Nothing's changed since I wrote that thread about the incredulity toward IPOC critics and experts in children's books more than 3 years ago. We're not seen as qualified critics. (Personally, I find it odd when folks' status anxiety makes them lash out at experts on kids' books.)
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So maybe you didn't realize that many books you loved as a kid weren't that great. But when we were kids, adults smoked around us, fed us uberprocessed food which we washed down with colored sugared flavored water (Kool-Aid) & there were no seat belts in cars... Things change.
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Certainly, books have changed. The same year that Anne of Green Gables was published, Topsy & Eva also appeared on the shelves. You can read the full text here: http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/childrn/cbcbhbat.html … We still read the Anne books, but not Topsy & Eva. Why?pic.twitter.com/HTwpRZNXtn
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"Because there's obvious racism in one, and the Anne books are harmless." That's the argument, I think. As a lifelong Anne fan, one so passionate about LM Montgomery's "story girls" that I cannot teach her work, I'd be persuaded because of my nostalgia. But...
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Imagine being a girl, like I was, thrilled to sink yourself into Anne's world. You might be weirded out a little by the treatment of French Canadians in the story, but hey, race isn't a factor here! And then you get to book #7, Rainbow Valley. (I had the Bantam Starfire cover.)pic.twitter.com/7qFTbauKEU
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Remember, you're thoroughly enamored with Anne's world. You're totally following her happily ever after, her kids with Gilbert, and their friendships. Then you read Mary Vance saying, "I work like a n*gger." You're 12. You have to figure out how to deal with this...pic.twitter.com/wmkLF0QBbg
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"Maybe they didn't mean Black people," you think, because you're 12, and should be thinking about other things, not excusing the storyteller for their limitations, or the adults who ensured you'd read this book. "After all, there aren't any Black people in these stories."
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And so, 12 year old me in early 1990, with blessedly limited exposure to any real implications of that word, decided to read it as a positive stereotype. Context clues! She's supposed to be a working class character... it's a crude way of aligning herself with Black people!
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Almost 30 years later, I have questions: 1. What about other girls who read that book, and didn't excuse "n*gger" away? How did that affect them? 2. Rainbow Valley was published in 1919 -- this is the book's 100th anniversary. What makes it timeless? Does that timer expire?
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3. The Anne books made me think there were no Black people in PEI. It wasn't until decades later that
#AnneWithAnE introduced Bash. Here's the kicker: LMM knew Black Canadians existed! But the child & teen in us wants to love our storytellers... Even when they use the n-word.pic.twitter.com/rdR2nQOpBE
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I think I stopped at book 5 and never read past, but seriously, I now think back to all the whiteness and just like wow wow wow.
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