A Review of Child Lit

      In this class I have gained a more critical eye to view children's literature with.  There are many questions that I now use to analyze children's books that did not seem all that important before.  What are the underlying messages in books?  Who is being represented in these books and how are they being represented?   What stereotypes are being reinforced and what kind of society does this book portray?  Is this a realistic or idealistic commentary on our society?  What is this teaching the next generation about the world?
     From reading various books that deal with the social issues of gender, race, and class and from listening to fellow classmates share, it became apparent to me that books that these books are out there and plenty of them are good, interesting, well written stories that children will enjoy.  The resources from this class will be so valuable in the classroom when trying to find books that represent all different cultures so that students can see themselves in their literature.  The research in the community also helped me to see how much is out there but how disproportionate it still is and the importance of looking beyond the main display.
     I found our class discussion about children's literature in the media especially interesting, in particular the conversation about how the story book characters are sexualized.  The paradox that exists there has always been strange to me but I had never considered why story book characters.  I think we find some kind of amusement in the corruption of naivety and purity.  Hence the slutty nuns costumes and the humor of a character like Tartuffe (a con-man priest).  Why is that though?  Because then we feel less guilty about our own corruption?  It's an interesting concept to ponder and I'm glad that that discussion got me thinking about it.
      Lastly I found the conversation on banned books extremely interesting.  I had never realized how many of my favorite books and books that I find extremely important are banned.  It made me realize just how strongly I believe that censorship is wrong.  Also our discussion brought up the question of whether they were popular because of the issues that caused them to be banned and their importance in society, or whether they were popular because they were banned and thus mysterious: the age old question of the chicken or the egg.
      Taking this class has opened my eyes to a lot of issues that surround children's literature and the prejudice that lives in so many beloved children's books, that we refuse to acknowledge.  We tend to ignore the racism or the sexism because it is a story we grew up with and love and cannot bear to acknowledge the messages that it send to children about our society.

Counter Narrative Blog

In my text I am making Cinderella a boy (Cinderalvin), the prince a princess, and the step sisters and mother, step brothers and father.  I think that this has several implications on the text about gender restrictions.  First of all it shows a female aiding a male on his rise to the top.  This is very important because the female character has the power and uses it to save the male character.  Secondly it shows a female character choosing who she gets to marry and marrying for love rather than for duty or economic purposes.  By changing the villains to male characters as well it eliminates the stereotypical character of the "evil stepmother."  Also then Cinderalvin and his two stepbrothers are competing for the affection of the princess, giving her even more power.   This version of Cinderella also shows a girl chasing a boy, which is the reverse of the gender stereotypes.  I can't decide whether or not to keep the fairy godmother a woman or to make her a man as well.  Part of me is like who says only women can be magical, but it is hard for me to see that role as a man (probably because of my own preconceptions).  Then I considered making it a flamboyant sassy godfather, but then was concerned that that still furthers the stereotype that only feminine figures can give magical makeovers.  Any thoughts?

Research in the Community Observations

       For my trip to a local bookstore I went to Politics and Prose, which was a very cool bookstore.  Due to the title of the store I presume, there was a section for politics and current event books right as you walked in the door.  On that table there were many different countries represented including (ex. China, Kenya, Israel, the Middle East, Europe, and of course the US).  In the children's section, which was downstairs, there was a section labeled International in the picture book section.  While this section was on the lower shelves which are more accessibly to kids, they were also mostly fairy tales and folk tales, that while being helpful to understand the history and legends of a culture, they are often stereotypical.  When looking at books that are just about everyday kids doing everyday things, the characters are usually white.  I found this also in the library in Tenleytown that I went to.  The stories for teenagers and children that were about ethnic characters were never everyday stories.  Ethnic characters were always having to overcome familial issues  and prejudice, while white characters were the ones dealing with boys not answering their phone calls.  Portrayals of African Americans characters (which was the vast majority of books with ethnic characters in the library) were extraordinary if they succeeded while white characters were expected to succeed.  In books about African American characters they were always struggling.  Also in the library most of the books about diversity were displayed with other books about or dealing with diversity.  Many of these books were on displays, but many of the displays were too high for age appropriate children to reach.  Both the library and the bookstore I went to were in primarily white neighborhoods, which most likely influenced the selection.  African Americans are the next highest represented ethnicity in the area, which explains why most of the books that had any diversity were African Americans.   You would expect to see a much wider range of diversity in a downtown library where the population is much more diverse.  
       Most of the websites I found on Children Literature were trying to aid teachers and parents in finding more diverse children's literature.  One website had pages for African American books, Asian American books, Hispanic American books, Native American books, female books, pirate books, books on sensitive issues, banned books, and also fairytales.  This is a great resource for teachers that are trying to use diverse literature in their classrooms but don't know where to look.  Another website was celebrating diversity and had pages for African American, Chinese American, Japanese American, Korean American, Jewish American, Middle Eastern Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Latino/Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans.  Another website had links to booktalks and podcasts, as well as recommended reading lists.  Access to websites like these give teachers no excuse for not incorporating more diverse literature into their classrooms.
      It was very difficult for me to find any representations of children's story in the media.  I tried to look on youtube for commercials as well as searching google for some examples but those searches were fruitless.  I also did keep my eyes peeled for advertisements but none happened to cross my path.  I don't watch much television so that was not helpful  either.  While I haven't noticed any signs of children's stories in the media as of yet, I am sure in the future I will be much more aware of the parallels that are often drawn in the media. 


Here are the lists of the books that I found in the library and bookstore along with the websites I found:


Bookstore: 

• Elementary Fiction: Revolution is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine (about the 1972 Chinese revolution)
• Bring Me Some Apples and I'll bake you a Pie: A Story about Edna Lewis by Robbin Gourley
• Early Readers Section: Grosse Clire by Mireill ed'Allance (written in french!)
• Ahmed and the Feather Girl by Jane Ray 
• International Children's Section: Her Stories by Virginia Hamilton (African American folktales, fairytales, and true tales)
• International Children's Section:Not One Damsel in Distress by Jane Yolen (World Folktales for strong girls; stories from Greece, Niger, Germany, Argentina, China, US/White River Sioux, US/Ozark Mountains, Scotland, Romania, Poland/Jewish, Japan, England, and France)
• International Children's Section: Filipino Children's Favorite Stories Retold by liani romulo (the author's name was not capitalized and was not anywhere on the front cover)
• Politics and Current Events Section: Reflections of the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West by Christopher Caldwell
• Politics and Current Events Section: It's Our Turn to Eat--the Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower by Michela Wrong
• Politics and Current Events Section: Israel is Real: an Obsessive Quest to Understand the Jewish Nation and it's History by Rich Cohen
• Politics and Current Events Section:The Rise of Islamic Capitalism: Why the New Muslim Middle Class is Key to Defeating Extremism by Vali Nasr
• Politics and Current Events Section: China Safari: On Trial of Bejing's Expansion in Africa by Serge Michel and Michel Beuret

Library: 

• Young adults section: Sellout by Ebony Joy Wilkins
• About a young African American girl who grows up fitting into an all white neighborhood who discovers her roots in a life-changing summer in Harlem  
• Young Adults section: Acting by Sherri Winston
• About a young African american twin, Eve, and her struggles between good and bad and family drama.  She seeks refuge in make believe.  She's always been a good girl until she meets the bad boy.
• Young Adults section: No Laughter Here by Rita Williams-Garcia
• Deals with two friends, Akilah and Victoria, one of whom goes through the trauma of female gender mutilation in her summer back in Nigeria.
• Kids Section: Sweethearts of Rhythm by Marilyn Nelson and Jerry Pinkney
• This is the story of the greatest interracial all girl swing band in the world.  It's told in poems and addresses race, jazz, World War II, and the 1940's.
• Kids Section on display with other kids biography books: Gandhi: India's Great Soul by Maura D. Shaw
• On display with other biography books such as Michelle Obama, Garrett Morgan, Magellan, Madison, Martin Luther King Jr.
• Kids Section on display: Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
• Story about a young Mexican girl who must leave her Mexican ranch to work in California when poverty strikes. (Interesting that the girl on the cover looks more Caucasian than Mexican)
• Kids Section on display: Tiki Tiki Tembo retold by Arlene Mosel
• Chinese story with the moral that short names can sometimes be better than long names; it did not have very authentic illustrations.
• Adult Non-Fiction Section on display: Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East by Geoffrey Wanro
• Uses Middle Eastern history and fresh insights there to shed light on a different perspective of the war there.

Websites:

• http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/professional-development/childlit/ChildrenLit/
• http://www.multiculturalchildrenslit.com/
• http://www.carolhurst.com/
• http://nancykeane.com/
• http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/childlit.html