book review problem

[Karen Stevens <kstevens@BCIU.K12.PA.US>]

Subject: Children's book about Carlisle (fwd)

Hi Kate,

I got permission from Debbie to forward this to you in case you want to
send it on to the school librarians list you're on.  The reviewers of the
book (http://www.oyate.org/avoid.htm) are highly regarded and attention
should be paid to their review.  It's too bad that the mainstream (ONCE
AGAIN) doesn't check with Native peoples before endorsing a work that
should never have been published.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 12:13:25 -0500
From: Debbie Reese <d-reese@UIUC.EDU>
Subject: Children's book about Carlisle

Hello -

Several weeks ago, I posted information about a recently released
children's book about Carlisle. The book is part of a series published by
Scholastic, and is written in diary format, which is very popular with
children.

Since then, the book was favorably reviewed by major children's lit review
journals. Librarians across the US use these review journals to select new
books for their public and school libraries.  A rule-of-thumb is that with
two favorable reviews, the book is likely to be purchased.

As I noted, the book is full of factual errors and errors about Lakota
culture, but from my perspective, the most outrageous aspect of the book is
the names of the characters the author (Ann Rinaldi) used to tell this
story. Rinaldi went to the cemetary at the school and used names from
headstones - as you may recall - her author's note said the names were so
poetic that they leapt out at her... and recall also she said that these
children, in their "Happy Hunting Ground" would smile down on her for
telling this story.

I recently learned that the book is up for an award called "American
Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults." If it gets selected,
the award will increase the book sales.

There are many problems throughout the book that are described in a lengthy
article/review that can be read at the Oyate website
<http://www.oyate.org>.  The review was written by nine women from across
the US and Canada. Please take a moment to read the review and share the
information with others - particularly parents, teachers, and librarians.

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

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