Book and Article Reviews on Biracial Children's Literature

Arnold Adoff black is brown is tan; illus. by Emily Arnold McCully. 29pp. Harper Collins Publishers, 1973. ISBN 0-06-028777-2

Adoff depicts in this book the everyday life and activities of a family with a black mother and a white father who have two children. The text is in the format of a poem and flows fluidly through the points of view of each parent and the children in turn. Adoff details some of the physical differences and the similarities between the parents, such as the mother describing herself as, ”a brown sugar gown a tasty tan and coffee pumpkin pie” (pp. 11) while the father is, “white the milk is white i am not the color of the milk” but both parents , “puff and yell you into bed”(pp. 16), but constantly ties the family together with the phrase, “this is the way it is for us this is the way we are”. He does not overemphasize the fact that this is a biracial family. He is telling the story of how this family of four works using the fluid movement of poetry with the help of McCully’s detailed illustrations. Adoff celebrates the things that make up each and every family, the daily routines, chores, and family vacations, and while the different family members bring up the fact that they do look different, their skin shades are all varying shades of brown (even the father who is not the same white as milk or snow). They are a united group not in spite of their skin color, but because they love each other. Adoff, although he does not have a biracial heritage (he is the son of Russian immigrants), successfully iterates the point that people do not need to look the same in order to love each other.

Laurence Yep Ribbons. 179pp. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1992. ISBN 0-399-22906-X

The protagonist Robin’s love for ballet is the driving force behind this novel. She has grown up in a family with a Chinese mother and a white father, with her younger brother resembling her mother’s heritage while she resembled her father. This was never a major issue in Robin’s life until her mother decides that it is time for their family to bring her mother (Robin’s grandmother) over from China. This puts the whole family under financial constraints that force them to stop Robin’s ballet lessons, although that does not stop her from practicing her steps on the concrete of their garage. Their grandmother, known as Paw-Paw, is brought from China and immediately shows favoritism toward Robin’s brother Ian because, “He’s a boy, Robin…Back in China, boys are everything” (pp.91-92). This is Robin’s first time truly interacting with a part of her Chinese heritage, and she had a very difficult time adjusting to the new circumstances. Yep spends much of the book developing this theme by having Robin come to terms with the fact that she will not always like all parts of her heritage on either her mother or father’s side. However, she learns to accept the differences and make accommodations, and helps her grandmother do the same after she discovers that Paw-Paw has a secret: her feet had been bound in an ancient Chinese tradition as a young girl, and she was ashamed. When Robin begins to show signs of foot trouble from dancing in pointe shoes that are too small, her grandmother uses the opportunity to try and understand why ballet is so important to Robin, and that having imperfect feet does not have to be a defining facet of one’s personality. They begin to understand each other when they look past their cultural differences and accept and love each other for who they are.
Although this book does a good job of dealing with the issue of a young girl coming to terms with a part of her heritage that she has not grown up intimately involved with, there are a few things that took away from this pro. Readers who have experience within the ballet world will recognize that there are many inaccuracies represented in this novel. For example, Robin begins the novel performing the role of the Morning Butterfly in the Nutcracker. This role does not exist in professional performances. Also, she states towards the end of the book that the pair of toe shoes she had been dancing on were bought, “Over a year,” (pp. 157) ago. Toe shoes are long lasting if a dancer is able to use them for two months (as a beginner), and as a dancer’s skill advances it is not unusual to buy a new pair every 2-4 weeks. There is no way even a beginner on pointe would be able to use the same shoes for over a year dancing as often as Robin does (nearly every day). Although these issues might detract from the story for those knowledgeable about ballet, they do not detract from the personal issues Robin faces and works to solve throughout the novel because ballet is the conduit through which the readers learn about who Robin is as a character. Her character begins by defining herself solely through ballet and her love of dance, but the reader is given the opportunity to watch her grow and develop into a person who incorporates her heritage into her identity as well as her love of ballet.

Sundee T. Frazier Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in it. 196pp. Delacorte Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-385-73439-4

Brendan Buckley is a 10 year old boy with a white mother and a black father. He keeps a secret notebook full of his questions about anything and everything including, “What am I?...Black? Biracial? Am I white, too?” (pp. 41). He has grown up knowing his father’s mother Gladys, but his mother’s father has always been a mystery because nobody will ever talk about him and he never comes to visit. That is until Gladys takes Brendan to the mall where Brendan discovers an exhibit on his newest interest, rocks and minerals. Brendan talks to an older man who is the president of a rock club when Gladys comes up to the table and recognizes the man as Brendan’s grandfather. Brendan then finds his address and starts a relationship with this stranger using their shared interest in rocks as a foundation, even though his mother still refuses to talk about him and would be furious if she found out about Brendan’s visits with him. Brendan discovers toward the end of the novel that the reason his mother cut her father out of her life is that he did not want his white daughter to marry a black man. This causes even further confusion about Brendan’s racial identity and sense of self.
Frazier does a fantastic job of showing how being biracial can affect a young boy each and every day without making it be the primary focus because Brendan struggles with his identity using similar methods as other young people, but he has different issues to deal with and resolve. Brendan spends most of the book trying to understand why his seemingly wonderful grandfather was cut out of his life, and simultaneously tries to discover and become comfortable with his racial identity. He is continuously coming up with new questions for his notebook, that eventually help him to decide for himself what and who he chooses to identify as and with. He has encounters throughout the story that help him take each step including an encounter with bullies who use his race to demean Brendan, having his white grandfather not introduce Brendan as his grandson at a rock club meeting, as well as discovering that his grandfather did not believe that whites and blacks should marry. Frazier makes all of his characters relatable and realistic, regardless of the reader’s race, and creates a plotline that showcases a progression and coming of age and identity that are truly wonderful.

Toyomi Igus Two Mrs. Gibsons; illus. by Daryl Wells. 30pp. Children’s Book Press, 1996. ISBN 0-89239-135-9

Igus has created a wonderful piece of literature through illustrations and reflective, insightful, and fluid text in which a young girl describes her experiences with two different Mrs. Gibsons, one of which is black and the other is Japanese. Igus details their differences in places of birth, skin color, hugs, cooking, and other personality traits, while always emphasizing that she loved both Mrs. Gibsons, and both of them loved her. It is not until the end of the book that it is revealed that the Japanese Mrs. Gibson is the young girl’s mother and the black Mrs. Gibson is the young girl’s grandmother. She grew up with both aspects of her heritage, learning the differences and appreciating each woman for who they were and for the fact that they loved each other. It is wonderful, too, that the differences highlighted do not focus on skin color, but on culture and personality as well (such as the types of food each woman cooks, or the methods of practicing religion), and none of the differences are large enough to overshadow the fact that they are family. What I find to be one of the best aspects of this story is that it is true, and based in events from the author’s childhood. I believe that she sums up the meaning behind the story best in the afterword when she writes, “Whenever I start to think that the many problems people have with one another will never be resolved, I remember my two Mrs. Gibsons, who showed me that love can overcome all differences and transcend all boundaries.”

Traci P Baxley. ""What Are You?" Biracial Children in the Classroom." Childhood Education. 84.4 (2008): 230-3.

This article does a thorough job of dealing with some of the issues that biracial students face in the classroom from day to day. Baxley begins with a definition of biracial, which helps readers know specifically about whom this article may refer to, therefore providing a better defined context for who might find this article full of useful information. She then transitions into the history of biracial children in America and various laws that were in place during the time of slavery, such as those against ‘miscegenation’, as well as laws such as the ‘one drop rule’ as a definition for being black that were in effect until the 1960s. To help make this information applicable in today’s society Baxley then mentions that it was not until the most recent census in 2000 that American citizens were allowed to identify as multiracial. After establishing this foundation of relevant history and definitions Baxley provides the reader with five common stereotypes that biracial children face frequently (e.g. biracial children will always identify with the minority race of their heritage), although she does not delve into specifics of how teachers could help to combat these specific issues.
Baxley continues by bringing her discussion more toward a classroom setting. She discusses how few children’s books address biracialism, and why that makes teachers bringing the issue into the classroom even more important for all students, not just the biracial ones. She states that one of the first steps a teacher should take is, “…investigating their personal stance regarding biracial children” before talking about the issue with a room full of young children. It is also important to talk to biracial children’s parents about this topic so that the teacher knows more about what the child identifies him/herself as, as well as the family’s viewpoint. Finally, Baxley believes that teachers must abandon the idea that they should be colorblind to the races in his/her classroom and treat all students the same. Each student has a different background, culture, heritage, as well as race and these issues all help define how best to help that student learn as much as possible. Integrating everything that you learn as a teacher into the classroom can be an invaluable resource for the students as well, to help them learn about themselves and each other.

Australia, the movie

This past weekend I rented the movie Australia from the offices in the basement of our dorm. Starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, all I really knew about the movie was that I remembered liking it after my grandparents took me to see it before Christmas. I was amazed after I read the introductory statements, because this entire movie dealt with issues that pertain not only to the topics of this course, but to my final research project as well.
The movie begins with an introduction into the territory of Australia in 1939, with a mix of the white British and settlers and the Aboriginals who were native to the territory. One product of the mixed cultures in the same area was mixed race children, dubbed 'creamies' by many. This biracial plotline is mixed in with a race to drive cattle across the desert, a war, and a love story, but it is interwoven into all of it. During the war, all of the biracial children that the government could find were sent to Mission Island, the first target of the Japanese upon their invasion, while all of the white children were sent to the safety of southern Australia. Not to mention that the white father of the biracial boy we come to know, called Nullah, tries to kill him several times.
The first time I saw this movie it represented a piece of history to not be proud of, but much more of it hit home now that I have begun my research and participated in this course with readings and discussions. This is a piece of real life and real history for many. I can only imagine the kind of identity issues these children had to deal with, especially if they had murderous fathers and were yanked from their families by the police simply because they were not white. They're parents may or may not have loved each other and tried to help their children to accept who they are (depending on the situation), but no relationships of that nature would have been widely accepted by the culture of cities and towns. Therefore the children had a hard time finding acceptace from most places, sometimes even from within their own families.

Stereotypes in Ballet

I was getting nostalgic this weekend and I started thinking about the 15 years I spent dancing ballet. For nine of those years I performed in our local production of the Nutcracker. As I was remembering all the fun we had backstage listening to the music and trying to sneak upstairs to see the older company members in their costumes and performing, it hit me. I had a TE 448 lightbulb moment. I remembered that in the second half of the ballet dancers that are supposed to represent countries from all over the world come to the court of the Sugar Plum Faerie to dance for Clara who had saved the Nutcracker from the giant king mouse. While some of those dances are more authentic than others (to the best of my knowledge seeing as I am not extremely familiar with all of the cultures represented), some that I can recal are relatively ridiculous.

The one that sticks out the most in my memory is that of the Chinese dance. They are coming and bringing the gift of tea to Clara, and the dance that the company performing these parts of the show had been choreographed around a giant teapot. The dancers entered behind the teapot, wore a costume that many Americans would automatically link with China or Japan (brightly colored, embroidered shirts with tighter black pants, and those hats that look like flattened cones). The part that bothers me the most though is that I remember they had put makeup on their eyes to try and give them a slanted appearance and throughout the dance they squinted their eyes and scrunched up their faces a little bit, to make them 'look more Chinese.' And I remember copying their example starting from when I was about 6 years old. I had no idea that doing that might be wrong, or that some people might be offended (or as I would have thought of it then that some people might not like that I was doing that). I simply wanted to be as good a dancer as those dancers were. And I thought that by mimicking them I was doing something needed to become better.

I did not look at it as making fun of another culture, but it can easily be construed that way. I am not saying that these cultural dances should be cut out of the program, but perhaps the companies should look into a more authentic representation. It is possible to represent other culture's styles of dance without squinting your eyes. And many companies have done this well, because I searched for a youtube.com video that would show you what I'm talking about, and I could not find one that was similar to my memories. The ones I found were, in my opinion, much less offensive. I would be very interested to hear what an insider's perspecitive would be on this issue.

Disability on TV

The other night I was flipping channels before I went to bed, and I stumbled on an episode of House. House was having an argument with a very sick Foreman about a brain biopsy that could leave Foreman permanently disabled. Foreman's argument is that House handles being disabled just fine, but House retorts with something along the lines of, "do I make this look glamorous?"

This got me thinking about the portrayal of disabled people on TV. House becomes addicted to vicoden because of the pain in his leg, Joe from Family Guy functions in his wheel chair, but as soon as he has the chance to walk again he becomes a jerk to all of his friends and only returns to himself after his friends and wife injure him to the extent of lower body paralysis again, and so on. There are not many deptictions of people with disabilities on TV, but those characters are sometimes the only exposure some people have. Talk about stereotypes.

If these are the images that the general public is getting, then the general view of those with disabilities is probably not as positive as is might be otherwise. I guess that this reverts to a question that has come up repeatedly in our discussions. Is it better to expose people/students to a stereotyped version of real life, or to not expose them at all? Should we use these characters as a discussion starting point and try to dispel misconceptions? Or should we avoid potentially creating more misconceptions by not bringing it up, since there are not many good examples? This is one of those questions that I would love an actual answer to, although the chances of getting one when the answers can be so subjective may or may not really help.

What is Multicultural?

So the other day in class when we were discussing our topics for the final research areas, I tried to use the word 'multicultural' to describe people of different religions, cultural backgrounds, as well as races or ethnicities, etc. Every person I used this term with automatically assumed I meant race specifically, and I had to clarify my usage of this term.
Am I really using this term that incorrectly? I see it as two words, multi and cultural. Multi, of course, meaning multiple, many or just plain more than one. Cultural being a reference to the word culture, which I use to mean religions, traditions, races, ethnicities, whether you live in a city or in the country, etc. I do not see race as the only defining factor of a culture, although it certainly is one factor. I use the term with this meaning behind it, but it seems that not everybody has the same definition. Am I being too politically correct because of how I have been taught to be aware of my language use (as we all have in the TE program)? Am I over analyzing this? I suppose I would just like to know when and how the meaning inferred from the use of this word started to change so profoundly? Or am I the one who is confused, and race has always been the primary meaning of 'multicultural'?

Dilbert

So I was reading the comics this morning, and when I reached Dilbert, I knew that I wanted to share this strip.

I have loved this comic strip for almost as long as I can remember, and I have always thought it was a funny strip. My mother loves this strip enough that my younger brother is required to have the daily calendar be his Christmas gift for her each year. We have always loved the Elbonians because they make the situations more amusing.

But would we laugh more if it was Indians, as mentioned earlier in the strip? Or American Indians? Or African, Chinese, Swede? Why is it OK to laugh and make fun of a race that does not actually exist when if it had been a real race it could be considered racist and completely politically incorrect?

Also, the reference to "Educated Indians who speak perfect English" being more expensive, and therefore better than the "illiterate Elbonian with poor attendance and an anger management problem" shows an unofficial ranking of races. One is better than the other. One can be literate and important while the other is completely undesirable. If the Elbonians were a real race, this would be a big social issue, but because they are not it's funny. The comment on the Indians also represents a sort of running joke that many Americans have regarding the fact that a lot of companies have outsourced some of their customer service jobs to India and they are difficult to understand at times, which would account for the "speak perfect English" part of the description.

'A Shift Is Taking Place'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-8DRPCJ86U&feature=related

So we watched this youtube video in my TE 402 class last week and it really got me thinking about a lot of different things. It also got me thinking globally as opposed to just inside the US, which is sometimes harder to accomplish, and much harder to keep in perspective, at least for me.

One of the first questions this video asks is what will the world be like for children born today? Some of the facts brought up in this video were mind blowing for me. Like, the number one speaking English country will be China? And that 100% of college graduates in India speak English? But then how many college graduates in the US speak another language fluently? I looked it up on google and I could not find a statistic, but from my own experience here at MSU I know that not 100% of us are fluent in another language. Does that make us ignorant? I know that high schoolers in most European schools are required to take classes in at least two non-native languages. My high school required two credits of one foreign language. Are Americans that egotistical? Perhaps some of these facts are reasons why American tourists are not perfectly welcome in all countries around the world.

I realize that this video does not directly relate to underrepresented populations, but it does discuss some misconceptions about populations that exsist in our society, which is just as important. Americans are often perceived as being less informed than citizens of other countries, and I wonder just how true that statement is. I do not pretend to be someone who knows about all different races, religions, ethnicities, or other cultural groups, but I would like to be someone who is willing to learn about and experience all those differences. It also made me think about the average effort level of Americans to force themselves out of their comfort zones to learn about them. This video presented information about other cultures that I did not know, and probably would not have known had my professor not shown this video in class. I suppose the question is how can we as future teachers help our students to know and want to know this kind of information?