Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Tim Kessler's WHEN GOD MADE THE DAKOTAS

[Note: This review is used by permission of its authors. It may not be published elsewhere without written permission from the authors.]
_______________________________
Kessler, Tim, When God Made the Dakotas, illustrated by Paul Morin. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2006. Unpaginated, color illustrations, grades 2-4, Dakota

Published by a Christian book house and written and illustrated by cultural outsiders, When God Made the Dakotas is a mishmash of Christian creation mythology and invented Dakota cosmology, replete with misplaced Dakota symbols and words (some of which are misspelled).

According to the jacket copy, “Tim Kessler’s creation story, framed as a Native American legend, reminds readers to find beauty and joy in what surrounds them.” In order to create a picture book about the Dakota landscape, one wonders why it was seen as necessary to make up a creation story about the Dakota people, since we’ve already got our own.

After Wakantanka/Great Spirit/Creator has made the rest of the world, he arrives at the world’s edge, where he is greeted by a Dakota medicine man named Woksape (wisdom). After each request from Woksape about what kind of land he wishes for the Dakota people, Wakantanka answers that he has already given that land to someone else. Finally, Woksape says he will take what’s left and Wakantanka, pleased with the medicine man’s humility, fashions for the Dakota people the wondrous Dakota land.

The depiction of Wakantanka as an elderly Indian guy—with white hair, face paint, and three goose feathers stuck in his hair—is more reflective of the Judeo-Christian ethos than it is to ours. In the belief system to which the author apparently ascribes, God is said to have created man in his own image. In our belief system, however, the Creator’s presence is manifest in all things, and does not appear simply in human form.

Further, no informed Dakota would give the Creator a detailed description of what kind of land he’d like his people to inhabit; this would be an insult to the Creator. To us, all creation is beautiful and a great mystery. From the beginning, we have developed a complex, symbiotic and reverent relationship with the land. We are not above the earth but are a part of it and our belief in creation and by extension our Creator stresses this relationship.

There are many other troubling aspects to this book. Here, Dakota people have to settle for the prairies that pale in comparison to the abundant lands that have already been given away. (Kessler’s God acts much like the white men in this way). This seems to diminish both the austere beauty and abundance of the plains, and the importance of the Dakota people. And, by the way, the Dakota live mostly in the woodlands further east. It is the Lakota who inhabit the plains.

That one “medicine man” speaks for a nation is not reflective of the Native value for the collective participation of the group, and of the respected elders, men and women, within the tribe. Finally, a promise by God that the plains will be forever pristine and depopulated belies the white people’s past and present economic and environmental roles in dramatically altering the face of the land to make it uninhabitable for humans, the buffalo and other living beings.

And when in the scheme of creation is this story supposed to have taken place? It seems odd, for example, that the Creator would have created the Pendleton blankets upon which the two are sitting before “he” finished creating the world. “He” creates Tatanka, the buffalo, out of his medicine bag; he creates Maga, the goose, out of two goose feathers. Which came first, something made out of animal hide, or the animal itself? Which came first, the feathers or the geese? It would seem pretty strange in a Christian creation story for God to apologize to Adam for not having enough material to fashion Eden to Adam’s specifications. Why, then, is it seen as acceptable for Wakantanka/Creator/Great Spirit to continually apologize to Woksape?

That this may be “only a children’s book” is where the most damage lies. Who, if not the children, are we more responsible to for instilling honest representations of peoples, an informed respect for the land, and an understanding that man’s heavy hand has much to do with both? If Kessler wanted to extol the beauty of the plains, he could have written what he knows, perhaps about the plains ecosystems, for he certainly doesn’t know the people.

Since everything else of ours has already been stolen, we could at least be left our creation stories. The final page of When God Made the Dakotas closes with the summation, “And it was good.” Pity that from this indigenous perspective, I can close only with the simple conclusion, “No, it is bad.”

---Janeen Antoine (Sicangu Lakota), with Beverly Slapin, Oyate

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Index of Books Reviewed (or otherwise referenced) in A BROKEN FLUTE: THE NATIVE EXPERIENCE IN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

In 2005, one of the very best resources for critical reviews of book with American Indian content was published. The book is called A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children. Reviews in the book are by 58 different people, many of whom are American Indian.

Reviews in A Broken Flute look critically at the way that American Indians are presented. A good many children’s books with Native content receive rave reviews from mainstream journals whose primary concern is with the literary aspects of a story. Too often, little attention is paid to the accuracy of the story, or the underlying bias and ideology that casts American Indians in ways that suggest we are super- or sub-human creatures whose existence is confined to the remote past, or a mythological space and time. 

If you arrived at this webpage due to an Internet search on a specific title, I encourage you to locate a copy of A Broken Flute and read the review therein. If you already own the book, use the review to help children learn how to look critically at the ways that American Indians are presented in the book. A Broken Flute is available from Oyate.

1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
Abiding Appalachia: Where Mountain and Atom Meet
Acorn Soup
Across the Wide River
Adaline Falling Star
Adopted by the Eagles
Adventure on Thunder Island
After and Before the Lightning
An Algonquian Year: The Year According to the Full Moon
"Amazing Indian Children" Series:
  • Amee-nah: Zuni Boy Runs the Race of His Life
  • Doe Sia: Bannock Girl and the Handcart Pioneers
  • Kunu: Winnebago Boy Escapes
  • Moho Wat: Sheepeater Boy Attempts a Rescue
  • Naya Nuki: Shoshoni Girl Who Ran
  • Om-kas-toe: Blackfeet Twin Captures an Elkdog
  • Pathki Nana: Kootenai Girl Solves a Mystery
  • Soun Tetoken: Nez Perce Boy Tames a Stallion
American Indian Myths and Legends
American Indian Mythology, Kiowa Voices, Vol. II: Myths, Legends and Folktales
American Indian Stories
American Indian Trickster Tales
America's Fascinating Indian Heritage
Amikoonse (Little Beaver)
And Still the Turtle Watched
Angela Weaves a Dream: The Story of a Young Maya Artist
Anna's Athabaskan Summer
Antelope Woman
Apache Children and Elders Talk Together
Apache Rodeo
April Raintree
Ararapikva: Creation Stories other People
Arctic Hunter
Arrow Over the Door
Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale
Ashkii and His Grandfather
As Long as the Rivers Flow
Atlas of the North American Indian
Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Experiences
Back in the Beforetime: Tales of the California Indians
Bead on an Anthill: A Lakota Childhood
Bears Make Rock Soup and other stories
Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School
Beneath the Stone: A Mexican Zapotec Tale
Best Thanksgiving Book: ABC Adventures
Bighorse the Warrior
The Big Tree and the Little Tree
Bineshinnh Dibaajmowin/Bird Talk
The Birchbark House
The Bird who Cleans the World and the Mayan Fables
The Birth of Nanbosho
The Birthday Bear
Bison for Kids
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
Blackfoot Children and Elders Talk Together
Black Mountain Boy: A Story of the Boyoood of John Honie
The Blizzard’s Robe
The Blue Roses
Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940
Boat Ride with Lilian Two Blossom
Bone Dance
The Book of Medicines
Boozhoo, Come Play with us
The Boxcar Children: The Mytstery of the Lost Village
A Boy Becomes a Man at Wounded Knee
The Boy Who Loved Mourning
The Boy Who Made Dragonfly
A Braid of Lives: Native American Childhood
Brave Bear and the Ghosts: A Sioux Legend
Brave Eagle’s Account of the Fetterman Fight
The Bravest Flute: A Story of Courage in the Mayan Tradition
Bring Back the Deer
Brothers in Arms
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky
Buffalo: with Selections from Native American Song-Poems illustrated with original paintings
Buffalo Before Breakfast
Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden: Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians
Buffalo Days
Buffalo Dreams
Buffalo Hunt
The Buffalo Jump
Building an Igloo
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
Caddie Woodlawn
California Missions to Cut out: Book 1
California Missions: Projects and Layouts
Caribou Song/atihko nikamon
Cherokee Sister
Cheryl Bibalhats/Cheryl’s Potlach
Chester Bear, Where Are You?
Cheyenne Again
The Chichi Hoohoo Bogeyman
Children of Clay: A Family of Pueblo Potters
Children of the First People
Children of the Great Muskeg
Children of Guatemala
Children of the Indian Boarding Schools
Children of the Midnight Sun: Young Native Voices of Alaska
Children of the Maya: A Guatemalan Odyssey
Children of Native American Today
Children of the Sierra Madre
Children of the Tlingit
Children of the Longhouse
Children of Yucatan
The Choctaw Code
Chronicles of American Indian Protest
Clambake: A Wampanoag Tradition
Clamshell Boy: A Makah Legend
Cloud Eyes
Continuum
"Council for Indian Education" Series:
  • Charlie Young Bear
  • The Day of the Ogre Kachinas
  • Fire Mate
  • From the Ashes
  • Heart of Naosaqua
  • Navajo Long Walk (Armstrong)
  • Nesuya's Basket
  • Quest for Courage
The Courage of Sarah Noble
A Coyote Columbus Story
Coyote Fights the Sun: A Shasta Indian Tale
Coyote and the Fire Stick: A Pacific Northwest Indian Tale
Coyote and the Grasshoppers: A Pomo Legend
Coyote and the Laughing Butterflies
Coyote and Little Turtle
Coyote in Love
Coyote in Love with a Star
Coyote and the Magic Words
Coyote Makes Man
Coyote Places the Stars
The Coyote Rings the Wrong Bell
Coyote Sings to the Moon
Coyote Steals the Blanket: A Ute Tale
Coyote Stories
Coyote Stories for Children
Coyote Stories of the Montana Salish Indians
Coyote Stories of the Navajo People
Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest
Coyote the Trickster
Coyote and the Winnowing Birds
Crafts for Thanksgiving
Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas
Crazy Horse’s Vision
Crow Children and Elders Talk Together
The Crying Christmas Tree
Dakota Dreams
Dancing Drum: A Cherokee Legend
Dancing Rainbows
Dancing with the Indians
Dancing with the Wind: The ArtsReach Literary Magazine
Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road
Daughter of Suqua
Day of the Dead: A Mexican- American Celebration
The Days of Augusta
The Day Sun Was Stolen
Death of the Iron Horse
Dezbah and the Dancing Tumbleweeds
The Diary of Anne Frank
Did You Hear Wind Sing Your Name? An Oneida Song of Spring
The Dirt is Red Here
Dirt Road Home
Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden
Doe Sia: Bannock Girl and the Handcart Pioneers
Doesn’t Fall Off His Horse
Don’t Know Much About Sitting Bull
Dragonfly Kites/pijihakanisa
Dragonfly’s Tale
Dreamcatcher (Maynard)
Dreamcatcher (Osofsky)
The Dreamcatcher: Keep your happy dreams-forever!
Drumbeat, Heartbeat: A Celebration of the PowWow
Durable Breathe
Eagle Feather
Eagle Feather—An Honor
Eagle Song
Earth Daughter: Alicia of Acoma Pueblo
Earth Maker’s Lodge: Native American Folklore, Activities, and Foods
Earthmaker’s Tales: North American Indian Stories About Earth Happenings
Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928
Elderberry Flute Song: Contemporary Coyote Tales
Emma and the Trees/Emma minwaah mtigooh
Enduring Wisdon: Sayings from Native Americans
Eskimo Boy: Life in an Inupiaq Eskimo Village
The Eye of the Needle
Eyes of Darkness
False Face
Feather in the Wind
A Few More Stories: Contemporary Seneca Indian Tales of the Supernatural
Firefly Night
Fire Race: A Karuk Coyote Tale
The First American Thanksgiving
First Came the Indians
First Nations Families
First Nations Technology
The First Thanksgiving (George)
The First Thanksgiving (Hayward)
The First Thanksgiving (Jackson)
The First Thanksgiving (Rogers)
First Woman and the Strawberry: A Cherokee Legend
Five Little Katchinas
The Flute Player
Follow the Stars: A Native American Woodlands Tale
Food and Recipes of the Native Americans
Forbidden Talent
Fort Chipewyan Homecoming: A Journey to Native Canada
Fox on the Ice/mahkesis miskwamihk e-cipatapit
Fox Song
Four Seasons of Corn: A Winnebago Tradition
From Abenaki to Zuni: A Dictionary of Native American Tribes
From the Belly of the Beast
From the Deep Woods to Civilization
From the Land of the White Birch
Frozen Land: Vanishing Cultures
The Gathering: Stories for the Medicine Wheel
The Gift of the Sacred Pipe
Ghost Dance (Seale)
The Ghost Dance (McLerran)
The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890
A Gift for Ampato
Gift Horse
The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: The Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl, New Mexico, 1864
Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America
Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message
Gold Fever
Goodbird the Indian: His Story
The Good Luck Cat
Good News from New England: A True Relation of Things Very Remarkable at the Plantation of Plimoth in New England
The Grandchildren of the Incas
Grandchildren of the Lakota
Grandfather Drum
Grandfather Four Winds and Rising Moon
Grandmother’s Pigeon
Grandma’s Special Feeling
Grandmother Five Baskets
Grandmother’s Dreamcatcher
Grandmother’s Gift: Stories from the Anishinaabeg
The Great Buffalo Race
The Great Canoes: Revising a Northwest Coast Tradition
Green Grass, Running Water
Growing up Native American
Growing Up: Where the Partridge Drums Its Wings
Halfbreed
The Handbook of North American Indians, California
Headliner’s Island
Hands-on Latin American: Art Activities for All Ages
Hau Kola-Hello Friend
A Heart Full of Turquoise
Here Comes Tricky Rabbit!
Hiroshima No Pika
History of the Ojibway Nation
Home Country
Home to Medicine Mountain
Honour the sun
Horse Raid: An Arapaho Camp in the 1800s
House Made of Dawn
How the Birch Tree Got Its Stripes
How Chipmunk Got his Stripes
How to Draw Indian Arts and Crafts
How Eagle Got His Good Eyes
How the Indians Bought the Farm
How the Loon Lost Her Voice
How Magpie Got His Yellow Bill
How the Mouse Got Brown Teeth
How Raven Freed the Moon
How the Robin Got Its Red Breast: A Legend of the Sechelt People
How the Seasons Came: A North American Indian Folktale
How the Stars Fell Into the Sky
The Hunter and the Woodpecker
I Can’t Have Bannock but the Beaver Has a Dam
If You Were At…The First Thanksgiving
I Knew Two Metis Women
Iktomi and the Buzzard
Iktomi and the Coyote
Iktomi and the Ducks
Iktomi Loses His Eyes
I Heard the Owl Call My Name
I’ll sing ‘til the day I die: Conversations with Tyendinaga Elders
The Illustrated History of the Chippewas of Nawah
in a vast dreaming
Indian Boyhood
Indian Cartography
Indian Crafts and Activity Book
Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains
The Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
The Indians’ Book
The Indian in His Wigwam
The Indian School
Indian School Days
Indian School: Teaching the White Man’s Way
Indian Shoes
In the Fifth World: Portrait of the Navajo Nation
Ininatig’s Gift of Sugar: Traditional Native Sugarmaking
Initiation
Into the Moon: Heart, Mind, Body, Soul
In Two Words: A Yup’ik Eskimo Family
Iron Horses
Isaac’s Dreamcatcher
Ishi: America’s Last Stone Age Indian
Ishi Rediscovered
Ishi’s Journey, from the Center to the Edge of the World: A Historical Novel about the Last Wild Indian in North America
Ishi: The Last of His People
Ishi’s Tale of Lizard
Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America
Island of Los Luggage
Is My Friend at Home? Pueblo Fireside Tales
Itch Like Crazy
It Could Always Be Worse
It’s a Family Thanksgiving
Jack Pine Fish Camp
James Bay Memories
Jason and the Sea Otter
Jason’s New Dugout Canoe
Jingle Dancer
The Journal of Julia Singing Bear
Jumping Mouse and the Great Mountain: A Native American Tale
“Just Talking About Ourselves”: Voices of Our Youth
Ka-ha-si and the Loon: An Eskimo Legend
Karok Myths
"Kaya" Series:
  • Changes for Kaya: A Story of Courage
  • Kaya's Escape! A Survival Story
  • Kaya's Hero: A Story of Giving
  • Kaya and Lone Dog: A Friendship Story
  • Kaya and the River Girl
  • Kaya Shows the Way: A Sister Story
  • Meet Kaya: An American Girl
Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children
Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for Children
Keepers of Life: Discovering Plants through Native American Stories and Earth Activities for Children
The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse: Three Eyewitness Views by the Indian, Chief He Dog, the Indian-White, William Garnett, and the White Doctor, Valentine McGillycuddy
Kinaalda: A Navajo Girl Grows Up
Kokopelli and the Butterfly
Kokopelli’s Gift
Kokopelli, Drum in Belly
Kumak’s House: A Tale of the Far North
Ktunaxa Legends
Kwulasulwut: Stories from the Coast Salish
Kwulasulwut II: More Stories from the Coast Salish
Kyle’s Bath
Lakota and Dakota Animal Wisdom Stories
Lacrosse: The National Game of the Iroquois
Ladder to the Sky: How the Gift of Healing Came to the Ojibway Nation
Lakota Sioux Children and Elders Talk Together
Land of the Spotted Eagle
The Landing of the Pilgrims
Last Leaf First Snowflake to Fall
The Last Warrior
The Last Yahi: A Novel About Ishi
The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle
The Legend of Jimmy Spoon
The Legend of Mexicatl
The Legend of the Lady Slipper
The Legend of Lady’s Slipper
The Legend of Leelanau
The Legend of the Loon
The Legend of Mackinac Island
The Legend of Sleeping Bear
The Legend of Spinoza, the Bear Who Speaks from the Heart
Legend of the White Buffalo Woman
Legends of the Iroquois
Lessons from Mother Earth
Lessons from Turtle Island: Native Curriculum in Early Childhood Classrooms
Less than Half, More than Whole
Let’s Be Indians!
Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving
Lies to Live By
The Life and Death of Crazy Horse
The Light on the Tent Wall
Listen to the Night: Poems for the Animal Spirits of Mother Earth
Little Bear’s Vision Quest
Little Coyote Runs Away
The Little Duck/Sikhpsis
Little Eagle Lots of Owls
Little Firefly: An Algonquian Legend
A Little History of My Forest Life: An Indian-White Autobiography by Eliza Morrison
Little House on the Prairie
Little Voice
Little White Cabin
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
The Long March
Longwalker’s Journey: A Novel of the Choctaw Trail of Tears
Lord of the Animals: A Miwok Indian Creation Myth
Lost Bird of Wounded Knee: Spirit of the Lakota
The Lost Boy and the Monster
Luminaries of the Humble
Maata’s Journal
Maybe I Will Do Something: Seven Coyote Tales
Maii and Cousin Horned Toad
Mali Npnaqs: The Story of a Mean Little Old Lady
Mama, Do You Love Me?
Mama’s Little One
Manabozho’s Gifts: Three Chippewa Tales
The Manitous: The Spiritual World of the Ojibway
The Matchlock Gun
Mayers: A Yucatec Maya Family
Mayuk the Grizzly Bear
Meet Mindy: A Native Girl from the Southwest
Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake bay Area
Meet Tricky Coyote!
Memory Songs
The Middle Five: Indian Schoolboys of the Omaha Tribe
Millie Cooper’s Ride: A True Story from History
Minik’s Story
Mink and Cloud
Mink and Grey Bird
Mink and Granny
Mink and Whale
Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway
The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway
Missions of the Central Coast
Missions of the Inland Valleys
Missions of the Los Angeles Area
Missions of the Monterey Bay Area
Missions of the San Francisco Bay Area
Missions of the Southern Coast
Mohawk Trail
Montezuma and the Aztecs
Moon Mother: A Native American Creation Tale
Moonstick: The Seasons of the Sioux
The Moon, the Sun, and the Coyote
More Earthmaker’s Tales: North American Indian Stories About Earth Happenings
More Star Tales: North American Indian Stories about the Stars
Morning on the Lake
Morning Sun, Black Star: The Northern Cheyenne Indians and America’s Energy Crisis
The Morning the Sun Went Down
Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth
Murdo’s Story: A Legend from Northern Manitoba
“Mush-hole”: Memories of a Residential School
Muskrat Will Be Swimming
My Arctic 1, 2, 3
My Grandmother’s Cookie Jar
My Heart Is on the Ground: The Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl, Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania, 1880
My Indian Boyhood
My Name is Seepeetza
My Navajo Sister
My People, the Sioux
Mystery of Coyote Canyon
Mystery of the Navajo Moon
Myths of the Cherokee
Myths and Legends of the Sioux
Nanabosho Dances
Nanabosho: How the Turtle Got Its Shell
Nanabosho, Soaring Eagle, and the Great Sturgeon
Nanobosho Steals Fire
Nanabosho and the Woodpecker
Native America: Portrait of the Peoples
Native American Culture Series: Arts and Crafts
Native American Culture Series: Child Reading
Native American Culture Series: Daily Life
Native American Culture Series: The European Invasion
Native American Culture Series: Spiritual Life
Native American Culture Series: Tribal Law
A Native American Feast
Native American Gardening: Stories, Projects, and Recipes for Families
Native American Picture Books of Change: The Art of Historic Children’s Editions
Native American Testimony
Native Americans
Native Americans in Children’s Literature
Native Americans: Projects, Games and Activities for Grades K-3
Native Americans: Projects, Games and Activities for Grades 4-6
Native North American Literature
The Naughty Little Rabbit and Old Man Coyote
Navajo ABC: A Dine Alphabet Book
Navajo Coyote Tales
Navajo Creation Myth: The Story of the Emergence
Navajo Long Walk (Armstrong)
Navajo Long Walk (Bruchac)
Navajo Stories of the Long Walk Period
Navajo: Visions and Voices Across the Mesa
Night Is Gone, Day Is Still Coming: Stories and Poems by American Indian Teens and Young Adults
The Night the White Deer Died
Nishnawbe: A Story of Indians in Michigan
No Borders
No Parole Today
Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails
Northwest Coast Indians
Northwoods Cradle Song: From a Menominee Lullaby
No Time to Say Goodbye: Children’s Stories of Kuper Island Residential School
Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert
Of Mother Earth and Father Sky: A Photographic Study of Navajo Cultures
Of Plymouth Plantation
Ojibwa Texts
The Ojibway Dream
Ojibway Family Life in Minnesota
Old Bag of Bones: A Coyote Tale
Old Enough
Old Father Storyteller
The Old Hogan
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims
One More Story: Contemporary Seneca Indian Tales of the Supernatural
On Mother’s Lap
On the Trail of Elder Brother: Gous’gap Stories of the Micmac Nation
On the Trail Made of Dawn: Native American Creation Stories
Orca’s Song
The Other Side of Nowhere
Our Journey
Outfoxing Coyote
Outlaws, Renegades and Saints: Diary of a Mixed-up Halfbreed
Pablo Remembers: The Fiesta of the Day of the Dead
Pah
Partial Recall: Photographs of Native North Americans
Pasquala: The Story of a California Indian Girl
The Path of the Quiet Elk
People of the Breaking Day
People of Salmon and Cedar
The People with Five Fingers
Photographs and Poems by Sioux Children
Pia Toya: A Goshute Indian Legend
The Pilgrims and Me
The Pilgrim’s First Thanksgiving
Pipaluk and the Whales
The Place at the Edge of the Earth
Plains Indians Diorama to Cut and Assemble
Pomo Basketmaking: A supreme art for the weaver
Popul Vuh
A Portrait of Spotted Deer’s Grandfather
Potlach: A Tsimshian Celebration
Power
Powwow
Powwow Summer: A Family Celebrates the Circle of Life
The Prince and the Salmon People
Protectors of the Land: An Environmental Journey to Understanding the Conservation Ethic
Pte Oyate: Buffalo Nations, Buffalo People
Pueblo Boy: Growing Up in Two Worlds
Pueblo Girls: Growing Up in Two Worlds
Pueblo Storyteller
Quest for the Eagle Feather
Questions and Swords: Folktales of the Zapatista Revolution
A Quick Brush of Wings
Quillworker: A Cheyenne Legend
Rachel’s Children
The Rainbow Bridge
The Rainbow Bridge: A Chumash Legend
Rainbow Crow
A Rainbow at Night: The World in Words and Pictures by Navajo Children
Rain Is Not My Indian Name
Rainy’s Powwow
The Range Eternal
Raven and the Moon and The Oystercatcher: Two Haida Legends
Raven Goes Berrypicking
Raven Returns the Water
Raven and Snipe
Raven’s Gift
Raven’s Light: A Myth from the People of the Northwest Coast
The Raven Steals the Light
Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest
A Really Good Brown Girl
Recovering the Word: Essays on Native American Literature
Red Hawk’s Account of Custer’s Last Battle
Red Hawk and the Sky Sisters: A Shawnee Legend
Red Flower Goes West
Red Indian Fair Book
Red Parka Mary
red woman with backward dyes
The Return of crazy horse
Rising Voices: Writings of Young Native Americans
A River Lost
Rolly’s Bear
The Rough-Face Girl
Runs With Horses
The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
Saanii Dahataal: The Women Are Singing
Salmon Boy
A Salmon for Simon
Salmon Summer
Sculpted Stones/Piedras Labradas
Seaman’s Journal: On the Trail with Lewis and Clark
The Sea Monster’s Secret
Searching for Chipeta: The Story of a Ute and Her People
The Second Bend in the River
The Secrets and Mysteries of the Cherokee Little People, Yunwi Tsunsdi
The Secret of the White Buffalo
Seeds of Struggle, Songs of Hope: Poetry of Emerging Youth y Sus Maestros del Movimeniento
Selu: Seeking the Corn Mother’s Wisdom
Seminole Children and Elders Talk Together
The Seven Fires: An Ojibway Prophecy
The Seven Visions of Bull Lodge as Told by His Daughter Garter Snake
Seya’s Song
Shannon: An Ojibway Dancer
Shingebiss: An Ojibwa Legend
Shooting Back from the Reservation: A Photographic View of Life by Native American Youth
The Sign of the Beaver
Sika and the Raven
Sing Down the Moon
Sing Down the Rain
The Sioux: Facts, Stories, Activities
Sitting Bull, Champion of the Sioux
Sitting Bull and His World
Skeleton Man
The Sketchbook of Thomas Blue Eagle
Skunny Wundy and other Indian Tales
SkySisters
The Snake that Lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Other Ohlone Stories
Soaring Spirits: Conversations with Native American Teens
Solar Storms
Soloman’s Tree
Son of Raven, Son of Deer: Fables of the Tse-Shaht People
Song of the Hermit Thrust: An Iroquois Legend
Song of Sedna
Songs from the Loom: A Navajo Girl Learns to Weave
Songs of Shiprock Fair
The Song Within My Heart
The Sound of Flutes
Speak to Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry
Spider Spins a Story: Fourteen Legends from Native America
Spider Woman
The Spirit Line
Spirit of the Maya: A Boy Explores His People’s Mysterious Past
Spirit of the White Bison
Spirit Transformed: A Journey from Tree to Totem
Spirit Voices of Bones
Spotted Eagle and Black Crow: A Lakota Legend
Spotted Tail’s Folk: A History of the Brule Sioux
The Spring Celebration
Squanto and the First Thanksgiving
The Star Maiden
Star Tales: North American Indian Stories about the Stars
Stories of the Road Allowance People
The Story of Blue Elk
The Story of Colors/La Historia de los Colores
A Story of the Dreamcatcher
The Story of the First Thanksgiving
The Story of Jumping Mouse: A Native American Legend
The Story of the Pilgrims
A Story to Tell: Traditions of a Tlingit Community
The Storyteller’s Sourcebook
The Story of Thanksgiving (Bartlett)
The Story of Thanksgiving (Skarmeas)
Strong Hearts: Native American Visions and Voices
The Sugar Bush
Sunflower’s Promise: A Zuni Legend
Sunpainters: Eclipse of the Navajo Sun
Supper for Crow: A Northwest Coast Indian Tale
A Symphony of Whales
T’aal: The One who Takes Bad Children
The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote
Ten Little Rabbits
Testimony: Death of a Guatemalan Village
The Thanksgiving Beast Feast
Thanksgiving Fun Activity Book
Thanksgiving Day (Gibbons)
Thanksgiving Day (Rockwell)
Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective
The Thanksgiving Story
That Tricky Coyote!
Thunderwoman: A Mythic Novel of the Pueblos
The Truth about Sacajawea
There Still are Buffalo
They Dance in the Sky: Native American Star Myths
They Were Strong and Good
This Land is My Land
Those Tiny Bits of Beans
Thunder Bear and Ko: The Buffalo Nation and Nambe Pueblo
Time Among the Navajos: Traditional Lifeways on the Reservation
Tjatjakiymatchan (Coyote): A Legend from Carmel Valley
To Kill an Indian: Indian Views on the Last Days of Crazy Horse
To Live in Two Worlds: American Indian Youth Today
Tonweya and the Eagles and Other Lakota Tales
Totem Pole
Totem Pole Carving: Bringing a Log to Life
Truth and Bright Water
The Turkey Girl: A Zuni Cinderella Story
Turkey’s, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn
Turquoise Boy: A Navajo Legend
Turtle Island: Tales of the Algonquian Nation
Turtle Lung Woman’s Granddaughter
Turtle Meat and other Stories
Turtle’s Race with Beaver
Two Bad Boys: A Very Old Cherokee Tale
Two Bear Cubs: A Miwok Legend from California’s Yosemite Valley
Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival
Two Pairs of Shoes
Urban Voices: The Bay Area Indian Community
The Upstairs room
The Vanishing Race and Other Illusions: Photographs of Indians by Edward S. Curtis
Vatos
The Very First Americans
The Very First Thanksgiving Day
Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature 1900-1970
Waboseg (An Ojibwe story about Rabbits’ ears)
Waheenee: An Indian Girl’s Story
Wait for Me!
Walking the Choctaw Road
Walks in Beauty
Walk Two Moons
Waleye Warriors: An Effective Alliance Against Racism and for the Earth
War of the Eagles
Waterlily
Watership Down
We Are All Related: A Celebration of Our Cultural Heritage
We Are the Many: A Picture Book of American Indians
Weaving a California Tradition: A Native American Basketweaver
Weave Little Stars Into My Sleep: Native American Lullabies
Whale Brother
Whale Girl
When Beaver Was Very Great
When the Chenoo Howls: Native American Tales of Terror
When the Moon is Full: A Lunar Year
When the Rain Sings: Poems by Young Native Americans
When the World Ended, How Hummingbird Got Fire, How People Were Made
Where Courage Is Like a Wild Horse
Where Did You Get Your Moccasins
Where Only the Elders Go—Moon Lake Loon Lake
Where There Is No Name for Art: The Art of Tewa Pueblo Children
Where the Rivers Meet
Whispers Among the Mission Trail
Whispers from the First Californians: A Story of California’s First People
White Buffalo Woman: A Storybook Based on Indian Legend
White Wolf
who will tell my brother?
Why Buffalo Roam
Wild Rice and the Ojibway People
The Winter People
Winter Thunder: Retold Tales
Wisahkecahk Flies to the Moon
The Wish Wind
WolfStar
Women of the Struggle: Portraits and Testimony of Native American Women
Word Up! Hope for Youth Poetry
The World of Manabozho: Tales of the Chippewa Indians
The Worry Stone
Wounded Knee
Writing as Witness
The Year of Miss Agnes
Yonder Mountains: A Cherokee Legend
Yudonsi: A Tale from the Canyons
A Zuni Artist Looks at Frank Hamilton Cushing
Zuni Breadstuff
Zuni Children and Elders Talk Together
The Zunis: Self-Portrayals

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Search terms

Nothing substantive today, just offering you a glimpse of search terms by which people found the blog as of 11:30 today. The software that generates the list doesn't use upper case letters.

  1. creation story myths children's literature
  2. touching spirit bear by ben mikaelsen
  3. native blogs
  4. pre-school indians themes
  5. thanksgiving indian plays
  6. pattern for native american moccasins
  7. thanksgiving truth for kids
  8. thanksgiving offensive?
  9. children's literature math double addition
  10. "pourquoi tales" kids
  11. pourquoi stories about wolves
  12. thanksgiving and indians
  13. jimmy durham totem
  14. sequoyah rumford
  15. american indians children's reese
  16. children story of american indian named squanto
  17. thanksgiving images with native indians
  18. text about american indian a long time ago
  19. novel spirit bear banishment
  20. interior salish culture websites for kids
  21. cherokee indian lessons
  22. american indians and thanksgiving
  23. kindergarten story of the mayflower
  24. native american story first thanksgiving children
  25. critical analysis indian in the cupboard
  26. how indians feel about thanksgiving
  27. thanksgiving fact or fiction
  28. how did the pilgrims get to the u.s.a.
  29. preschool kiddie poems
  30. "jimmy durham" "columbus day"
  31. a coyote columbus story analysis
  32. kindergarten math lesson plans for thanksgiving
  33. touching spirit bear ben mikaelsen essay
  34. pilgrims and indians; similarities and differences
  35. children of the longhouse summary
  36. thanksgiving whitewash
  37. thanksgiving projects hard indian costumes
  38. how did indians affect the little house on the prairie
  39. coyote columbus
  40. "a coyote columbus story" criticism
  41. indian in the cupboard lesson plans
  42. american tribes for kid study
  43. children of the longhouse summary

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Those Thanksgiving Lesson Plans

Newspapers everywhere carry articles about Thanksgiving and how it is taught in local schools. To protect the students who played roles in the specific article I'm referring to, I will not identify the school or the newspaper in which this particular article appeared.

As said many times on this blog, I respect teachers for the work they do. I do not mean to embarrass or humiliate them for that work, but I do mean to encourage them to think carefully about the ways they teach their students about "The First Thanksgiving" and American Indians.

--------------------
(1) A boy is selected to portray "Chief Sun Slayer" for the school's "Thanksgiving feast." He wears a headdress of multicolored paper feathers.
  • "Sun Slayer": To me, this is obviously a made-up name intended to convey power, but why would ANYONE want to slay the sun? The headdress of multicolored paper feathers is probably the Plains style, not one that the Powhatan people would have used. Instead of providing students with substantive information, these children's stereotypical views of Indians as monolithic people who all wore Plains style attire, are affirmed.
(2) The kids in the class dressed as Indians, and then the girls voted for the boy who would be their chief. The teacher says "That's how it's really done." and "The women choose the chief."

  • Later in the article, the teacher notes they have been studying the Powhatan tribe. According to Helen Rountree, a scholar of the Powhatan Indians of Virginia, women do not vote in tribal matters. And, chief's inherited their positions through the mother's line. In some tribal nations, women play an important role in selection of leaders, but not the Powhatans.
(3) The children made their costumes out of construction paper, and chose an Indian-style name for themselves. The name they chose is "Powhatan Pee Wees."

  • Choosing Indian names is a popular activity, whether it is for a "tribe" or for oneself. People try to be clever in choosing these names. You may want to read "A Brief Digression about Naming" in the review of Ann Rinaldi's book at the Oyate website. Scroll down to get to that part of the review.

(4) This classroom study included information about wampum, which the article says is "a prized string of beads." The kids dressed as Pilgrims make wampum; the Indians make maps, and they trade.
  • People commonly think wampum was used as legal tender. According to George R. Hammell of the New York State Museum (excerpts from Encyclopedia of North American Indians, edited by Frederick E. Hoxie, page 662-664),
"...wampum's use as legal tender was its least culturally significant fucntion; for them wampum was and still is both the medium and the message of social communications."
Hammel goes on to say:
"The most culturally significant function of wampum among the northeastern woodlands Indians has been its use, in the forms of strings and belts, in rituals of kindship affirmation and rituals of condolence."

(5) This classroom study emphasizes "when the European settlers traded wampum (a prized strong of beads) for land, the American Indians thought the Europeans understood that the land was not theirs alone, but for both peoples to share."

  • Native peoples were intellectuals (not naive, simple-minded or primitive savages) who engaged in diplomatic relations with the English and the French. I will see if I can find a book to recommend, one that can be used in elementary school classrooms, that portrays these relationships with honesty to all involved.
------------------------

This lesson is only one of the many being taught this month. I urge teachers to revisit their Thanksgiving lessons, and change them. Start doing it now, so you'll have a year to work on changing the lessons, lest your students end up in a college class where they read Lies my Teacher Told Me and remember the instruction they had in elementary school. Come to think of it, every teacher should get the book, read it, and use it to create lesson plans for next year.



Monday, November 20, 2006

I'm adding a few images to the site. See, for example, the covers of Jingle Dancer and Where Did You Get Your Moccasins.

Addition to my post on November 18th: I have added a link to Waller Hasting's page about Where Did You Get Your Moccasins? Hastings is a professor at Northern State University in South Dakota.


Sunday, November 19, 2006


Muscogee (Creek) author, Cynthia Leitich Smith

One of my favorite authors of children's books with Native characters is Cynthia Leitich Smith. I've written about her books here before. Whenever I do a workshop for teachers, her Jingle Dancer is one I highlight.

Her website is terrific, and you can read an interview of Cyn at downhomebooks.com.

If you're someone who gives children books during the holiday season, order several copies and give them to teachers and children, and teenagers and librarians, and grandparents whose grandkids visit them...

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Bernelda Wheeler's WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR MOCCASINS


Early childhood classrooms generally have a "Show and Tell" segment of the day during which one child talks about a special item he or she has brought from home. Bernelda Wheeler's Where Did You Get Your Moccasins? captures one of those moments.


Colorized cover of the 2019 e-book version



The book is meant for reading aloud in an early childhood classroom. Here's an excerpt:

"Hi, Jody! Where did you get your moccasins?"

"My Kookum made my moccasins for me."

"Who is your Kookum?"

"My Kookum is my Grandmother. She made my moccasins for me."
This pattern continues throughout the book. With each page turn, Jody provides a little more information about his Native culture. The illustrations, by Herman Bekkering, depict a modern day elementary school classroom with low bookshelves. The children, Jody included, are shown wearing jeans and t-shirts. These pictures convey something a lot of children need to know: Native people are part of today's society.

Published in Canada, please order it from an independent bookstore! Or---order two copies. One for yourself, and one to give to a teacher!

[11/20/06 Note: For more information about the book, visit Waller Hasting's webpage.]

Friday, November 17, 2006

Marlinda White-Kaulaity's article in ALAN REVIEW

Thanks to Cynsations (Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog), I learned of an article I want to highlight today. The article is in ALAN Review and is written by a Dine (Navajo) woman in the PhD program in Curriculum and Instruction at Arizona State University.

Here's the first paragraph from "The Voices of Power and the Power of Voices: Teaching with Native American Literature":

"The weight and thickness of Mike's new literature book in English class intimidated him. He opened the book searching for Native American writers whose work he loved to read. Sherman Alexie was his favorite. As he fingered through the table of contents, all he found was a poem about Hiawatha, two stories in the mythology chapter, and one short story in the "Other Literatures" chapter in the back of the book. Sighing heavily, he gazed out the classroom window feeling bored and knowing that this English class would be more of the same. He closed his eyes and his mind, questioning the system and wondering to himself, 'Why can't we read the good stuff in English class?'"

Fortunately, the article is on-line in pdf. A sidebar features comments from Simon Ortiz, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Laura Tohe, all of whom give us outstanding literature about American Indians.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Joseph A. Dandurand's Please Do Not Touch the Indians

[Note: This review used by permission of its author. It may not be published elsewhere without written permission of the author.]

-----------------------------------------------

Dandurand, Joseph A. (Kwantlen), Please Do Not Touch the Indians. Renegade Planets, 2004. 55 pages, grades 7-up

There’s a moment between sleeping and wakefulness that we’ve all experienced: a moment of transformation that may manifest itself as a falling tree, or a visit from a long-dead relative, or rain on the roof, or a memory too horrible to speak of; a moment of transformation in which time is timeless and reality is surreal.

Wooden Indian Man and Wooden Indian Woman sit on a bench in front of Hank Williams Sr.’s Bait and Gift Shop. Visited by Sister Coyote, Brother Raven and Mr. Wolf, Wooden Indian Man and Wooden Indian Woman exchange stories that weave forward, back and around, the way good stories do. Stories about a kind-hearted woman who wouldn’t hurt a fly and a two-headed baby in a jar, a boat full of fish and a salmon who seeks to seduce a raven, a grandma besieged by prankster grandchildren and a life bet for one ugly horse. And the Tourists who think that Wooden Indian Man and Wooden Indian Woman are as they appear to be.

As Tourist transforms into a movie director shouting orders—“Let’s get some close-ups of those bleeding scalps. I want them to drip and drip…I want to see the children and the women screaming and crying.”— Wooden Indian Man and Wooden Indian Woman tell the lives of Indian people, speak their truths to power. Bitter, painful memories of all the indignities, large and small, heaped upon the people over the generations. And the children, slaughtered on the “battlefield,” the survivors raped and abused at residential school, left to the ravages of alcoholism and suicide. Now the children—Sister Coyote, Brother Raven and Mr. Wolf—jump and transform themselves into the sacred Beings they are. And Wooden Indian Man comforts Wooden Indian Woman:

Rest now. We will come back tomorrow and see what spirits come to visit us. Go to sleep, my love. Sleep and dream of days like this. Days filled with wonderful and alive spirits that play and sing, forever…

—Beverly Slapin

Friday, November 10, 2006

Thanksgiving Lesson Plans

Below is a post from back in September that I'm repeating today. Instead of the problematic "Thanksgiving Pilgrims and Indians" lessons, get the book I describe below and try some of the lessons from that book. If it is too late for this year, get it NOW so you'll be ready to do something different next year.

Native Americans: Lesson Plans

With Thanksgiving approaching, teachers across the country are getting ready to teach children about Native Americans. Unfortunately, far too often, November and Thanksgiving (and Columbus Day) are the only times of the year that Native peoples make an appearance in the curriculum. That is not "best practice!" I urge teachers to teach about American Indians throughout the year. Here's one book to help you do that.

A terrific resource for early childhood teachers is Lessons from Turtle Island: Native Curriculum in Early Childhood Classrooms, by Guy W. Jones and Sally Moomaw.

Published in 2002 by Redleaf Press, the book has a lot to offer. Here's an excerpt from the introduction:

"Throughout this book, we have often relied on outstanding children's literature, usually by Native authors, to introduce positive, accurate images of Native peoples to children. It is our view that, with the possible exception of classroom visits by American Indian people, excellent children's literature is the most effective way to counter deeply held stereotypes and help children focus on similarities among peoples as well as cultural differences. The literature serves as a catalyst to extend related activities into other areas of the curriculum."

And here's an excerpt from Chapter 1:

"Omission of Native peoples from the curriculum, inaccurate curriculum, and stereotyping all amount to cultural insensitivity. This is heightened, however, when well-meaning teachers introduce projects that are culturally inappropriate."

Jones and Moomaw go on to discuss projects such as feathers and headdresses, peace pipes, totem poles, dream catchers, sand paintings, pictographs, rattles, drums, and brown bag vests.

Chapter 2 includes a lesson plan called "Children and Shoes" that uses Bernelda Wheeler's Where Did You Get Your Moccasins? and Esther Sanderson's Two Pairs of Shoes. It includes suggested activities in dramatic play (Shoe Store), math (Shoe Graph) and science (Shoe Prints), all of which convey similarities across cultures.

Chapter 6 is about the environment. Featured are two of Jan Bourdeau Waboose's books, SkySisters and Morning on the Lake. In the "not recommended" section that closes each chapter, this chapter says it is not recommended to ask children to make up Indian stories, and explains why.

As a former first grade teacher, I highly recommend this book to anyone working with young children. It is available from Oyate for $30.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Guest post: Kara Stewart, "Children's Books about Thanksgiving"

I am a teacher. I am also Native American (Sappony). I’m very lucky that my principal and lead teacher are supportive of me in that they are quite willing to listen to my views on teaching to and about Native Americans and act accordingly.

Recently, many colorful, attractive-looking books were put on display in our elementary school’s teacher resource room, available for check out to teachers as great books to read aloud during November. Many of them had the usual Thanksgiving scenes and theme on the cover.

Upon reading several of them, I began to feel uncomfortable. I had a feeling that several of them would be on Oyate’s “Books to Avoid about Thanksgiving” list. Sure enough, they were. But I felt I needed to give more solid reasons for removing them from the resource room than “they are on Oyate’s Books to Avoid about Thanksgiving list” and “the Indian teacher in the school is offended by them”. Often, it is difficult to articulate feelings of discomfort or offense, and present them in a way that others will understand, and also tell why those feelings have surfaced. I needed some help – something to give me more specifics, “hard data” almost, or other opinions to think about, especially the opinions of those that have critiqued many books like this.

So I did some digging. Oyate also has a section on their site called “Books to Avoid”, which you can find from the home page (left side bar, last choice). But none of the ones I wanted were listed (there are in-depth reviews of very common books, such as The Indian in the Cupboard, The Courage of Sarah Noble, Brother Eagle, Sister Sky, Little House on the Prairie, The Sign of the Beaver and more).

Also on the Oyate site, again under “Resources,” there is a link to Deconstructing the Myths of “The First Thanksgiving” (see the Longer Version) by Judy Dow and Beverly Slapin. I found this document very helpful and enlightening. I read it carefully to get a sense of what is a myth about Thanksgiving, and what is more historically accurate. As it turns out, much of what we accept and were taught about “The First Thanksgiving” simply is not historically supportable. Much of it simply is not true.

The Deconstructing article, in addition to giving the more likely historical facts and the reasons for them, also provides quite a few quotes from books on the “Books to Avoid about Thanksgiving” list as specific examples of part of the reason why those books are not recommended. Most of the books that were put out in our teacher resource room fell under this category – historically inaccurate - in addition to having other problems.

What we were taught about “The First Thanksgiving” and what many of us have inadvertently perpetuate in our students and even our own children seems to be a sort of mishmashed conglomerate of ideas that have been taught as ‘the way things were’ to students for many, many years. Much of that mishmash is made up of stereotypes of Native Americans. These stereotypes lead many Native Americans to be uncomfortable and offended with the “traditional” way Thanksgiving is presented to students. Many of the books were also written from very Eurocentric viewpoints, as if the Europeans’ version of events is the only true version, as if there was no thriving society in America before they came, as if the Indian viewpoint does not matter enough to write or consider. In other words, the books are “whitewashed.” In addition to that, in many instances, the historical inaccuracies also amount to ‘whitewashing’ – for example, an innocuous sounding, “The ‘Pilgrims’ found corn” covers the more historically accurate version which amounts to that the Europeans took the Indians’ cached corn in addition to items from a child’s grave and things from two Indian homes, all with no restitution. See the Deconstructing article for more on this point.

Several examples of Eurocentric writing that perpetuate stereotypes stood out to me. In The First Thanksgiving by Linda Hayward, the ‘Pilgrims’ spend 30 of the 48 pages in this book being afraid of the Indians. The book is peppered with phrases such as,
“They’ve been warned that Indians may attack them.”
America looks wild and strange. Is it safe? Are Indians hiding in the forest?”
“Suddenly they see Indians! But the Indians are frightened and run away.”
“They know the Indians are watching them. They can see smoke from their campfires. They can hear them in the woods. A guard is posted day and night.”
“The Indians must not know how few Pilgrims are left.”
“Indians are sighted nearby. They come closer and closer. Then one day an Indian walks right into the settlement. The children are terrified. But the Indian smiles and says, ‘Welcome’. His name is Samoset. He speaks English! The Pilgrims ask Samoset many questions. They give him presents. They want to trust this friendly Indian. Samoset comes back with an Indian named Squanto. He speaks even better English!”
The book then goes on to give an unrealistically oversimplified (and inaccurate) version of how, after that, the ‘Pilgrims’ and Indians were friends. (Read the Deconstructing article to find out why I put ‘Pilgrims’ in quotes.)

In addition to the extremely condescending tone of the book towards Native Americans (“He speaks even better English!”) and general feeling it leaves me with (Indians being akin to wild dogs that run and hide in the forest) is a clear message that Indians are not to be trusted. “They want to trust Samoset” (but can’t because he’s an Indian?). That is what will be passed on to every child that hears or read this book. They may not be able to articulate the message they are getting out of this book (just like I couldn’t before I put considerable thought and effort into understanding and articulating why it was so offensive to me), but they will be learning exactly that.

Another example of that sort of unthinking condescension that so frequently peppers the Eurocentric view in these books is in Marc Brown’s Arthur’s Thanksgiving. Let me just say that I love Marc Brown’s books in general and also his character, Arthur. Marc Brown is one of the authors I do author studies on. I promote and read many different Arthur books to my students. So the discomfort and offense this book gave me was doubly disappointing. In the book, Arthur and his pals are putting on the “traditional” Thanksgiving play for school. Through this book, they are passing on historically inaccurate information to kids. Here is a problematic excerpt as Arthur and pals try to decide who will play which part for the play:

Arthur showed Muffy a drawing of the turkey costume.
“Lots of feathers,” said Arthur. It’s a very glamorous role.”
“Yuk! Vomitrocious!” squealed Muffy. I should be the Indian princess. I have real braids."
“Brain, I’ve saved the most intelligent part for you," explained Arthur.
“No way will I be the turkey,” answered Brain. "I'll be the Indian chief."
Which leaves at least three impressions: 1) that there are “Indian princesses,” 2) “Indian princesses” all have braids, and 3) that a turkey is more intelligent than an Indian, since Brain assumed that Arthur was talking about the turkey when Arthur said he had saved the most intelligent part for Brain.

Jean Craighead George is another of my favorite authors. But her book, The First Thanksgiving is full of historical inaccuracies, many of which whitewash the situation. But her last sentence of the book is the killer, to me. She refers to Plymouth Rock and then says, “It is the rock on which our nation began.”

Excuse me? America did not begin until the ‘Pilgrims’ arrived? America had no cultures, societies, nothing until the ‘Pilgrims’ arrived and there was supposedly a Thanksgiving feast with the Indians? This is an obvious example of Eurocentric writing discounting any view but that of Europeans. It is highly offensive to those of us who are Indian or part Indian. It should be highly offensive to everyone since incorrect information has been passed along to all readers.

Some may say that I am overly sensitive to this topic in my reactions to the above examples of stereotypes and Eurocentric writing. I encourage you to substitute similar analogies in the above examples using “African Americans” instead of “Indians.” Did you try it? Sound a little fishy? Substitute in your heritage group for “Indians.” Starting to smart a little?

Now add to that a big theme that is based on historical inaccuracies – inaccuracies about a series of events, inaccuracies about your heritage group (as well as stereotypes), and inaccuracies about the supposed ‘culminating’ event. Starting to feel uncomfortable? Perhaps a little offended?

Let’s take it a step further. Let’s teach all of that about your heritage group – the stereotypes, the inaccuracies, the whitewashing – to kids as the truth. Let’s make school plays out of it and teach it as if it were fact. And then let’s continue to believe it and teach it and give life to it as adults despite many of your heritage group’s objections, and despite the availability of resources and information on how to teach accurately, non-offensively, and not inadvertently.

And now I can say that I understand why those books were on the “Books to Avoid about Thanksgiving list from Oyate.

*It should be noted that the list of “Books to Avoid about Thanksgiving” is not exhaustive, which is why we all need to read critically with an understanding of historical accuracy as well as the issues of Eurocentrism and stereotypes. Oyate also has a list of References/Recommended books.

Kara Stewart
www.sappony.org

Edited on July 23, 2015, to update links.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

James Rumford's Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing

[Note: This review is used by permission of its author. It may not be published used elsewhere without permission of the author.]

--------------------------------------

Rumford, James, Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing, illustrated by the author and translated by Anna Sixkiller Huckaby (Cherokee). Houghton Mifflin, 2004; unpaginated, color illustrations; grades 1-4.

On a family road trip to California to visit the redwood trees called Giant Sequoia, a father relates the story of the origins of the Cherokee syllabary and the perseverance of its creator, Sequoyah. Sequoyah is portrayed as an otherwise ordinary man, a metalworker, who undertook the daunting task of setting speech to paper so that the Cherokee language would not “fade away.” Neither ridicule nor harassment from his contemporaries—not even the destruction of his home by arson—could stop Sequoyah from creating the syllabary widely used in Cherokee writing today.

Rumford’s text, reminiscent of traditional storytelling, is concise and evocative. Each paragraph in English is followed by a parallel in Cherokee by Anna Sixkiller Huckaby. The book design, format and illustrations are a thing of beauty and perfectly complement this story within a story. The tall, slim format and mostly dark brown and forest green accents honor both the stately Giant Sequoia trees and the man, Sequoyah, whose name they bear. The bold-lined artwork—done with ink, watercolor, pastel and pencil on drawing paper adhered to a rough piece of wood, then “rubbed” with chalk and colored pencil—remind one of 19th-Century woodblock prints. The Cherokee writing serves both as an example of what Sequoyah accomplished, and as a beautiful design element that completes the wholeness of the book.—Beverly Slapin

Monday, November 06, 2006

Native Perspectives on Philbrick's MAYFLOWER: A STORY OF COURAGE, COMMUNITY AND WAR

Editor's note on July 1, 2022: Broken links are now fixed. We are grateful to readers who let us know about typos and broken links. --Debbie

Native Perspectives on Philbrick's Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War

Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War
Recently, someone asked if I had read Nathaniel Philbrick's book, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War. I have not, but there is an article about it in Indian Country Today. The article, "Correcting history: Telling 'our' story" is by Paula Peters, who is Mashpee Wampanoag. For those of you interested in a Native perspective on Philbrick's book, take a look. It was posted November 3rd, 2006 in the Front Page section on the on line paper.

Also in Indian Country Today is an article about a forum, "Forum examines colonization mythology" that took place at U of Massachusetts, Boston, on October 10th. Philbrick was one of the participants. The moderator, Joan Lester, posed these questions: "Are historians obliged to represent all participants? Lester asked. Where does an author go when there are no written sources? Does the reader have a responsibility to develop the critical thinking skills needed to recognize bias? And how do authors and readers move beyond longstanding stereotypes and misconceptions to a fuller, more accurate and respectful telling of the American story?" Both articles are helpful as we think about the ways children are taught about Thanksgiving, and the ways that story is told in children's books.