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Choices of Impact: Literature for All Children

Emily A. Butler

Michigan State University

TE 836: Awards and Classics of Children’s Literature

Hannah Grisham

25 April 2021
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Introduction

"What is commonly called literary history is actually a record of choices."

-- Louise Bernikow

Throughout this course, I have been able to uncover some of the “hidden” pieces of

literacy history that can ultimately have a huge impact on the youth of this nation. Beginning

with the Newbery and Caldecott awards, people have made choices along the way as to which

books deserve the title of the most distinguished books of its time. These awards bring popularity

and recognition to these titles, which can influence the books youth are exposed to in school and

at home. At the end of the day, the goal is that the books students read and have access to are a

balance of windows and mirrors: a reflection of their own culture, and a window into the

perspectives of people who are different from them. However, this is not always the case.

Unfortunately, marginalized groups may only have access to books that are windows, and may

rarely see themselves represented in the literature they have access to. As teachers, we have an

especially important role that can make this change. Our role gives us the opportunity to make

our own choices that have an impact on youth by choosing literature that celebrates cultures and

perspectives that are representative of our student population as well as other cultures.

Theory

The Newbery and Caldecott awards are some of the most recognized and popular awards

that exist in children’s literature. Beginning with the Newbery award, the American Library

Association states that the award is given to “the most distinguished contribution to American

literature for children'' (American Library Association, n.d.). By having this vague and subjective

criteria for winning the award, it leaves a lot of room for bias by committee members to

influence these choices. Furthermore throughout my research of the Newbery award in module
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one, I found that in order to qualify to win the award, the author must be a citizen of the United

States, and the book must be written in English (American Library Association, n.d.). This can

be a limiting factor as there are many people living in the United States who are not citizens

whose experiences are meaningful and representative of American youth who may share this

experience. However, a book written by an author who is not a citizen would never have the

opportunity to win this award, which completely excludes this experience from the opportunity

for this award and the recognition that comes with it. In my discussion post on “Thoughts of the

Newbery,” I mentioned that the Newbery award is typically awarded to a certain type of book: a

fiction book with a young protagonist (usually a teenage boy) who faces adversity throughout the

story (Parravano, 1999). Certain books won the award that fit this mold, such as Secret of the

Andes by Ann Nolan Clark, but have not stood the test of time. In my own experience and

reading my classmates responses on the “Thoughts of the Newbery” discussion thread, for the

most part, we all agreed that this book was difficult to read and not relatable to our students. It’s

interesting that an award with so much power like the Newbery can select titles that don’t stand

the test of time.

Afterwards, we moved into studying the Caldecott award and how it has evolved over

time. In my Caldecott over time paper, I referenced a quote by Sipe (1998): “In a picturebook,

the words of the text and the sequence of the illustrations contribute equally to the opportunities

they provide for constructing meaning” (p. 66). This highlights just how important the

illustrations in a picturebook are, and how it equally contributes to the meaning that you make of

the text. In this module, the research we did with the articles provided gave powerful insight into

the history of this award. Throughout the history of the Caldecott, 86.2% of the illustrators who

have won were white (Koss, Johnson & Martinez, 2018). Although this number has decreased
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over the years, this uncovers a problematic history of this award. Furthermore, for the first three

decades of the award, there were no black illustrators awarded the Caldecott (Koss, Johnson &

Martinez). Another important statistic to recognize is that out of all of the books that have been

awarded the Caldecott, 70.6% of them contained white characters (Koss, Johnson & Martinez).

Thinking back to the quote by Bernikow on literacy history being a record choices, we can see

the impact that these decisions made by a small group of people can have on who is represented

at different points of our history. Unfortunately, for the majority of this award’s existence, these

choices have not been inclusive or representative of non-white perspectives. Koss, Johnson and

Martinez states, “The corpus of Caldecott books does not portray our multiethnic world,

signifying that White representation dominates the Caldecott landscape, and racism is present”

(p. 13). Even though most of the Caldecott’s existence has been exclusive to many perspectives,

it’s important to note that overtime, the Caldecott has made some progress in being more

inclusive. Recently, 2016 and 2017 were the first years that there were more black characters

awarded than white. Additionally, as I was looking through the list of Caldecott books to study

closely for the assignment for that module, I noticed first hand that more and more non-white

characters and experiences were awarded as the years went on. I was especially impressed with

the 2021 title We are Water Protectors. This story was told from the perspective of an indigenous

girl who is bringing awareness to sustainability and protecting our Earth. The illustrations were

captivating, and told the story through its bright colors and symbolism of the black snack which

represents pollution and misuse of natural resources. Overall, the Caldecott has not always

included diverse cultures, but this “record of choices” are more and more representative of

diverse cultures each year.

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In module two, we studied children’s classics and discussed what it means to be a classic.

One powerful concept that I deduced is that what constitutes a “classic” is unique to each and

every person. I was astonished when I was viewing the compiled list of all of the classics we

picked in this course. Sure, there were some books that were repeated, but there were several

books that were only mentioned by one person, and many books I had never even heard of. This

goes to show that each person will have their own criteria for classics, and view a unique

selection of books as classics that are different from others. It’s still important to note that what

people will ultimately define as a classic is heavily influenced by what they are exposed to. If

they never view or have access to a book in the first place, it will never become a classic. In this

sense, awards often bring this exposure. When a book is awarded the Newbery or the Caldecott

award, they are automatically given more recognition, and more of America’s youth have the

opportunity to experience them. Because of this, winners of awards oftentimes become classics. I

wouldn’t go as far to say these words are interchangeable, because as we have seen, several

books that won awards have not stood the test of time and did not make it onto the “classics” list

for our class (such as Secret of the Andes). The “winner” status just gives more opportunity for

that book to become a classic for more people. This is why it is so important for awards to be

inclusive of all experiences and perspectives. By including diverse characters, authors,

illustrators and experiences into the realm of these awards, these books have equal opportunities

and exposure, and more children can achieve this goal of having books as both windows and

mirrors of their experience.

Practice

Prior to this course, I did not view children’s literature and awards the way I do now.

Before, I might do some research into which picture books or read alouds would be good to teach
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a particular reading skill and just go with it. If the book was awarded the Newbery or Caldecott, I

automatically trusted that these books must be distinguished. If a book is popular and considered

“a classic,” I would trust that since so many people have taught it or read it, it must be

appropriate. Now, I understand that there is a lot more thought that must go into choosing the

texts we bring into our classroom. As I have mentioned, educators have an especially important

role in making choices in literacy that will impact the children they teach. If literacy history is a

record of choices, I want to make sure the literacy history that I bring into my classroom is

inclusive of the children I teach, and that the texts in my classroom are both mirrors and

windows.

The first change that I will make as a fifth grade English teacher is to be more mindful

about the books that are in my library and that I chose to use for my instruction. It’s important to

consider who is represented in the texts that I read, what message is being sent, who’s story is

told, and who is left out. For instance, although Peter Pan is not a book I have read or a movie I

have watched with my students, this is a perfect example of how a classic in children’s literature

can be so problematic. Before this course, it’s possible that I could have chosen to watch this

movie with my students or read the book simply because it is a classic, and because it was

always perceived as an innocent story throughout my childhood. My own experiences with this

book and movie through this course has proven otherwise. In my theme paper about Peter Pan, I

chose to explore how the theme of women’s gender roles are extremely limiting in the story. As I

discussed in my theme paper, Wendy is forced to bear the responsibilities of taking care of the

lost boys and never having the freedom to be a child herself. When we were able to choose a few

articles to investigate the theme we uncovered closer, I realized that Tinkerbell and Tiger Lily’s

divergence from the typical gender role for women caused them not to have a meaningful place
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in society in Neverland (Clark, 2006). Tinkerbell’s promiscuity and vulgarness allows her a shot

at love from Peter, but consequently is not taken seriously. Similarly with Tiger Lily, her refusal

to take on the role as mother or nurturer allows her to be desired by Peter, but is not needed the

way Wendy is. Without this course and the critical lens I now view books with, I may not have

realized this subliminal message being sent to young girls through this book. This does not even

cover the other harmful messages sent through the text, such as a racist depiction of native

people through Barrie’s portrayal of the Redskins. Although this book has the “classic” status in

American literature, we as educators must make the choice to not use these books in our

classroom. Instead, we must seek out texts that are inclusive, and that accurately represent

diverse cultures.

One way that I will achieve this is by looking into the other awards that have specific

agendas to recognize underrepresented groups of people. I think back to the very first week of

the course when we each chose an award to research. In the discussion that followed, most of us

mentioned how we had never heard of these awards, and how problematic that was. These

awards celebrated and recognized unique experiences such characters with disabilities (such as

the Schneider Family Book Award), LGBTQ+ characters (such as the Stonewall Award), and

different races and cultures (such as the Children’s Africana Book Award or the Pura Belpre

award). By making the choice as an educator to seek out texts that represent the children you

teach, and expose those children to other perspectives, we are exposing our students to books

that they may not have otherwise read. By doing this, we can guide the experience that occurs

within school walls to be more inclusive. We can encourage our students to be open-minded and

have real conversations, all by starting with the books we bring into our classrooms.
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Finally, one unique experience that I have is being on a Textbook Adoption Committee

for my district. There is a group of about 8 of us including teachers, instructional coaches, and

learning specialists, and we have been tasked with piloting and selecting a curriculum for our

district for ELA. This decision weighs heavily on me, as I have a part in making a decision for

thousands of students to come. This experience directly ties in to the Bernikow quote. I am a part

of a decision that will quite literally influence the literacy history that the students in my district

will be exposed to. The team is now on our third pilot, and since beginning this course, I think so

much differently and more critically about the texts that these curriculums include. For instance,

one of the modules in the program that we were piloting was titled “A New Home,” and was a

collection of texts highlighting the experiences and challenges of people moving to a new place.

I remembered back to the Koss, Johnson & Martinez (2018) article about how it is important that

the stories being told are by insiders from the culture to ensure the text is authentic. I was

extremely impressed that this program included “About the Author” slides for students to view,

and each text had an author that lived the experiences they wrote about and shared the culture of

the characters. Also, the current pilot is a thematic unit centered around the impact of westward

expansion on Native Americans. This program takes a critical look at this moment in history

from the perspective of the Nez Perce, which is something that is often left out of our history

textbooks. Now being on the third pilot, I realize the first pilot did not include many non-white

experiences and perspectives, which I will voice strongly as we eventually come to our decision

making. It’s so important that as committee members, we make the right decision that will shape

the literacy history of our district to be inclusive and representative of our students, and other

perspectives.
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Conclusion

This course has forever influenced the way I view literature and the choices I will make

for the years to come. By understanding the awards and the problematic history of many of the

most popular awards, I can view awarded titles more critically to ensure they will be meaningful

to and representative of my students. Furthermore, I will apply this same critical lens to the texts

that are considered “classics” to make choices that benefit my students. I will make choices to

ensure my students are exposed to texts that they will one day consider classics: books that serve

as both windows and mirrors into the beautiful, unique human experience.
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References

American Library Association. (n.d.). John Newbery Medal. Association for Library Service to

Children. http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newbery

Clark, E. (2006). The female figure in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan: The small and the mighty. In

White, D. & Tarr, C. A. (Eds.), J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan in and out of time: A children’s

classic at 100 (pp. 303-319). The Scarecrow Press, Inc

Koss, M. D., Johnson, N. J., & Martinez, M. (2018). Mapping the diversity in caldecott books

from 1938 to 2017: The changing topography. Journal of Children’s Literature, 44(1),

4-20.

Parravano, M. V. (1999). "Alive and vigorous": Questioning the newbery. The Horn Book

Magazine, 75(4), 434-444. Retrieved from

http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/trade-jou

rnals/alive-vigorous-questioning-newbery/docview/199333703/se-2?accountid=12598

Sipe, L. (1998). Learning the language of picturebooks. Journal of Children’s Literature, 24(2),

66-75.