GEN: Children's Book about the Navajo Long Walk

[kaTe <cag@AZSTARNET.COM>]

decide for yourself....

Subject: Children's Book about the Navajo Long Walk

Hello, another Scholastic book to avoid, reviewed at the Oyate web site.
Thank you for reading.


---------- Forwarded message ----------

Hello,

Some of you recall the information I provided in May regarding a review of
a children's book about Carlisle. It had factual errors and made Carlisle
seem like a good place. The book is part of Scholastic's "Dear America"
series of historical fiction diaries.

Scholastic is about to release another title in this series of historical
fiction diaries. This one is called  _The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: The
Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl. New Mexico, 1864._  There is a review
about this book available on-line at <http://www.oyate.org/avoid.htm>.

In late May, the marketing director at Scholastic called me, quite frantic,
that I was still passing along the URL regarding the Carlisle book to
various listservs in education, children's literature, and those with
Native focus (like H_Amindian). Earlier that month, Scholastic editors had
posted a message to a children's literature listserv, defending the
Carlisle book and its author's research. They acknowledged some of the
errors, but did not reply publicly to a post I followed theirs with, asking
if--given their acknowledgement of errors-- they would withdraw the book or
make corrections. Privately, they sent me a brief note that they'd let me
know if they made any changes.  They apparently thought this brief exchange
silenced me and the other women who wrote the review. They underestimate
the depth of our commitment to accuracy and sensitivity with the portrayal
of Native Americans in children's books.

That said, I again ask those of you on H-Amindian to give some thought to
the impact that children's books have on children and their developing
concepts of Native Americans and Native American history.  In May, I
received messages from some individuals asking what they could do about the
book - what steps they could take. Some suggested a boycott of Scholastic,
but it is a major publisher who does, in fact, publish books by noted
Native authors (Joseph Bruchac and Shonto Begay are two).  Neither the
Carlisle book, or the Navajo Long Walk book were written by Native authors.

Since May, I've heard from a great many librarians in public schools and
libraries who've written to tell me they cancelled their order for the
Carlisle book, based on our review. I suggest H-Amindian listmembers share
the review information about both - the Carlisle book and the Navajo Long
Walk one, with librarians and teachers. And, we ask that they read the
review, and, if they decide to cancel their order, send a letter to
Scholastic clearly stating why. Cancelling an order is not censorship.
Librarians make purchasing decisions based on reviews they read. Our review
has been useful in helping them decide again purchasing the Carlisle book.

Another suggestion - ask tribal leaders to write to Scholastic, protesting
the Carlisle and Navajo Long Walk books, asking Scholastic to withdraw the
books and use any revenue generated by these two books to fund programs
that mentor Native authors. You might also consider writing a letter
yourself, as a scholar of Native history/culture/literature. Scholastic's
address is below. According to info on their website, they ship 1.2 million
books out of their warehouse EACH DAY to locations within the US but also
around the world (New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, the
United Kingdom, and Mexico.) They recently announced record revenues ($334
million) and income ($22.4 million) in the 4th quarter of fiscall 1999 -
boosted in part by the Dear America historical fiction diaries.

Scholastic
555 Broadway
New York, New York 10012
212/343-6100

Thanks for reading this lengthy message, and I apologize for any
cross-postings.

Debbie Reese



Debbie Reese
Doctoral Student
Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction
College of Education, University of Illinois
Champaign, IL 61820

Office Telephone: 217-244-8061
Email: d-reese@uiuc.edu





~*-,._.,-*~"^"~*-,._.,-*~"^"~*-,._.,-*~"^"~*-,._.,-*~"^"~*-,._.,-*~"^"~*-,._.,-

   Kate Gallion
   Librarian~Teacher~Alternative Ed.
   Project M.O.R.E. H.S.                         Books won't crash
   Tucson, Az. 85719                                  in the year 2000
   cag@azstarnet.com
   kgallion@tusd.k12.az.us

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