- Her name... doesn't it call to mind Disney's Pocahontas?!
- These goofy hyphenated Indian-sounding names (oh dang, I used a hyphen, too) are dreadful. So many writers come up with names like these for characters. But heck. A little research, please! Osborne could have looked for someone who speaks one of the Mayan languages, and found out what their word is for jaguar, and used that, right? Or a translation of it, from that language into English? Maybe Osborne thinks there's no Mayan people around? Surely, though.... doesn't she listen to, or read, national news? Like this story?
Wanted: Speakers Of Mayan Languages, Many Of Them
Enlarge this image On a weekday morning, in an upscale area of Arlington, Va., the suburban silence is as thick as the foliage save for the hum of a leaf blower or an occasional car. In one of the homes, Sheba Velasco is thinking of snacks for the children.
- Did you catch that... Heart-of-the-Wind/Pocahontas... talking to animals?
- I wonder if Osborne has a Magic Tree House story where Jack and Annie travel to... the Vatican. I wonder if that book would be dismissive of what they see there?
- Osborne's other books with Native people include THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY.
THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY, by Mary Pope Osborne
A friend (you, Diana!) asked (on Facebook) for books that a first grader could read on Kindle. Several people suggested Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Treehouse Series. I chimed in to let Diana know that Osborne's Thanksgiving on Thursday is one that I do not recommend. Here's why.- There's a review of BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST in A BROKEN FLUTE: THE NATIVE EXPERIENCE IN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. No surprise... it is a #Fail, too!
- Guess what the wise old Lakota grandma in Buffalo Before Breakfast names Jack?
- Rides-Like-Wind (I guess Osborne is partial to names with wind in them).
- I know some of you think I'm mean, being snarky and all towards Osborne's writing. Some of you may even think what I've said should be ignored. Because... tone. Some of you think that criticism has to be delivered in the proper way.
- Sometimes, snark is the only way to get through a book. I hope Osborne reads this Storify. I hope her editor does. Reading Shadow of the Shark is one of those many times when I read a book and think HOW DID THIS GET PUBLISHED???
- Whether you like my tone or not, I hope you'll click on away, with the info I've shared in mind. Don't screw up if you're writing about Native peoples. Someone will probably write to me about your screw up. And then you'll see your book on my site in the "Debbie--have you seen" series...
Established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books. Dr. Jean Mendoza joined AICL as a co-editor in 2016.
Friday, September 16, 2016
SHADOW OF THE SHARK by Mary Pope Osborne
Mary Pope Osborne's Shadow of the Shark was published in 2015 as part of the best-selling Magic Tree House series. Osborne's Thanksgiving on Thursday did not fare well, here, at American Indians in Children's literature. Her Shadow of the Shark is just as bad. I tweeted as I read it, on September 15, 2016, made the tweets into a Storify (inserting comments between the tweets), and used the copy/paste function to paste the Storify here.
Debbie--have you seen RUNS WITH COURAGE by Joan M. Wolf?
Several people have written to ask if I've seen Runs With Courage by Joan M. Wolf, due out on October 1 of 2016 from Sleeping Bear Press.
Here's the synopsis:
The synopsis, which may or may not be written by the author, is interesting for what it says about assimilation and erasing the character's culture.
AICL has a copy of the book, sent to us by a reader (not the author or publisher) and we'll review it as soon as we can. If you look at the growing list of books in the "Debbie--have you seen" category, you'll see that we've got a lot to read. I hope, perhaps naively, that there will be one in the category that we'll be able to recommend.
Here's the synopsis:
Ten-year-old Four Winds is a young Lakota girl caught up in the changes brought about by her people's forced move to the reservation. Set in the Dakota Territory, it is the year 1880. Four Winds has been taken away from her family and brought to a boarding school run by whites. It is here she is taught English and learns how to assimilate into white culture. But soon she discovers that the teachers at this school are not interested in assimilation but rather in erasing her culture. On the reservation, Four Winds had to fight against starvation. Now she must fight to hold on to who she is.Given that information, my guess is that "Four Winds" is going to Carlisle.
The synopsis, which may or may not be written by the author, is interesting for what it says about assimilation and erasing the character's culture.
AICL has a copy of the book, sent to us by a reader (not the author or publisher) and we'll review it as soon as we can. If you look at the growing list of books in the "Debbie--have you seen" category, you'll see that we've got a lot to read. I hope, perhaps naively, that there will be one in the category that we'll be able to recommend.
Debbie--have you seen DREAMLAND BURNING by Jennifer Latham?
A reader has written to ask me if I've seen Dreamland Burning, by Jennifer Latham. It is due out in February of 2017, from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Here's the synopsis:
From reviews at Goodreads, I gather that Will Tillman is half White and half Native, 17 years old, and lives in Tulsa, in 1921. If I get a copy and read it, I'll be back.
Here's the synopsis:
When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family's property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past... and the present.
Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what's right the night Tulsa burns.
Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham’s lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important question about the complex state of US race relations – both yesterday and today.
From reviews at Goodreads, I gather that Will Tillman is half White and half Native, 17 years old, and lives in Tulsa, in 1921. If I get a copy and read it, I'll be back.
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