Local Bookstore Highlight: Maxwell's House of Books

 Now that the madness of Black Friday has passed, let's not forget our wonderful, local small businesses! Highly recommended for your next visit to a local bookstore is Maxwell's House of Books in downtown La Mesa. This bookstore advertises as a specialty in academic and scholarly titles. Conveniently located a short drive from SDSU, this store has prime potential for stocking up on reasonably-priced critical books. They're also in a walkable neighborhood with nearby cafes and coffee houses, making a visit to the store a particularly pleasurable excursion.

While the children's literature section was small, I found myself wishing I could buy half of it. They had a very interesting collection, including rare and antique children's lit. I found and bought a book titled "Little Hopi" commissioned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for use in schools for American Indians in the 60's. In showing this book to a friend, we noted that the book tended to reflect the love/hate relationship between the BIA and Native communities. For example, the book featured a Hopi artist, Charles Loloma, thereby appearing to highlight, value, and commend Indigenous art. On the other hand, the book states that it is "prepared primarily for use in Federal Indian Schools," and that it is also "suitable for use in any school." The sentiments in these statements reflect a desire to allow Indian children to see themselves reflected in the literature that they read, yet does not seem to encourage non-native children to explore a Hopi narrative (even while stating the opposite). In any case, Maxwell's House of Books takes care to stock interesting and valuable children's literature- and in this case, a book that bears further study.

Keep Maxwell's and other local bookstores in mind if you're holiday shopping. The right used book can be an incredibly thoughtful gift!

Part 3: Happy Native American Heritage Month

Today would be a great day to read "What Really Happened at the First Thanksgiving? The Wampanoag Side of the Tale" from Indian Country Today. I also recommend checking out the Thanksgiving page on Oyate.org, where you can read about common Thanksgiving myths. You can also buy the book Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective. The book is a collection of essays, stories, poetry, speeches and activities designed to help readers think critically about Thanksgiving.

One last thing that I'm thankful for: The use of humor in the decolonizing project.

Part 2: I'm Thankful for Indigenous and Decolonizing Children's Literature

...and Its Many Authors, Named and Unnamed 

I'm thankful for the small presses who have taken on the enormously significant task of publishing and promoting Indigenous children's literature. I'm thankful for Inhabit Media Inc., "an Inuit-owned publishing company that aims to promote and preserve the stories, knowledge and talent of northern Canada," who have published beautiful books like The Legend of Lightning & Thunder by Paula Ikuutaq Rumbolt. I'm thankful for Magabala Books, a publishing house in Australia working "to preserve, develop and promote Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures."

I'm thankful for Oyate, an organization which offers many services such as thoughtful children's book reviews, workshops on respectfully teaching about Native peoples through literature, and curriculum suggestions. I highly recommend taking a look at Oyate's Living Stories, a compilation of testimonies from Native peoples who want it understood that they are not relics of the past; they are "still here."

I'm thankful for Leanne Simpson, whose response as an activist to the fracking in Canada was to publish a children's book called The Gift is in the Making which re-tells traditional stories about Nishinaabeg cultural values and people. I'm thankful that Maori author Patricia Grace has written and published children's books Maraea and the Albatrosses, Areta & the Kahawa and others. I'm thankful that Samoan author Sia Figiel wrote The Girl in the Moon Circle. I'm thankful that Australian Aboriginal author Doris Pilkington wrote Home to Mother.

I'm thankful that children's literature is underestimated. It's an odd thing to be thankful for, but as Trinh T. Minh-Ha wrote in Woman, Native, Other, "associated with backwardness, ignorance, and illiteracy, storytelling in the more 'civilized' context is therefore relegated to the realm of children." Because children's literature is underestimated the decolonizing power of storytelling is thriving in the field. Keep an eye out for an upcoming article in the Unjournal of Children's Literature titled "Mythical and Missing Mothers," by Megan Parry for more about the subversive and decolonizing potential of children's literature.

Part 1: I'm Thankful for Debbie Reese

...and Others Engaging in Scholarship on American Indians in Children's Literature

I'm thankful for Debbie Reese and her amazing blog titled "American Indians in Children's Literature." I'm thankful that Reese doesn't mind walking into Barnes and Noble to do a critical assessment of Thanksgiving children's literature. I'm thankful that Reese published an article in Indian Country Today titled "Beyond the So-Called First Thanksgiving: 5 Children's Books that Set the Record Straight," effectively highlighting some beautiful children's lit and offering them up as an "antidote" to the stereotypical depictions of American Indians in all too many Thanksgiving books for children. I'm thankful that Reese published another article in School Library Journal titled "Resources and Kid Lit About American Indians."

I'm thankful that Indian Country Today is discussing many ways in which children's literature is important in fighting stereotypes and oppression of American Indians. I'm thankful that Indian Country Today published this article titled "Native American Heritage Month: Children’s Books for Your Black Friday Shopping List," which is a great reference for more children's book "antidotes." I'm thankful that Indian Country Today published the article "Montana's Institutional Racism Behind Calls to Ban Alexie's Book." I'm thankful that this article's author Adrian Jawort reports that Sherman Alexie's award-winning YA novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, was not banned. I'm thankful that Jawort asserts that students should have the opportunity to decide for themselves if Alexie's novel is relevant. I'm thankful that Jawort observes that much violence in literature taught to young adults in schools is not senseless, but educational, personal, and emotional; in the example he presents (Fools Crow by James Welch), the controversial literature is aptly educational about the history of violence against American Indians in the region.

I'm thankful that Sherman Alexie himself has spoken up about the availability of his books in schools, writing that the books banned in Arizona last year have now become "sacred documents."

I'm thankful that there are others compiling thoughtful lists of children's books about the American Indian experience, such as this group of parents from Red Lake Nation in Minnesota.

I'm thankful that the theme of the Children's Literature Association Conference in June next year is "Diverging Diversities," asking for papers that "consider the diversification of the genre--and its limits--both within the U.S. and internationally." I'm thankful that this theme creates an outstanding venue for scholars to talk about American Indians in children's literature. I'm thankful that the ChLA has created a sponsored panel titled "Authenticity, Artifacts, and Publishing Patterns in Multicultural Texts," which probes scholars to ask, "Are texts considered 'authentic' if they do not conform to common expectations regarding the representation of minority or foreign cultures? Do mainstream perceptions of 'authenticity' realistically represent 'other' cultural points of view? Does referencing quotidian cultural behaviors, which would not be noted by members of the culture itself, reflect a tendency to treat other cultures as anthropological subjects?"

I'm thankful that November is Native American Heritage Month. I really am thankful for this! It's problematic: Like Debbie Reese has said, teaching about any group shouldn't be relegated to one specific time of year. In addition, a friend of mine, who feels strongly about the Thanksgiving holiday glossing over the painful history of American Indians, said he found it insulting that Native American Heritage Month was in the same month as this controversial holiday. These are both great points! However, for children's literature especially, when we reinscribe the month of November as a month to learn about American Indians we have an opportunity to overturn and overtake stereotypical and harmful representations of American Indians in much mainstream Thanksgiving literature.

Visit the blog tomorrow and Thursday for parts 2 and 3.

CFP: Two Panels at the American Literature Association's 25th Annual Conference

Who: Children’s Literature Society and the Association for the Study of American Indian Literature

When: May 22-25, 2014

Where: Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

Website: www.americanliterature.org

Panel #1:  Native American Children’s and Young Adult Literature 

The Children’s Literature Society and the Association for the Study of American Indian Literature invite abstracts (of about 250 words) for a panel on Native American children's and young adult literature. We welcome critical analysis and surveys about historical fiction, cultural stories of family and community, school stories, stories of fine arts and artists and performers, stories of important political figures, and transcriptions of oral histories. Papers may address representations of Native communities in text and image, Native-authored texts, and broader trends in American children’s and young adult literature. This panel will contribute to the critical review and analysis of works of Native American children's and young adult literature and will be an important contribution to the study of American children's literature.

Please include academic rank and affiliation and AV requests

Please send abstracts or proposals by Wednesday, January 15, 2014 to Dorothy Clark (Dorothy.g.clark@csun.edu), Linda  Salem (salem.sdsu@gmail.com), and Kathleen Washburn (washburn@unm.edu)

Panel #2:  The Wild Things. Where Are They Now?

Fifty years after the publication of the iconic picture book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, the public imagination is still captivated by Max's story of adventure, mischief, power, journey, fantasy, repression, surrealism, and illusion in place and time. The expansion of Sendak's imagination for this title has led to a feature length film and to a popular culture phenomenon based on the impact of his work on readers. Likewise literary criticism in children's literature has continued to explore the importance of this work and its reverberations through the genre of children's literature. In this panel, we invite scholars to broadly explore Where the Wild Things Are expanding their approaches to this text or related texts (e.g., Jon Klassen's This is Not My Hat) considering the fifty years of research, literary, art and philosophical thought since its publication.

Please include academic rank and affiliation and AV requests

Please send abstracts or proposals by Wednesday, January 15, 2014 to Dorothy Clark (Dorothy.g.clark@csun.edu) and Linda  Salem (salem.sdsu@gmail.com)

Thoughts for Your Weekend

Hopefully this weekend you are able to savor your coffee (or tea) slowly while sitting in one place instead of while you're driving to work or booking it across campus. Perhaps you'll even indulge in a stronger drink. Whatever beverage you choose to relax with, take the time to consider the following events, publications, and links.

• There will be a symposium titled "California Indian Oral Tradition and the Land" taking place at SDSU Tuesday, November 5th. If you've enjoyed hearing about the intersections of children's lit and Indigenous lit (Columbus Day blog, memory in Rabbit-Proof Fence blog), or if you've been interested in the interactions between narrative and place, you should consider attending. The symposium will take place in the Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center from 10am-5pm and is free. 
• Neil Gaiman fans: Back in August Waterstones Oxford along with Oxford Playhouse hosted an evening with Neil Gaiman and Phillip Pullman. Thankfully they recorded it! You can download a podcast of the discussion. Gaiman also gave a talk earlier this month for The Reading Agency in London. You can read and watch the full speech here. 
• Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are was published in fall, 1963 making the book 50 years old! To celebrate the occasion a number of our favorite children's lit scholars have blogged about the book. Read posts by Phil Nel, Betsy Bird, Julie Walker Danielson, and Travis Jonker. I was tickled by the visual homages to Where the Wild Things Are in Bird's post. 
• Clementine Beauvais wrote an indignant blog post titled "The Argument from Parenthood." She addresses the troublesome phenomenon of parents defending problematic texts at academic conferences for the sole reason that their children enjoyed the text under discussion. Hmm, I didn't know this happened... 
• I also chuckled quite a bit while reading Beauvais's post "The Post-Doc Complex" in which she discusses the absurdity she's stumbled into upon finishing her PhD. Claiming she can now identify with Britany Spears' liminal state in 2001 of "not a girl, not yet a woman," Beauvais laments, "All I need is grants/ For conferences in France/ While I’m in-between… All I need is more/ Free access to JSTOR."

Happy Columbus Day

Finding a few articles (The Atlantic, The American Scholar) asserting that Columbus Day is to celebrate American diversity, I interpreted their claim as an opportunity to share some amazing literature on my reading list:

Just finished: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Having heard a lot about this book, I finally read it a few weeks ago. After the great expectations set up by the media I had a difficult time getting into the book... until about halfway in. Specifically I was hooked after the basketball game in the chapter titled "Reindeer Games." No spoilers from me, but after that chapter I was invested. It's an amazing book; I recommend it for all. I also congratulate Alexie for the status that comes with the censorship. It's not the worst thing to be challenged on par with Judy Blume's Deenie.

Just started: The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich. A couple of chapters in, and I'm in love with the protagonist, Omakayas. Pronounced "Oh-MAH-kay-ahs," Erdrich writes in the acknowledgements at the beginning of the book, "Dear reader, when you speak this name out loud you will be honoring the life of an Ojibwa girl who lived long ago." Erdrich and her sister linked the book to an effort to support indigenous language revitalization by beginning The Birchbark House Fund.

Next on my list: Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, and No Parole Today by Laura Tohe. Both books are set in boarding schools. Lately I've been pondering formalized education's role in simultaneously empowering and oppressing children (for an introduction to the "oppressing" side of things, see this clip from the film Schooling the World and Ken Robinson: How schools kill creativity).

A cool blog: American Indians in Children's Literature by Debbie Reynolds. Reynolds is the leading scholar on American Indians in children's lit and maintains this blog as a way of making her scholarship accessible to teachers, parents, and students. It's been cited in the Handbook of Research on Children's and Young Adult Literature edited by Shelby Anne Wolf, Karen Coats, and Patricia Encisco, published in 2010 and The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature by Julia L. Mickenberg and Lynne Vallone, published in 2011. I recommend starting with reading her thought-provoking post "Dear Jon Scieszka: I've got a bone to pick with you..."

My weekend reading: This article in Indian Country Today titled "Native History: Columbus- Icon and Genocidal Maniac- Lands in New World." Author Christina Rose asks, "...what is it about American culture that resists the truth more than 500 years later? Has it simply become a western tradition to do so?" She also cites and complicates the very articles I linked above.