A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children Book

This was an illuminating volume. It not only criticizes books that are racist and/or inauthentic, it also reviews books that are useful and authentic. I wonder if there is an equivalent critique of books on Native American subjects for an adult audience. I would like to read it.

I learned about terms regarded as offensive. In some cases, it was not obvious to me that certain terms would be offensive. I think that I define these terms differently. I still don't understand why saying that medicine people "chant" is offensive. In my religious community chanting is very sacred. The word is not considered insulting at all.

Some of the writers that are subjected to criticism are well-known and highly respected authors. One is actually a favorite of mine. She is Jane Yolen whose book Encounter is considered highly offensive. I have never read Encounter, but when I read that the point of view character is a Taino girl visionary who isn't believed, it occured to me that Yolen had re-cast the Trojan seer, Cassandra, as a Native American. The review of Encounter accuses Yolen of blaming the Taino for failing to believe the protagonist's visions. In the story of Cassandra, the Trojans couldn't be blamed for disbelieving her because the God Apollo was responsible. If Yolen conceived her Taino viewpoint character as another Cassandra it probably never occurred to her that readers would think she was blaming the Taino. I suppose that given this possibility, Yolen could be criticized for inappropriately imposing a European myth on a Native American culture like the novels mentioned in this book that have shoe horned Native American legends into the matrix of the story of Cinderella. I can see why this is wrong. Some cultural icons or archetypes don't translate cross-culturally.

I noticed the repetition of "write what you know" and the criticism of imagination in the portrayal of Native societies. Normally, I am a huge supporter of the imaginative approach to writing, but there is abundant evidence in A Broken Flute of the harm a writer's imagination can do by portraying Native Americans inaccurately. The self-concept of Native children who read these books can be injured even though the authors never intended any harm. The sensitive non-Native author needs to consider this in writing about Native American themes in children's literature.