2018 School Spending Survey Report
>Being an American Can Be Fun
>SLJ this month runs a short, vague article on possible changes to ALSC book awards criteria.
The decision to limit the awards to Americans, of course, is of course worth discussion. Nationalism in literature is something we tend to value only when other nations do it, but I think the questions are worth asking: do we have and do we nurture children's literature that speaks to "being an American"? There is Munro Leaf's Being an American Can Be Fun, and Lynne Cheney's various droppings, but I'm wondering more along the lines of contenders for The Great American Children's Novel--books that speak to the theme of how being an American is different from not. In my recreational reading, I'm on something of a Turkey kick right now, reading novels and histories by and/or about Turks, and always lurking in my head is "oh, so this is what it's like to be a Turk." (You already have my take on Canadians.)
So what children's book could you give to an outlander that conveys a sense of Us? I've argued for Sachar's Holes as a G.A.N., steeped as it is in the American tall tale tradition, and placing the roots of its story in our mythic Wild West. It seems, too, that a lot of the recent immigrant literature, by presenting a protagonist "settling" in a new land while carrying along the old (usually in terms of parents and grandparents) does a sort of microcosmal version of the idea of America as a nation of pioneers, while Louise Erdrich's Birchbark House and Game of Silence provide a "we were here all along" corrective to Wilder's Little House books, themselves indisputably G.A.N.s in my view. If somebody asked you for a children's book that "tells what it's like to be an American," what would you give them?
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Andy Laties
>Well I stick with "Andy and the Lion" because it's egocentrism dressed up as altruism which is as programmatically Americanistic as you can get. The country where Any Boy Or Girl Might Just Grow Up To Be The President (or even better: The American Idol).Posted : Mar 22, 2007 07:42
Elizabeth
>Leaving aside the American question for one second, I was intrigued to see that ALCS's mission with the Newbery was "to encourage U.S. publishers to seek out high-quality literature for children." In fact, the Newbery may be accomplishing just that mission. In recent years, as major trade publishers have put more effort into selling books in stores instead of to libraries, there is always a push going on in publishing houses to do fewer "mid-list" books and more that can get "placement at Barnes and Noble." This is something you've all heard before. My point is, Kira Kira and The Higher Power of Lucky give editors very powerful ammunition when when they want to acquire a book that may not garner big sales figures in their first 8 months of pub. They represent, at least on one level, the glorious triumph of "the little book." And in both cases that's thanks in large part to their Newbery medals.As for the American question, I never would have thought of my beloved Harriet the Spy, since to me the milieu of rich New Yorkers whose kids attend exclusive private schools is hardly all-American, but Rachel V. has made me see it from a new perspective. For my nomination, I choose Frindle.
Posted : Mar 22, 2007 06:15
thommy
>Hi Roger:What's wrong with nutritious? Is there a message in Seedfolks? Absolutely. Is the delivery heavy-handed? Perhaps for some. But I don't know that a purposeful point-of-view compromises its ability to convey the nature of America to an outsider. I'd even argue that it complimented it (think of it as a reflection of the national attitudes that have coronated Oprah Winfrey). Is it the Great American Novel for Children (or for Young People, if we're considering Feed and Octavian Nothing)? Probably not. But the question was "If somebody asked you for a children's book that 'tells what it's like to be an American,' what would you give them?" I'll stick by Seedfolks as a good answer.
Posted : Mar 22, 2007 03:40
Roger Sutton
>SDL is Horn Book reviewer Susan Dove Lempke and a former co-worker of mine when we were both oompa-loompas at the Chicago Public Library.This discussion is reminding me of Lois Lenski's circuit around the (then) forty-eight states in novels including Strawberry Girl and Project Boy. Does anyone know how many places she covered? And didn't Janet Dailey write a romance novel set in each of the States?
Posted : Mar 22, 2007 02:33
Anonymous
>Hello Roger -- Long time reader, first time poster --I think there is not much lit in this area beacause literature aims for something timeless, whereas what it means to be an American is constantly shifting and evolving.
Feed may speak to what it means to be an American right now, but will eventually (like Mike Mulligan, Make Way For Ducklings, and I think Holes too) feel more like Americana (hopefully).
Not a bad thing at all, just different.
Ran
Posted : Mar 22, 2007 02:22