Children book
2.4 The 20th Century and Beyond
Alongside quality children’s books in the early 20th century grew the popular, consumer-driven side of children’s literature. Comics, serializedsensational stories justly called “penny dreadfuls” (because they cost a penny and were in fact dreadfully cheesy), and dime novels (so-called becausethey cost a dime), were readily consumed by eager young readers. Serial novels were very popular, with series like Nancy Drew (1930–2003), theHardy Boys (1927–2005), and the Bobbsey Twins (1904–1979) written by ghost writers who worked for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, the first bookpackager to have a target audience of children rather than adults. Howard Garis’s Uncle Wiggily first appeared in the Newark News in 1910 andstarred in nearly 80 books and a board game before the author died in 1950.
Online Resources: Classic 20th-Century Series
· Nancy Drew Sleuth unofficial website:
http://www.nancydrewsleuth.com/
· Hardy Boys Online: An unofficial online resource:
http://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=home
· Project Gutenberg’s 16 Bobbsey Twins novels online:
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/h#a367
· Project Gutenberg’s Uncle Wiggily stories online:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15281
These books, comics, and series novels are often recalled fondly by parents and grandparents and are passed on to their children as a result. They formwhat Deborah Stevenson (1997) has called a “canon of sentiment” (p. 112) as opposed to a “canon of significance (p. 113).” Books like the BerenstainBears series (
http://www.berenstainbears.com/
), Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter books (
http://www.littlecritter.com/
), and Ann M. Martin’s The Baby-sitters Club (
http://www.scholastic.com/thebabysittersclub/
) often fall into the canon-of-sentiment category for today’s college students. These books aren’t necessarilyhigh-quality literature, but they are fun, sometimes addictive reading for children and therefore encourage literacy development and create fond memories.
The war years (1914–1945), however, produced some highly memorable books for children, as adult authors turned to children’s texts for a much-neededescape into the fantasy world of an idyllic childhood such as Winnie the Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood by A. A. Milne (1882–1956). Perhaps they were alsotrying to instill the values of a more peaceful world into their child readers in hopes for a more cooperative future or to fortify them for the challenges theymight face in creating a more just world, such as we find in J. R. R. Tolkien’s (1892–1973) Middle Earth or C. S. Lewis’s (1898–1963) Narnia.
One text that explicitly addressed the anxieties of war for children in the 1930s is Munro Leaf’s The Story of Ferdinand. Ferdinand is best known forhis pacifism; unlike the other young bulls in his field, he is not at all interested in competing in the bullfights in Madrid, instead preferring to sit “justquietly” under his cork tree and smell the flowers. When a misunderstanding leads to his being chosen to fight, he still refuses, angering thebanderilleros, picadores, and the matador, who have no choice but to send him home. This book, published within months of the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War, was considered political propaganda and was burned in Nazi Germany and banned in Spain, but has been in continuous print sinceits original publication and is still being taught today as a heartening fable of both nonconformity and nonviolence.
Online Resources: The Story of Ferdinand
· An online reading of the book from the publisher:
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishersoffice/screeningroom/0110/penguinstorytime/story_of_ferdinand.html#vmix_media_id=10056137
· Lesson plans and ideas for teaching Ferdinand within the Jewish tradition from the Rosenfeld Legacy Project at the University ofMiami:
http://education.miami.edu/legacyproject/documents/TheStoryOfFerdinand
· Lesson plan for teaching Ferdinand:
http://www.bookitprogram.com/redzone/Read&Do/farm_animals/TheStoryOfFerdinand.ai
In the wake of the world wars, people had lost faith in the idea that humanity was becoming progressively more civilized and that technology wasnecessarily a sign of a glorious future. After all, advances in technology during the wars had mostly resulted in more efficient ways to kill more peopleat one time. The dark side of human nature was on full display, and Sigmund Freud’s and Carl Jung’s insights into that dark side, which were originallyrejected by many in mainstream culture, were becoming more accepted by the 1950s as truth in the public and artistic imagination.
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) is probably best known for his idea that people’s actions are influenced by their “unconscious” mind—that is, a mentalspace that houses the instincts and impulses that we must repress in order to function in society. According to Freud, the id, that part of our mind thatis driven by the pleasure principle, demands that we satisfy our appetites in order to reduce the tension that these appetites exert on us. Babies areentirely id driven; when they are hungry, they don’t give any thought to where they are or whether it is convenient for them to be fed. Instead, theydemand to be fed right that instant.
As babies grow older, they begin to develop a sense of self, which Freud called the ego, and a sense of right and wrong that comes from outside,which Freud referred to as the superego. The superego is revealed to children through parental discipline and rules but also through the rules andadvice they receive through books and media. Children internalize these rules about how to behave and form a conscience that guides them in makingdecisions. In Freud’s view, the role of the ego is to negotiate between the id and the superego; the ego has to constantly figure out how to satisfy theid’s desires without getting in too much trouble with the superego. The healthy ego thus learns how to delay gratification or deny aggressive impulses.On the other hand, though, the healthy ego also figures out ways to satisfy desires in socially acceptable ways.
From The Story of Babar by Jean de Brunhoff,translated by Merle Haas, copyright 1933, renewed1961 by Random House, Inc. Used by permissionof Random House Children’s Books, a division ofRandom House, Inc.
One practical application of Freud’s ideas was the acknowledgement that children had much more complicated innerlives than people had previously given them credit for. Had Freud been a believer in God, he might have suggestedthat the idea of original sin wasn’t so far off the mark as thinkers like Locke and Rousseau imagined. Instead hesuggested that children were born self-absorbed and aggressively competitive and that they harbored murderousimpulses against their rivals. Carl Jung (1875–1961) concurred, calling this dark side the Shadow, and both thinkersagreed that the purpose of art, on the individual as well as the social level, was to sublimate these desires intofantasies so that they could be acknowledged and worked through, exercised and exorcised, as it were, in sociallyharmless ways.
Consider the levels of aggression in a story like
The Story of Babar the Little Elephant
(1931), which contains whatis certainly one of the most horrific scenes in children’s literature—that of a mother elephant shot and killed whilecarrying her baby on her back. This illustration of a very common childhood fear—the loss of the mother—followed bythe eventual triumph of Babar as he travels to the city, becomes a very urbane fellow indeed, and returns to hisjungle family to be proclaimed as their king, takes child readers on an imaginary path from loss to recovery and offersreassurance that, even if children’s worst fears are realized and they are left to fend for themselves in the world,there is still hope. While there are very complicated cultural problems with this book (Gopnik, 2008), at thepsychological level, it acknowledges and addresses children’s most traumatic fears and fervent hopes. Scores of20th and 21st century children’s texts treat the loss of the mother and its aftermath in similar ways.
Explore and Reflect: The Loss of the Mother
Make a list of movies and books that stage a significant scene where the child character is separated from the mother (you might startwith Bambi, Free Willie, Horton Hatches an Egg). Consult your friends, and then compare your list with those of others in your class.Why do you think this is such a common feature of children’s books and films? Try to think of multiple reasons and discuss them withfriends and classmates.
Freudian and Jungian interpretations of folk and fairy tales also became common as a means of explaining the lasting appeal of these stories as wellas thinking about how they might be useful for children. Jung believed that folk stories grew out of what he called the “collective unconscious,” whichis something that each of us is born with that helps us organize experience. Characters that he called archetypes inhabit the collective unconsciousand regularly show up in stories. Examples include the damsel in distress, the hero, the wise old man or woman, the trickster, the eternal child, thewicked witch or devil, the great mother. These character types are found in tales from cultures around the world. For instance, trickster figures includeAnansi the Spider (West African), Brer Rabbit (African American), Coyote (Native American), Jack (Appalachian), John the Conqueror (AfricanAmerican), Kirikou (West African), Loki (Norse), Ma-ui (Polynesian), and Raven (Native American). Tricksters are especially appealing to youngchildren because they are usually small in size and must use their cunning to overcome people more powerful than they are.
Like the cartoon images we will discuss in
Chapter 3
, these characters tendto be iconic. Because of this, children can project themselves and those they know onto characters in order to make the story theirs. When children listento stories with these characters in them, they relate them to situations in their own lives, and this helps them organize experience—in any given situation,who are their helpers, who are their bad guys, and how should they deal with their conflicts? But as they grow older, they begin to realize that each of theattributes of these archetypes is present in themselves. According to Jungian psychology, our job is to integrate the characteristics of the archetypes intouseful patterns that will help us in our daily lives. In other words, one way to think of a fairy tale in Jungian terms is to consider that each characterrepresents an aspect of the self, and the story describes how each aspect might help or hinder growth and achieving goals.
Make a list of characters fromfamiliar stories that fit thearchetypes of damsel in distress,hero, wise old man or woman, trickster,eternal child, wicked witch or devil, and greatmother. Which characters do you find mostrelatable?
In “Hansel and Gretel,” for instance, the children can represent the masculine and femininequalities of the self. The stepmother, who fears that she won’t have enough to eat and persuadesher husband to get rid of the children, represents a fear of scarcity that can lead to despicable acts.The father is compassionate but ultimately too weak to counter fear. The children are resourceful,but also naïve, as they scatter breadcrumbs in an attempt to find their way back home. They thensuccumb to their own hunger and greed by attacking the witch’s house. But it is the witch’s greedthat is the most destructive, as she plans to eat the children. As Hansel is placed in a cage to fattenup, both he and Gretel become tricksters, and Gretel demonstrates her bravery by killing the witch.The children find the witch’s treasure and are ferried home by a pair of swans, where they find thattheir stepmother has died and they can therefore live happily ever after with their father. Thecharacteristics of the characters thus include fear, compassion, naivety, hunger, greed, resourcefulness, trickiness, and bravery. The story demonstratesthat fear, naivety, and greed must be overcome through resourcefulness, trickiness, and bravery so that compassion can ultimately triumph.
Choose a fairy tale that you knowwell and consider how eachcharacter demonstrates a dominantcharacteristic of the self. How does the storydemonstrate the effective integration of thesecharacteristics?
Freudian readings of fairy tales often focus on the relationship dynamics in the stories and howstories help children manage unconscious desires and conflicts. Freud suggested that childrenhave socially unacceptable desires and conflicts. For instance, a toddler may show no interest in atoy until another toddler does, and then that toy becomes the only one worth having, and conflictensues. One approach to such conflict would be to talk about the importance of sharing andperhaps read a story where the characters are happily cooperative and share all of their toys.Bruno Bettelheim (1903–1990), a Freudian child psychologist, disagrees with this approach. In TheUses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (1975), he argues that childrenneed outlets for their negative emotions, and the best option for this is stories that openlyacknowledge the intensity of those feelings. If children see only models of sweet, cooperative children in their books, and they themselves struggle withaggressive, angry feelings that get them in trouble, then they will begin to suspect that they are the only ones who have feelings like this. They will feel likemonsters. But if they read stories where jealous, punishing evil stepmothers are killed, and valiant princes slay menacing monsters, their own innerdemons can be vicariously soothed through the imaginative acting out of their aggressive impulses.
Explore and Reflect: Return to a Favorite Childhood Story
Bruno Bettelheim (1975) suggests that children become attached to a particular story that speaks to their particular situation. Thinkback on your own reading history and try to remember your favorite story as a child. If you have access to some of your caregivers,you might ask them what they remember as being your favorite. Write down the story as you remember it, and then locate a copy toread. Consider the following: What have you forgotten? Why do you think you don’t remember? What issues or concerns in the storydo you think made the story important to you as a child? Which still seem important to you today? In what ways do you think this storyhas influenced the way you think about yourself, your relationships, and the world around you?
Online Resources: When Sophie Gets Angry and The Red Tree
· For a booktalk of Molly Bang’s book, see
· For a look at some of the illustrations and the author’s comments about Shaun Tan’s book, see
http://shauntan.net/books/red-tree.html
· For a stunning adaptation of The Red Tree, see
One of the literary milestones in the acknowledgement of aggression and psychological depth in children is found in the 1963 Caldecott Award-winning Where the Wild Things Are. In this familiar tale, the main character Max misbehaves, chasing his dog with a fork and making “mischief of one kind /and another” until his mother has had enough. She sends him to his room, where the aggrieved Max entertains an elaborate fantasy of getting hisown back—that is, taking a troupe of wild things on a wild rumpus and then treating them the same way his mother treated him. In The Child ThatBooks Built, Francis Spufford remarks that this is “one of the very few picture books to make an entirely deliberate, and beautiful, use of thepsychoanalytic story of anger” (2002, p. 60); it is certainly one of the first children’s books to do so. Molly Bang’s When Sophie Gets Angry—Really,Really Angry is another book that acknowledges the intensity of child anger, just as Shaun Tan’s
The Red Tree
acknowledges the depths of sadnessthat children are capable of, even if we as adults are reluctant to believe or acknowledge that children feel these emotions so deeply. Works like theseowe a huge debt to Maurice Sendak for opening up the possibilities of children’s literature to tackle serious emotional struggles.
The Red Tree, by Shaun Tan
Cover image reprinted with permission from TheRed Tree by Shaun Tan, Lothian Children’s Books,an imprint of Hachette Australia, 2001.
The 20th century thus saw the dawn of a new interest in and respect for children, the complexity of their innerworlds, and their literature. Successful authors such as Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), T. S. Eliot (1888–1965),Countee Cullen (1903–1946), Langston Hughes (1902–1967), Arna Bontemps (1902–1973), and Carl Sandburg(1878–1967), began writing for children as well as adults. Oxford professors C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), author ofthe Chronicles of Narnia, and J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973), author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, notonly wrote children’s books but they also wrote about the art and practice of writing for children (Lewis, 1967;Tolkien, 1965). Taking issue with the idea that children need to be protected from fearful content, they side withBritish writer and philosopher G. K. Chesterton, who famously argued that “[f]airy tales do not give the child hisfirst idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey” (1909), anidea that has been widely paraphrased as “Fairy tales are more than true—not because they tell us dragonsexist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten” (quoted as the epigraph for the horror/fantasy novella Coraline, by Neil Gaiman [2002], and attributed to G. K. Chesterton).
Online Resources: On Writing for Children
· C. S. Lewis’s “On Three Ways of Writing for Children” at
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9117
· J. R. R. Tolkien’s “On Fairy Stories” (especially pages 11–15) at
http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2004/fairystories-tolkien
· G. K. Chesterton’s essay on children and fairy stories, “The Red Angel,” is at
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8092
But of course one of the most famous writers for children of the mid-20th century was Theodore Geisel (1904–1991), who adopted the pen nameSeuss so that he could continue writing incognito for the college humor magazine after being caught drinking gin in his college dorm room (Nel, 2003).After he graduated, of course, he became Dr. Seuss. He began writing children’s books in 1937, the first being And to Think That I Saw It on MulberryStreet, which was rejected by 27 publishers before it finally appeared from Vanguard Press. However, he continued to write children’s books while hemade a living doing advertising work and political cartoons. His many books for children are energetic, well-plotted, funny, and engaged with thepsychology of young children.
The Development of Diversity in Children’s Books
As authors began to take the inner and outer worlds of the child seriously, books for children became more diverse in their themes, characters, andgenres. Realistic depictions of children in various socioeconomic settings took their place alongside the fantasies of the Golden Age as children’sfavorites. However, the books of the 20th century continued to point to some persistent ideologies of childhood, especially in terms of gender, race,and ethnicity.
Gender
What other naughty boys do youfind in children’s books you haveread?
If we start with the characters of Tom Sawyer (1876), Huck Finn (1884), and Peter Rabbit (1901),for instance, we can see that we view mischief as the birthright and special privilege of boys; theseboy characters steal, disobey their elders, and run away from home, yet they are ultimately valuedfor their ability to get in and out of trouble. The bad boy archetype is repeatedly refreshed incharacters like Curious George (who first appeared in 1941),
Dennis the Menace
(1951), Maxfrom Where the Wild Things Are (1963), Calvin (1985) of Calvin and Hobbes fame, Bart Simpson(1987), and David (1997) from David Shannon’s
No, David
books. Even Lenore Look’s
Alvin Ho
(2008), who is much more fearful and less intentionalabout his misbehavior, manages to embody the archetype of the boy who always finds himself in trouble and always manages to be forgiven.
Dennis the Menace, No David! and Alvin Ho all feature“bad boy” characters.
Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham (1951). Used by permission ofFantagraphics Books.
From No David! By David Shannon. Scholastic Inc./The Blue Sky Press.Copyright © 1998 by David Shannon. Used by permission.
Book Cover [with illustration by LeUyen Pham], copyright © 2008 by RandomHouse Children’s Books. Cover illustration © 2008 by LeUyen Pham., from AlvinHo: Allergic to Girls, School And Other Scary Things by Lenore Look, Pictures byLeUyen Pham. Used by permission of Random House Children’s Books, adivision of Random House, Inc.
Not so with girl characters, at least until far later in the 20th and early 21st century. LewisCarroll’s Alice is curious, intelligent, and headstrong, but she is also prissy and insistent onprotocol even as she questions the absurdity of the adults in Wonderland and, byimplication, adult culture in the real world. Most girl characters of the Golden Age ofchildren’s literature, however, such as Eleanor H. Porter’s Pollyanna (Pollyanna, 1913), L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables, 1908), and the numerousprincesses in fairy tales, are rewarded for their meek goodness rather than theirmischievous nature. It is not until the appearance of Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking in1945 that girls really get their shot at the mischievous, anti-authoritarian life. Pippichallenges everything, from the superior strength of boys and men, to the authority ofpolicemen, the intelligence of schooling, and the reserved protocols of polite society.
Ten years later, in 1955, Eloise (Eloise, by Kay Thompson) and Ramona (Beezus andRamona, by Beverly Cleary) make their appearances, signaling that a real change hastaken place in the way girls are depicted in children’s literature, since Eloise and Ramonaare realistic girls (that is, they don’t have any supernatural powers) rather than fantasyheroes like Pippi. Like her predecessors, Eloise renders adult society absurd through heroutrageous imitation of it, while Ramona’s unsuccessful attempts to conform to social rules calls them into question by other means.
Online Resources: Eloise and Ramona
· Everything you always wanted to know about Eloise can be found here:
http://www.eloisewebsite.com/
· For a taste of Ramona, see
http://browseinside.harpercollinschildrens.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780380709182
· Junie B. Jones books can be explored here:
http://juniebjones.com/
Harriet the Spy represents a newkind of girl character.
“Book Cover (Yearling edition)”, copyright © 2001by Yearling, from Harriet the Spy by LouiseFitzhugh. Used by permission of Delacorte Press,an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, adivision of Random House, Inc. Any third party useof this material, outside of this publication, isprohibited. Interested parties must apply directly toRandom House, Inc. for permission.
The character who really challenged the gender stereotype of the sweetly funny, good-natured girl, however, isHarriet, from Louise Fitzhugh’s
Harriet the Spy
(1964). Harriet is a disturbing character because she is a girlwho isn’t at all nice or funny; indeed the only quality that she possesses that could be considered positive is herintelligence, which sets her apart and makes her judgmental of her peers rather than understanding andsympathetic toward them. When her beloved nanny leaves her and her friends discover her notebook, hernervous breakdown has a subtle and unsettling realism that sets her apart from most characters in children’sliterature. Despite the awareness of the complexity of children’s inner lives, we still harbor the hope that theirproblems will be easily solved through the wisdom of adult intervention. Harriet is thus perhaps more thepredecessor of the troubled heroine of young adult fiction rather than the culmination of heroines for youngerreaders. The legacy of Pippi, Eloise, and Ramona is more appropriately on display in characters like BarbaraPark’s Junie B. Jones (who first appeared in 1992), Lenore Look’s Ruby Lu (2004), Annie Barrows’ Ivy and Bean(2006), and Megan McDonald’s Judy Moody (2000), who get into mischief and emerge unscathed, much liketheir male predecessors and counterparts.
Children’s picturebooks have also responded to cultural changes in traditional family structures. LesleaNewman’s (1989) Heather Has Two Mommies, and Michael Willhoite’s (1991) Daddy’s Roommate broke newground with their positive portrayals of gay and lesbian family life. Since these books were published, many morehave appeared that contain lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual content, as well as issues of losing a familymember to AIDS, nontraditional families in general, children who don’t follow traditional gender norms, and theexperience of donor offspring. For a comprehensive, annotated list of books that feature gay, lesbian, bisexual,and transsexual content, nontraditional families and children, and donor children, see New York librarian PatriciaA. Sarles’s blog:
http://booksforkidsingayfamilies.blogspot.com/
.
Explore and Reflect: How Should We Address Questionable Stereotypes?
Consider the gender problems with fairy tales: The stories of Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty all feature characterschosen only for their beauty and rewarded for their passivity in waiting for their prince to come. Even in the movie Shrek, whichfeatures a strong, feisty princess, “love’s true form” is the form of the male character. What, if anything, do you think we should doabout continuing to relate these stories that convey stereotypical messages to children? What are the positive aspects of these stories?Do they outweigh the negative ones? How might we talk to children about the messages of these stories such that they become criticalreaders?
As the 20th century progressed, educators and parents became more aware of the importance of children being about to see positive portrayals ofthemselves, their cultures and lifestyles, and their problems, in books. In a survey of over 5,000 children’s books published between 1962 and 1964,Nancy Larrick (1965) found that only 6.7% contained any reference to a non-White character in the text or the illustrations. That percentage hasincreased (Sims, 1982), however, and today there are many beautiful, affirmative picturebooks celebrating the family life and traditions of children fromdiverse backgrounds.
African Americans
Although the first books for children of color in America were published as early as 1890, the publishing history has been a rocky one. For instance,some of the first stories that featured non-White characters were by White authors and featured offensive stereotypes. For instance, Little Black Sambowas written in 1899 by a White woman named Helen Bannerman. Sambo is a South Indian child who, upon encountering four hungry tigers, gives upa piece of his colorful wardrobe to each tiger in exchange for their not eating him. The tigers then become jealous of each others’ finery and chaseeach other in a circle with such ferocity that they melt into a pool of butter, which Sambo then eats with an enormous pile of pancakes after herecovers his clothes. It’s easy to see why this story has appeal for children—a trickster figure outsmarts characters far more powerful and dangerousthan himself and then ends up eating those who wanted to eat him. The imagery, however, was widely condemned as stereotypical and degrading toBlack children. Sambo was depicted with very dark skin, a wide mouth and nose, startling white eyes, and unkempt hair; in other words, he embodiedthe pickaninny caricature, and his name, Sambo, became a racial slur.
Online Resources: The Little Black Sambo Controversy
· For an explanation by a sociology professor of the history of Little Black Sambo and the controversy around it, see
http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/picaninny/
· A lengthy discussion about Little Black Sambo among noted children’s literature authors, librarians, and critics can be found at
http://www.fairrosa.info/disc/sambo.html
Julius Lester, a noted Black author, had this heartbreaking reaction to the book:
When I read Little Black Sambo as a child, I had no choice but to identify with him because I am black and so was he. Even as I sit hereand write the feelings of shame, embarrassment and hurt come back. And there was a bit of confusion because I liked the story and Iespecially liked all those pancakes, but the illustrations exaggerated the racial features society had made it clear to me represented myracial inferiority—the black, black skin, the eyes shining white, the red protruding lips. I did not feel good about myself as a black childlooking at those pictures. (1997)
Lester’s response was to write a new version of the book called Sam and the Tigers, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. This version of the story preservesall of the wit and energy of the story, even amping up those characteristics, while stripping away the racist overtones.
Issues of representation became very important during the early and mid-20th century, which was characterized by the uplift tradition in AfricanAmerican literature, particularly for children. W. E. B. Dubois (1919) described what he called the “talented tenth,” that is, the 10% of Black people whowould become world leaders through education and activism. In order to raise up a class of leaders, he started a children’s magazine called TheBrownies’ Book in 1920, with the following seven purposes:
a. To make colored children realize that being ‘colored’ is a normal, beautiful thing.
b. To make them familiar with the history of the Negro race.
c. To make them know that other colored children have grown into beautiful, useful, and famous persons.
d. To teach them delicately a code of honor and action in their relations with White children.
e. To turn their little hurts and resentments into emulation, ambition and love of their own homes and companions.
f. To point out the best amusements and joys and worthwhile things of life.
g. To inspire them to prepare for definite occupations and duties with a broad spirit of sacrifice. (p. 287)
The magazine’s focus on noble behavior and didacticism makes it an unlikely breeding ground for popular child characters who, as we have noted, tend tohave a bit of vinegar in their dispositions. However, its existence and goals indicate concern for the way Black children were represented in books and aneed for positive role models and iconic characters. For more information and to read the issues of The Brownies Book, click
here
.
Indeed, the complaints leveled at books written about children of color throughout the early and mid-century focused on the fact that the charactersalmost always learn that growing up means learning to accept an inferior role in society, a lesson that boys like Jim Hawkins (of Treasure Island) andTom Sawyer never have to learn (Harris, 1990; Kline, 1992). Given that, and the fact that even in a book featuring Black characters that won theNewbery Award, Sounder (by William H. Armstrong, 1969), only the dog is given a name, there are few models of Black childhood that snag a placeon children’s literature’s greatest hits list. Armstrong, a White author, defends his choice to leave his characters nameless by saying that in doing so hecreates characters that are universal, but the prejudice and harsh treatment of the family are clearly related to their ethnicity, so claims of universalityin this situation falter. Albert Schwartz (1970) argues that the absence of names is related to the fact that long-standing racism has prevented thedominant culture from seeing people of color as individuals.
Since the 1990s, however, conditions have changed for the better. Today’s children can listen to and read beautifully written picturebooks by AshleyBryan, Lucille Clifton, Donald Crews, Eloise Greenfield, Nikki Grimes, Patricia McKissack, Walter Dean Myers, Faith Ringgold, Joyce Carol Thomas,Carole Boston Weatherford, and Jacqueline Woodson. Illustrators Bryan Collier, Floyd Cooper, E. B. Lewis, Christopher Myers, Kadir Nelson, JerryPinkney, and Javaka Steptoe have expanded the repertoire of possibilities for children’s picturebook art with their innovative styles. These authors andillustrators, as well as many others, present personal stories, civil rights history, biographies, and folktales that highlight Black experience and culture.Fluent readers will find the folktale retellings and original early chapter books by Christopher Paul Curtis, Nikki Grimes, Virginia Hamilton, and JuliusLester challenging and fun. Since 1969, the American Library Association has been awarding the Coretta Scott King Award to outstanding AfricanAmerican authors and illustrators whose work demonstrates an appreciation for African American culture.
Latino/Latina and Hispanic Americans
Pérez and Martina: A Portorican Folk Tale, written by Pura Belpré in 1932, is usually considered the first children’s book written by a Latina author inthe United States. Belpré is most well-known as the first Puerto Rican librarian in the New York Public Library system, and her influence as achildren’s librarian, author, and storyteller has been honored by the American Library Association with the establishment of the Pura Belpré Awardgiven to the Latino/Latina author and illustrator that “best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work ofliterature for children and youth” (para. 1).
Another important milestone in the representation of Latino/Latina culture in children’s literature and media is the advent of Sesame Street, whichfeatured human Latino/Latina cast members Miguel, Luis, and Maria as early as its second season in 1970. But despite the early publication ofBelpré’s work, the establishment of the award, and the presence of Latino/Latina characters in one of the most popular children’s shows of all time,most critics agree that the publishing industry is not keeping up with the need for quality literature that addresses the expanding diversity of Americanculture, particularly the rapidly growing population of Latino/Latina children in America. Marisa Treviño (2012) attributes this to two factors: (1) that“[a]bout 75% of children’s book buyers [in America] are white,” and (2) that the vast majority of published children’s authors, over 90%, are White aswell. She sees some positive change on the horizon, but such change will require enthusiastic advocacy on the part of educators and parents.
Another problem identified by critics is the lack of diversity within representations of Latino/Latina culture (see, for instance, the statistics at the bottom ofPat Mora’s Bookjoy website:
http://www.patmora.com./sampler.htm
). Even the term—Latino/Latina—has a vexedhistory, since it seems to erase the rich diversity of traditions that emerge from the range of Latin American countries and cultures. It has come to be thepreferred term over Hispanic, for instance, because Hispanic seems to privilege Spanish origin rather than Latin American. And many authors of Mexicanheritage still refer to themselves as Chicano, a term that, since the 1960s and 1970s, connotes ethnic pride for many Mexican Americans as an expressionof the uniquely hybrid nature of their culture. Phillip Serrato (2011) argues that the important thing for teachers to remember is that terms such as these aremore often than not overly simplified conveniences for categorizing a range of books and that teachers should be attentive to the distinguishingcharacteristics of the books they share with children.
Despite these problems, there are still many respected Latino children’s authors. Look for books by Alma Flor Ada, Francisco Alarcón, George Ancona,Monica Brown, Carmen Agra Deedy, Lulu Delacre, David Diaz, Pat Mora, Yuyi Morales, and Gary Soto for picturebooks, and Rudolfo Anaya andCarmen Lomas Garza for fluent readers.
Native Americans
Representation is also a problem with Native American texts, because our culture has tended to romanticize so much of the history of NativeAmericans. Lavish headdresses and costuming, which is often connected to sacred tribal tradition and not intended for public viewing or imitation, isused indiscreetly and irreverently in much children’s literature. For instance, Susan Jeffer’s Brother Eagle, Sister Sky (1991) is a wildly popular bookthat has inspired many a bulletin board, but it completely misrepresents the speech, questionably attributed to someone she calls Chief Seattle, fromwhich she adapts her text, the message it contains, and the nation of the person who supposedly spoke the words. Jeffers uses a stylized stereotypeof a Plains Indian to give a generic sense of “Indian-ness” to her book, and her nostalgic tone seems to insist that American Indians no longer exist,putting this book at the top of Oyate website’s Books to Avoid (Seale, n.d.). Oyate is an organization that reviews children’s literature and advocatesfor Native Americans/American Indians to be portrayed with historical accuracy, cultural appropriateness, and without anti-Indian bias and stereotypes.
The Oyate website (
http://www.oyate.org/
) offers guidance for teachers in evaluating books they might want to choose for inclusionin their curriculum. These guidelines could be easily adapted for considering any books about children of color. Another very useful resource is DebbieReese’s American Indians in Children’s Literature blog (
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/
), where she has book lists, articles, reviews, and news updates on issues affecting therepresentation of indigenous people in children’s and young adult literature and culture. When considering which books to include in your curriculum, it is agood idea to consult these sources for specific recommendations as well as books and images to avoid. You will find books by Nicola Campbell, Joy Harjo,Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, and Tim Tingle consistently recommended for very young children, and Joseph Bruchac, Louise Erdrich, and Cynthia LeitichSmith as recommended authors of books for young readers.
Asian Americans
Like Latino/Latina children’s literature, Asian American and Asian Heritage children’s books represent a variety of cultural traditions and cultures. Unlikethe other ethnicities we have discussed, however, the critical discussions around representation are not as robust or developed. While the majority ofAsian American books for children today are folktales, there is a growing trend in realistic representations of Asian American children. Allen Say andKen Mochizuki, for instance, write from the perspective of Japanese Americans, often focusing on the difficulties of assimilating to life in a new culture.Minfong Ho takes her very young readers to Thailand. Janet Wong writes poetry that honors her Chinese and Korean heritage while being groundedfirmly in the universal landscapes of childhood dreams, hopes, and fears. There is also a growing body of literature featuring recent immigrants andadoptees and the challenges they face. For instance, My Name Is Yoon, by Helen Recorvits, and The Name Jar, by Yangsook Choi, both focus onyoung Korean girls entering American schools where their names present difficulties until they learn their value and meaning.
Explore and Reflect: Diversity in Picturebooks
Select one of the authors or illustrators listed in the preceding sections and research his or her professional biography. Make a posterthat highlights his or her work. Contact a local day care, library, or elementary school and ask if you can make a short presentation onthe author or illustrator to the class. Read at least one of his or her books to a group of children, share the information on your poster,and then present it as a gift.
Choosing the Best Multicultural Children’s Literature
According to statistics gathered by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, between the years of 1985 and1993, the number of books created by African American authors increased dramatically. Since that time, however, the number of books by and aboutAfrican Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos has been trended downward (see Figure 2.1). As people who work with children,we must be intentional in ensuring that the literature we share with them reflects a full spectrum of experience. Publishing is a business, and whilepublishers may have strong ideological commitments, they must also respond to market demand. If we want a robust supply of quality multiculturalbooks, we must ensure that we are creating sufficient demand for them.
Figure 2.1: Children’s books about people of color published in theUnited States, 1994–2011
Since 1993 the number of books by and about minorities has trended downward.
Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin–Madison. (n.d.). Children’s books by and about people ofcolor in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/pcstats.asp
Research shows that children develop their most persistent attitudes toward race when they are 3–7 years old, and that not talking about racial issuesis more detrimental toward developing an open attitude toward diversity than explicit discussion, even in schools and neighborhoods where diversity isthe norm (Vittrup, 2007). Children are not color-blind: They notice racial difference, and they overwhelmingly prefer people who look similar tothemselves, but we adults are the ones who teach them what skin color means. Vague, color-blind statements such as “we are all equal” mean little tochildren, but explicitly showing doctors, rescue workers, or plumbers, say, with a variety of skin colors or both genders, and talking about theirrepresentations, is much more effective. Passive exposure has also been disproven as a means of promoting mixed-race interaction in schools; rather,children must be encouraged to talk about racial difference as we have learned to talk about gender difference (Bronson & Merryman, 2009).
Guidelines for Evaluating Diversity in Children’s Books
· Accurate representation of cultural specifics: Are countries of origin specifically named where appropriate? (For instance, Africa isnot a country, nor is Latin America.) Does the style of dress represent time period accurately? Do pictured setting details accord withtextual setting? Do the intergenerational relationships depicted reflect the values prevalent in the culture? (For instance, respect forelders, importance of extended families, etc.)
· Avoidance of stereotypes: Are characters depicted as individuals? Are characters shown in a variety of activities, with a variety ofskin tones and body types? Pay particular attention to gender—are men and women always shown performing activities traditionallythought of as male or female activities, or do they behave in ways that more accurately represent the contemporary diversity ofroles?
· Achievement: Are characters shown to be resourceful and able to solve their own problems? Are authority figures diverse in terms ofethnicity and gender? Are power dynamics equally distributed among characters of various ethnicities and genders?
· Author/Illustrator: Does the author/illustrator come from the culture depicted? If not, is there evidence that sufficient research hasbeen done regarding the portrayal of the culture? It is useful to check reviews for this information if it is not provided in theauthor’s/illustrator’s note.
· Copyright Date: Generally speaking, the newer the book, the more likely it will address cultural issues with contemporarysensibilities.
· Sensibility: If the book portrays a struggle between a minority character and the dominant culture, does the book give appropriateweight to the conflict and the minority character’s right to justice, even if that right challenges the status quo or laws of the dominantculture?
· Language: Does the language of the characters and/or the narrator accurately reflect, but not stereotype, typical language use inthat culture?
Icons and Children’s Media Today
Children’s authors and illustrators today are sensitive to the exciting challenges of living in a world where gender roles are more fluid and culturaldifferences are increasingly valued. While some authors, such as Mo Willems, are creating new icons of child culture, such as the Pigeon, KnuffleBunny, and Elephant and Piggie, in some cases, the authors themselves are becoming icons, such as, again, Mo Willems, with children eagerlyawaiting the next offering by Kevin Henkes or Kadir Nelson. These authors have an almost unlimited range of artistic tools available to them, and theyare re-creating the picturebook as a work of art, shaping the aesthetic vision of child readers in diverse and fascinating ways. Children’s picturebookstoday are more sophisticated than they have ever been, offering visual and verbal challenges that demonstrate an unprecedented respect for thecognitive and affective abilities of child readers.
In today’s media-saturated culture, whether characters become children’s literature icons often depends on whether they are picked up for TV and movies.The Walt Disney Company, for example, is largely responsible for keeping the fairy tale princess alive and well in contemporary culture. Disney’s remakesof classic fairy tales have been criticized for their perpetuation of impossible ideals of feminine beauty, as their wasp-waisted, big-eyed beauties set thestandard for pretty among young girls. However, what seems to bother people most about Disney is their overwhelming hold on children’s culture. The“Disney version” of any particular story is likely to be the one children are most familiar with, and thus, to their minds, the “right” version. For instance,Disney’s bright, colorful
image
of Winnie the Pooh with his ill-fitting T-shirt and very chubby tummy is very different fromthe
original illustrations
by E. H. Shepard . Although the first movies Disney producedwere very respectful of the book, their continual repackaging of Pooh over the years has diminished the power of those original stories, makingcontemporary Pooh a very silly bear indeed.
Other purveyors of children’s literature and culture have created cultural icons as well. For instance, the Sesame Street characters are widelyrecognized around the world. Interestingly, these characters have gone from TV to books, rather than the other way around like such characters asMarc Brown’s Arthur, Rosemary Wells’s Max and Ruby, Susan Meddaugh’s Martha, and Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat. The main purveyors of children’smedia today are Disney, Nickelodeon, and PBS. While each network, producer, and distributor has a slightly different emphasis and mission statement,their products are marketed across the spectrum of child culture, creating books, TV shows, music, stage shows, amusement parks, toys, games, andplay sets to immerse children in the world of their products and gain brand loyalty. As we look more closely at media specifically targeted to thevarious age groups, we will discuss the philosophy and dominant aesthetic statements of each of these purveyors more closely. For the most part,though, these media outlets are competing for market share while attempting to maintain their ideal of what children should and should not experiencethrough their storytelling.
Explore and Reflect: Children’s TV
Look at the websites for Disney (
http://www.disneyabctv.com/web/index.aspx
), Nickelodeon(
http://www.nick.com/
), and PBS (
http://pbskids.org/go/
), and explore their content forchildren. In what ways are they selling their products? In what ways are they striving to educate as they entertain? How does thiscombination fit into the larger history of children’s literature that we have outlined here? What level of commitment to diversity do youobserve in each case?
PBS, for instance, has very clear guidelines regarding their children’s television programming(
http://www.pbs.org/producers/pbskidssubmissionguidelines
). They have a clearlyarticulated “Child Development and Learning Framework” that all of their programs must be responsive to, and they encourage periodic evaluation throughfocus groups to see if the program’s goals are having the desired effects on child learning. They also have a list of specific prohibitions in children’sprogramming. Violence of any kind, as well as any dangerous or illegal behavior that children might model, are prohibited, as is any sort of image orprogramming that might evoke fear in children. They also put strict limits on “grossness” and images of bathroom use; clearly, the Shrek franchise couldnot be distributed through PBS. PBS also has explicit guidelines against racial and gender stereotyping and insists that any depictions of antisocialbehavior be portrayed with negative consequences.
Disney, on the other hand, places its emphasis on creativity, innovation, and profitability. Their official website (
http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/
) highlights this mission across all of their businesses and programs. Their focus is now and always has been oncreative and memorable storytelling. This means that they will occasionally present fearful images and violent scenes in their films, although they do findways to imply the more gratuitous scenes of violence rather than actually show what happens. For instance, when the wicked queen falls to her death inDisney’s first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), all the audience sees are two very interested vultures watching over theedge of the cliff. Likewise, some 50 years later, Gaston falls off a rain-soaked roof after stabbing the Beast in Beauty and the Beast (1991), but viewers donot witness either his entire fall or his landing. The Beast survives the stabbing and is transformed back into his former self. Violent deaths are actuallyquite common in animated Disney films, but they always function within the storytelling role of vanquishing villains who deserve to be vanquished.
Explore and Reflect: Deaths of Disney Villains
Play this game that tests your knowledge of how Disney villains meet their deaths:
http://www.sporcle.com/games/mrness86/disneyvillain
Repeat, this time having a child fill in the blanks if possible. (This activity will be most successful with children 4 years old and older.)Discuss with the child, or reflect on your own, if and how the deaths are appropriate for the crimes committed by the villains.
PBS and the Disney-ABC Television Group represent two extremes in children’s media programming. PBS’s focus is explicitly on providingdevelopmentally appropriate educational media that emphasizes social equality and explicitly rejects stereotyping. Disney’s focus is on creativestorytelling, which requires the use of icons and archetypes, if not stereotypes, so that children are drawn into identifications. Other purveyors ofchildren’s media fall somewhere in between. For instance, Nickelodeon, which is owned by Viacom, places a high emphasis on humor and theempowerment of viewers, which they promote through online interaction, viewer’s choice programming and awards, and gaming. They then claim touse their influence to promote healthy lifestyles by using their well-known characters, like Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants, toencourage exercise through their “Let’s Just Play” campaign (Altschuler, 2008). While many of the shows distributed through these outlets end upseeming similar, it is nonetheless possible to detect their various commitments by watching with an analytical eye.
Explore and Reflect: Nickelodeon Programming
Browse the interview of Nickelodeon’s early program director, Geraldine Layborne:
http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/geraldine-laybourne#
You can select topics of interest to you by clicking on the links within the chapters.
What insights into the programming philosophy of Nickelodeon do you find interesting?
What’s Next for Children’s Literature
Children’s literature has a long history of availability in audio and visual formats, including touch-and-feel books, pop-ups, lift-the-flap, and other formatsthat encourage interaction. The development of digital technologies offers exciting possibilities for children’s reading in the future. Color versions of e-readers offer a natural platform for picturebooks, and YouTube has any number of videos that feature people telling stories, reading children’s books,setting them to music, and adapting them in various child-friendly ways. Many local public library websites also feature online children’s books that childrencan access for free from a computer. For instance, explore Tumblebooks at
http://www.normalpl.org/online-tools/kids/
.
Apps are also being developed based on children’s books. Some of these are similar to the computerized versions of children’s books that firstbecame available in the 1980s in that they offer options for being read to or reading alone, hot spots with animations, and the ability to receive thestory in other languages. Because these new apps have been developed for tablets, they include features that are activated by swiping and shakingthe tablet as well. Some include interactive features, such as Mo Willems’ Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App, based on his popular pigeon character.This app allows children to record their answers to questions and create new stories in a fill-in-the-blank fashion, where players are asked for specifickinds of words to fill in blanks that can be saved and replayed. And of course, Disney offers a wide range of apps based on its recent movies. Manynonfiction apps are also available that encourage children to learn through interactive edutainment.
Most exciting, perhaps, though is the development of augmented reality (AR) children’s books. These books use a webcam (or other device such as acamera phone) to project 3-D images that have been encoded in the book itself. In addition, readers can interact with the image in their books. It reallymust be seen to be fully understood. You’ll find videos demonstrating AR in Websites to Save and Explore at the end of the chapter.
Summary
This chapter has looked at the history of how culture produces books for children according to what people believe about their inner lives and theirneeds and capacities. You have been asked to consider your own beliefs about childhood, which will certainly influence your decisions about whatsorts of books to include in your curriculum. You have also been introduced to some of the ideological problems with race and gender that are implicitin books for children, and to checklists that you can use to evaluate the portrayal of minority cultures in the books you choose. Finally, we have lookedat the way children’s literature icons cross from books to other media and how the various purveyors of children’s media influence the kinds of storiesavailable to children.
As the diversity of our nation increases, so will the diversity in our classrooms. Literature is one way that teachers can help to ensure their students understand different cultures around them.
To prepare for this assignment,
·
Read Chapter 2 of the course text.
· Note Section 2.4 of our textbook lists the following guidelines for evaluating diversity in children’s books:
· Accurate representation of cultural specifics
· Avoidance of stereotypes
· Achievement
· Author/illustrator
· Copyright date
· Sensibility
· Language
·
· July: Discuss Pamela M. Tuck’s book after viewing
As Fast as Words Could Fly Read by Dulé Hill
(Links to an external site.)
.