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I don't have a problem with this move; by the way, this has nothing to do with students reading the book in class which is a completely different issue.
The board of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, made the unanimous decision to remove the name of author Laura Ingalls Wilder from a major children’s book award at a meeting in New Orleans on Saturday.
The name of the prize has been changed from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award to the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, the Guardian reports.
The association, which took the vote at its board meeting in New Orleans, said the vote “was greeted by a standing ovation by the audience in attendance,” Fox News reports.
I don't have a problem with this move; by the way, this has nothing to do with students reading the book in class which is a completely different issue.
I think they should have kept the name. Wilder accurately depicted the feelings of people at the time. She did not write “fake news” stories. I would also support foot notes that explain to children the context of racial statements.
Kinda makes me sad because I’m a huge fan of her books and I read them all as a kid.
But, I’m not a Native American, so....
She was right as far as that time frame. That was our governments thought process. The indigenous were not thought of as people. Sub human, not people. People have rights, sub humans don't. Kill them, kidnap them into slavery. Not that big a deal to do it to savages.
Currently reading Prairie Fires, the American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Fantastic book that really delves into the history of the USA in the 1800s. Pa Ingalls possibly knew he was invading Indian country when he took his family to southern Kansas and built their little house there. They had to leave and went back to The Big Woods. Laura and Almanzo's daughter Rose is a trip. Rose and her husband were pretty much grifters. She divorced him. Unlike Laura's books and TV show, this book shows the poverty that Laura and her sisters grew up in.
Kinda makes me sad because I’m a huge fan of her books and I read them all as a kid.
But, I’m not a Native American, so....
I read them and loved them, too. It's possible to enjoy a piece of literature, or in this case, essentially a diary, without embracing all of the views expressed therein.
The books give an interesting perspective on what life was like then. I would allow my kids to read them, if I had kids. I would also want to talk to them about some of the sentiments they contain.
I think changing the name was the right thing to do. It's not a ban, it's not censorship. It's just making the award a little kinder.
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