Absolutely disgusted by Catherynne M. Valente's SIX-GUN SNOW WHITE
I've never used "absolutely disgusted" in a title before today. There are vile things in the world. Some of them are subtly vile, which makes them dangerous because you aren't aware of what is going...
View ArticleDear Teachers: An Open Letter about Images of Indians
November 17, 2015Dear Teachers,Each day when young children get home from school, parents ask how their day went and if they have any homework. For some parents, the homework their child brings home...
View ArticleStereotypical words and images: Gone!
Over the years, I've written about children's books that were revised.A few days ago I compiled links about revised books (some are mine and some are from others who work in children's literature) and...
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Books to get (& avoid) from the We Need Diverse Books/Scholastic Reading Club...
A few weeks ago, Scholastic and We Need Diverse Books announced a Special Edition of the Scholastic Reading Club program.You know what I'm talking about, right? You remember your teacher handing out...
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Recommended: CELEBRATE MY HOPI CORN and CELEBRATE MY HOPI TOYS
My grandfather, Rex Sotero Calvert, was Hopi. We never called him grandpa or grandfather. We called him Thehtay, which is the Tewa word for grandfather (Tewa is our language at Nambe Pueblo). Calvert...
View ArticleLynne Reid Banks - In the News
Back in November, The Guardian awarded David Almond its children's fiction prize for his novel, A Song for Ella Grey, which is a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. I haven't read that novel,...
View ArticleE. K. Johnston's PRAIRIE FIRE
E. K. Johnson's Prairie Fire is the sequel to The Story of Owen. Both are works of fantasy for young adults that are also described as alternative histories. Here's the synopsis for The Story of...
View ArticleDear Philip Nel: Some Questions about WAS THE CAT IN THE HAT BLACK: THE...
Dear Phil,I read your post about your new book, Was the Cat in the Hat Black: The Hidden Racism of Children's Literature, and Why We Need Diverse Books. On one hand, I want to say congratulations,...
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Cover of Parent Magazine's December 2015 issue
On Thursday, December 10, I learned about the cover of the new Parents magazine (h/t Heid and Allicia). Both are Native women and mothers.Like them, I found the depiction of a little girl, in that toy...
View ArticleSOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A FOX by Danielle Daniel
I find Danielle Daniel's Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox unsettling.In a 2013 article in The Sudbury Star, I read that she is Métis, but that she wasn't raised knowing anything about her Métis heritage....
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Stephanie Shaw's THE LEGEND OF THE BEAVER'S TAIL
Today's post is one that walks you (readers of AICL) through my evaluation process (what I do) when I pick up a book that is put forth as a Native "legend."The focus of today's post? The Legend of the...
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"What will they say..." Or, Master Narratives of Smiling Slaves and Smiling...
Back in November or December, I started to hear that people in children's literature were wondering what we (by we, I mean people who objected to the treatment of slavery in A Fine Dessert) would say...
View ArticleAlaya Dawn Johnson's LOVE IS THE DRUG
I read Alaya Dawn Johnson's Love is the Drug in 2014 when it came out. I think Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, or maybe Edith Campbell, told me about it. Elsewhere, I've written about books with a problematic...
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Revised! Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire's ABRAHAM LINCOLN
On December 1, 2015, Publisher's Weekly ran an article about Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire's Abraham Lincoln, which won the Caldecott Award in 1940. The article states that the book will be reprinted...
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Kenneth Oppel's THE BOUNDLESS
A few days ago, I began to see Sujei Lugo's tweets about Kenneth Oppel's The Boundless. Intrigued, I got a copy from the library. Published in 2014 by Simon and Schuster, here's the synopsis:The...
View ArticleDebbie--have you seen... WAKE OF VULTURES by Lila Bowen
I get a lot of email, Facebook messages, and tweets from people who wonder if I've read or reviewed a book they came across. I want to keep a record of those requests, and with the start of 2016, will...
View ArticleDebbie--have you seen... Josephine Angelini's TRIAL BY FIRE
A reader wrote to me about Josephine Angelini's Trial By Fire. Published in 2014 by Square Fish (a Macmillan imprint), it is the first book in her Worldwalker Trilogy. Here's the synopsis (there were...
View ArticleDebbie--have you seen... Carol Trembath's WATER WALKERS
A couple of weeks ago, a reader wrote to ask me about Carol Trembath's Water Walkers. Published in 2015 by Lakeside Publishing (I can't find any information on that publisher), the book makes me...
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A Comparison: D'Aulaire's ABRAHAM LINCOLN 1939 and 2015
On December 1, 2015, Publisher's Weekly ran an article about Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire's Abraham Lincoln. For its 75th anniversary, it was reprinted with...... minor modifications to the original...
View ArticleDebbie--have you seen... Sally M. Keehn's MOON OF TWO DARK HORSES
A reader wrote to ask me about Sally M. Keehn's Moon of Two Dark Horses. I'm adding it to my "Debbie--have you seen..." series. First published by Philomel in 1995, it is historical fiction about a...
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