouth Colony until one day his mischief results in more friendly relations with the Indians.;
Butterfield, Marguerite Antoinette	Little Wind	1963	Lyons & Carnahan
Butterfield, Marguerite Antoinette	Morning Star,	1963	Lyons & Carnahan
Carroll, Ruth	Tough Enough's Indians,	1960	H. Z. Walck		While Pa is off fighting a forest fire, Beanie and his brothers and sisters go off to hunt fire-wood, find refuge from the fire under a waterfall, and seek help from a Cherokee Indian family.;
Carroll, Ruth	Tough Enough's Indians,	1960	H. Z. Walck		While Pa is off fighting a forest fire, Beanie and his brothers and sisters go off to hunt fire-wood, find refuge from the fire under a waterfall, and seek help from a Cherokee Indian family.;
Carse, Robert	Friends of the wolf; a novel.	1961	Putnam
Chandler, Edna Walker.	Charley Brave.	1962	A. Whitman
Chandler, Edna Walker.	Cowboy Sam and the Indians	1962	Beckley-Cardy
Chandler, Edna Walker.	Cowboy Sam and the Indians	1962	Benefic Press
Chandler, Edna Walker.	Cowboy Sam and the Indians	1962	Benefic Press
Christensen, Gardell Dano.	Buffalo Horse	1961	Nelson
Christensen, Gardell Dano.	Buffalo kill	1959	Nelson
Christie, Caroline.	Silver Heels : a story of Blackfeet Indians at Glacier National Park	1958	Winston
Clark, Ann (Nolan).	Little Indian basket maker	1957	Melmont Pubs.
Clark, Ann Nolan	Little Indian pottery	1955	Melmont
Clark, Ann Nolan.	Medicine man's daughter	1963	Farrar, Straus
Clark, Electa.	Osceola, young Seminole Indian.	1965	Bobbs-Merrill		Bibliography: p. 198.;
Clymer, Eleanor	Chipmunk in the forest	1965	Atheneum Pubs.
Coatsworth, Elizabeth,	Indian encounters : an anthology of stories and poem/	1960	Macmillan,
Coatsworth, Elizabeth.	Indian encounters : an anthology of stories and poems	1960	Macmillan
Colver, Anne.	Bread-and-butter Indian	1964	Holt
Conrader, Constance.	Blue wampum.	1958	Duell, Sloan and Pearce
Cooper, James Feinmore.	The last of the Mohicans	1964	Parents' Magazine
Culp, John H.	The bright feathers.	1965	Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Nevin, Evelyn C.	The river spirit and the mountain demons	1965	Van Nostrand
Davis, Russell G.	Chief Joseph, war chief of the Nez Percâe	1962	McGraw-Hill
De Leeuw, Cateua	Fear in the forest	1960	T. Nelson		A young orphan boy, whose father was killed by marauding Indians, manages to overcome his morbid fear of the forest when he joins a pack-horse train which travels through the dense forests of Ohio. ;
Dick, Trella Lamson.	Bridger's boy	1965	Follett
Dolch, Edward W.	Once there was a dog	1962	DLM Teaching Resources		Short tales about dogs from the folklore of Poland, Africa, Korea, Yucatan, China, and the American Indian.;
Dolch, Edward W.	Once there was a dog,	1962	Garrard Pub. Co.		Short tales about dogs from the folklore of Poland, Africa, Korea, Yucatan, China, and the American Indian.;
Dolch, Edward W.	Stories from Alaska	1961	DLM Teaching Resources		Folk tales representative of the northernmost state of the United States, from its two native peoples, the Indians and the Eskimos.;
Downey, Fairfax Davis	General Crook: Indian fighter.	1957	Westminster Press
DuBois, Theodora.	Tiger burning bright.	1964	Ariel Bks.
Dwight, Allan.	Guns at Quebec.	1962	Macmillan
Simms, William Gilmore	The Yemassee; a romance of Carolina.	1964	Twayne Publishers
Edmonds, Walter Dumaux.	Wilderness clearing	1963	Dodd		In a wilderness clearing in Western New York State when Indian attack threatened and the British attack was expected, sixteen year old Dick Mount proved to Maggie Gordon that he could meet peril.;
Emmons, Della Gould.	Leschi of the Nisquallies.	1965	T. S. Denison
Wood, Kerry	The great chief, Maskepetoon : warrior of the Crees	1959	Canadiana Co. Ltd.
Evans, Katherine	One good deed deserves another.	1964	A. Whitman		A story of a robber who plans to repay a good deed with evil, but who is tricked by a small boy, based on a theme that is common in animal tales told by Indians of the Southwest and Mexico.;
Evans, Katherine	One good deed deserves another.	1964	A. Whitman		A story of a robber who plans to repay a good deed with evil, but who is tricked by a small boy, based on a theme that is common in animal tales told by Indians of the Southwest and Mexico.;
Evans, Katherine	One good deed deserves another.	1964	A. Whitman		A story of a robber who plans to repay a good deed with evil, but who is tricked by a small boy, based on a theme that is common in animal tales told by Indians of the Southwest and Mexico.;
Fall, Thomas	Edge of manhood	1964	Dial Press
Fall, Thomas.	Edge of manhood	1964	Dial Press
Fernald, Helen Clark.	The shadow of the Crooked Tree.	1965	McKay
Fiedler, Arkady	Orinoko.	1961	Iskry
Firethunder, Billy.	Mother Meadowlark and Brother Snake : an Indian legend	1963	Holt
Fisher, Clay.	Valley of the Bear : a novel of the North Plains Sioux	1964	Houghton
Foltz, Mary Jane.	Awani	1964	Morrow
Franklin, George Cory.	Indian uprising	1962	Houghton
Franklin, George Cory.	Indian uprising	1962	Houghton
Franklin, George Cory	Pioneer horse	1960	Houghton
Franklin, George Cory	Pioneer horse	1960	Houghton
Friskey, Margaret Richards	Indian Two Feet and his horse	1959	Children's		LOCATED IN PICTURE BOOK SECTION;
Friskey, Margaret	Indian Two Feet and his horse	1959	Childrens Press	0516035010 ; 0590424297 (Scholastic : pbk.) ; 9780516035017 ; 9780590424295
Furman, A. L.	Young readers nature stories.	1959	Lantern Press		Nine short stories about animals, like coyotes and raccoons, or men in encounters with them, as an Indian boy in a buffalo hunt, a ranch boy seeking to separate the ranch's horses from a band of wild horses, or a boy who cared for an injured sea gull.;
Gage, Wilson.	Secret of the Indian mound	1958	World Pub.
Garst, Shannon	James Bowie and his famous knife.	1955	J. Messner		A biography of a famous Indian fighter and reputed inventor of the defensive Bowie knife, from his childhood on the Louisiana bayou to his death defending the Alamo.;
Garst, Shannon	John Jewitt's adventure.	1955	Houghton Mifflin		Based on the journal of John Jewitt, published in 1807.;
Garst, Shannon	John Jewitt's adventure.	1955	Houghton Mifflin		Based on the journal of John Jewitt, published in 1807.;
Garst, Shannon	Red eagle	1959	Hasting House
Garst, Shannon.	Red Eagle	1959	Hastings House
Gendron, Val.	Behind the Zuni masks	1958	Longmans
George, Jean Craighead.	La tierra que habla / (paper)	1959	Ediciones, Alfaguara	084410728X ; 9780844107288
Giles, Janice Holt.	Johnny Osage / by Janice Holt Giles. --	1960	Houghton Mifflin	0395077354 : ; 9780395077351
Giles, Janice Holt.	Johnny Osage / by Janice Holt Giles.	1960	Houghton Mifflin
Giles, Janice Holt.	Johnny Osage	1960	Houghton
Gipson, Fred	Savage Sam	1962	Harper & Row Publishers		The son of Old Yeller helps his owners escape from the Apaches in East Texas during the 1870's;
Gipson, Fred.	Savage Sam.	1963	Pocket Books
Grant, Bruce	Pancho : a dog of the plains	1958	World Pub
Gringhuis, Dirk.	Young voyageur	1955	McGraw
Haines, Francis.	Red Eagle and the Absaroka.	1960	Caxton Printers
Hall, Gordon Langley.	Peter Jumping Horse at the stampede	1961	Holt
Hall, Gordon Langley.	Peter Jumping Horse at the stampede	1961	Holt
Hall, Gordon Langley.	Peter Jumping Horse	1961	Holt
Harris, Christie.	West with the White Chiefs	1965	Atheneum Pubs
Hayes, John F.	Buckskin colonist	1960	Copp Clark
Hays, Wilma Pitchford.	Easter fires	1959	Coward-McCann	069830067X ; 9780698300675	A fictional account of the first Indian tribes to hear and accept Christianity and of the great fires they lit to celebrate Easter.;
Hays, Wilma Pitchford.	Easter fires	1959	Coward-McCann.
Hays, Wilma Pitchford	Easter fires	1959	Coward-McCann
Hazletine, Alice Isabel	Red man, white man; legends, tales and true accounts of the American Indians,	1957	Lothrop, Lee & Shepard
Heiderstadt, Dorothy.	Marie Tanglehair	1965	McKay
Heiderstadt, Dorothy.	Marie Tanglehair	1965	McKay
Heinzman, George.	Only the earth and the mountains, a novel of the Cheyenne Nationa. --	1964	Macmillan
Henderson, Le Grand	How baseball began in Brooklyn	1958	Abingdon		A humorous story giving one version "of how baseball was started. It all happened when Pieter Denbooms and his nine brothers met up with nine Canarsie Indians." McClurg. Book News.;
Henty, G. A.	With Wolfe in Canada.	1961	Walker		When young James Walsham leaves England unexpectedly in 1755 and finds himself in America fighting in the French and Indian War, he discovers that he must still contend with the treachery of his old rival.;
Hill, Monica	Rin Tin Tin and the lost Indian	1956	Simon and Schuster
Hoff, Syd.	Little Chief	1961	Harper	0004292669 ; 9780004292663	An Indian boy's kindness encourages a group of frontiersmen to settle in the same green valley as the Indians.;
Hoff, Syd	Little Chief,	1961	Harper		An Indian boy's kindness encourages a group of frontiersmen to settle in the same green valley as the Indians.;
Hoffine, Lyla.	Jennie's Mandan bowl	1960	McKay
Hood, Flora Mae.	Something for the medicine man.	1962	Melmont Publishers
Hood, Flora Mae.	Something for the medicine man	1962	Melmont Pubs.
Howells, Anne Molloy	Captain Waymouth's Indians.	1956	Hastings House		Published in 1968 under title: Five kidnapped Indians.;
Hurley, William.	Dan Frontier goes exploring.	1963	Benefic Press		Dan Frontier helps Ranger Jack Finley explore the wooded land inhabited by Indians near the Ohio River.;
Hurley, William.	Dan Frontier goes exploring.	1963	Benefic Press		Dan Frontier helps Ranger Jack Finley explore the wooded land inhabited by Indians near the Ohio River.;
Hurley, William.	Dan Frontier scouts with the Army.	1962	Benefic Press		Dan Frontier becomes an army scout when Indians threaten to attack Fort Detroit.;
Hurley, William.	Dan Frontier scouts with the Army.	1962	Benefic Press		Dan Frontier becomes an army scout when Indians threaten to attack Fort Detroit.;
Icaza, Jorge	Huasipungo. The villagers, a novel.	1964	Southern Illinois University Press
Icaza, Jorge	Huasipungo	1960	Editorial Losada
Furman, A. L.	Young readers nature stories.	1959	Lantern Press		Nine short stories about animals, like coyotes and raccoons, or men in encounters with them, as an Indian boy in a buffalo hunt, a ranch boy seeking to separate the ranch's horses from a band of wild horses, or a boy who cared for an injured sea gull.;
Saurel, Louis.	Le Hardouin chez les Hurons	1960	âEditions Fleurus		Pour enfants.;
Jackson, Helen Hunt	Ramona, a story.	1959	Printed for the members of the Limited Editions Club at the Plantin Press
James, Harry Clebourne	Hopi Indian butterfly dance	1959	Melmont Pubs.
Karney, Beulah.	The listening one.	1962	Day
Keith, Harold	Komantcia. --	1965	Crowell
Keith, Harold	Komantcia. --	1965	Crowell
Keith, Harold	Komantcia. --	1965	Crowell
Keith, Harold	Komantcia	1965	Crowell
Keith, Harold	Komantcia.	1965	Crowell
Keith, Harold	Komantcia	1965	Thomas Y. Crowell		Captured by Comanches at fifteen, a sensitive Spaniard learns to accept their way of life and becomes a leader among them.;
Kjelgaard, Jim	Wolf Brother	1957	Holiday House		An Apache brave who has been educated among the white men returns to his tribe, now confined to the reservation, and is forced, by an unfortunate meeting with an American Army sergeant, to take refuge with an infamous renegade band.;
Kjelgaard, Jim	Wolf Brother.	1957	Holiday House		An Apache brave who has been educated among the white men returns to his tribe, now confined to the reservation, and is forced, by an unfortunate meeting with an American Army sergeant, to take refuge with an infamous renegade band.;
Kjelgaard, Jim	Wolf Brother	1962	E. M. Hale		An Apache brave who has been educated among the white men returns to his tribe, now confined to the reservation, and is forced, by an unfortunate meeting with an American Army sergeant, to take refuge with an infamous renegade band.;
Kubaésta, Vojtéech	The Day of the bison hunt.	1962	Bancroft & Co.		Caption title.; Ill. signed: V. Kubasta.; Lower cover is a double-page which opens into a pop-up color illustration of an Indian village with tepees, a totem, and men in ceremonial costumes.;
La Farge, Oliver	Laughing Boy	1957	Houghton Mifflin	00812416031 (Covercraft) ; 9780081241608
Lampman, Evelyn (Sibley)	Navaho sister	1956	Doubleday
Lane, Neola Tracy.	Secret of the silver spoons.	1963	Bobbs-Merrill		Paul tries to establish his grandmother's true identity by locating the silver spoons she remembers hiding when she was a little girl.;
Lauritzen, Elizabeth M.	Shush'ma,	1964	Caxton Printers		Bibliography: p. 188.; The life and habits of a bear reflect her sensitivity to the loss of peace and harmony on the land that is home for her and the Navajo. Based on documented information.;
Hoffmann, Eleanor	The charmstone	1964	McNally and Loftin		Shuku, son of Chief Islay of Helo, fights the plots of his wicked stepmother, Ojai, and her equally wicked son, Mogi.;
Leckie, Robert	Danger at Mormon Crossing	1959	Simon and Schuster		While on a camping and hunting trip in the Idaho mountains, Sandy Steele and his friends become involved in a mystery concerning their Indian guide.;
Lenski, Lois	Little Sioux girl,	1958	Lippincott
Lomask, Milton.	Cross among the tomahawks	1961	Douleday
Longstreet, Stephen.	War in the golden weather	1965	Doubleday
James, Harry Clebourne	A day in Oraibi, a Hopi Indian village	1959	Melmont Pubs.
Stinetorf, Louise A.	A charm for Paco's mother	1965	Day
James, Harry Clebourne	A day with Honau, a Hopi Indian boy.	1957	Melmont Publishers
MacLeod, Robert.	The medicine bull.	1963	Day
Marriott, Alice Lee.	The black stone knife. Illustrated by Harvey Weiss.	1957	Crowell
Marriott, Alice Lee	Black stone knife	1957	Crowell
Marriott, Alice Lee	Black stone knife	1957	Crowell
Marriott, Alice Lee	Indian Annie : Kiowa captive.	1965	McKay
Marriott, Alice Lee	Indian Annie, Kiowa captive.	1965	McKay
Marriott, Alice Lee	Indian Annie: Kiowa captive	1965	McKay
McGaw, Jessie Brewer.	Little Elk hunts buffalo : as Little Elk tells it in Indian picture writing	1961	T. Nelson
McGiffin, Lee	Pony soldier.	1961	Dutton
McNamee, James.	My Uncle Joe	1963	Viking
Molloy, Anne Stearns Baker	Captain Waymouth's Indians.	1956	Hastings House		Published in 1968 under title: Five kidnapped Indians.;
Montgomery, Rutherford George	The capture of West Wind. --	1962	Duell, Sloan and Pearce
O'Dell, Scott	Island of the blue dolphins [sound recording]	1960	Recorded Books	1556904673 ; 9781556904677	Unabridged.; Narrated by Christina Moore; Tells the true story of an American Indian girl who lived alone on an island for eighteen years.;
O'Dell, Scott.	Island of the blue dolphins [sound recording]	1960	Recorded Books		Unabridged.; Tells the true story of an American Indian girl who lived alone on an island for eighteen years.;
O'Dell, Scott	La Isla de los Delfines Azules	1964	Noguer	8427931085 (pbk.) ; 9788427931084	Translation of: Island of the Blue Dolphins.; Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years, not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life.; Accelerated Reader; Interest Level Middle Grade; Book Level 5.4; Accelerated Reader Points 6; Accelerated Vocabulary, Literacy Skills; 04 05 06 07 08; 054; 006; Lexile, MetaMetrics, Inc.; Lexile Measure 1090; 1090;
O'Dell, Scott	La Isla de los Delfines Azules	1964	Noguer	8427931085 ; 9788427931084	Translation of: Island of the Blue Dolphins.; Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years, not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life.; Accelerated Reader; Interest Level Middle Grade; Book Level 5.4; Accelerated Reader Points 6; Accelerated Vocabulary, Literacy Skills; 04 05 06 07 08; 054; 006; Lexile, MetaMetrics, Inc.; Lexile Measure 1090; 1090;
O'Dell, Scott	Island of the Blue Dolphins.	1960	Dell
O'Dell, Scott	Island of the Blue Dolphins.	1960	Houghton Mifflin	0395069629 ; 9780395069622	Records the courage and self-reliance of an Indian girl who lived alone for eighteen years on an isolated island off the California coast when her tribe emigrated and she was left behind.; Reading Counts-Scholastic; Interest Level 6-8; Reading Level 6; Title Point Value 12; Lexile Measure 1000; 1000; 06 07 08; 060; 012;
O'Dell, Scott	Island of the Blue Dolphins.	1960	Houghton Mifflin
O'Dell, Scott	Island of the Blue Dolphins.	1960	Houghton Mifflin
Nicholson, John D.	The white buffalo,	1965	Platt & Munk
Rhoads, Dorothy.	The corn grows ripe	1956	Viking		Tigre, a twelve-year-old Mayan boy living in a modern-day village in Yucatâan, must learn to be a man when his father is injured.;
Conrad, Joseph	The nigger of the "Narcissus"	1965	Printed by the Ward Ritchie Press for the members of the Limited Editions Club		Limited ed. of 1,500 copies, signed by the artist.; Issued in slipcase.; Newman & Wiche. Great and good books,; 372; Limited Editions Club. Bibliography of the fine books published by the Limited Editions Club, 1929-1985,; no. 372;
Allsopp, Joy.	The tale of Teddy the toucan : a story for children	1960	Govt. Information Services		"This story is one of a series of stories based on some of the legends of the Amerindian tribes of British Guiana.";
Parish, Peggy.	Good hunting, Little Indian	1962	Young Scott Bks.
Patrick, Pearl Haley	O'po of the Omaha. Illustrated by Dan Jacobson.	1957	Caxton Printers
Provan, Eldoris Angel.	Drummer for the Americans.	1965	Chilton Bks.
Provan, Eldoris Angel.	Drummer for the Americans.	1965	Chilton Books
Radau, Hanns.	Illampu : adventure in the Andes	1961	Abelard-Schuman
Radau, Hanns.	Illampu : adventure in the Andes	1961	Abelard-Schuman
Rainbow, Elizabeth.	Concha and the silver star	1965	Duell
Ramâirez, Pablo.	Wa O'Ka,	1961	Bobbs-Merrill		A young Indian brave accomplishes three seemingly impossible tasks to win the chief's daughter for his bride.;
Ranney, Agnes V.	Flash of Phantom Canyon.	1963	Criterion Bks
Ray, Ophelia.	Daughter of Tejas.	1965	New York Graphic Society Pubs.
Ray, Ophelia.	Daughter of the Tejas.	1965	New York Graphic Societ Pubs.
Reilly, Robert T.	Massacre at Ash Hollow	1960	Bruce Pub. Co.
Ressler, Theodore Whitson.	Treasury of American Indian tales	1957	Association
Richter, Conrad.	The light in the forest.	1963	Bantam Books
Roberts, Helen M.	Mission tales,	1963	Pacific Books
Roberts, Kenneth Lewis	Northwest passage	1961	Doubleday
Roberts, Kenneth Lewis	Northwest passage	1963	Fawcett Crest/Ballantine,	0449213838 (pbk.) ; 9780449213834	Saga of French and Indian war heroics in which Major Robert Rogers is the leader of the Rogers' Rangers.; Lexile, MetaMetrics, Inc.; Lexile Measure 1010; 1010;
Robinson, Barbara.	Across from Indian Shore	1962	Lothrop
Robinson, Barbara.	Trace through the forest.	1965	Lothrop
Rowland, Florence Wightman.	Pasquala of Santa Ynez Mission	1961	Walck, H.Z.
Davis, Russell.	The Choctaw code	1961	Whittlesey House
Cooper, James Fenimore	The last of the Mohicans	1961	Scribner	0553213296 (Bantam : pbk. : 1981) ; 0808519735 (Econoclad) ; 9780808519737	While guiding a small party of English settlers to the protection of a fort during the French and Indian War, Hawkeye, a frontier scout, and his two Indian friends, the remaining braves of the Mohican tribe, struggle against the evils of Uncas who desires a white maiden for his wife.;
Cooper, James Fenimore	The Pathfinder	1964	Airmont Publishing Co., Inc.
Nelson, May.	The Redbirds are flying	1963	Criterion Bks.
Steele, William O.	The Year of the Bloody Sevens	1963	Harcourt
Steele, William Owen.	The year of the Bloody Sevens	1963	Harcourt
Capron, Louis.	The red war pole	1963	Bobbs
Tavo, Gus.	The buffalo are running	1960	Knopf
Lauritzen, Jonreed.	The legend of Billy Bluesage	1961	Little, Brown
Sandoz, Mari.	The Story Catcher	1963	Westminster Press
Oberreich, Robert.	The blood red belt	1961	Doubleday
Jones, Weyman.	The talking leaf	1965	Dial Press
Clark, Margaret Goff.	The mystery of the buried Indian mask	1962	Watts, F.
Surany, Anico.	The golden frong	1963	Putnam
Lobdell, Helen.	The fort in the forest	1963	Houghton
Lobdell, Helen.	The fort in the forest	1963	Houghton
Haig-Brown, Roderick Langmere Haig	The whale people	1963	Morrow
Haig-Brown, Roderick Langmere Haig	The whale people	1963	Morrow
Hollmann, Clide.	The eagle feather	1963	Hastings House
Hollmann, Clide.	The eagle feather	1963	Hstings House
Sandoz, Mari	The horsecatcher.	1957	Westminster Press		Unable to kill, a young Cheyenne is scorned by his tribe when he chooses to become a horse catcher rather than a warrior.;
Sandoz, Mari	The horsecatcher.	1957	Westminster Press		Unable to kill, a young Cheyenne is scorned by his tribe when he chooses to become a horse catcher rather than a warrior.;
Sandoz, Mari	The horsecatcher.	1957	Westminster Press		Unable to kill, a young Cheyenne is scorned by his tribe when he chooses to become a horse catcher rather than a warrior.;
Sandoz, Mari	The horsecatcher.	1957	Westminster Press		Unable to kill, a young Cheyenne is scorned by his tribe when he chooses to become a horse catcher rather than a warrior.;
Sandoz, Mari	The horsecatcher.	1957	Westminster Press		Unable to kill, a young Cheyenne is scorned by his tribe when he chooses to become a horse catcher rather than a warrior.;
Sandoz, Mari	The horsecatcher.	1957	Westminster Press		Unable to kill, a young Cheyenne is scorned by his tribe when he chooses to become a horse catcher rather than a warrior.;
Schultz, James Willard	With the Indians in the Rockies.	1960	Houghton Mifflin		The adventures of Thomas Fox and Pitamakan, a Blackfoot Indian boy.;
Scott, Paul	Eliza and the Indian war pony,	1961	Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.
Scull, Florence D.	Bear teeth for courage	1964	Van Nostrand
Scull, Florence D.	Bear teeth for courage.	1964	Van Nostrand
Shannon, Terry.	Tyee's totem pole	1955	Whitman
Shannon, Terry.	Wakapoo and the flying arrows.	1963	A. Whitman
Shannon, Terry.	Wakapoo and the flying arrows	1963	Whitman		Wakapoo, a Chumash Indian boy, finds the secret of courage when his peace loving people are attacked on their island home off the coast of Southern California.;
Sharp, Edith Lambert.	Nkwala.	1958	Little, Brown
Sharp, Edith Lambert.	Nkwala.	1958	Little, Brown
Sharp, Edith Lambert.	Nkwala.	1958	Little, Brown
Sharp, Edith Lambert.	Nkwala	1958	McClelland and Stewart	0771081243 : ; 9780771081248
Simmons, Dawn Langley.	Peter Jumping Horse	1961	Holt
Snedden, Genevra Sisson	Docas, Indian of Santa Clara.	1958	Heath		Bibliography: p. 187-189.; Through the eyes of Docas and his playmates one sees the coming of the white man to California and the establishment of one of its famous chain of missions.;
Sorensen, Edna Jennings.	Felipe's long journey : a story of the Andes ; pictures by Ezra Jack Keats.	1961	Watts F.
Sorensen, Edna Jennings.	Felipe's long journey : a story of the Andes ; pictures by Ezra Jack Keats.	1961	Watts F.
Speare, Elizabeth George.	Calico Captive	1957	Houghton Mifflin		During the French and Indian War, young Miriam is captured by Indians and taken to Montreal;
Steele, William O.	Flaming arrows	1957	Harcourt, Brace		An Indian attack on a fort in the Tennessee wilderness makes young Chad Rabun realize that it is wrong to condemn one person for the misdeed of another. ;
Steele, William O.	Wayah of the Real People	1964	Colonial Williamsburg : distributed by Holt
Steele, William O.	Wayah of the Real People	1964	Colonial Williamsburg: distributed by Holt
Steffan, Jack.	Mountain of fire : a novel.	1959	Day
Stevenson, Augusta.	George Custer, boy of action.	1963	Bobbs-Merrill		The boyhood of the great Indian fighter who died in the controversial Battle of Little Big Horn.;
Stevenson, Augusta.	Israel Putnam, fearless boy.	1959	Bobbs-Merrill		A biography of an American patriot who fought in both the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars, describing his boyhood and youth on the Massachusetts frontier.;
Stevenson, Augusta.	Israel Putnam, fearless boy.	1959	Bobbs-Merrill		A biography of an American patriot who fought in both the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars, describing his boyhood and youth on the Massachusetts frontier.;
Stevenson, Augusta.	Kit Carson, boy trapper.	1962	Bobbs-Merrill		The boyhood of the frontier trapper, hunter, Indian fighter, scout, and soldier.;
Stevenson, Augusta.	Kit Carson, boy trapper.	1962	Bobbs-Merrill		The boyhood of the frontier trapper, hunter, Indian fighter, scout, and soldier.;
Stevenson, Augusta.	Sam Houston, boy chieftain.	1962	Bobbs-Merrill		A biography of the man who helped make Texas a part of the United States, emphasizing his boyhood in Virginia and his friendship with the Cherokee Indians.;
Stevenson, Augusta.	Sam Houston, boy chieftain.	1962	Bobbs-Merrill		A biography of the man who helped make Texas a part of the United States, emphasizing his boyhood in Virginia and his friendship with the Cherokee Indians.;
Stevenson, Augusta.	Squanto, young Indian hunter.	1962	Bobbs-Merrill		The boyhood of the Wampanoag Indian who lived for a time in England and then returned to New England where he helped the Pilgrim settlers in Plymouth.;
Stevenson, Augusta.	Squanto, young Indian hunter.	1962	Bobbs-Merrill		The boyhood of the Wampanoag Indian who lived for a time in England and then returned to New England where he helped the Pilgrim settlers in Plymouth.;
Strachan, Margaret Pitcairn.	Cabins with window boxes	1964	I. Washburn
Steele, William O.	The year of the bloody sevens.	1963	Harcourt, Brace & World
Cooper, James Fenimore	The last of the Mohicans : a narrative of 1757	1957	World
Haig-Brown, Roderick Langmere	The whale people.	1963	Morrow
Barbary, James.	The fort in the wilderness; an adventure in history.	1965	Norton		First published in England under title: The fort in the forest.; An English officer, in command of a fort on the Canadian frontier during Pontiac's uprising, is captured by the Indians, returned to the English as a hostage, but comes back later to convince Pontiac of French betrayal.;
Barbary, James.	The fort in the wilderness; an adventure in history.	1965	Norton		First published in England under title: The fort in the forest.; An English officer, in command of a fort on the Canadian frontier during Pontiac's uprising, is captured by the Indians, returned to the English as a hostage, but comes back later to convince Pontiac of French betrayal.;
Surany, Anico.	The golden frog : illus. by Leonard Everett Fisher.	1963	Putnam
Tilghman, Zoe Agnes Stratton	Maiom, the Cheyenne girl;	1956	Harlow Pub. Corp.
Tomerlin, John.	Prisoner of the Iroquois.	1965	Dutton
O'Dell, Scott	La isla de los delfines azules	1964	Noguer	8427931085 ; 9788427931084	Medalla Newbery.; Tâitulo original: Island of the Blue Dolphins.; Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years, not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life.; Accelerated Reader; Interest Level Middle Grade; Book Level 5.4; Accelerated Reader Points 6; Accelerated Vocabulary, Literacy Skills; 04 05 06 07 08; 054; 006; Lexile, MetaMetrics, Inc.; Lexile Measure 1090; 1090;
O'Dell, Scott	La isla de los delfines azules	1964	Editorial noguer	8427931085 (pbk.) ; 9788427931084	"Tâitulo original: Island of the blue dolphins"--t.p. verso.; Stranded on a beautiful isolated island off the coast of California, a young 19th century Indian girl spends 18 years, not only surviving through her courage and self-reliance, but also finding happiness in her solitary life.; Accelerated Reader; Interest Level Middle Grade; Book Level 5.4; Accelerated Reader Points 6; Accelerated Vocabulary, Literacy Skills; 04 05 06 07 08; 054; 006; Lexile, MetaMetrics, Inc.; Lexile Measure 1090; 1090;
Underhill, Ruth M.	Antelope Singer	1961	Coward-McCann
Baker, Betty.	The shaman's last raid	1963	Harper & Row
Carlson, Natalie Savage.	The Tomahawk family.	1960	Harper		An Indian girl is anxious to do everything her teacher at school tells her, in order to be a good American, but her stubborn brother and her old fashioned grandmother present problems.;
Carlson, Natalie Savage.	The Tomahawk family.	1960	Harper		An Indian girl is anxious to do everything her teacher at school tells her, in order to be a good American, but her stubborn brother and her old fashioned grandmother present problems.;
Van Riper, Guernsey	Jim Thorpe, Indian athlete.	1956	Bobbs-Merrill
Vance, Marguerite.	Esther Wheelwright, Indian captive.	1964	Dutton
Vestal, Stanley	Happy hunting grounds.	1963	Lyons and Carnahan
Waltrip, Lela.	Quiet boy	1961	Longmans
Waltrip, Lela.	Quiet boy	1961	Longmans
Webb, Nancy	Makema of the rain forest,	1964	Prentice-Hall		Bibliographical references included in "Acknowledgments" (p. [3]);
Welch, Ronald C.	Mohawk Valley.	1958	Criterion Books
Welch, Ronald	Mohawk Valley	1958	Criterion Bks.
Welch, Ronald	Mohawk Valley	1958	Oxford University Press	0192710788 : ; 9780192710789
Wheeler, Arville	White Squaw : the true story of Jennie Wiley.	1958	Heath		A fictionalized account of the life of Jennie Sellards Wiley, who spent a year as an Indian captive in Kentucky and eventually escaped and returned to her husband in Virginia.;
Wilcox, Eleanor Reindollar.	Cornhusk doll	1956	Dodd
Wilson, Charles Morrow.	Crown Point : the destiny road	1965	McKay
Wilson, Hazel (Hutchins)	His Indian brother	1955	E. M. Hale		When his father's return from Boston with the family is delayed, young Brad, left to care for their new wilderness home in Maine, must depend on the Indians for survival.;
Wilson, Hazel Hutchins	His Indian brother	1955	Houghton Mifflin		When his father's return from Boston with the family is delayed, young Brad, left to care for their new wilderness home in Maine, must depend on the Indians for survival.;
Wilson, Holly.	Snowbound in Hidden Valley	1957	Messner
Witten, Herbert.	Escape from the Shawnees	1958	Follett		The author: p189.; The great hunter, Gabe Stoner, asked eleven year old Whit Martin to go hunting with him. When he and Gabe ran into a party of Indians, Gabe was wounded and he and Whit were captured by the Indians and taken across the Ohio into Shawnee country. Whit and Gabe escaped from their captors and young Whit managed to survive and to help save the wounded hunter. (Publisher);
Witten, Herbert.	Escape from the Shawnees	1958	Follett
Worcester, Donald Emmet	Lone Hunter and the wild horses	1959	Walck, H.Z.
Worthylake, Mary M.	Children of the seed gatherers.	1964	Melmont Publishers
Leiser, Harry W.	The lost canyon of the Navajos	1960	Criterion Books
Lampman, Evelyn Sibley.	The shy stegosaurus of Indian Springs	1962	Junior Literary guild : Doubleday
Ziner, Feenie.	Dark pilgrim : the story of Squanto.	1965	Chilton Co.

Dear Teachers: A Series of Open Letters about Scott O'Dell's Books. Open Letter #1 - Suns and Moons

August 20, 2023

Dear Teachers, 

You (or one of your colleagues) have written to me about Scott O'Dell's Thunder Rolling in the Mountains. Some of your schools have been using it for years and some of your schools use it because it is in the Wit and Wisdom curriculum. Those who have written to me sense that it is not a good choice. They're in Wisconsin. Oregon. California. Tennessee. Louisiana. Ohio. Alabama. New York. 

Because this is an Open Letter that may be shared with school administrators and others who don't know who I am, I'll start with some biographical introduction. I'm tribally enrolled at Nambé Owingeh, a sovereign Native Nation in the southwestern part of the US. I started my professional career as a school teacher in Albuquerque and later got a PhD in Education at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. My research and publications are focused on depictions of Native peoples in children's and young adult books. 

At Illinois I served as president of the Native student group where we focused on three goals: a Native American House that would support the needs of Native students, an American Indian Studies program that would hire Native professors and provide all students with courses on Native peoples, and for a change in the university's mascot (it was "Chief Illiniwek"). I received my doctorate in 2000 and held a post doctoral position from 2002-2004. In 2002, the Native House was founded. In 2005, the Board of Trustees approved the American Indian Studies Program. In 2007, the university got rid of the mascot. 

Some of you may be a bit confused because you've been thinking of us as "tribes." You were educated and socialized to think of us as tribes but, in fact, the tribes are hundreds of distinct nations of Native people. When Europeans came onto our homelands hundreds of years ago, they knew we were nations. And when the U.S. became a nation, its leaders knew we were nations, too. There's hundreds of treaties between various Native Nations and those who came onto our lands.

Who I am, what I know as a Native woman, and what I study shapes what you find in my book chapters, research and professional articles, and on my blog, American Indians in Children's Literature.  A few weeks ago, I did a "close read" of Thunder Rolling in the Mountains. When I do a close read, I write up notes as I read. I ask questions. If there are misrepresentations or bias or factual errors, I note them, and then I share the notes. Anybody can get a copy of the book, start reading, and look over my notes as they do. 

O'Dell's book was published in 1992 by Houghton Mifflin. You may have a copy with a different cover because it has been reissued many times since then. 

In textbooks and professional guides for those who teach, study, review or critique children's books, there are some common elements. In From Cover to Cover, Kathleen T. Horning writes that we should try to determine what sort of authority the author has. Generally it means that we should see if the author has training or expertise on the topic the book is about. 

Given my identity and area of study I also ask if the author is Native.

The cover of Thunder Rolling in the Mountains lists two authors: Scott O'Dell and Elizabeth Hall (she was O'Dell's wife). My guess is that most teachers recognize the name, "Scott O'Dell," because they probably read his books when they were in school. They may know he won awards for some of his books. 

But returning to the question: did he have training or expertise on Native peoples? Was he Native? 

Scott O'Dell was not Native and did not have a degree that might have given him the authority that Horning asked us to look for. At his website, he wrote that he went to three different colleges but I don't see any indication of what he studied at them, and he also doesn't say that he graduated from any of them. Author identity and expertise are a starting point. What the author creates is important, too. 

When I did my close read of Thunder Rolling in the Mountains, I saw O'Dell used "moons" and "suns" to signify passage of time. Because I've studied children's books about Native peoples for over 30 years I've seen other non-Native writers do it. I wondered if O'Dell did it in his other books.

He wrote several children's books about Native people of different tribal nations. Those nations include ones on the west coast, the southwest, and the northwest. They have very different histories, religions, songs, and stories. And, they spoke different languages. Let's look at four of them:

• Island of the Blue Dolphins came out in 1960. It is set in the 1850s. O'Dell based it on a Native woman whose people lived on an island off the coast of California. In the mid 1830s, they were taken to the mainland. She remained (or was left) on the island, living alone until 1853 when she was also taken to the mainland. She and her people are called "Nicolenos" because their island was called "San Nicolas Island" by White people. I wonder what they called their island, and what they called themselves--in their language?

• Sing Down the Moon came out in 1970. Set in the 1860s, it is about the Navajo people (some prefer to be called Diné which is their word for "the people") and their forced removal from Diné Bikéyah, or Dinétah (their homeland). Their removal is commonly called The Long Walk. 

• Streams to the River, River to the Sea: A Novel of Sacagawea came out in 1986. As the title indicates, it is about Sacagawea as a member of Lewis and Clark's expedition in 1804. 

• Thunder Rolling in the Mountains came out in 1992. It is set in the 1870s and is about Chief Joseph, a Nez Perce leader, and his people being forced off of their homelands. O'Dell tells us about it through the perspective of his daughter. 

O'Dell (a white male) wrote from the point of view of female characters of four different tribal nations who lived in the 1800s--a very different era. To do so, he had to imagine and create the thoughts, emotions, and dialog for characters (some of them were actual people) whose first language was not English and whose culture was different from his. Let's look at some of what he wrote.

In chapter one of Thunder Rolling in the Mountains, O'Dell has Sound of Running Feet (the main character) thinking:

I had not ridden the trail for many moons.

 And a few sentences later, another character says: 

"We told our mothers before we left to dig roots that we would be gone three suns."

In chapter one of Island of the Blue Dolphins, O'Dell has Karana (the main character) thinking this about her brother:

He was small for one who had lived so many suns and moons. 

In chapter 10 of Streams to the River, River to the Sea: A Novel of Sacagawea, O'Dell has Sacagawea saying (about Charbonneau), that

"He will be gone for many suns."

In chapter 20 of Sing Down the Moon, O'Dell's main character, Bright Moon, is thinking:

Within the rising and waning of five moons my baby would be born.

In each of those sentences, all the words are English ones. O'Dell could have said day/days or night/nights instead of moons/suns. Why did he use "suns" and "moons" instead? 

I suspect it started with James Fenimore Cooper. A lot of the things Cooper came up with when he wrote The Last of the Mohicans in 1826 have been used by other writers. In chapter three, he has

"We said the country should be ours from the place where the water runs up no longer on this stream, to a river twenty sun's journey toward the summer."

Earlier in the chapter, we see this:

"Even your traditions make the case in my favor, Chingachgook," he said, speaking in the tongue which was known to all the natives who formerly inhabited the country between the Hudson and the Potomac, and of which we shall give a free translation for the benefit of the reader; endeavoring, at the same time, to preserve some of the peculiarities, both of the individual and of the language."

Peculiarities? What might those be? I think his use of "sun's" is one of those peculiarities. As I think about what Cooper meant, I realize it really doesn't matter. What matters is that others--like O'Dell--use it, too, as if Native people of four entirely different nations in entirely different locations and time periods, used it. 

What O'Dell did, I think, is a failure. Teachers who assign his books may inadvertently be encouraging kids to think that many Native people used sun/moon instead of night/day to mark time. That's not educational! 

I'm not criticizing teachers for using Thunder Rolling in the Mountain (or one of his other books) if it is part of what your school requires. I am, however, asking you to consider studying it, and talking with your fellow teachers and administrators about the book. And if you decide his books cannot be used in your classroom, I hope you'll write to your district's curriculum officer and to the entities (like the company that publishes the Wit and Wisdom curriculum) to ask them to stop using the book, and that your letter will explain why you think the book is mis-educating students. 

When I started this post, I titled it "Dear Teachers: An Open Letter about Scott O'Dell and Elizabeth Hall's THUNDER ROLLING IN THE MOUNTAINS, and I meant to be comprehensive, addressing most of the things I noted in my close read. But as I worked on it, I felt overwhelmed. I decided I didn't want to overwhelm you. Instead, I decided to present my research as a series, titled "Dear Teachers: A Series of Open Letters about Scott O'Dell's Books. Open Letter #1 - Suns and Moons." I welcome your comments and if you prefer to write to me directly, you can find my email address in the contact link. I will not share what you say without your permission. 

I think my second letter in the series will be about quotes. O'Dell has characters speaking certain words and phrases that real people said, and that are findable in books and other historical records. 

That's all--for now,

Debbie

NOT RECOMMENDED: Alan Gratz's BAN THIS BOOK

On November 3, 2019, Mike M. submitted this comment to AICL's post about Lois Lenski's Indian Captive: 

I've come to Dr. Reese's review of Indian Captive because of its appearance in Alan Gratz's 2017 novel Ban this Book. Gratz's story is about a schoolgirl standing up against book-banning in her grade-school library. At one point the avid young reader is suspended and grounded with nothing to read except Indian Captive. There is no commentary about the merits of the book, but it is mentioned several times, giving it a prominence above many of the books named in the story -- enough to send me to investigate. I can see no particular reason why this book was chosen for its role in the story (unless it's a very subtle indication that some books are not as good as others -- but it's quite a stretch to find that interpretation), other than mere carelessness by the author, indifference to the reasons a book may be offensive, or lack of awareness of the harm that books can perpetuate -- a naive belief in the magical goodness of every written word. It seems odd considering the theme of the story. Also odd given another theme of the story: good intentions that lead to bad consequences. As adults, we can understand the complexity of the real world, and the value of ambiguity in literature, but seeing that the issues raised by this one book's inclusion is not developed at all, and this in a novel for children, I can only see it as a flaw in an otherwise worthwhile book.

Gratz's Ban This Book came out in 2017. Published by Starscape (an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates with is part of Macmillan), the cover showed a school locker piled high with books. That same year, it was released as an ebook. The cover for the e-book showed three kids on the cover. More on that, later.

Here's the publisher's description of the book:

In Ban This Book by Alan Gratz, a fourth grader fights back when From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg is challenged by a well-meaning parent and taken off the shelves of her school library. Amy Anne is shy and soft-spoken, but don’t mess with her when it comes to her favorite book in the whole world. Amy Anne and her lieutenants wage a battle for the books that will make you laugh and pump your fists as they start a secret banned books locker library, make up ridiculous reasons to ban every single book in the library to make a point, and take a stand against censorship.

The story opens with Amy Anne and her friend, Rebecca, arriving at school. Amy Anne wants to go to the library to check out her favorite book (again) From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. When she gets to the library shelf where her favorite book should be, it is not there. She sees the librarian, Mrs. Jones, enter the row. She describes her as being "a big white lady" (p. 12).

That detail, that Mrs. Jones is white, gave me pause. I paged back (in my electronic copy of the book) to see if Gratz had identified Amy or Rebecca in similar ways. On page 9, I saw that Rebecca's last name is Zimmerman and her parents are lawyers. When I paged back to the cover, I saw that the child featured prominently on the cover is African American. That is probably meant to be Amy Anne. 

On page 16 we read: 

I like a lot of other books too, especially Island of the Blue Dolphins, Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, Hattie Big Sky, The Sign of the Beaver, and Julie of the Wolves. Basically any story where the main character gets to live alone. Indian Captive is pretty great too, even though Mary Jemison has to live in an Indian village. But I would rather live with Indian kidnappers than live with my two stupid younger sisters.

As you might imagine, I was taken aback by her list of favorites. They are full of stereotypes. And, they are old. Island of the Blue Dolphins came out in 1960, Sign of the Beaver in 1983, Julie of the Wolves in 1972, and Indian Captive in 1941. 

The other three favorites have a word or two about Native peoples. 

In Hatchet the main character, alone in the forest after a plane crash, imagines monsters he's read about, including Big Foot. He's talking about Sasquatch, a figure who has been misrepresented over and over in children's books! Sasquatch is not a monster. In chapter two of Charlene Willing McManus's Indian No More, the main character (Regina) is on the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in Oregon. When Regina was little, she was afraid to play in the woods. Her dad told her that "Old Sasquatch won't bother you. First, he's shy. Second, he's over six feet tall and smells like a wet dog. And third, well, if he does bother you, you must've been misbehaving." In My Side of the Mountain the main character, Sam, imagines "feathers in an Indian quiver," thinks that "Indian bread" is flat and hard, and when looking at aspen and birch trees, sees that they are "bent like Indian bows." The main character in Hattie Big Sky moves from Iowa to work her uncles homestead in Montana. Several times, there are references to "free" land, but no mention of how or why that land is available in the first place. Hattie must know something about Native people, because when a character's face is covered in soot when a barn burns down, she imagines that he has warpaint on his face. 

I wonder how these seven books shape what Amy Anne knows about Native people?!    

There is no reason for any of these books to be named as favorites in 2017, by any reader. And yet, there they are. Why these ones, I'd like to ask Gratz. His book is well regarded by people who fight censorship, but in that fight, did he have to throw Native readers under the bus?  

There's more.

As the book description noted, Amy Anne and others get organized and start filling out the library's Request for Reconsideration forms that people submit when they believe a book is inappropriate in some way. The goal is to make up reasons to ban every book in the library. On page 212, Janna (a student) has "every one of the Little House on the Prairie books in her arms. She starts to fill out the form and pauses. Janna says this to Amy Anne: 

"But what do I say? There's nothing bad about Little House on the Prairie."

And here's what follows:

She was right. But no--that was true about all the books. I had to think like Mrs. Spencer. 

"They get malaria in that one," I said. "That's scary, right? And the settlers think it's because they ate bad watermelon! But that's not how you get malaria. That's deliberately misleading. That could make a kid think you get malaria from watermelons!"

Nothing bad in Little House on the Prairie?! It, too, is old, and full of dehumanizing stereotypes of Native peoples.  

Remember--Ban This Book--came out in 2017. What's up with the books Mrs. Jones is offering to students? Does she have no money to update the collection, adding books that would in some way, be mirrors for the Amy Anne's who are in that school, and, windows for them, too, so they could get better information about Native peoples? Does Mrs. Jones not know about the hashtag, #OwnVoices? It took off in 2015. 

My questions are really for Alan Gratz. He wrote a book about an important topic. But on the way, he just dumped stereotypes all over Native kids and non-Native kids, too. 

Did his editor notice this problem? Did any of the people who gave it positive reviews notice it? Or, any of the people on state award committees that gave it an award? I guess I know the answer. If anyone had any concerns, they probably stayed quiet. The book is about banning books, after all. 

If Amy Anne's favorites included books that have won a Coretta Scott King Book award, I wouldn't be writing this post. If one of her favorites included a book that won an award from the American Indian Library Association, I'd be giving Gratz's book a "recommended" label instead of its "not recommended" one!

But, here we are. Bummer.