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The American Library Association abandons the name of Laura Ingalls Wilder from a prestigious children's literature award in order to distance the honor from what she describes as culturally insensitive representations in his books.
The decision was made from a desire to reconcile the price with the values of "inclusion, integrity and respect" of the organization, said representatives of the organization. Association in a statement on Monday. The prize is awarded by the Children's Division.
"Wilder's books are the result of his life experiences and his perspective as a settler in the nineteenth century American," said the president of the association, Jim Neal, and the president of the division of children, Nina Lindsay. "His works reflect ancient cultural attitudes towards Aboriginal peoples and people of color that contradict the modern acceptance, celebration and understanding of diverse communities."
Mrs. Wilder's books, particularly the "Little House" series based on her childhood in a settler family, have remained popular since their first publication in the 1930s and 1940s. A hit TV show based on the series "The Little House" small house in the meadow "helped revive interest and usher in a new generation of fans in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The name change was the result of several months of reflection and was approved over the weekend by the Board of Directors of the Children's Library Service Association, a division of the University of Ottawa. 39, association of the library. The honor, formerly the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, is now named the Literary Heritage Award for Children.
The award, distributed to only 23 people over more than six decades, recognizes authors and illustrators whose books have made a lasting contribution to children's literature.
Wilder herself received first prize in 1954, three years before his death in 1957. It was initially distributed every five years, but its frequency has increased steadily. Since 2016, it has been given every year.
Other winners include Beverly Cleary authors; Theodor S. Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss; and E. B. White. The winner of this year, announced in February, was Jacqueline Woodson, the author of "Brown Girl Dreaming" and other books.
Despite their popularity, Mrs. Wilder's books contain discordant and prejudicial portraits of Native Americans and African Americans.
In the 1935 book "The Little House in the Prairie," several characters married versions of the opinion that "the only good Indian was a dead Indian." In one scene, one character describes Native Americans as " wild animals "undeserving. the land on which they lived.
The "Town in the Prairie", published in 1941, included a description of a minstrel show with "five black-faced men in raggedy-taggedy uniforms" next to a bumpy illustration of the scene.
"There is this subtle but very clear fear generated throughout the books," said Debbie Reese, an academic whose writing and research focuses on the representation of American Indians in the children's literature.
Dr. Reese, who belongs to the Nambe Pueblo tribe in New Mexico, said the books could be used to educate high school or college students, but were inappropriate for young children.
"People try to use them and say," Well, we can explain them, "and I say," O.K., you are trying to explain racism to Whites. Good for those white kids, "she said. "But what about indigenous and black children in the classroom who have to stand the moment they are denigrated for the benefit of white kids?"
The American Library Association has stated that the name change was intended solely to align the price with its values, not to limit access to Wilder's books.
"The update of the name of the prize should not be interpreted as censorship, because we do not require that someone stop reading Wilder's books, talk about them or make them accessible to children", said Mr. Neal and Ms. Lindsay. "We hope that adults think critically of Wilder's books and discussions that may take place around them."
In recommending to the organization not to use Wilder's name for the award, a The Children's Division Task Force noted last month that the books had been "deeply meaningful" for some readers and "deeply painful" for others.
"These two things are true," he says in a written recommendation, adding that such an approach would not require "that someone change his personal relationship or feelings about Wilder's books." ".
The task force also stated that the books, and Wilder herself, were products of her time and reflected the predominantly dominant perspective of a white woman at the time.
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