written by Anti-Racist Parent contributor Jennifer, originally posted on Mixed Race America
Yesterday, as I was perusing the New York Times, I noticed that columnist Nicholas Kristof has a list of “The Best Kids’ Books Ever.” Since I LOVE reading and developed my love of reading as a child, I was interested in his list.
So I guess a few caveats about Kristof and his list. To the best of my knowledge, he’s not an expert. What I mean is, his academic training isn’t as a Children’s librarian, in reading education, or education/English at all. I’m sure he is a father (I think he alludes to this) and thus has as much “hands on” experience as any parent engaged with their children. I mention this because I’m trying to cut Kristof some slack, because I was, quite frankly, a bit shocked at his list.
My first reaction is, it’s pretty antiquated. And I use that word purposely–he’s got Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Prince and the Pauper on his list. Now don’t get me wrong–some of the best stories that the world has produced are its oldest stories. But Kristof opens his piece by citing stats about U.S. levels of literacy and reading levels, and particularly lamenting the gaps that emerge with kids who don’t come from affluent backgrounds or rigorous school districts–lower-middle, and working class kids essentially. He actually refers to them as “poor” kids (which, to the best of my knowledge, has a certain condescending ring to it, although it’s also brutally honest I think in some cases).
Anyway, Kristof seems to offer his list as a exhortation to these “poor” families to get their kids to read rather than to be stuck in front of the Ninetendo wii all day. And yet, who does he thinks he’s talking to? I mean, first of all, kids who grow up in working class families and communities are not going to rush out to read Little Lord Fauntleroy or the Hardy Boys series. I mean, some will and will love it, but those are the kids who are readers and who take a flashlight to bed and spend all their time in the library. We aren’t worried about those kids, whatever class background they come from. The real question is, how do you get the kid who hates to read–who doesn’t see anything in the books s/he is assigned in school and who doesn’t see his/her LIFE reflected in these books–to start reading? Having books that either take place in the late 20th early 21st century or that were written in this time period may just be one place to start.
But my other beef with Kristof’s list is its unrelenting MALE-ness. I mean, he does list Charlotte’s Web as his #1 book, but if you look down the list, at the books that HE remembers liking and reading, it’s no surprise that most of them have male protagonists or fairly masculine themes or were written by male writers (including Charlotte’s Web, although I am a big E.B. White fan).
Let me be clear, it’s not that I don’t appreciate kids’ books written by men or with male characters/protagonists. But this is Kristof’s list for kids–all kids, not just little boys who grew up in predominantly white suburban families. With the exception of Anne of Green Gables and the author J.K. Rowling, it’s a pretty masculine list–and he makes a fairly disparaging comment about Nancy Drew that I particularly take offense to, given the fact that Nancy Drew, as a children’s book series, emerged at a time when there just weren’t a lot of female literary role models for young girls to draw on. Books that Kristof failed to mention, either written by women or featuring strong girl characters include: The Little House on the Prairie book series, works by Madeline L’Engle, such as A Wrinkle in Time, Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising Series, a truly wonderful series of fantasy books with a central male character (like Harry Potter) but with equally strong female characters and lovely writing, plotting, character development, and works by Ellen Raskin, particularly The Westing Game, one of my favorites (and I should note that Raskin is one of the few writers to include multicultural characters in fairly nuanced ways).
Which brings me to my final bone of contention with Kristof’s list: his vision of race in kids’ literature. It’s pretty white. No, let me amend that. It’s ALL white. Maybe with the exception of a few characters in the Harry Potter series (like Cho Chang and others, but they are not main characters) there are no characters of color and there are no writers of color in his list. My guess is that at least some (dare I saw 1/3) of the “poor” people that Kristof is trying to reach out to with this list are people of color, families of color (I’d guess for some of his readers when they read “poor” they are equating “black/Latino” in their minds, but let us not forget that many rural poor families in the South and mid-West are poor WHITE families–and there are also urban poor white families as well, which isn’t to say that there isn’t a correlation between race and class, especially given the way that racism has operated in this nation, but you all know that already so I’ll stop preaching it).
What was I saying?
Oh yeah, race. Or rather the fact that Kristof’s vision of his “best” kids’ books are a rather monochromatic lot. And even if all the “poor” kids he envisions are white kids, don’t they still deserve to read about non-white kids? In fact, in a mixed-race America–given the demographics of race and ethnicity in America, it seems criminal nowadays not to acknowledge that the world is really racially diverse. So giving kids a list of books to read that doesn’t help them see a variety of races and cultures and ethnicities (and I mean I don’t even know where to begin with sexuality and I already covered gender) just seems to be of PARAMOUNT importance.
While I was in grad school I paid the bills by working for a summer program that mentored high school kids, predominantly non-white, helping to prep them to get into college. We assigned a common reading, a novel, to them, and my second summer with the program I recommended Frank Chin’s Donald Duk as an appropriate reading level book, but more importantly, as a book that the kids in the program (about 1/3 of them were SouthEast Asian) could relate to. It was a big hit–not just among the Asian American kids but among the black and Latino and white kids as well. They could relate to the main character, Donald, and his feelings of ethnic self hatred and his feelings of pride that eventually grew. But especially for the Asian American boys in the program, they said that this was the first time they read a book with someone who “looked” like them–who had similar experiences and who came from similar class and ethnic backgrounds. They were profoundly moved by the experience of reading Donald Duk, and I was profoundly moved by how much literature could make a difference–the right literature. There were kids who had JUST learned English the year before, who really struggled to get through the book–but they said it was the first time they read a book in English that they enjoyed–that they finished AHEAD of schedule.
So the last thing I want to leave you with, dear readers, is a plea for some suggestions of your own–ones that will combat the whiteness, the maleness, and the out-of-touch nature of Kristof’s list (and especially if you have suggestions about works that touch on sexuality, that’d be great). I’m a bit out of the loop with the world of kids’ books. I grew up reading (and loving) books like The Phantom Toll Booth and fantasy works by Lloyd Alexander (like the Prydain series). But I know that the world of kids’ books has really grown since the mid-1970s (thank Goodness!) and works by writers like Allen Say have grown in popularity, so hearing your suggestions in the comment section will help all of us have a better sense of what “Best Kids’ Books” should be on the reading list of a Mixed Race America.
I’d recommend books by Mildred D. Taylor and Minfong Ho.
A book that I loved as a kid – and I think my mom must have picked it up at a garage sale, or at a library sale, because it was used before I got it – was Striped Ice Cream by Joan M. Lexau. The main character is a girl named Becky – about the age of a 3rd grader if i remember correctly? I just looked to see if it was on Amazon, and it is listed, and not surprisingly has a 5/5 star user rating.
Sounder, Roll of Thuder Hear My Cry, The Skin I’m In, Julie of the Wolves, Addy (American girl~they have other cultures represented in other series)…just to name a few!
I remember reading Dragonwings as a kid and my son loves the “Ruby & the Booker Boys” series.
What an excellent post. I’m sending it along to my friend who is a PhD in Library Information Science and who looks at Asian American representation in children’s literature.
This link was posted in response in Kristof’s blog:
http://www.leeandlow.com
An independent children’s book publisher focusing on diversity.
I linked to this in a piece I did at the CA NOW blog: http://www.canow.org/canoworg/2009/07/postracial-my-ass.html
As a little kid, I loved reading the American Girl series. Stories about Addy, Josephina, Kaya, Kirsten, and Rebecca look at girl-specific experiences within a wide range of minority and immigrant communities.
I felt the same way after reading his article–very disappointing coming from him. Thanks for this–I hope you have sent the response to him as well.
While I agree that poor and/or minority children should be able to access literature in which they can see themselves, I was astounded to find out when I was working in inner-city schools that poor and/or minority students don’t necessarily want to read about what they live every day. In fact, the poor, African-American students I taught in a high school English class were far more interested in Romeo and Juliet than the Caucasion kids in my gifted freshman English class I had been years before. It’s amazing what messages and concepts can be gleaned from literature that seemingly does not apply to a given demographic. Just food for thought… I love your blog!
I teach 8th grade English. We read The Outsiders by S.E Hinton. I have students who have never finished a book in their lives who read this one.
Fantasy: (Very popular thanks to JK) Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer and Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. Both series are predominantly white, Artemis deals with the idea of prejudice and Percy has secondary characters of all races. Both have strong female characters.
Christopher Paul Curtis is a great author. He is good for my reluctant readers as he is about a 5th to 6th grade reading level but high interest.
Walter Dean Myers writes beautifully about real issues teens across the board deal with, and his characters are typical black young adults.
Chris Crutcher. He deals with obesity, homosexuality and other issues teens face.
Am I Blue is a great book of short stories meant to support homosexual teens and coming out.
No love for Judy Blume?
It does seem a bit strange to me that you’re criticizing the list because it’s got old books on it, when the list is meant to be the best of all time.
And it perhaps would be more fair to note that it’s pretty clear (though not explicitly stated) that he’s come up with this list from his own experience, that he recognizes explicitly that other folks with have other favorites, and that he made a space for people to post their own recommendations.
And everybody knows that the Hardy Boys are much cooler than Nancy Drew. And forget about those Bobbsey Twins. But of course, the Three Investigators and Encyclopedia Brown ruled them all.
My favorite children’s book of all time:
Maudie and Me and the Dirty Book by Betty Miles.
It’s hard to find, now, but I love it. The protagonist is a girl, and the theme covers censorship. There aren’t many POCs in the book, but it’s still fantastic, IMO.
I’ll second Sounder, though. And Come a Stranger by Cynthia Voigt was the first book I ever read with a black female protagonist. Maybe not the best example, but it meant a lot to me. And it was a pretty good book.
Not nominating it for “best ever”, but did anyone else read the Trixie Belden series.
Remember the governess, Mrs. Trask?
Anyone? Bueller?
Those were fun stories.
And I must agree that Encyclopedia Brown rules.
Thank you everyone for all your wonderful suggestions–many of which I had forgotten to include in my post (how could I forget THE OUTSIDERS, DRAGONWINGS, and anything by Judy Blume!).
I just wanted to respond quickly and briefly to Dersk’s comment. My criticism of Kristof’s list lies primarily in his intention–that he wants his list to “help” poor families get their kids to read. Calling his list “Best kids’ books ever” strikes me as being tongue-in-cheek–any list talking about “BEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN” are too hyperbolic to really take seriously. What I took and interpreted from Kristof’s piece is that he was trying to be well intentioned about the list–to advocate for literacy among kids whose literacy rates are low BECAUSE they come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
My problem with his list, then, is that as a literacy aid, it leaves much to be desired, and not every book is from a childhood memory–since he does list J.K. Rowling.
Furthermore, I think, especially on my blog, Mixed Race America, and especially on this blog, Anti-Racist Parent, it is encumbent on those of us who care about anti-racist practices that we do criticize any list that is so monochromatic and potentially reinforces hegemonic power dynamics.
And you are CRAZY for saying that the Hardy Boys are much cooler than Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew kicks ass!
Deesha, I LOVED Trixie Belden. In fact, I am looking at the full set on my bookshelf right now. I read so many types of books as a child that it is hard to pick any one or style. I will say that Cynthia Voigt is one of my favorite authors. She writes on some pretty heavy stuff – like sexual abuse, but Jackaroo and On Fortune’s Wheel are my favorites.
Can I say what not to read?
Dragon Keeper by Carole Wilkinson, a children’s book with a female protagonist and asian dragons in a fantasy alternate of ancient China. Sounds promising right? Wrong.
The dragon speaks with a horrible chinese accent alternating with confucian like statements. I’m so offended. And the culture is written very badly, very negatively, everything ‘chinese’ is bad.
Don’t let your kids poke this book with a stick. It’s garbage and I can’t believe it gets 5 stars on Amazon.
Here’s another Trixie Belden fan! Basically, I read every mystery-type book I could get my hands on:
Nancy Drew [who def puts the smack down on the Hardy Boys...which I also read]
Cam Jansen
Encyclopedia Brown
Boxcar Children
and a bunch others…before I graduated to Agatha Christie.
*honorary member of the Bob-Whites*
Yay, Ann! So I didn’t imagine those books after all…
I was a huge Judy Blume fan. I enjoyed Betty Miles (had forgotten about her until Jen*’s comment), Paula Danziger, and Louise Meriwether. Roll of Thunder…; Let the Circle Be Unbroken; and Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe were also favorites.
Looking back, Judy Blume was also a good source of “incidental” historical fiction. Remember the young protagonist of “Starring Sally J. Freeman As Herself” thinking that Hitler (in disguise) had retired to her Miami apartment building? This was my first introduction to Hitler and to the Holocaust.
@Jennifer: Point taken that it was a monochromatic list, but he did proactively ask for ones that he’s missed. To me, it seems more like starting a conversation than setting up a canon.
Nancy Drew didn’t have a buddy named Chet with a jalopy. Hardy Boys for the win (it took years before I looked up what a jalopy was). Although apparently the first draft of the Nancy Drew book was pretty hard core (she packed heat!). Heard about it in last weeks Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me…
I had similar thoughts about gender and class when I read this list, but I did figure it was his personal favourites list, and in his defense, he asked for suggestions.
A great book I’d recommend is Looking For Alibrandi. It’s by an Australian author called Mellina Marchetta, and it’s about a 17-year-old Italian-Australian girl and her last year of high school. When it came out in Aus, about 16 years ago now, it became an instant classic. It’s a very Sydney book, about city class dynamics, and race, and being the child of immigrants, but also deals with the usual adolescent dramas of love, growing up, being the child of a single parent. It’s really fantastic.
But the most amazing thing about was when it came out EVERYONE read it. Boys, girls, all colours, all classes. It’s hard to find anyone of around my age (27) who hasn’t read it. It’s on most of the curricula around Australia, and is still one of the most phenomenally popular Australian children’s (well, teen) books ever. It was one of those books that “kids who don’t read” read.
And I am with you on the Nancy Drew dissing outrage.
Any list of the greatest children’s books that includes Alex Rider and not Alice in Wonderland is fundamentally flawed. Um, no Hobbit? No Ramona? No Watership Down? Come on, if there was ever a book that could turn an X-Box addict into a reader it was Watership Down. NOT Alex Rider! So this list already has several strikes against it before you even consider race and gender.
Wait, I can actually do not foaming at the mouth. Hold on… There. What was the topic again?
How about…
Paula Danziger’s Amber Brown series: good stuff for girls growing up in less than perfect houses.
Beverly Cleary’s Ramona, Beezus and hey, might as well read the Henry books too.
Madeline L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series: strong fantasy with some great female characters. Very stimulating.
Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy: with caveats, because this is the atheist Chronicles of Narnia, and it will disturb and offend a lot of people. But it has several of the all-time best female characters in fantasy. And you’ve gotta love a series that includes a couple of openly gay angels and a plot to destroy Metatron. Well, I do, anyways.
China Mieville’s Un Lun Dun: the newest book on this list, this is an awesome kids’ fantasy that totally subverts all the old fantasy tropes. Most importantly for our current purposes, the girl who saves the world is a POC. China Mieville is one of fantasy’s all-time greatest writers, and this book knocks that wishy-washy little Potter kid right out. Plus it has a sentient milk carton in it.
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events: more subversion. These books are flat-out awesome. Read the back cover blurb to find out if you will like the books. This is practically the only time this has ever been true, because Snicket wrote the blurbs.
Terry Pratchett’s “A Hat Full of Sky” and “The Wee Free Men”: the juvenile Discworld novels are every bit as funny and sneakily thought-provoking as the adult versions. Yes, I do read a lot of fantasy, why do you ask?
Pippi Longstocking books: well, duh.
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass: double-duh.
Anne McCaffrey’s Harper Hall series: an offshoot of the Dragonriders of Pern books, featuring a girl who bonds with Pern’s mythical fire lizards.
Scott O’Dell’s “Island of the Blue Dolphins: a very strong survival tale about a Native American girl who gets left behind on a remote island when her people leave.
I’d include “Watership Down”, too, just because. You don’t ever really need a reason to include Watership Down, do you?
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I am an elementary librarian, but previously I taught middle school reading. One of the best books I’ve ever read that includes the multi-ethnic component is Edward Bloor’s book, Tangerine. It is phenomenal. Although the book is centered around soccer, one doesn’t have to be a soccer expert or soccer lover to enjoy this book. Even my struggling readers got so involved with this book they were motivated to finish it. There are a multitude of themes flowing through the book. It was difficult to get through literature discussion groups on time because the text was so “meaty” and substance filled.
Might be your greatest piece of writing around!!!