Once Upon a Time in a Different World: Issues and Ideas in African American Children's Literature (Children's Literature and Culture)

305 Pages·2007·4.31 MB·English

by  Neal Lester

New York London
Routledge is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
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Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
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New York, NY 10016 Milton Park, Abingdon
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© 2007 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
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International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑98019‑4 (Hardcover)
International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑98019‑7 (Hardcover)
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Lester, Neal A.
Once upon a time in a different world : issues and ideas in African American
children’s literature / Neal Lester.
p. cm. ‑‑ (Children’s literature and culture ; v. 42)
ISBN 0‑415‑98019‑4 (alk. paper)
1. American literature‑‑African American authors‑‑History and criticism.
2. Children’s literature, American‑‑History and criticism. 3. African American
children‑‑Books and reading. 4. African American children in litera ture. 5. African
Americans in literature. I. Title.
PS153.N5L45 2006
809’.89282’08996‑‑dc22 2006020261
ISBN 0-203-94076-8 Master e-book ISBN
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the Routledge Web site at
http://www.routledge‑ny.com
Permission Acknowledgments
“(Un)Happily Ever After: Fairy Tale Moral, Moralities and Heterosexism in
Children’s Texts” originally appeared in Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in
Education: An International Quarterly Devoted to Research, Policy, and Practice
4.2 (Winter 2006): 55–74.
“‘Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair’: Readin’, Writin’, and Parental (Il)Literacy
in African American Children’s Books” originally appeared in Children’s Folk-
lore Review (Issue 25: 2002–2003, pp. 75–100).
“‘Sticks and Stones may break my bones…’: Airbrushing the Ugliest of Ugly in
African American Children’s Books” originally appeared in Obsidian III: Lit-
erature in the African Diaspora 3 (Fall/Winter 2001–2002): 10–34.
“Nappy Edges and Goldy Locks: African American Daughters and the Politics
of Hair” originally appeared in The Lion and the Unicorn: A Critical Journal
of Children’s Literature 24.2 (2000): 201–224. Reprinted courtesy of The Johns
Hopkins University Press.
“Beyond Big Hair and a Bad Hair Day: Carolivia Herron’s Nappy Hair Pieces”
originally appeared in Children’s Literature in Education: An International
Quarterly (Issue 30, September 1999: 171–183). Reprinted with kind permission
of Springer Science and Business Media.
“Don’t Condemn White Teacher over Nappy Hair” originally appeared in The
Arizona Republic (30 December 1998): B6.
“Angels of Color: Divinely Inspired or Socially Constructed?” Originally
appeared in Diversity: A Journal of Multicultural Issues 2 (Spring 1994): 65–79.
“‘Alabama Angels’ Descending into the Past” originally appeared in Journal of
American Culture 17 (Summer 1994): 97–98.
“Review of Kelly McWilliams’s Doormat,” “Review of Teacher’s Guide to the
Bluford Book Series,” “Review of Angela Johnson’s The First Part Last,” “Review
of Anne Schraff’s Until We Meet Again,” “Review of Anne Schraff’s Lost and
Found,” and “Review of Anne Schraff’s A Matter of Trust” all originally
appeared in Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.
“If You’re Happy to be Nappy, Clap Your hands!”: A Review of bell hooks’s
Happy to Be Nappy” originally appeared in Children’s Folklore Review 22 (1999):
45–55.
“Review of Joyce Carol Thomas’s Crowning Glory: Poems” originally appeared
in QBR: The Black Book Review 9 (November / December 2002): 9–10.
“A Potpourri of Children’s Activities that Entertain and Teach: A Review of
Juba This & Juba That: 100 African American Games for Children” originally
appeared in Birmingham Times (28 March 1996): 11.
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To Jasmine and Jared, whose lives continue to transform my own
more profoundly than they may ever realize—and to Adelina,
whose patience, support, and understanding are boundless.
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contents
Series Editor’s Foreword xi
Foreword xiii
C. W. SULLIVAN III
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction: Moistening the Desert Landscapes xix
PART I: A “CAll-And-ResPonse” ConveRsATIon
Chapter 1 (Un)Happily Ever After: Fairy Tale Morals,
Moralities, and Heterosexism in Children’s Texts 3
Response: Stacy Augustine
Chapter 2 “Life for Me Ain’t Been No Crystal Stair”: Readin’,
Writin’, and Parental (Il)Literacy in African
American Children’s Books 33
Response: Olga Idriss Davis
Chapter 3 “Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones”:
Airbrushing the Ugliest of Ugly in African
American Children’s Books 55
Response: Joseph L. Graves, Jr.
Chapter 4 Nappy Edges and Goldy Locks: African American
Daughters and the Politics of Hair 79
Response: Vincenza Mangiolino
vii
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viii • Contents
Chapter 5 Roots That Go Beyond Big Hair and a Bad Hair Day:
Nappy Hair Pieces 99
Response: C. A. Hammons
Chapter 6 Don’t Condemn White Teacher over Nappy Hair
(An Editorial) 113
Response: Kim Curry-Evans
Chapter 7 Angels of Color: Divinely Inspired or Socially
Constructed? 119
Response: ben clark
Chapter 8 “Do You See What I See? Do You Hear What I
Hear?”: Becoming Better Adults through Toni
Morrison’s The Big Box and The Book of Mean People 135
Response: Nathan Stamey Winesett
PART II: dIAloguIng RevIews
Chapter 9 Reviews of Anne Schraff’s Lost and Found 161
Chapter 10 Reviews of Anne Schraff’s A Matter of Trust 165
Chapter 11 Reviews of Anne Schraff’s Until We Meet Again 169
Chapter 12 Review of Eliza A. Comodromos’s Teacher’s Guide to
the Bluford Series 173
Chapter 13 Review of Walter Dean Myers’s The Beast 177
Chapter 14 Reviews of Angela Johnson’s The First Part Last 179
Chapter 15 Reviews of Kelly McWilliams’s Doormat 183
Chapter 16 Response to “Dialoguing Reviews”: Parents, It’s
10:00—Do You Know What Your Children Are
Reading? 187
JAMES BLASINGAME, JR.
PART III: exTendIng dIsCouRses
Chapter 17 Unlocking the Beauty of Hair: A Review of Joyce
Carol Thomas’s Crowning Glory 197
Chapter 18 Nappy Happy: A Review of bell hooks’s Happy to Be
Nappy 203
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Contents • ix
Chapter 19 “Shake It to the One that You Love the Best”:
A Review of Juba This & Juba That 211
Chapter 20 Response to “Extending Discourses” 217
ELIzABETH MCNEIL
Afterword 221
KHAFILAH MCCURDY
Notes 225
About the Contributors 253
Works Cited 255
Children’s Literature and Culture 269
Index 271
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