The SurRural Librarian

I’m a big lover of nineteenth century literature, so since I started working with children, I wanted to see if I could share that love with them. I thought I’d try out some of my old favorites with my four-year old. Wow, not what I had hoped for. Guess maybe my tastes have changed since I was five (thankfully).
Winnie the Pooh went great, Alice in Wonderland - she loved,even though it’s pretty nutso, honestly. Then we got to Peter Pan, oy vey. I’m not sure what bugged me more, the bogus gender roles, the racism, the violence. Here’s the passage that finally got us to just put the darn thing back on the shelf…

On the trail of the pirates, stealing noiselessly down the war- path, which is not visible to inexperienced eyes, come the redskins, every one of them with his eyes peeled. They carry tomahawks and knives, and their naked bodies gleam with paint and oil. Strung around them are scalps, of boys as well as of pirates, for these are the Piccaninny tribe, and not to be confused with the softer-hearted Delawares or the Hurons. In the van, on all fours, is Great Big Little Panther, a brave of so many scalps that in his present position they somewhat impede his progress. Bringing up the rear, the place of greatest danger, comes Tiger Lily, proudly erect, a princess in her own right. She is the most beautiful of dusky Dianas [Diana = goddess of the woods] and the belle of the Piccaninnies, coquettish [flirting], cold and amorous [loving] by turns; there is not a brave who would not have the wayward thing to wife, but she staves off the altar with a hatchet.

Um, yuck.