Laurie Halse Anderson's THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY
A few days ago I started reading Laurie Halse Anderson's The Impossible Knife of Memory. Her protagonist, Hayley, is smart and witty, and in tune with omissions and bias in the way that history is...
View ArticleAmerican Indians in Children's Literature--on Tumblr!
I've done few posts this month (February 2014) because I've been participating in a month-long discussion on CCBC-NET on multicultural literature and because I've been playing with Tumblr. The CCBC-NET...
View ArticleTim Tingle's HOW I BECAME A GHOST
One of the things I noticed right away when I started to read Tim Tingle's How I Became a Ghost is the prominence of the setting, and the words he chose for that setting:See that? "Choctaw Nation." I...
View Article2013 CCBC Data on Fiction by/about American Indians - US Publishers
I studied the 2013 list of books received by the Cooperative Center for Children's Books (CCBC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that CCBC lists as being by/about American Indians/First...
View ArticleRosanne Parry's WRITTEN IN STONE
Editor's note, 3-22-2014, 7:13AM: Rosanne Parry submitted a comment to this review. I pasted her comment and my response to her comment beneath the review for your convenience (both are also visible in...
View ArticleSealaska Heritage Institute Points to American Indians in Children's Literature
On Tuesday, March 18th, 2014, the blog for the Sealaska Heritage Institute pointed readers to American Indians in Children's Literature as a user friendly source to find information that can help...
View ArticleRush Limbaugh's RUSH REVERE AND THE BRAVE PILGRIMS
Rush Limbaugh's book, Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims is a best seller. That status means he is on the Children's Book Council's (CBC) list of contenders for Author of the Year. People in children's...
View ArticleApril 23rd: American Indians in Children's Literature - Workshop in Spokane
If you are near Spokane, please register for a workshop I'll be doing at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane Washington.Inland Northwest Council of Libraries invited me. Can't wait!...
View ArticleDan Snyder's "Original Americans" Foundation, or, WTF Dan Snyder?
Monday, March 24th, 2014, Dan Snyder--the owner of the Washington professional football team--announced that he has established a foundation called "The Original Americans Foundation."I bet he likes...
View ArticleCNN points to American Indians in Children's Literature
Greetings!Are you here because of the article on young adult literature at the CNN website? If yes, I have many books to recommend, and many that I find problematic, too.Look to the right of this page....
View ArticleAmerican Indian Graduation Rates and Stereotypical Images On and Off the Field
On May 31 of last year (2013), Education Week pointed to a new study of high school graduation rates that reported that the graduation rates of American Indian students had declined in three out of the...
View ArticleCHUKFI RABBIT'S BIG, BAD BELLYACHE: A TRICKSTER TALE by Greg Rodgers
I smiled as I read Chukfi Rabbit's Big, Bad Bellyache: A Trickster Tale by Choctaw author, Greg Rodgers. Chukfi Rabbit, we learn as the story opens, is lazy. If I was still teaching kindergarten or...
View ArticleA Look at Setting in 2013 CCBC Data on Fiction by/about American Indians - US...
On March 17, 2014 I published my analysis of 14 books on the Cooperative Center or Children's Books (CCBC). The set I analyzed are those published by publishers located in the United States. My...
View Article2013: Best Books, Middle School
If I was starting a library in an elementary school or if I was ordering books for a middle school library, these are ten books I'd buy right away, along with the ten listed in 2010: Top Ten Books...
View Article2013: Best Books, High School
If I was starting a library in a high school, these are the first books I'd buy, along with the ten listed in 2010: Best Books, High School. Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, edited by Bill...
View ArticleWe Need Diverse Books that aren't "Blindingly White"
If you're a white male, you'll have an abundance of opportunities to imagine yourself on the stage this year at BookCon. The list of authors is being called "blindingly white" by BookRiot. If you're a...
View ArticleSLJ's "Diversity" Booklist in May issue includes flawed book about Native people
School Library Journal's much anticipated special issue on Diversity was uploaded today (May 1, 2014) in the midst of the We Need Diverse Books campaign, much of which focuses on promoting books by...
View ArticleCheryl Minnema's HUNGRY JOHNNY
A significant component of the We Need Diverse Books campaign is regarding the authorship of books. For AICL, that means books written and illustrated by Native authors. In the midst of the We Need...
View ArticleWhy I Advocate for Books by Native Writers and Illustrators
I spent an hour today in a twitter chat hosted by First Book. The chat was part of the We Need Diverse Books campaign.In the chat I advocated for authors who are Native. Right away--as usual--a white...
View ArticleAnother 'thank you' to Cynthia Leitich Smith
A few hours ago, my daughter called to tell me she'd finished her last exam of the semester. With joy and enthusiasm, she said she was finished with Year One of law school.I was happy to hear her voice...
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