In an earlier post, I suggested some Summer Reading. The reading we assign/suggest goes beyond summer lists. Teachers in Maine and elsewhere are looking for “classics” to teach throughout the year, even more so now that the Common Core Standards have been published. In terms of Native studies, LD 291, and my concern that Maine’s teachers not reinforce the stereotypes that continue to creative division in our state, I have cross-checked the Core Standards texts – Appendix B (not required, but offered as suggestions… helpful we can assume for the testing … ) with Native sources I rely upon. I have also taken a good look at the School Library Journal’s (Elizabeth Bird, specifically) list of top 100 children’s novels. Then I paid serious attention to Debbie Reese’s response to this list, posted to her blog American Indians in Children’s Literature.
My suggestion is that you learn on your own by following the links above to the sources, comparing the lists to what you offer in your classrooms. We need to think critically about what we offer – so please think about what you are NOT teaching that you might be teaching, and what you are teaching that you might change. For this, Debbie Reese’s comments on the Top 100 list are crucial.
My personal feeling is that the SLJ list is an outdated and over-rated listing of books that, by and large, middle schoolers would not choose (The Graveyard Book and a few others are exceptions). There is little here that is “edgy” or “romantic” or “contemporary realism” or “crazy adventure” – and not a single one of the excellent books by Native Authors appears. I know these books are more contemporary than most of the SLJ list – but that does not mean we should omit them. In fact, Maine’s teachers should go out of the way to teach at least one of the books on my Summer Reading list or at least one title from Reese’s Top 10 Books for Elementary School, Middle School or High School (all titles annotated in this article) so that students will read a book by Natives that presents the culture, history, and current life without stereotype.
I have the same response to the Common Core text lists. The fact that many of the titles singled out in Reese’s article fall in this list of text “with high standards for complexity, quality, and breadth” – and Native books are again omitted almost entirely (exception: Birchbark House) – and “informational texts” that cover Native issues, or are primary sources by natives are almost totally lacking (there are two “modern classic” titles in the 9-10 list that could be replaced with more contemporary pieces) – worries me. It is up to individual teachers to reach out for texts that reach a higher standard for cultural awareness.
