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.

Online Computer Game Helps People with Autism

As I was looking at my daily source of news, CNN.com, the other day I came across an article titled, "iReport: 'Naughty Auties' Battle Autism with Virtual Interaction."  After reading the article I made a connection to our diverse literature class since we have already gone over the topic of autism.  In the iReport written by Nicole Saidi, it discusses how the virtual online world called Second Life can provide a place for people with Autism to practice their social interactions.  The article interviews David Savill a 22 year old from England who has Asperger's syndrome.  David shares how he has created a name for his character in the virtual world he created in Second Life along with some of his experiences with the site. Saidi states, "The graphical representations of real people create a "comfort zone" that can coax users out of their shells and get them communicating with others, he said."  Savill also states that the fact people are at their personal computer in their own room and own house provided a comfort level that in part allows for the social interactions being made within the virtual world to be ok.  The article also discusses how the vritual world can also be joined by family members of people with autism.  This way it can also be a learning experience for them as well.  Saidi makes sure to point out though that there has not been scientific research done to prove that a virtual world like Naughty Auties helps treat autism.  Researcher Simon Bignell plans on looking at the effect the virtual world can have on people with Autism.  

You can find the article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/28/sl.autism.irpt/?iref=mpstoryvie.  I also found another related article titled, "Virtual World Teaches Real World Skills" which can be found at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7012645/.

Personal Philosophy

Since they beginning of my classes at MSU in the College of Education, I feel like the issue of diversity has been an integral part of discussion and course work.  The topic has interested me each time it has been a part of courses like 301, 348, and 401.  When I heard about TE 448 focusing on diversity in children and adolescent literature I thought it would be a great class to further my knowledge about diversity and it would provide me with new knowledge about literature that is appropriate and good to use in my classroom in the future.

In relation to why I am taking the class, this class directly relates to some of my professional goals.  I would like my classroom to be a safe and comfortable place for all students, no matter what background, culture, ethnicity, or religion they identify with.  In order for this safe and comfortable environment to occur each student should be able to see themselves within literature in the classroom.  Also they should not see negative stereotypes of themselves in literature within the class.  The latter part of my goal may be impossible though, since as we have seen in class with the books we have read, stereotypes can be found in almost anything we read... so it will also be a goal of mine to always critically discuss and read books and focus on making sure stereotypes are not enforced to the students.

With my personal goal of students feeling safe and comfortable within the classroom also comes the role of diversity within all aspects of class, especially literacy teaching and learning.  Since literacy is a main aspect of all other subjects like math, science, and social studies it is extremely important to have diverse literature and diverse thoughts throughout all academic subjects. Specific issues within diversity like being an insider or outsider and stereotyping will be important to consider when teaching diverse literacy.  In order for the literature to be credible the author needs to have a significant amount of experience and research into the minority culture being written about.  I also think that issues of diversity that come up in class with teaching and learning about diverse literature can be great on the spot teaching moments.  If students disagree or share their different points of view about an idea or event because of their culture, this can be a great opportunity to discuss diversity and how people can have different opinions.  These different opinions need to be respected and attempted to be understood. This can teach students and ourselves valuable lessons about how to interact with others who have differing opinions on issues throughout life.

My personal philosophy about multicultural education includes my professional goals relating to diverse literature.  I think that multicultural education is extremely important so all students feel like they are in a safe environment mentally, physically and emotionally.  If students all respect each other then this type of environment can be achieved. Diverse literature needs to be present within the classroom.  Not only does it need to be present, but it also needs to be read, thought about and discussed critically.  I would like students within my classroom to share with each other how they create a diverse classroom.  Each student is different therefore they each bring something to the classroom's diversity.  If students have literature at home about their culture or religion or ethnicity or anything that might make them different from others I would encourage them to bring this into the class to share and for others to read.

It is very exciting to think that I will soon be able to apply my philosophy about diverse literature and multicultural education to the classroom.  I am interested to see what type of classroom I will be teaching, how obvious diversity will be within the class.  I know that there is diversity in each situation and each class, but some students may not see diversity if all the students are middle class and white, opposed to a class of students with many different races or cultures.  It also interests me to see how much children either accept the ideas of diversity I will present or how much they do not have interest in it.  I hope that all my students see how important it is too look at diversity, especially within literature.  It is a concern though that the students will not be interested or will not understand the ideas of diversity I would like to teach.  I am also concerned that I will use literature or something will happen in my class that offends a student because of their culture.  I know that if something like this happens I should revisit the situation and use it as a learning experience in order to tell the students how something was offensive or inappropriate and what we can do as a class so the situation does not reoccur.  Even with my worries I am still looking forward to incorporating diverse literature into my class so my students have a wonderful opportunity to be well rounded successful adults while enjoying reading and writing about different cultures and ideas.