Final Reflection :)

Over the course of the semester my thinking has grown and changed in terms of diverse children's literature.  From looking at my questioning the text papers and thinking about our class discussions, an important theme I have noticed deals with stereotypes.  My thinking at the beginning of the semester was that stereotypes were obviously bad, but I was not sure how to pick up on all of them and how to know if the stereotype was purposeful by the author or not.  I still question stereotypes and their purpose by the author.  Like we discussed during our last class, a book without any stereotypes may not seem authentic or real to the minority being focused on.  I find myself often thinking about the article we read towards the beginning of the semester about stereotypes versus generalizations when I question stereotypes within literature.  From this article I gained valuable information such as, generalizations being flexible opposed to stereotypes being rigid and fixed.  Generalizations also give hints to individuals who belong to different groups opposed to stereotypes making hints into assumptions.  I still feel though, that the line between stereotypes and generalizations is very thin, and I am going to continue to try and define this line in my mind as I continue to look at diverse literature.

Another insight I had during the course is that no book is perfect.  Each of the books we read in class were written by insider authors and considered quality diverse children's literature, but there was also always something to be discussed and questioned within the text.  This showed us that although a book may be considered good multicultural literature, there still needs to be discussion within a class or with a student who is reading multicultural literature. This discussion may be where students gain most of their knowledge while reflecting on the book and its themes, while listening to what others thought and what the teacher points out about the diversity within the literature.

From here, I plan on expanding my library of children's literature to include many more pieces of diverse literature.  I want to make sure my students and myself have books that present them with windows and mirrors.  In order for this to happen, I must have a wide variety of multicultural literature present and available.  Since I know that due to monetary reasons I am not going to be able to purchase all the books I would like to, through this class, the readings, and our pubic blog I have great resources to look at in order to know which books to check out from the library or recommend to students to check out from the library.  From here, I also plan on trying to incorporate multicultural and diverse ideas into my future incorporating dance into the classroom.   With this I can also bring diverse types of dance, and literature about dance, showing dance from many different cultures. Like regular literature, I would want to make sure the books about dance were written by insider or very knowledgeable authors and were not stereotypical.

I am very glad I took this course this year.  I think it was great preparation for next year as a student teacher.  I can bring my knowledge about diverse literature directly into the classroom in order to widen students knowledge base through literature.  I am excited and eager to spread my knowledge about diverse children's literature with my students, colleagues, friends and family!  

Connection between Communications Gender Class and Diverse Children's Lit

This semester I am taking a Communications class called, Gender Communication. At the beginning of the year we talked a lot about the different theoretical approaches to gender. Some of these different theories included: biological theory, Psychodynamic theory, social learning theory, and cognitive development theory. While discussing these theories we also discussed intersexuals and the definition of sex along with androgyny. When we discussed these terms in our last class in regards to the LBGTQ community and their misuse or unknown definitions I immediately thought about the information we had learned in my Communications class. Another connection made between my Communications class and our diverse children's literature class is the overall stereotyping of gender in the media, press, and society in general. There are many gender stereotypes present within literature. For example when we read Project Mulberry, I noticed many gender stereotypes with Julie being the nurturer and caretaker of the worms and interested in sewing, and Patrick as the smart one who took control of their project.
All over the media in television shows, commercials, magazine ads, etc. gender stereotypes are present trying to show that girls and boys, women and men are different. Dr. John Gray has gone so far as to say that men and women are from different planets and he has made millions off his best selling books proving this point. In reality, the effect sizes for sex differences are only 15%. 85% of men and women overlap in their scores of small sex differences. It has also been stated within communication gender studies that gender stereotypes are more pervasive in this culture than racial or ethnic ones. At first I was surprised by this statement, but when I think about how normal it seems in our society to separate boys and girls in so many different aspects the statement takes me by less surprise. As teachers we need to keep in mind the stereotyping in literature along with the media, and in our own classrooms that goes on with gender. It is important that male and females have equal respect, treatment, and opportunity just like all the other minority groups we have discussed this semester.

Refection on My Set of Texts

My first attempt at finding Native American literature in the library was what I thought to be very successful. I was able to find many books with ease.  After a closer look at the directions and the rubric, I discovered that all the books I had chosen were folklore or folktales. A lot of Native American literature involves folktales because authors tell tales from certain tribes about their beliefs of how the world came to be, or about morals and lessons.  For the purpose of this assignment though, these books would not work.  So, on my second trip to the library I had a little more difficulty.  I had found a great website written by Debbie Reese called “American Indians In Children’s Literature” at http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2006/05/recommended-childrensyareferenceresour.html.  This site gave me a wonderful list of books that she recommended which were labeled with their genre and the appropriate age level for the books.  It was disappointing though that many of these books were not available at the library I was visiting.  Also, I wanted to use a couple of picture books because I hope to teach in younger elementary grades, so then I could use the books later on in my classroom once I found and analyzed them, which were more difficult to locate than novels. After searching for a while I finally found, The Good Luck Cat, by Joy Harjo and Anna’s Athabaskan Summer by Arnold Griese to use as picture books for my project.  Many of the other books that were tagged as Native American Juvenile Fiction within the library catalog were written by Native American authors, but did not have much Native American content or had very small Native American content and were not written by insider authors.  I chose to use The Good Luck Cat because it was a normal story with a Native American character and a brief mention of the culture.  It was nice to see a regular story with a minority main character.  I chose Anna’s Athabaskan Summer because it focused on one specific tribe and a tribe that I had not heard of before.  Although the author was not an insider, his research seemed deep and he had been immersed within the culture.

            Novels by Native American authors with Native American content were much easier to find at the East Lansing Library.  With ease I found many novels by Joseph Bruchac, Michael Dorris, and Louise Edrich.  I chose to use Morning Girl  by Bruchac within my project because the story line intrigued me.  I had not read much about the perspective of the American Indians when Columbus came to the Americas, so this idea caught my attention. I had also read a couple annotated bibliographies that stated this as a good book to read along with a recommendation in our course pack reading.  I also chose to read The Arrow Over the Door by Bruchac because it is Historical Fiction.  Normally this is a genre I am not interested in, but since this was an opportunity to read about Native American Literature, which I am interested in, I decided this would be a good combination for me to read about.  Both of these books proved to be interesting and good pieces of multicultural literature after reading them.  I was impressed with the disproving of stereotypes and the creativity of writing style. Interestingly both novels were written in the style of two alternating points of view by chapter.  This was an interesting comparison since in Morning Girl the two view points were brother and sister who knew each other, and in The Arrow Over the Door they were two young men who did not know each other at all until the end of the story.

            Also while looking Native American Children’s literature I found a book, Ten Little Rabbits. This book has been discussed as a bad representation of Native American literature in our class and in “Native Americans in Children’s Literature” by Debbie Reese.  In the article she states, “Ten Little Rabbits suggests to children that, simply by putting on Native American clothing anyone or anything can become Native American” (175).  Along with this misleading idea in the book there are many others. After seeing this book in the library I was disappointed that a library that seems to do a fairly good job with providing quality multicultural literature would have this book out for people to read.  It is also disappointing and almost scary that in the back cover of the book it states, “‘Hurray! At long last primary school educators and lovers of children’s literature have an accurate Native American book written for primary children’ – The Five Owls” I am glad we discussed this book in class and read about it, because people need to know not to believe everything that is written within or on a book’s cover.  As future educators we need to be able to look at literature and have at least some basic knowledge about many different cultures in order to try and analyze literature in a multicultural way in order to help teach the children of the future.

            Overall I feel the books I chose to review provide quality multicultural literature.  My set of texts provides books for a combination of both younger elementary and upper elementary/middle school students.  The books are also from different genres including realistic fiction and historical fiction.  The books are creatively written and provide quality information about Native Americans, with three of the four written by insider authors, and the fourth a very knowledgeable outsider.  I am glad I now have of a set of texts to use when I have my own classroom, which will incorporate Native American Literature along with all other types of multicultural literature as well!

My Interest in Native American Literature

For my final project I chose to look at Native American Children's Literature.  Last semester I took a Native American Literature class which looked at literature for adults about and written by Native Americans which piqued my interest.  This class began to open my eyes to the importance of literature that was written about and by Native Americans.  When we discussed the topic in this class I realized how many stereotypical representations are displayed through out society and how it is looked over as normal and acceptable.  The movie about the University of Illinois mascot also really made me realize how many stereotypical and unethical representations are within our culture.  After our discussion I began to notice other stereotypical representations around everywhere. For example my own high school mascot was the warrior.  I also saw a shirt in the mall recently that had two Native Americans on it who were stereotypically dressed wearing beads and animal skins with feathers on their head. The shirt read, Naturally Cute, in big bold letters above the picture of the Native Americans.  The fact that this shirt could be sold in a very popular and large chain made me see how people need to be educated about Native Americans and their true history and current lives.  One way of educating people is through literature, and what better way than to start when people are young and in school.  I was excited to look at and analyze Native American literature that I can use in the future as a teacher and in general to help people receive education about Native Americans and the stereotypes that are still present in our current society.

Morning Girl

Dorris, Michael. Morning Girl. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 1992.

Morning Girl by Michael Dorris is about a sister and brother who are living on an island in 1942.  The book alternates being told from the sister’s, Morning Girl, and the brother’s, Star Boy, point of view.  Morning Girl enjoys getting up early and exploring her world before others awake, and Star Boy enjoys the night.  Like many other novels for adolescents this story incorporates a question of identity.  Morning Girl, transitioning from childhood to adulthood, wants to know what she looks like and asks many people to help her with this exploration.  Star Boy, younger than Morning Girl, but also growing out of childhood questions his identity through the transition of his name going from Hungry to Star Boy. 

Native American aspects of the book include the names that are given to the characters along with the fact that “strangers” come at the end of the novel who are presumably Christopher Columbus and others, which is known from the epilogue written at the end of the story.  Themes of family importance and existence with nature which are important in Native American Literature are also found in the novel.  Dorris does a very nice job excluding any Native American stereotypes like being savages or animal like.  The brother and sister fight and disagree like any siblings would, but still love and support each other in times of need, which brings them closer together in the end.  Michael Dorris is an insider author. He is a part of the Modoc tribe. Dorris won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for Morning Girl.

Critical Resource Review

Charles, Jim. "The Young Adult Novels of Michael Dorris." Alan Review 25.3 (Spring 1998). 21 Apr. 2008 .

Jim Charles an English Education professor who has studied and written about Native American literature, reviews the overall work of Michael Dorris and takes a critical look at each of Dorris’ three young adult novels including, Morning Girl, which was a novel I chose to review.  Charles begins his critical review of Dorris’ work by giving some background on his Dorris’ life.  From this introduction one can learn that he has an adopted son who was born to an alcoholic mother, which influenced some of his writing and he was also married to Louise Edrich who he had collaborated on some literature with.  Charles states, “Michael Dorris did much, through his writing, to increase awareness and understanding of American Indian cultures and to advance the causes of American Indian people. American literature benefited greatly from his artistic craft and vision.”

            Also discussed in the professional review is Dorris’ work to destroy stereotypes about American Indians.  Dorris wrote about and looked at how Native American history was portrayed and told in history books.  He wanted to change how many schools taught about Native Americans. He used his literature to provide a mirror and window into the lives of Native American teenagers.   Dorris also uses generic themes that all adolescents go through such as identity search, family, and relationships.  He also incorporates themes that pertain specifically to Native Americans but can still relate to everyone like, “heritage, maintenance of tribal traditions, harmonious existence with others and within the natural environment, and racism.”  These themes elicit the reader’s attention and give them something to relate to while reading multicultural literature which is expanding their knowledge.

            Charles also specifically looks at Morning Girl.  Charles describes the setting of Dorris’ novel as, “Far removed from the familiar, romanticized settings of popular literary and cinematic treatments of the American Indian experience, Dorris recreates an "'Indian world,' not the 'new world,' but rather a very old one.”  This view of American Indians stretches the readers’ idea of Indians living on the Great Plains and fighting with Colonists.  Dorris displaces the Native American savage people who only live in the past stereotype by telling a story about Native Americans who live in their, which until the end is unaffected by non-Indians.  Charles also describes the relationship between Morning Girl and Star Boy, which is similar to many sibling relationships, giving many people something to relate to.  He also discusses how the sister and brother grow and mature, which is a good lesson and outlook for many adolescents to have if they are going through similar situations with their siblings.

            Within Charles’ conclusion he states how Michael Dorris’ work incorporates important themes in the understanding of family importance and the process of searching for identity during adolescence.  He states these themes are similar to those in developmental psychology which helps readers, “mature and develop when their view of the world is broadened, when their vision of their own potential is expanded, when their experiences lead them to a fuller understanding of who they are and what they can contribute to the well being of others.”  These adolescents who have an expanded view of the world through multicultural literature are going to be able to communicate better with others and see the world as a place to collaborate with everyone and see that every person is different from them in one way or another and this difference is something they can learn from.

The Good Luck Cat

 Harjo, Joy. The Good Luck Cat. San Diego: Harcourt, 2000.

The Good Luck Cat is a great book for young elementary students.  The book tells a normal story about a young Native American girl who has a lucky cat.  She tells how the cat has gone through her nine lives.  The story of the cat’s ninth life is the cat disappearing.  In the end the cat, Woogie does find her way back to the girl’s house.  There are only a couple references to Native American culture. On the second page of the book the girl tells the reader that her aunt gave her money to buy new shoes she would like to wear to the spring powwow. Some other information is given when the girl tells about Woogie’s eighth life.  The girl wanted to take Woogie with her and her family to the powwow they were attending.  So the girl hid her cat in a box with her family’s outfits for the powwow.  From the picture that goes along with this page you can see that the outfits the girl mentions look like traditional powwow clothing. 

Joy Harjo is an insider author from the Muscogee tribe. Harjo has received The American Indian Distinguished Achievement Award, two NEA Creative Writing fellowships, the Delmore Schwartz Award, the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and the Witter Bynner Grant for Poetry.

Anna’s Athabaskan Summer

Griese, Arnold. Anna's Athabaskan Summer. Honesdale: Boyds Mill Press, 1995.

Anna’s Athabaskan Summer is a story aimed for elementary age children.  Anna’s family, who lives in Alask and is of Athabaskan decent, goes to a special place each summer where her ancestors lived.  Anna’s family fishes for salmon on the river where her family goes each summer.  Her grandmother tells her stories about the beliefs Athabaskan’s have dealing with nature and creation.  Her mother also informs her about the respect their people have for all living things.  She tells Anna they must only take the fish they need, and return what is not needed back into the river.  As the weather grows colder once again, Anna wishes summer did not have to end.  Anna’s grandmother reminds her that summer will always come again, and that she will always be a part of Anna’s life even after she is gone.  Anna and her family leave their summer home and the place where the Athabaskan Indians once lived all together, remembering that they will come back next summer and she will bring a friend who she can teach about her ancestors as well.

            Arnold Griese is not an insider author, but he has done extensive research about the Athabaskan Indians.  He has been immersed in the culture when he moved to Tanana, an Athabaskan village in Alaska.  He taught within a schoolhouse in the village.  Grises focuses on one Indian tribe, which is good since he is not stereotyping or generalizing about Indians in general.  Griese also shows that Native Americans live regular lives and dress and talk like everyone else through his contemporary setting and Ragins illustrations.  Grieses story qualifies as good multicultural literature when thinking about the question of, does the story question themes of a minority and then try to answer them.  Anna questions the traditions and beliefs of the Athabaskan Inidians and receives answers from her mother and grandmother.

The Arrow Over the Door

Bruchac, Joseph. The Arrow Over the Door. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1998.

Bruchac’s novel, The Arrow Over the Door, for upper elementary and middle school students is historical fiction about a Quaker boy and an Indian boy during the Revolutionary War.  The story takes place in 1777 and alternates between viewpoints of Samuel, the Quaker boy, and Stands Straight, the Indian boy.  The Indian boy is part of the Abenaki tribe and he is scouting for King George.  Samuel, growing older and more mature questions his family’s beliefs about being friends with everyone throughout the story.  For example, his house does not have a lock on the door because his father believes a lock on the door shows that the owner is worried about items being stolen from inside and is not welcoming to others.  Samuel continues to question his family’s beliefs throughout the novel.  Samuel’s family goes to a meeting with other Friends or Quakers to discuss the war and their feelings and thoughts about it.  At the same time, Stands Straight is in the woods near the Quakers meeting place with his uncle and other Abenakis who are assessing the Quakers and thinking about taking some of them as captives in return for their family members that have been killed.  The Abenakis approach the Quaker’s meeting and decide not to use any violent actions against them since the Quakers do not have any weapons.  They place an arrow over the door as a sign of friendship.

            Bruchac is an insider author. He has origins in the Abenaki Indian tribe.  He has written many other pieces of children’s literature and is a noted Native American author.  He has used his background to displace stereotypes and create a quality piece of multicultural literature in The Arrow Over the Door.   Bruchac informs the reader through his author’s note at the end of the book about the research he had done in order to write this story. He made sure to leave out stereotypes of the Indians having cruel faces or being described as savage and warlike.  Although Bruchac does leave these stereotypes out he still includes some feelings of dislike about the Indians from the viewpoint of characters like Tom Watt. Tom says he is afraid to be scalped by the Indians.  Lines like these would need to be discussed in class showing that this could be a valid fear from certain viewpoints but is also a stereotype of Indians.  Making sure the students see both sides of history, like most of the book presents with alternating chapters from Samuel and Stands Straight, would be very important while using or suggesting this book.