Censored Book Review: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Censorship has always been a literary issue. Initially censorship was primarily done through literacy. People could not read, and thus did not have access to information that was written. With literacy a basic educational goal throughout the world today, censorship of content has become increasingly prevalent. There have been more restrictive periods of history, and some areas of the world are more restrictive than others, but even in more tolerant areas, it continues to come up. Even books now considered classics are not immune, and the American Library Association provides a list of 97 such classics (ALA). Of these, 4 were assigned reading for me before graduating 8^th grade. Although there were some difficult subjects approached in those books, I feel like I got a lot out of reading them, and that it contributed to my perspective and understanding of the world in a positive way.

This week I read the highly acclaimed, and banned book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. This is a book that I had read before, and chose to reread, now knowing that it has been banned. Despite being a New York Times best seller, and winner of the National Book Award, I can certainly see the reasons why people would call for a ban of this book in schools. I should start by saying that I don’t think that banning books is ever prudent. Instead I think that books such as this one should be appropriately selected based on content and language for the grade level, age, and maturity of the students who will be reading it.

Sherman Alexie’s book hits on many hot buttons that I believe contributed to it being such a contested book. It uses foul language, and includes usage of the word gay in a derogatory manner, as well as the word faggot. A lot of the book comments on the condition of Native Americans living on reservations in the United States and addresses issues of alcoholism, and racism (Alexie). The book is written very honestly from the perspective of a young man who is 14 years old when these events take place, and includes content dealing with sexual arousal and masturbation. I also think people would find it objectionable that Alexie not only handles death in this story, but also the range of emotions and responses that people go through when such events occur. Despite all this, and in some ways, because of it, I feel that this book is valuable for young people to read.

I was not assigned to read anything by Sherman Alexie until I was in college, but I could see using his work in a high school, or even 8^th grade classroom. Junior, the main character is 14, and a freshman in high school, and the text is written so authentically I feel like it is something that young people can really relate to at that time in their lives. Junior is dealing with something beyond the normal identity crisis of the early teen years, and his story introduces many discussion points about growing up, relationships between family, friends, and people in general, racism, alcohol consumption, how to deal with death, and more. There are many valuable things that students can reflect on from this text. I also feel like some of the items that people find objectionable will make the book refreshing to youth. Often, books written from the perspective of a person in that age range came come off as pretentious because they omit the kinds of foul humor, and hormone fueled thoughts typical of young people that age. Alexie unabashedly includes these. Contextualizing these issues, and having an open an honest discussion with young people about difficult issues is important. I think a good way to introduce this to a class would be to compare the life of a modern day Native American on the reservation to an understanding of the history of the beginning of reservations and Indian schools. Juxtaposing the experiences of the fictitious Junior and Alexie’s perspective as a Spokane who grew up on the reservation, with that history could be very enlightening.

Resources

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. Little Brown and Company (2007). Print.

American Library Association {ALA}. Banned and Challenged Classics. American Library Association (2016). Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics.

Current Trends and Issues in Children's Literature

To find out more about children's literature, and the current issues and trends, I dug a little deeper this week. Instead of reading children's literature, or just researching what constitutes award winning literature, I spent some time investigating what professionals have to say about these topics, both on a national and more local level. I used the materials from my Children's Literature class as a starting point, then browsed information on the official position of the American Library Association {ALA} on current trends and issues. Finally, I conducted an interview with a rural children's librarian on how she feels about the topics that were highlighted by the ALA. For my interview I spoke with D. Hernandez, an elementary school librarian who serves students in grades kindergarten through 6th in a smaller, rural school district. Following are the questions I asked and my summary of each of her responses.

What kind of background do you have in literature in general, as well as specifically in children’s literature?

Prior to becoming a librarian, this librarian was an avid reader, and spent 12 years working as a book seller (D. Hernandez).

How long have you served as a children’s literature librarian?

This librarian has served in a library technician role for two complete school years (D. Hernandez).

How would you characterize diversity in children’s literature? What topic or content makes a work diverse?

 This librarian felt that diversity in children's literature is represented by variety in characters; both human diversity, including different races, religions, traditions, and life situations, and inhuman, including various real and imaginary creatures (D. Hernandez). She said that it also includes the genre of the literature itself (D. Hernandez). No matter how diverse the characters are, a library's collection could not be considered diverse if it only contains two or three genres.

According to the American Library Association, there have been more conversations over the last year addressing the lack of diversity reflected in children’s literature (ALA). Have you noticed this in the collection you curate?

When this librarian took over the school's library she felt that it was diverse, but that it could be more so. She has been continually working to increase and diversify the collection. Through this process, she has noticed that the already diverse offerings of book trade catalogs for schools has increased in diversity, especially when it comes to genre (D. Hernandez).

Do you think the availability of diverse works in children’s literature is increasing?

The librarian spoke with me about the increasing availability of different types of children's literature. Throughout her career involving books she felt that not only had diversity within the characters portrayed in books changed, but that works that are diverse were becoming more readily available (D. Hernandez). There used to be an emphasis on traditional literature, and picture books, but recently there is greater diversity in the types of books available through common school markets, and children have greater chance to read works that include a variety of genres, especially graphic novels, which were very restricted before (D. Hernandez). There are now entire teacher catalogs of graphic novels that focus on a variety of topics from pure entertainment, to biography (D. Hernandez).

How do you feel this does or does not affect the students who use it?

The inclusion of greater diversity in literature really presents all students with the opportunity to see characters to whom they can relate in a variety of ways. The librarian also pointed out that having a greater selection of genres of books has provided something for almost every reader, instead of forcing all types of readers to read a narrower range of very similar works (D. Hernandez).

Have you made any conscious efforts to address the diversity of the collection?

The librarian said that she uses the money brought in from the school's book fair to help build the collection, and makes an effort to provide books that are unlike the majority of the existing collection, while also continuing to replace irreparable books, and additional copies of the most requested books (D. Hernandez). She noted that it is not useful to the students to increase diversity in the collection unless they are also educated about them (D. Hernandez). Featuring books in the library, and teaching children about it's offerings are key to promoting diversity in the literature they read. Without this, students will tend to continue to read the same things they always have (D. Hernandez).

Do you feel that censorship by your principal or district affects the diversity of the collection and the learning opportunities for the students who use it?

This librarian reports that there is a certain level of censorship from the principal and district (D. Hernandez). She feels that some of this is probably reasonable since she is working with students who are in lower grade levels, but that it can have a negative affect on the more advanced, 5th and 6th grade students (D. Hernandez). There is sometimes hesitancy to include books that might not be appropriate for younger readers into the collection (D. Hernandez). There has also been concern from administrators over including anything that includes war, killing, or anything graphic (D. Hernandez). It can limit some historical texts, as well as historical fictions that deal with particularly troubling times for children in history; things that the upper grade students may be studying, and which often begin to feature children of similar age.

Is digital media included in your library program? If so, how is it utilized?

The librarian indicated that she does use digital media in the library program, but it is primarily for tracking her book catalog, and for the student to use for research type activities, or Reading Counts book comprehension tests (D. Hernandez). The neighborhood that is served by this school is primarily lower income, and many students don't even have internet access at home, so offering checkout of ebooks would be impractical (D. Hernandez). She did mention that she provides information about that for students who have the technology at home so they know it is available from the town's public library though.

Do you think digital media is important to include in a library program? Why or why not?

It is important, reports the librarian, for students to experience digital media in the library as well as in other areas of eduction. The digital world has arrived, and students are very much aware of, and a part of it. She finds it important to ensure that students are aware of how to utilize digital media to locate and access literature so that they won't decide that it is obsolete (D. Hernandez). 

Is access outside of the school setting an issue for the students you serve? Do you think this availability has an impact on their access to quality literature and opportunities for learning?

The librarian said that not only is it difficult for many of her students to have internet access to retrieve digital media at home, but that many of them simply don't have access to books outside of school as well. She said she notices that the lower income children whose families do not seem to value literature as much often struggle more with reading and are in lower lexile readers (D. Hernandez). She feels like this combination of factors may be contributing. To help combat this, she worked wth the school's PTA, and they were able to let every student pick a new book to take home before summer break. She also entered into a Scholastic book club contest, and won a free book for every student at the school. She said she feels better knowing that every student now has at least two books at home that they can read, and hopes that the excitement of the students when they chose their books will continue, and that it will encourage them to read and not back slide as much in reading skills over the summer (D. Hernandez). Access to literature in any form is important to all students. 

My questions were written based on the applicable issues highlighted by the ALA: diversity in children's literature, digital literacy, equitable access, and censorship (ALA), so the librarian interviewed hit upon all of those issues. Although the website doe not clearly define what they determine diversity to be, they do advocate for it and increasing diversity in children's literature. The site says: "Continuing to push conversations toward action, ALSC, in collaboration with the Children’s Book Council, planned and brought together leaders in children’s literature, literacy, and youth-serving organizations in January 2015 for Day of Diversity: Dialogue and Action in Children’s Literature and Library Programming. This full-day event focused on strategies for increasing diversity awareness within the publishing and library communities and ensuring that all children have access to diverse literature and library programming" (ALA). Perhaps the local librarian is seeing the effects of this work in the increasing availability of diverse works through school publishers. The site agrees with Hernandez's assessment of the importance of digital literacy for students, saying that "digital literacy continues to grow as an important library service" (ALA). The association further supports Hernandez's position on the importance of educating students in how to use media to access literature in an increasingly digital world, stating that "research shows that families are increasing their access to digital media, but they lack the knowledge to use it effectively in a way that enables learning" (ALA). Fair access is an issue because often times those who most need access to, and support in literacy, don't feel welcomed or comfortable in their libraries. School libraries serve as a gateway to community libraries, and a good school librarian will make connections for their classes between the services provided at the school, and those the students and their families at the public library. This past school year, my children's school librarian recommended they go to the public library in search of titles that were not available in the school's collection. Thankfully the librarian with whom I spoke has not encountered a situation where a book in her library has been formally challenged. She's aware of the concerns of the district and principal, and is working to increase the school's collection and make it more diverse, while not pushing too far outside of that comfort zone. Other libraries, especially school libraries have had many challenges in this area. The ALA cites "a new and frustrating pattern of school administrations not adhering to their own policies (ALA)" and censoring books containing controversial material.

Do you have thoughts on these issues, or other issues and trends that you see in children's literature today? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Resources:

American Library Association {ALA}. Issues and Trends. American Library Association (2016). Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/news/state-americas-libraries-report-2015/issues-and-trends.

Hernandez, D. personal communication. June 25, 2016.

Last week I highlighted a favorite book from my reading as a youth. Completing that assignment inspired me to order the box set including that book and 3 sequels of which I had not been aware. The Giver is a Newbery Award winning book. This week we were asked to read both a Newbery and a Caldecott book. Since I had already featured The Giver last week, I thought I should choose a different book for this week's assignment. I looked over the online lists of medal winners for both the Newbery and Caldecott, and pulled a bunch of books off of my shelf. I decided it was time to read one of them that I had not before, so I chose The Slave Dancer, and allowed myself to read one that I felt nostalgic about The Little Island.

As part of this assignment I had to made an ad for the two books. Here is my long winded ad video in case you're interested. :P

Youth Book Club

My daughter has been wanting to start a book club for some time, and inspired by the recommendations in my current class, we've set up a blog one where she can reach out to lots of other youth and hopefully find some other young readers and their parents who are interested in reading new books, and discussing them. Check out her blog (currently under my name), and consider joining her. Shooting Stars Book Club.

The Giver

Preface: This is the first post for my children's literature class, and I'm writing it with young people in mind, as I would write a description of the book for my own students. Although it is written with a middle school reader in mind, I encourage adults to read this book as well.

One of my favorite books that I recall reading as a young reader, is Lowis Lowry's, The Giver. I first read the book around the time that it won the Newbery Medal. 1994 probably sounds like a long time ago to young readers like you, especially since it was a decade before most of you were even born, but books are a way to step out of time. The Giver is not a book simply of or for the time when it was written. It, like many books, takes you to another place that is outside of our time, and challenges you through the conflicts of the main character.

The Giver could be seen as a coming of age story about the main character Jonas, and that's really how it begins, but it becomes more.

The back of my 1994 edition reads;
"Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now it's time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back."

What might life be like in this kind of utopia? Who, or what, is The Giver? What memories will Jonah become the keeper of, and how will this change him?

Can you imagine being assigned a job that you will do for your adult life, without having any say? And what if, like Jonah, you knew nothing about that job, what it was, or what you would have to do?

These are only some of the questions that struck me when I started reading this book for the first time. And though I've read it several times now, The Giver still makes me ask questions about the characters, humanity, and myself. I love a book that challenges readers to ask questions, that makes you think, and rethink. As you're growing up you'll find that there may be rules you don't agree with, or situations where you know a choice is wrong. Will you have the courage to stand up for what is right, or for what you believe?

Reading any appropriately leveled book helps to build reading fluency, but ones like this also provide the opportunity for critical thinking and reflection. One of the areas that middle school readers should focus on is understanding other perspectives and cultures. This isn't just fancy words from the state standards (okay, maybe a little bit) but also will help to give you some different ideas about the world, and how to get along with people from different backgrounds or places. Who knew reading books could do so much more than provide information or a simply fantasy world? You can.

Navajo Long Walk

Here is another post that I began on in 2012, but hadn't finished' this one has content added.

Traditional Navajo rugs G. Whittaker 10-2012

The Dine, more commonly known as the Navajo are a major cultural impact on the southwest.  Their reservation is the largest in the world and covers area in several states.  Unfortunately their unique culture and story are not known to many.  

With the advent of the neo-Navajo clothing trend, the Dine were thrust into the spotlight inadvertently, as many people were surprised to find out that the Navajo are a vibrant people who still live in the United States today.

In 2012, my family read Navajo Long Walk together to learn more about that specific part of United States, and Navajo history. The book is a historical fiction that follows the experiences of a Navajo boy and his family as they are forced to relocate. Such fiction is powerful because it can, in many cases, help to paint a more vivid picture than can be done by historical accounts alone.

As part of our study we also read the history of, and cooked Indian Fry Bread. To read the history and recipe for yourself, go here. I feel that it is important to make connections outside of the text whenever possible. With social studies this can mean in a variety of ways, including visiting local historical sites, and making food. Through this process it is much more likely for students to remember content because of the diversity of their experiences, and the connections that they make to the world off the pages. 

Dia de los Muertos

Here is a post from November 2012 that I wrote, but never published because I was planning to add additional content to it. I am publishing it in it's original unedited form.

Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday that is celebrated We created our own ofrenda to honor deceased family.  As part of this we baked the traditional Pan de Muerto, or bread of the dead.  Now if this is sounding like a post that belongs over on my home schooling blog... perhaps it does.  But part of why I wanted to post it over here instead is that this blog is much more active that my kids home schooling blog right now, and the other is that we read several books as part of our study.  You don't always need to read a long book to engage in an adventure.  In fact, children's literature is based on that very adventure.

For simplicity's sake and because she is the only recently deceased relative we have with whom my children are familiar, we only included one family member to be honored on our ofrenda.  +

This is the recipe we used:

Ingredients1½ cups Flour ½ cups Sugar1t Salt2 Packets Dry Yeast1t Anis Seeds ½ cup Milk½ cup Water½ cup Butter4  Eggs4½ cups Flour Instructions Mix all dry ingredients together except the 4 1/2 cups of flour In a small pan, heat the milk, the water, and the butter. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture. Beat well. Mix in the eggs and the first 1 1/2 cups of flour. Beat. Little by little add in the rest of the flour. Knead the mixture on a floured board for 10 minutes. Put the dough in a greased bowl and allow it to rise until it has doubled in size.  Punch the dough down and reshape. On top put some strips of dough simulating bones, and a little ball (tear).  Let it rise another hour. Bake at 350° F  for about 40 minute Glaze: 1/2 cup Sugar 1/3 cup fresh OrangeJuice 2 tablespoons grated Orange Zest Bring to a boil for 2 minutes, then apply to bread with a pastry brush. Sprinkle on colored sugar while glaze is still damp.