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Post by granolamom on Jun 26, 2018 0:04:24 GMT -4
When I heard the news, my first thoughts were of the amazing Dwanollah, late of this board. I'd love to read her take on this development. |
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Nysha
Blueblood
Posts: 1,029
Jul 7, 2007 2:19:58 GMT -4
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Post by Nysha on Jun 26, 2018 0:35:53 GMT -4
I think I take issue with "equally well written", as if such books are a dime a dozen. I understand, but these days, books are a dime a dozen. While I reread the Harry Potter series yearly, most of the people I know have never read any of them, although I don't know many who haven't seen the movies. The same with the Lord of the Rings & the Hobbit. I work in a college tutoring lab, albeit in the technical arena, and very few of the traditional students are familiar with the classics through books unless they've been homeschooled. Little House on the Prairie is a TV show they watch at Grandma's house, Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn were never read because of the language, and the Harry Potter books are huge, why should they read them when they can watch the movie? Instead of reading whole books in school, they read short stories and book passages; watched the film adaptation and compared certain scene in the movie to sections in the book. |
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Post by petitesuite on Jun 26, 2018 12:00:57 GMT -4
I think forcing us to talk about "back then" attitudes/beliefs is a perfectly good reason to read a book. But, I do think contextualization is where a lot of the value in reading older literature comes in and simply having her name attached to an award didn't do that; it only praised her without acknowledging the complications in that. So, I think taking her name off the award is a good thing.
I'm not sure I know what 'books are a dime a dozen' means--I agree with Ginger that endurable works are not exactly being churned out every day. I think it's extremely depressing that your students never had to read a full book, but I don't know how common that is. I know at my high school students are still reading many of the standard classics straight through, although some of them have fallen to the wayside so as to include more works from authors of color.
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Nysha
Blueblood
Posts: 1,029
Jul 7, 2007 2:19:58 GMT -4
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Post by Nysha on Jun 26, 2018 13:32:37 GMT -4
I live in Idaho and our schools statewide generally rank in the bottom 5 in the nation, so my experience is tainted with shame and incompetence. Idaho also has a large population of white supremacists who are quite vocal, so it's easier for most small school districts to skip anything that will bring their ire to the forefront. I've dealt with this intellectual insanity for so long that I forget that it's not the national norm.
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Post by Auroranorth on Jun 29, 2018 13:05:55 GMT -4
When I heard the news, my first thoughts were of the amazing Dwanollah, late of this board. I'd love to read her take on this development. I know Dwan a bit IRL and she said she's cool with it, that recognizing that LIW wrote in a different time is where the conversation starts, not where it ends. It's possible to love the books and also recognize that they can be painful for others. |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 27, 2024 21:46:24 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 15:27:32 GMT -4
The book Prairie Fires talked about this as well. Apparently, a reader wrote to the publisher after Little House was first published, regarding the line "no people lived there, only Indians." To give Laura credit, she immediately apologized and said of course that was wrong and she shouldn't have written it and in subsequent editions the line was changed to "no settlers lived there." Considering the time (the 30's?), I give Laura credit for her immediate and honest reaction. It was progressive considering she was an old lady who came of age in, what, the 1880's??
As far as I know, the issue of the blackface incident was never addressed, but tbh, it took a long time for that to be recognized as offensive in American society, certainly not by the 1930s or 40s...
The books are still read by kids nowadays, through probably not as widely. I think for the ones who do read them, it's because they are introduced to the books by parents who have fond childhood memories of them. The kids who read them generally enjoy them. They have endured this long for a reason, they do have a timeless quality about them, which I think is rare. So many of my childhood favorites are dated, and hold no interest for kids nowadays.
I understand the thought process of the literary association, but I don't agree with it. LIW did make a big contribution to children's literacy, which is the point of the award.
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Post by Brookie on Jun 29, 2018 15:51:49 GMT -4
When I heard the news, my first thoughts were of the amazing Dwanollah, late of this board. I'd love to read her take on this development. I know Dwan a bit IRL and she said she's cool with it, that recognizing that LIW wrote in a different time is where the conversation starts, not where it ends. It's possible to love the books and also recognize that they can be painful for others. I tagged Dwan on FB when I saw the topic come up, as did many other folks (she's now a PhD in Children's Lit, BTW, from Cambridge). |
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Ellen Tigh
Lady in Waiting
How do I feel this good sober?
Posts: 403
Mar 7, 2005 14:28:26 GMT -4
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Post by Ellen Tigh on Jul 3, 2018 16:13:40 GMT -4
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Post by Ginger on Jul 3, 2018 16:55:09 GMT -4
That article was pretty funny. A prissy, young blonde food writer condemning the fraudulent enjoyment of food portrayed in a pioneer memoir written for children. Oh, life on the prairie was tough in the 1870s and surviving on bread made from ground up wheat seeds sucks? YEAH NO SHIT. It takes very little reading comprehension to understand that the reason why little Laura went on and on about the deliciousness of candy made from MOLASSES AND SNOW was because the food she ate most of the time wasn't great. |
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Post by Auroranorth on Jul 3, 2018 20:17:31 GMT -4
The Little House Cookbook's author points out that most of Laura's childhood was spent eating cornmeal, lean game, and wild fruit. Is it really surprising that her memories turned to things like vanity cakes and candy? Almanzo's childhood would have been a dream for her of being surrounded by delicious things to eat.
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