I often fall in love with a particular children's book. When this happens I read it in classrooms and booktalk it to anyone who will listen. This year I fell in love with a book written about Coumbus' arrival from an Indian viewpoint...until I talked to Oyate. Oyate is a non-profit, educational organization composed of Native Elders, artists, activists, educators, and writers who have come together to bring the real histories of the indigenous peoples of this hemisphere to the attention of all Americans.
Within five minutes of hearing their perspective on this and other books, I'd fallen out of love and my belief system was shattered. I learned that many books I'd appreciated for years were sentimental or culturally incorrect when seen through Indian eyes.
Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children is the title of a book co-authored by Beverly Slapin and Doris Seale. This is a resource for parents and teachers who, like me, have enough awareness to realize they don't know what's truly authentic. The collection of reviews and essays includes a checklist to help non-Natives evaluate books before they share them as true. The book is available from Oyate. You can write them at 2702 Mathews, Berkeley, CA 94702. Or phone: 510-848-6700. ($24.95 paperback)
Another valuable resource for any adult seeking for multicultural accuracy is Teaching Multicultural Literature in Grades K-8, a collection of essay edited by Violet Harris and contributed by authorities around the country who will guide you through confusion and to dependable titles and authors. (Christopher-Gordon, $31.95; If not available through your bookstore, call: 800-934-8322)
I began to believe the straightest path to authenticity comes from books written by people who have grown up in the culture. There are notable exceptions. Paul Goble is an author-illustrator who has embraced the Plains Indian cultures and respectfully honors the spirit of their history (Death of the Iron Horse, Bradbury, $12.95 ) and their legends (Crow Chief, Orchard, $14.95; or Itkomi and the Boulder, Orchard, $4.95) in his books for five to adult. Tomie de Paola's The Legend of Indian Paintbrush (Putnam, $13.95) and The Legend of the Bluebonnet (Putnam, $13.95 $5.95) are books to share with children from four to eight.
Mainstream publishing boasts few books by Native writers, but the few titles I've found are impressive. Though it sounds incredible, Simon Ortiz re-writes American history from an Indian viewpoint in a twenty-four page picture book entitled The People Shall Continue. Ortiz is an Acoma poet, whose Native oral tradition is very present in his relating. His chronicle shows the People's commonality in honoring each other and the world surrounding them. They are bound later by foreigners who threaten the cultures they have built. With lyricism, Ortiz combines history's specifics with the heritage of struggles and endurance. The power of his story comes from its clear truths, articulate telling and the avoidance of romantic versification. Ages 7-12. (Children's Book Press, $13.95).
Several books by non-Indians are sympathetic attempts to re-write a less European-slanted of American history. Photojournalist Russell Freedman gives us history through the words and actions of six Native leaders in Indian Chiefs. His writing is cleansed of sentimentality, but sadness of the insensitivities pervade. (Ages 9- adult; Holiday House, $16.95) Francine Jacobs writes a non-fiction account of The Tainos: The People Who Welcomed Columbus. (Ages 9-adult; Putnam, $15.95) Compassionate history and contemporary descriptions fill the pages of Stan Hoig's People of the Sacred Arrows: The Southern Cheyenne Today (Ages 10 and up, Dutton, $15.00).
Native children were most often taught through stories and legends. Native peoples are rich in storytellers and two of them have translated tales told for generations into books.
Last year saw the re-issue of Rosebud Yellow Robe's Tonweya and the Eagles and Other Lakota Tales, a collection illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. Rosebud Yellow Robe, a descendant of Sitting Bull, was honored in 1989 for "a lifetime commitment in communicating the values of her people to non-Indians and serving as a powerful model for Native Americans who sought ways to preserve their culture." Yellow Robe translates the oral tradition into a written form that acknowledges the way Native American families threaded myth in and out of daily life. She relates Lakota lore told to her by her father, Chano, who heard the stories from his father, Yellow Robe. The narratives are nested in remembrances of her father's growing up in the late nineteenth century. The stories reveal a way of life rich in custom, spirituality, courage, pride, humor, wisdom, and love of family and nature. The scattered, realistic black and white pencil drawings by Brian Pinkney pay appropriate tribute to both the stories and the words of Rosebud Yellow Robe. Ages 6 to adult. (Dial, $14.00)
Joseph Bruchac, story teller and writer, is of Abenaki, English and Slovak ancestry. He is a man who follows the old ways, honoring tradition by storytelling only between first and last frosts. His latest collection, Native American Animal Stories, tells twenty-four myths from nineteen Peoples that show Bruchac's tribute to nature, his Native American heritage, and to his powerful gift of communication. Tones vary from funny, or sad, to hopeful and the characters range from brave to loving to reckless. In each there shines a learning, but it is always shown and never told. Ages 8- adult. (Fulcrum Publishing, $11.95) Bruchac also has recorded two tapes to accompany the book. Flute and percussion pieces add to the experience and Bruchac's gentle, but dramatic voice is poignant. One warning, do not walk while listening, their truths and eloquence may knock you off your feet. (Fulcrum, $16.95)
For an older child is Ishi's Tale of Lizard translated and edited by Leanne Hinton, a professor of linguistics who specializes in Native American languages. This is not a simple picture book, but is concerned with capturing the true oral tradition rather than trying to simplify or filter it for young readers. (Ages 9 and up. Farrar, $14.00)
Last spring Harcourt published Encounter, a children's picture book written by Jane Yolen about Columbus' meeting with the Taino. The story appears to be told from the point of view of a small Indian boy frightened by three dream birds who come to him in sleep. When he wakes, he finds three "great canoes" anchored off the shores of his island and he tries to warn his chief. His warning is pushed aside and the Tainos welcome the strangers to everyone's eventual sorrow.
I fell in love with this book and when I become enamoured with a book, I booktalk it to anyone who will listen. I immediately shared Encounter in fifth grade classrooms. The kids loved translating the boy's descriptions into their own concepts. Easily they decided that a biting sharp silver stick was a sword. And with more careful listening and thought they determined that a "round pool to hold in the hand that gave a man back his face" was a mirror . The strong images, good writing and convincing voice immersed them in the boy's story. The emotive illustrations by David Shannon pulled them even more deeply into the Native experience. For the first time, they saw this historical event from a non-European viewpoint. Their perceptions changed, their teachers were impressed and I gloried in my cleverness.
Four months after discovering Encounter I talked to Oyate, a non-profit, educational organization composed of Native Elders, artists, activists, educators, and writers who have come together to bring the real histories of the indigenous peoples of this hemisphere to the attention of all Americans. Oyate had seen Encounter, too and after five minutes of hearing their perspectives, my belief system was completely shattered.
After talking to Oyate, I learned that Jane Yolen may believe she is seeing through the eyes of a Taino boy, but the feelings she attributes to him run counter to Taino society. To explain why the boy is ignored, she repeats five or six times, "I was but a child". This makes the story gain power, but its expression is derived from a European, not Indian, model of society. Oyate saw this as a European concept of child-rearing that threatened trumpeted "children should be seen and not heard", rather than a more typical Indian philosophy of mutual respect. The boy in the story who demands the Elders' attention again goes against this model of respect. Oyate also pointed out the oddness of Yolen's word choices. The way she writes of how the Indians "gave" their souls, or "took" European words, it seems as if the victims, not perpetrators were to blame.
The author cites her credentials for writing this story as "careful research, total empathy, and great admiration" and as being "the daughter and granddaughter of Ukranian Jews", a people also victimized by genocide. I question her careful research and wonder why Encounter wasn't reviewed before publication by someone at least familiar with the culture. Now that it's lost its dazzling drama, I see it as an overly-sentimental, off-kilter story. And if I feel betrayed, I can't even guess at the feelings of betrayal for Indians. Its half-truths make it more insidious than books that have obvious misrepresentations. A book teeming with typical stereotypes can be easily disreguarded, but Yolen did research enough to provide the trappings of authenticity. Her own belief in her mission and her skill in writing give the story a power that may convince others, like me, to be moved and then go forth and share its truth.
Adults who, like me, have enough awareness to realize they don't know what's truly authentic will be greatly helped by resources. Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children is the title of a book co-authored by Beverly Slapin and Doris Seale. The collection of reviews and essays includes a checklist to help non-Natives evaluate books before they share them as true. The book is available from Oyate. (2702 Mathews, Berkeley, CA 94702. Phone: 510-848-6700. ($24.95 paperback)
Another valuable resource for any adult seeking for multicultural accuracy is Teaching Multicultural Literature in Grades K-8, a collection of essay edited by Violet Harris and contributed by authorities around the country who will guide you through confusion and to dependable titles and authors. (Christopher-Gordon, $31.95; If not available through your bookstore, call: 800-934-8322)
Happily, continuing on my path for authenticity, I discovered c Michael Dorris' debut children's book, Morning Girl, is a seventy-two page novel for readers eight and up about a Taino family. (Hyperion, $12.95) Interviewing Dorris I found he'd based his book on his growing up on a reservation as well as his research as an anthropologist. Dorris' dedication to genuine expression of child and cultural views creates a book that defies stereotyping.
Unlike the viewpoint character in Encounter, Dorris' characters are rounded. They avoid positive romantic stereotyping by being built with laughter, storytelling and intimacy that characterized his growing up. To his characters, the coming of Columbus is a minor footnote. Miscarriage, flashes of support amidst sibling wars, separation by a storm and coming of age concern the characters more than sensational global dramas.
Both Encounter and Morning Girl are full of poetic imagery. The Encounter images seem flatter and more mythic in quality. Those in Morning girl come from child-viewing rather than glamorized mystic speech, which is often another trademark of sterotyping. In style too, Dorris fights to defend the commonplace whose quiet mystery is more potent because of the way it whispers, instead of the epic version of a people destroyed.
The Native tradition of storytelling relates a story simply, in the truest words possible and lets the audience find their own truth. Looking back on my two month journey of learning, I see that these stories created for me my own story. I hope that my sharing will help you embark on quests that bring you as many rewards.