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at home in books
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From: Tattercoat at aol.com <Tattercoat>
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 15:05:42 EDT
My take on this month's discussion is that the anger expressed has disturbed many list members. We kids' book people tend to be--if nothing else--kind, usually quite courteous and, well, bookish.
But most of us are book people because in childhood we found some way to be at home in books. We can walk into a library or bookstore knowing that we'll find something close to our own experience somewhere between the covers of a book.
Recently, I consulted with a small California school district on their library collection. One third of the incoming kindergarteners are Indian, mostly from the rancheria that was a few hundred yards from the school yard fence. Only one Indian child graduated high school that year. This degree of attrition is not that unusual.
Looking around the library, on the walls there were silhouettes of Founding Fathers and children's art projects on wagon trains moving west--all from the white settlers' viewpoint--as well a jackets and reviews of several popular books. When asked, the school librarian did not name one book written or illustrated by an Indian person. She did, however, take me to the back of the library where, behind a stack there was a poster of a typical, traditional Plains Indian warrior. There was no reflection of the rich local culture or of contemporary Indian life in that school library. Yet there was plenty of material in which Indians were the bad guys. And books that described California Indian people as "diggers," "uncivilized," etc. What in that library would make an Indian child feel "at home in books"?
When I share books like Simon Ortiz' THE PEOPLE SHALL CONTINUE (a Native American perspective on North American history) future teachers sometimes tell me that it is "too political." The marvelous photo essay on contemporary California Indian life, WEAVING A CALIFORNIA TRADITION by Linda Yamane, went OP because librarians and educators simply weren't buying it fast enough.
This is why we need small presses like Pemmican and Pequis in Canada where Nat ive authors and viewpoints can find voice. This is why we need editors and publishers who will develop and keep in print needed voices until they can find their market. And distributers like Oyate and Native Voices. This is why we should be buying books like Bernalda Wheeler's WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR MOCASSINS? even if the pictures aren't in glorious full color.
Today in Ann Landers' column Larry Harris writes about racism: "We must begin to communicate with one another. No matter how much it hurts or how bad it sounds, we must begin the dialogue of truth, facts, feelings, misunderstandings and understandings." That's what's been happening this month on CCBC. We don't have to agree. If we can just listen to each other and understand the perspectives voiced we will have come a long way.
Carolyn Lehman
Received on Fri 29 Oct 1999 02:05:42 PM CDT
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 15:05:42 EDT
My take on this month's discussion is that the anger expressed has disturbed many list members. We kids' book people tend to be--if nothing else--kind, usually quite courteous and, well, bookish.
But most of us are book people because in childhood we found some way to be at home in books. We can walk into a library or bookstore knowing that we'll find something close to our own experience somewhere between the covers of a book.
Recently, I consulted with a small California school district on their library collection. One third of the incoming kindergarteners are Indian, mostly from the rancheria that was a few hundred yards from the school yard fence. Only one Indian child graduated high school that year. This degree of attrition is not that unusual.
Looking around the library, on the walls there were silhouettes of Founding Fathers and children's art projects on wagon trains moving west--all from the white settlers' viewpoint--as well a jackets and reviews of several popular books. When asked, the school librarian did not name one book written or illustrated by an Indian person. She did, however, take me to the back of the library where, behind a stack there was a poster of a typical, traditional Plains Indian warrior. There was no reflection of the rich local culture or of contemporary Indian life in that school library. Yet there was plenty of material in which Indians were the bad guys. And books that described California Indian people as "diggers," "uncivilized," etc. What in that library would make an Indian child feel "at home in books"?
When I share books like Simon Ortiz' THE PEOPLE SHALL CONTINUE (a Native American perspective on North American history) future teachers sometimes tell me that it is "too political." The marvelous photo essay on contemporary California Indian life, WEAVING A CALIFORNIA TRADITION by Linda Yamane, went OP because librarians and educators simply weren't buying it fast enough.
This is why we need small presses like Pemmican and Pequis in Canada where Nat ive authors and viewpoints can find voice. This is why we need editors and publishers who will develop and keep in print needed voices until they can find their market. And distributers like Oyate and Native Voices. This is why we should be buying books like Bernalda Wheeler's WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR MOCASSINS? even if the pictures aren't in glorious full color.
Today in Ann Landers' column Larry Harris writes about racism: "We must begin to communicate with one another. No matter how much it hurts or how bad it sounds, we must begin the dialogue of truth, facts, feelings, misunderstandings and understandings." That's what's been happening this month on CCBC. We don't have to agree. If we can just listen to each other and understand the perspectives voiced we will have come a long way.
Carolyn Lehman
Received on Fri 29 Oct 1999 02:05:42 PM CDT
