Ten Titles on Tuesday: 2/23/21
Tuesday!
I love this list of 44 Children’s Books About Amazing Black Women from Feminist Books for Kids. I picked up Molly By Golly: The Legend of Molly Williams, American’s First Female Firefighter by Dianne Ochiltree just a few weeks ago. And we’ve been enjoying Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margaret Shetterly and Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed (along with Astro Girl by Ken Wilson-Max and Rockets Says Look Up! by Nathan Bryon, amongst others, which are not biographies but both quite good) in an attempt to satisfy my 4yo’s obsession with space. If you have any beloved space titles, I’d love to hear about them!
Thank you to everyone who responded to my ask last week re: the Little House on the Prairie series — several of you took the time to write the most thoughtful, in-depth responses, and I appreciate it. Special shout out to librarian Rachael Page at the Mount Horeb Public Library for pointing me toward the work of Debbie Reese and her blog, American Indians in Children’s Literature — I was 98% of the way there but Reese’s arguments for ditching Little House convinced me entirely.
We’ll not be reading any of it and I’m selling my set.
If you choose to read Little House, it seems a wise course of action to do so alongside Louise Erdrich’s Birchbark House series, which begins — in a book titled The Birchbark House — in 1866 and follows a year in the life of a 9yo Ojibwe girl named Omakayas. (I read it a few years after it came out in 2002, well before I had kids: it is excellent and, honestly, gripping for all ages. I think some children would love this as early as 5-6yo, others who are more sensitive might need more time before facing some of the book’s heavy themes. There are now five books in the series).
Gaining insight and skills in recognizing problematic depictions of Native peoples (or any other marginalized group) doesn’t happen overnight (or in a week and a half), and I’m going to keep learning.
I’ve continued the purge of our bookshelves: goodbye to A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman, The Girl Who Loved Horses by Paul Goble, The Story of Jumping Mouse by John Steptoe, both The Legend of Blue Bonnet and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie dePaola. And I’ll be totally transparent and say that in the case of A House…, it hurt. I love that book; I love reading it aloud for the relentless, rhythmic forward motion of the language. But — and it’s a significant but — I don’t want to keep (much less buy) books that are harmful. We ALL need to push and struggle against the oppressive norm, which in our culture is (at the very least) a caste system* that places white supremacy at the top. Let’s be fully aware, and not ever forget, that unchallenged stereotypes set expectations and shape beliefs for young readers.
Does this mean we will never discuss racism found in books? Does this mean we will ignore the bias of the past or the truth about history because it’s often uglier than we’d like it to be? No and no. There’s plenty of bias to be found — in even some of the most seemingly innocuous titles — so it’s not like getting rid of a handful is going to remove it from our bookshelves entirely or for good.
What it does mean is that I am not offering these to my kids. And I am actively making sure there is balanced, diverse representation in our home library, because that is within both my purview and power. I will argue emphatically that books that are harmful to any marginalized group of people not only harm that group of people but harm everyone else too. Including my children. Including yours.
I was interested in reading the Little House series first and foremost as a way to share with my daughters some of their family history — one branch of my ancestors were pioneers, part of the westward expansion. I’ll be researching other resources that meet this need instead — just a cursory beginning of this has shown me there are plenty. When I have a good roundup, I’ll share a list with you. [Ed: here is the list I created.]
Read good books and take good care 😘
*I cannot possibly overstate a recommendation to read Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson