From: Jeanatkins at aol.com <Jeanatkins>
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 15:44:38 EST

I just joined this list, and am so impressed with everyone's thought and passion. As someone who reads, loves, and writes blurry biographies, I feel a bit like I'm on the wrong side of truth, purity, and rigor, but when it comes to the part of the original question "do these lines matter?" I would say: not that much. When I see the dangers many girls in fourth through sixth grade are up against, it's not the girls who are crazy about American Girl or Dear America books I worry about. I have faith these readers will learn the lines between fact and fiction as easily as we learn to recognize fairy tale as genre, or the blend of history and imagination in Shakespeare
-- but I hope they can enjoy the pleasures of feeling connected to the past before they learn to deconstruct.
    As soon as that Virginia Dare book was mentioned, I, too, remembered those orange canvas bindings, and taking off my Keds and walking through the woods pretending it was a few hundred years ago. While that orange series had its flaws, I'll always be grateful to them for my first hint that women were part of history. Of course now there's much more attention to people in history's margins, but I still think there's something about somewhat-imagined history that invites kids to pretend, dress up, play -- i.e, practice compassion -- that is as valuable as getting the facts straight.

    Jeannine Atkins
    www.Jeanineatkins.com
Received on Thu 04 Apr 2002 02:44:38 PM CST