Native American Picture Books of Change: Historic Children's Books [Hardcover]

Rebecca C. Benes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0890134715 | ISBN-13: 978-0890134719 | Publication Date: April 2004 | Edition: 1St Edition

Illustrated with 150 enchanting paintings and historical photographs, some from as early as 1922, the author describes the history and motivation behind some of the most exceptional children's books published in the U.S. These picture book readers, originally developed for use in Indian schools during the New Deal, represent the first Native-centred texts used in Bureau of Indian Affairs curriculum. They were written by lauded writers, ethnologists and linguists, and illustrated with the stunning work of emerging and prominent Native American artists.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A children's literature professor who admits that she is "neither an art historian nor a linguist," Benes offers clear, accessible and author-focused descriptions of books produced by the federal government for use in Indian schools, following a sweeping indictment of the schools in the late 1920s. The 106 beautiful color plates and 44 b&w illustrations drawn from the mostly hard-to-find books themselves all center on "change," or the enormous upheavals and adaptations in Native communities following the devastating wars of the 18th and 19th centuries. One author, Elizabeth DeHuff, teacher and author of one of the earliest picture books, Taytay's Tales (1922), early on rejected the "archaic, nineteenth-century educational system that pursued a goal of forced assimilation"; instead, she transcribed her students' oral traditions. Velino Shije Herrera, the artist of the still-in-print In My Mother's House (1941), was a major progenitor of "the new pan-Indian tradition that was born at the Santa Fe Indian School." In order to teach literacy to the Navajo through bilingual readers, Willard Walcott Beatty, 1930s director of education at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, had to convert the oral Navajo to a written language, creating an alphabet and a definitive Navajo dictionary before the Bureau could publish the readers. The bilingual Little Herder series for the Navajo addressed the sensitive issue of overgrazing (in addition to the also sensitive issue of not having enough food to eat): "When I come here again/ then I will know/ if it is best/ to have many sheep/ or few sheep/ to use the land/ or let it sleep," says Little Herder's father. Such complex negotiations mark this poignant book as a whole.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Museum of New Mexico Press; 1St Edition edition (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890134715
• ISBN-13: 978-0890134719
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 11.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,600,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Fond memories, January 22, 2006

By 

Gwynne C. Spencer (Mancos, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Native American Picture Books of Change: Historic Children's Books (Hardcover)

A detailed overview of the golden days of government-produced children's books by notables such as Ann Nolan Clark, Pablita Velarde and Fred Kabotie with detailed notes about authors, artists, publishers, and the books themselves. About halfway throug the book, you'll find yourself trolling on amazon for copies of your very own of these long-out-of-print titles, so this is an extremely dangerous (and ultimately expensive) book! Forewarned.