Racism and Kids Books
Judging by recent letters in SLJ (scroll down to “pathetic”) librarians - like the rest of the population - really freak out when people charge kids books with promoting racist stereotypes. There’s a little hubub over Skippyjon Jones over there. Is this a surprise? if you write a book where a character adds “o” to the end of words he says “with his best Spanish accent”, you’re going to annoy people.
I think that because we read these books to our children, we feel especially protective of them. Or if we loved the books as kids, it can be especially hard to hear they’re full of bigotry. Has anyone read Narnia lately? Peter Pan? Little House?
When a person tells you that you’ve offended them, try this. Listen. We are living in a time of amazing changes, and a time of the same old prejudices. When buying books for our kids to read, librarians seem to spend an awful lot of time worrying about “appropriate language”. I’d really love to see more messages on our listservs about super books with positive female & minority characters. I’ve got limited funds, just like you. Help me find the best & the most progressive books for my school. Not just avoid the ones with “f bombs”.
So here’s my little collection development tip. Seek out the voices of people unlike yourself and hear what they have to say.
Debbie Reese has an article in this month’s SLJ Native Voices and her blog is a great resource for a little mind-opening. See this post and note the links to her writings about Thanksgiving.
Browse through Everyone’s Kids Books and see if there are some titles you want to check out.
And if some parent mentions to you they found a library book offensive, don’t hand them your selection policy and walk away. Listen to what they have to say. It might be the start of a great conversation.
Now I’m hoping someone else has some good suggestions.