Sunday, February 3, 2008

Ten Little ???

I was looking for some info on early native American cultures and lives; what the first European settlers found when they arrived. What I discovered is that there is a lot of animosity from native Americans toward white people teaching this subject. It led to something hilarious! Here's what I found:
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LITTLE WHITEPEOPLE, Beverly Slapin illustrated by Annie Esposito, Oyate, 2702 Mathews Street, Berkeley, CA 94702, 510-848-6700, FAX 510-848-4815; 1995, 16 pages, black and white illustrations, $5.

This is a parody of a children's counting book (which is derived from a children's rhyme-song). "Ten little whitepeople, standing in a line. One lost his ATM card, then there were nine....6 little whitepeople struggling to arrive, the corporation downsized, then there were five." I really want to see some of the productions of this team for slightly older children, such as Growing Up Caucasian and I Live in a Condo, and that classic Ishibashi Award winner, What's Up, Little White Girl?. Teachers and parents of pre-schoolers will look forward eagerly to this talented multicultural team's current project, The Whitepeople Pop-up Book.

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This was so funny!!!! I suppose these books wouldn't really work well in America, there are too many different races but how about in Africa or the Middle East? It's strange to see my own race presented as a foreign one, how's that for ethnocentricity?