For Those Who Are Interested...

In my adolescent lit. class, Dr. Coats mentioned a web site called Oyate that give an American Indian perspective on portrayals of American Indians in children's and young adult books. The site has a lot of good stuff on it, especially the Watch list. The Watch list is a list of books that have inaccurate or unfair portrayals of American Indians in them. Books on the list range from Indian in the Cupboard to The Sign of the Beaver. Accompanying each book on the list is an explanation of the problems with the portrayal of American Indians. As a teacher, I think its really helpful to have a list of books that hinder my students' understanding of American Indians today. I'm glad that this site is out there.