Allison Miller

ALST 603

July 10, 2018

Community Outreach Project

Alaska Children’s Literature in the Seldovia Public Library

While attempting to browse through the available Alaska children’s literature at my local
library, I noticed that the Alaska books were not in their own section nor were they labelled in a
distinctive way so that patrons could easily find Alaska books. They have an entire Alaskana
collection downstairs in the library for adults in which all books are labelled with a blue sticker
and AK at the beginning of their Dewey letters/numbers on their spines. This just doesn’t exist
in any form for the picture books, junior, or teen fiction or non-fiction.

I asked the library board if I might be able to take that task on— to label all the Alaska
children’s books, and perhaps separate them to their own section for a time. They said they
would welcome the endeavor with open arms. It took me 4 visits averaging 2 hours each to
complete this task, and I feel hopeful that the distinction might even increase circulation of the
Alaskana kid’s collection.

 The second part of my project is a book display for children as well as adults in the
picture books section. It focuses on Alaska Folktales and how to identify quality folklore. During
the summer, Seldovia sees a lot of visitors from all over the place, and one of the places they
stop in is the library to check their email, use the wifi connection, and peruse books. During my
time labelling the books, there were quite a few visiting children and parents in the picture
books. As they browsed through the newly-labelled kids Alaskana section, I realized that even
in this small community of just over 200 residents, I could reach far and raise awareness about
culturally sensitive literature for children of all backgrounds.

My book display includes an interactive component that will hopefully continue to raise
awareness about quality literature about Alaska and our people. I composed and printed an
informational pamphlet on Cultural Sensitivity in Children’s Literature and how parents can
identify quality Alaska folklore from culturally inaccurate or insensitive fakelore that capitalizes
on time-honored traditions and the heritage of indigenous peoples.

I also created a participatory aspect to the display in which patrons are asked to rank
several books on display according to their cultural sensitivity. A participant will be drawn
toward the end of the summer who will win a small collection of quality Alaska children’s
books. To me, this is a small price to pay to know that I might have benefited the future of
Alaska children’s literature in immeasurable ways. Knowledge is power.

Both the informational pamphlet and the “folklore or fakelore” submission sheet are attached to this
assignment.
 Evaluating Alaska Children’s Literature for Cultural Sensitivity

There are currently thousands of children’s and young adult books Important Questions to Ask*
written about Alaska and the various indigenous cultures of Alaska.

• Are characters "outside the mainstream culture" depicted

When reading Alaska books with indigenous characters, special as individuals or as caricatures?
care must be taken that these books are accurate and credible in
their portrayal of Native cultures.
• Does their representation include significant specific
cultural information? Or does it follow stereotypes?
“The experiences of Alaska Native children, and their forebears, is
very different from the experiences of children whose ancestors • Who has the power in this story? What is the nature of
immigrated to this country and state. their power, and how do they use it?

Authors who write about Alaska for children are seldom Alaska
Native; many of them are not even from Alaska. Therefore, the
perspective of an “outsider” talking about Alaska Natives can range
from skewed to inaccurate to disrespectful to clueless”
(Katy Spangler, PhD. Evaluating Literature for All Alaska’s Children.)
Crucial Considerations
Author and Publisher Credibility: Culturally sensitive authors and
publishers identify their connection to the cultural traditions they
portray.
• Who has wisdom? What is the nature of their wisdom, and
how do they use it?
• What are the consequences of certain behaviors? What
behaviors or traits are rewarded, and how? What
behaviors are punished, and how?
• How is language used to create images of people of a
particular group? How are artistic elements used to create
those images?

• Who has written this story? Who has illustrated it? Are
Cultural Appropriation: The taking of stories without crediting the they inside or outside the groups they are presenting?
source of the story. Authentic folktales do not have an author. They What are they in a position to know? What do they claim
are “retold” by a storyteller and credit is given to the cultural oral
to know?
tradition.

Cultural Stereotypes: Inaccurate portrayals of individual characters. • Whose voices are heard? Whose are missing?
Often indigenous characters or settings can be caricatured and
given little depth
• What do this narrative and these pictures say about race?
Class? Culture? Gender? Age? Resistance to the status
Inaccurate mixing of traditions from different tribes: tipis and totems
quo?

Timeframe: Prior to 1960s, indigenous characters in books were *Adapted from Jean Mendoza & Debbie Reece Examining Multicultural
primarily depicted in stereotypical and/or negative representations.
Picture Books for the Early Childhood Classroom
 Folklore or Fakelore?

Multi-cultural folktale picture books are a popular means for teaching about other cultures and global
values, but almost all of these books are more appropriately “fakelore”. Most are based on romantic legends
written for popular audiences, and were never told as such in indigenous communities in the oral tradition. Some
even completely assimilate authentic sources into contemporary picture books that distort the original meaning,
belief, and style of generations-old tales of creation and morality. These adaptations severely eliminate the
originality of the oral tradition, and tend to perpetuate cultural stereotypes of storytelling as an oversimplified,
childish past time. Authentic oral literature is masterful artistry, and passing traditional stories on as cutesy tales to
teach and delight children seriously undermines efforts to give tribal literatures the recognition they deserve.
Replacing tribal literatures with “fakelore” deprives indigenous cultures of their authentic perspectives. To obtain
the rich rewards and insights from generations of indigenous knowledge, readers need to be able to discern
authentic folklore from trivial fakelore. -Adapted from Eliot A. Singer’s “Fakelore, Multiculturalism, and the Ethics of

How would you rank the following books in order from most authentic folktale (#1) to least culturally sensitive
fakelore (#6)?

___ “Aurora: A Tale of the Northern Lights” written and illustrated by Mindy Dwyer

___”Berry Magic” written by Teri Sloat and Betty Huffmon, illustrated by Teri Sloat

___”Eagle Boy” retold by Richard Lee Vaughan, illustrated by Lee Christiansen

___”Storm Boy” written and illustrated by Paul Owen Lewis

___”Raven: A Trickster Tale From the Pacific Northwest” retold and illustrated by Gerald McDermott

___”The Sleeping Lady” retold by Ann Dixon, paintings by Elizabeth Johns

Return your rankings to the library for a chance to win

a collection of quality Alaska children’s books!