On Making and Using Book Lists - Considering A Recent Mighty Girl Book List

This blog recently celebrated its 9th anniversary. In nine years I've learned a lot about children's literature that I didn't know going in. I've also met, virtually and in person, a great number of very smart folks who review and share books with kids of all ages from all kinds of backgrounds.

I mention this background because I don't jump lightly into conversations that are uncomfortable and that point out shortcomings in books that have received praise elsewhere. Case in point, the recent Mighty Girl book list Celebrating Native American & Aboriginal Mighty Girls for Native American Heritage Month. While there are very positive books on this list, books that show a range of Native American identities and experiences, there are also books that perpetuate ugly stereotypes and misconceptions.

I don't consider myself an expert in this area, but I listen and try to learn. I spend time in my methods course reviewing books with students to help them understand that as both windows and mirrors to lived experience, books must accurately reflect social identities. We read An Updated Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books by Louise Derman-Sparks and How to Tell the Difference: A Guide to Evaluating Children's Books for Anti-Indian Bias by Beverly Slapin, Doris Seale and Rosemary Gonzales. I send them to read blogs such as American Indians in Children's Literature, a blog written by Debbie Reese that reviews and critiques children's and young adult books about native peoples,  De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children, a group blog that reviews and critique children's and young adult books about Raza peoples throughout the Diaspora, The Brown Bookshelf, a blog designed to push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers, and others.

I have written a fair number of thematic booklists since the birth of this blog, though they all fall along the lines of science, math, and poetry. I am always excited to find lists written by others, hoping they will help me and my students find the best books for use in the classroom. I was excited to see the latest post from A Mighty Girl show up in my feed, but was disappointed when I looked critically at the list.

In order to move conversations forward about diversity in children's literature, we must be willing to listen to the voices from underrepresented groups when they tell us we're getting it wrong. We must be willing to set aside "classics" and old favorites when the information they present is inaccurate. Nowhere is this more problematic than when faced with a book sporting a Newbery,  Caldecott, or Printz sticker.

I so wanted to leave this feedback for the author of the list, Katherine Handcock, at the Mighty Girl site, but couldn't find a mechanism to do that. I appreciate all that A Mighty Girl does to empower girls and affirm their place in this world. However, this list contains titles that contain stereotypes and inaccuracies that could actually be harmful and less than empowering. I hope everyone who visits will read this list with a critical eye. Stop by American Indians in Children's Literature and check out some of the reviews Debbie Reese has posted or linked to for books on the list she does NOT recommend, such as Julie of the Wolves, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Mama Do You Love Me?. While you are there, check out Debbie's list of Best Books.

I hope the folks at A Mighty Girl will reconsider this list and think about replacing some of these titles with books that will truly empower Native American & Aboriginal mighty girls.

*****
For more on this, read Debbie Reese's letter to Katherine Handcock.

How Diversity Helps Literacy

Thanks to Don Tate, I had the chance to mull over the ideas in How Diversity Helps Literacy, an informational piece over at Lee & Low Books. It's very interesting. Do head on over and take a look.

Reconsidering Ten Little Rabbits - Evaluating Books From the Viewpoint of Other Cultures

Imagine you are a teacher looking for counting books for your classroom. You want to include books that showcase a range of diversity, so in your search you come across a book that not only "celebrates Native American traditions" (from the publisher's description), but one that has been noted in the following ways.

Best Books

• Adventuring with Books: A Booklist for Pre-K-Grade 6, Tenth Edition, 1993
• National Council of Teachers of English
  
• Recommended Literature: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve, 2002; California Department of Education
  

Awards, Honors, Prizes

• ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award Winner 1992 Picture Books
  
• International Reading Association Children's Book Awards Winner 1992 Younger Readers International
• National Association of Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) Winner 1991
  
• Redbook Children's Picturebook Awards Winner 1991
  

Chances are, with these honors behind it and the recommendation of school librarians and state sanctioned reading lists, you would be persuaded you to use this book in instruction.

Published in 1991, Ten Little Rabbits, written by Virginia Grossman and illustrated by Sylvia Long, is ostensibly a counting book that introduces rabbits in dress and activities typical of Native American tribes. However, the book does little to refute the stereotype that all Native Americans are alike.

Why am I rehashing the issues surrounding this book? I am working on a piece about using children's literature in math instruction, rigorously reviewing books in my collection and on suggested reading lists, and thinking deeply about what it means to include books that represent peoples and ideas outside of mainstream (dare I say white?) American culture. Have you any idea how hard it is to find a counting book that highlights African American children (there are lots set in Africa, but few of black children in the U.S.) and their experiences? The same is true for Native American children.

I was one of those teachers who eagerly bought Ten Little Rabbits upon the recommendations of librarians and instructors. I never really thought much about the message sent by this book when I first read it. I saw possibilities in the last pages for using the blanket images for studying patterns, symmetry and shapes. However, in 1995 I read the article "What's Wrong with Ten Little Rabbits?" in the children's literature journal The New Advocate. Reading Theresa McCarty's short review was like receiving a slap in the face. I wondered how I could have been so naive and so quick to accept a book about another culture without subjecting it to a more critical review.

The answer is, I didn't know any better. (A poor excuse, I know.) I have since learned that it is difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate what you don't know. While I hate having to rely on members of the Native American community to help me make these judgments, I know that I will never have the depth of knowledge or background necessary to accurately evaluate instructional materials that draw heavily from Native American history and storytelling.

So how do I evaluate books of other cultures? I currently use several resources to guide my selection of pieces for instruction. One is Donna Norton's Multicultural Children's Literature: Through the Eyes of Many Children. I find this short volume to be particularly helpful in applying evaluation criteria and identifying stereotypes. A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children, edited by Doris Seale and Beverly Slapin, is an enormous and comprehensive volume that not only includes author reviews from A to Z, but also a range of essays that provide a wealth of information about Native Cultures and insights into reviewing works about Native peoples. This is not an easy book to read and at times, the anger in the reviews can be disconcerting, but it is valuable and educational nonetheless. I also read the following blogs for very helpful information and reviews.

• American Indians in Children's Literature by Debbie Reese
• Black Threads in Kid's Lit by Kyra
  
• Mitali's Fire Escape by Mitali Perkins
• Paper Tigers Blog a Pacific Rim Voices Project
  

Ten Little Rabbits still remains in my teaching collection, but not in the way it was originally intended. I now give the book to students (all preservice and inservice teachers) and ask them to review it for use as a counting book. Then, once all the glowing reviews are in (and they are all glowing), I hit them with the McCarty article and watch the blood drain from their faces. They are shocked, astounded and embarrassed -- all feelings I know well. From here we proceed to talk about why this book is not a resource we should use for instruction, and then push on to discuss how we can be more thoughtful evaluators of books for children. It's a tough lesson, but one that works well, and while my teachers learn new strategies, I learn right along with them. What more could I ask for?

Books for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

The May/June issue of LibrarySparks arrived in my mailbox today. There are many features in this issue supporting Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Take a look at this terrific Table of Contents. Each month in the column So Many Books ... So Little Time, the news on children’s books is shared by the experts at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC). This month's article is entitled, Asian Pacific American Voices. Here is an excerpt.

At the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC), we document the books we receive annually that are by and about people of color. Last year, we received about 3,000 newly published books that CCBC. Of those, we counted sixty-five about Asian Pacific and Asian Pacific Americans. Many were formula nonfiction books about specific countries--titles that may be handy for reports, but offer children few opportunities for engagement. And it doesn't take significant math skills to calculate that sixty-five books out of 3,000 won't go far in representing the diversity of the many different ethnic groups comprising Asian Pacific heritage.

While this introduction presents some disturbing news, the article does a fine job highlighting Asian Pacific American writers whose "fresh voices join a number of writers who have been creating books for years, providing readers with a slowly but ever-increasing number of stories and perspectives." A few of my FAVORITE authors and illustrators are listed here. They include:

• Lisa Yee
• Grace Lin
• Linda Sue Park
• Janet Wong

There are others listed, and I was introduced to few authors new to me, including Kashmira Sheth. However, I was greatly disappointed to see that Mitali Perkins, author of the fabulous books Monsoon Summer and Rickshaw Girl, is MISSING!

The Curriculum Connections article contains background information about Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and includes an annotated bibliography, web sites, games, activities, discussion ideas and more. Sadly, no works by Mitali Perkins appear here either. :(

Despite this glaring omission, there is still a wealth of useful resources in this issue, including a terrific Meet the Author column on Lowis Lowry. If you would like to learn more, you can sign up for a free sample issue.

Thank You, Grace Lin (or Why Multicultural Books Matter)

I taught a class last summer called Choosing and Using Children’s Literature Across the Curriculum. While we focused most of our efforts on choosing books to augment the teaching of math, science and social studies, we spent a fair amount of time discussing and reflecting on the need to include books in the curriculum that help students develop understanding of other cultures. I know, this is where I lose people. In fact, there are those who have argued vehemently that this should absolutely not be a criterion by which we select and evaluate books. But alas, for me, this is so important. Classrooms today just don't look the way they did 30 years ago (or 10 years ago), so the books we select shouldn't look the same either.

Let's look at some figures from Virginia. The most recent LEP (Limited English Proficient) data includes this information:

• Since 1996, the number of LEP students in Fairfax County alone (outside D.C.) has TRIPLED from 10,000 to 30,000 students.

• In the 05-06 academic year, the number of LEP students enrolled in Virginia public schools was 78,216. This year (06-07), the number of enrolled LEP students is 86,392.

Our schools are changing, and to meet the needs of all students, shouldn't we use materials that reflect the experiences of ALL students? Imagine what school would be like if you never found yourself reflected in the curriculum in any way? What must that be like?

When I graduated from high school there were fewer than 10 African-American students in my class of 375, and probably fewer Asian-American. Were it not for my 9th grade social studies instructor, I never would have studied the countries of Asia and Africa. I exchanged letters with a Japanese penpal (the old fashioned kind you know, on very thin paper with cool air-mail stamps and envelopes), learned about making and flying kites, counted in Swahili, and did so many other cool things that I can attribute my love of learning about other countries, cultures and people to Mr. Lind and this class. All positive notes aside, I had to wait until high school to learn these things, and if I were from another race or culture, I would have spent my entire school career until this point reading and learning only about white Americans. How do we ever teach children to develop cross-cultural understanding if we don't start when they are very young? As I said, I grew up in different times, and boy, have times changed.

One of my favorite books to use for studying topics in science and social studies related to the world population is If the World Were a Village by David Smith. Since 6.3 billion is a difficult number to understand, the author scales important world statistics down to a village of 100. Using this smaller number allows us to see how the world's peoples, religions, and resources are then distributed. Here are some things students learn:

• If the whole world were a village of 100 people, 61 would come from Asia, 13 from Africa, 12 from Europe, 8 from South America, Central America (including Mexico) and the Caribbean, 5 from Canada and the United States, and 1 from Oceania (an area that includes Australia, New Zealand and the islands in the south, west, and central Pacific.

• In the global village there are almost 6000 languages, but more than half of the people speak these 8 languages - 22 speak a Chinese dialect (of these people, 18 speak the Mandarin dialect), 9 speak English, 8 speak Hindi, 7 speak Spanish, 4 speak Arabic, 4 speak Bengali, 3 speak Portuguese, and 3 speak Russian.

• In the village of 100 people, 32 are Christians, 19 are Muslims, 13 are Hindus, 12 practice shamanism, animism and other folk religions, 6 are Buddhists, 2 belong to other global religions (such as Baha’i faith, Confucianism, Shintoism, Sikhism or Jainism, 1 is Jewish, and 15 are non-religious.

I could go on here, but these figures stand for themselves. Do we really need any other reasons to think about our teaching in a more global context? This is why multicultural children's books matter.

I am inarticulate when it comes to discussing these matters, so I'll let someone far more talented explain why this is so important. Thank you, Grace Lin, for saying this so eloquently. Please read Why Couldn't Snow White Be Chinese? for a strong argument for helping children from all walks of life find themselves in books.