I am in a high school library and just today learned of Debbie Reese's credentials.
I am mostly curious about nonfiction books published by the trades specifically
designed for students doing reports. Have you or anyone here come across anything
prejudicial in them? I'm talking about the books on Native Americans (First Nations
People) published by Chelsea House and Greenhaven Press for example.
Since kids are using them for reports, are they even worthwhile? Or do you
recommend an alternative?
Thanks
"There's so much left to know, and I'm on the road to find out" ~ Yusuf Islam aka
Cat Stevens
________________________
Patricia Sarles, MA, MLS
Canarsie High School Library
1600 Rockaway Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11236
tel: (718) 290-8600 x273, x274, x275
fax: (718) 290-8681
psarles@schools.nyc.gov
________________________________
From: School Library Media & Network Communications on behalf of Debbie Reese
Sent: Thu 6/7/2007 11:59 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: "We" the People - NEH/ALA Bookshelf
Terry,
(Is conversation on-list discouraged? If so, I
apologize. Note, too, that I read LM_NET in
digest, so someone may already have replied to
Terry by the time I got the last digest.)
Review journals have specific people they send
selected titles to for review. They do this
because specific people have expertise not held
by the general population of readers or
reviewers. For some time, Horn Book sent me books
on American Indians. This is my area of
expertise. The fact that I am American Indian,
tribally enrolled, raised on the reservation, is
not what gives me expertise. I am a former school
teacher, and I have a doctorate in Education from
the University of Illinois, with my area of
research and study being representations of American Indians.
Terry references "the curriculum" --- but we
should remember that "the curriculum" is prepared
by people who were raised and taught in specific
ways, depending on their location and other
factors (like money for good schools, etc.) "The
curriculum" at an Indian school on a reservation
may or may not differ from the curriculum in an
urban school in a major city. I would hope that
the Indian school provided its children books
that reflect who they are. It does them no good
to read that their ancestors were murderous
blood-thirsty savages, because that was not the
case, anymore than it was the case that white
settlers and soldiers were blood-thirsty. They
were all fighting for something. The Indians
fought to protect their land, parents,
grandparents, children, religious ways, etc. etc.
from settlers and soldiers who wanted that land.
There was brutality on both sides, but that isn't
the way most books of historical fiction tell
those stories. They do this to justify the taking
of that land. The ideology at work? Blood-thirsty
killers don't deserve land. Good, God-fearing white settlers do.
As educators, we must not continue to tell the
story that way. We must provide a more balanced
story. "The curriculum" is lacking, just as much
as the story books. All kids need balanced depictions of history.
Debbie
>Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 08:06:39 -0700
>From: Terry Darr <darrtk@YAHOO.COM>
>Subject: Re: "We" the People - NEH/ALA Bookshelf
>
>Please excuse my genuine confusion...
>Is there an "authority list" of acceptable titles
>outside of what the curriculum says? Who has the
>right to become the authority figure and dictate what
>is acceptable for people of color?
>Terry Darr
Debbie A. Reese (Nambé Pueblo)
Assistant Professor, American Indian Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Native American House, Room 2005
1204 West Nevada Street, MC-138
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Email: debreese@uiuc.edu
Internet Resource & Blog:
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/
Native American House: http://www.nah.uiuc.edu <http://www.nah.uiuc.edu/>
TEL 217-265-9885
FAX 217-265-9880
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