[AllisonR]

I loved Little House series as a child. So I bought the series for 4 yo DS and am reading him a chapter a night at bedtime. Books 1 and 2 were fine. There were occasional references to "Laura being in need of a spanking" or something similar. I skipped over or replaced the words. But then I got to book 3 and it stopped me in my tracks. The blatant racism towards Native Americans was just too much. Again I skipped these sections, but what is the best option?

Choices?

1. I can read the text as it is, and then stop and discuss. Like "this is really hurtful and offensive to call a group of people savages. It was Ma and Pa that were ignorant. Just because someone is different or unknown to you does not mean they or their culture is less valuable than yours...." This is not going to work at night though, when DS is falling asleep. This would work better in the daytime, when DS is awake and could discuss. But even then, at 4 yo, not sure how much he would even be into discussing?

2. Stop reading the books. Trash them. Had I remembered they were so offensive, I would never have condoned it by purchasing the books. Hindsight is 20/20. (Off topic, I did once try to literally burn the book "What to Expect when you are expecting" out of protest, but the darn thing would not burn. You know, Fahrenheit 911 - guess it is true.)

3. Continue to read the books, but skip over offensive parts. This is what I am currently doing, but I don't feel right about it.

My son loves to hear the stories. The books were written in the past, and cover times and lifestyles not accepted today but did exist them. If I stopped reading all books that have offensive material, then a huge amount of great literature would be lost. This is also a form of ignorance, kwim?

I sure could use some tips and ideas.

 

[Marylizah]

I don't know how old your child is (I'm assuming 3 or under).

For the toddler crowd, I would probably put the books aside and pull them out again when your child is older and able to really talk about the racism in the books.

IMO, and I hold this opinion very firmly, the worst thing you can do is censor your child's books. And by that I mean that when your child is old enough to choose for himself, trying to control what s/he reads is really wrong. Even books with "difficult" themes or racism or whatever can be used as the starting point for really important conversations.

I think the Little House books, racism and all, are really useful for understanding so much about American history. And when your child is older, s/he'll better understand the issues with racism. And I wouldn't say "Ma and Pa were ignorant", I would say something like "Ma and Pa had beliefs that most people had back then. They were wrong beliefs, as we know today, but back then, people felt that often." And take the conversation from there.

HTH

 

[pixiekisses]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AllisonR (Off topic, I did once try to literally burn the book "What to Expect when you are expecting" out of protest, but the darn thing would not burn. You know, Fahrenheit 911 - guess it is true.)

I'm sorry, totally of topic, but what do you mean here?

 

[russsk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixiekisses I'm sorry, totally of topic, but what do you mean here?

I think she meant Fahrenheit 451.

 

[fek&fuzz]

I would find it very annoying if someone stopped reading a book to me to explain that the language was offensive. I read the Little House books when I was little and I knew that calling Indians "savages" wasn't something that we do now, but was something that was done then. I didn't need my mother to stop reading to me and explain it.

 

[ecoteat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by russsk I think she meant Fahrenheit 451.

That's funny--I *saw* 911 but *thought* 451. OP, I figured it out!

I tend to skip over parts that I don't like in books. I just don't want to deal with dd picking up "you are stupid!" from a book I otherwise love (The Sun Egg). I have no intention of reading her Curious George anytime soon (especially the first one), for example, because they always make me cringe. But she is only 2. When she can think a little more critically, I think I'd deal with unsavory text in a book that had plenty of redeeming qualities and discuss it with dd.

 

[pixiekisses]

Quote:

Originally Posted by russsk I think she meant Fahrenheit 451.

Oh, the temperature of burning books/paper etc. (And I've read somewhere that it's not even true that it burns on 451 F, but rather 450 C, and that's like 842 F.)

Anyway, OP, I'd probably set them aside for later, when your LO is big enough to have a discussion about it. That's what we do. We don't skip parts or censor books, we just read them when they are age appropriate and talk about it after. (Not in the middle of the book, that's annoying.)

 

[lanamommyphd07]

I say read it and stop only if your kiddo is like, "mom, what's a savage?" or the like. I think kids "get it" more that we give them credit for--and part of the wonderful nature of historical fiction is that when the kids learn about oppression, etc., they can say "oh yeah, there was some of that in little house" or whatever. But the truth is, Native American uprisings against the settlers were a very real threat for those people. They may not have seen it the way we do (that the white folk were basically invading) but they felt a very real threat, anyway.

 

[harmonyhobbit]

We run across things we disagree with quite often, becasue we're in a religious minority. I generally stop at a convenient point and discuss it with my child. If it's just something in passing, I let it go (he will often stop me and point it out). I LOVE the Little House Books. My mom still has the full set that I read as a child. My dad will be sending them to me when he clears out my moms things (she's dying). They are historically accurate and illustrate some very important changes in our country's history. They largely influenced my decision to leave Los Angeles and move out here to the country and homestead.
I don't think you should gloss over somthing that is highly teachable. My mom is half Comanche. I remember reading the story and feeling a bit of a connection to my ancestral ppl, esp the part where laura talks about the baby's black eyes. I have those same eyes, but had never thought of them as desirable until then. I always thought of them as plain and ordinary. In a largely Latino area, it seemed everyone had eyes like mine. My mom told me about how her eyes had set her apart from the other children when she was growing up in rural Washington State. Now, living in a place where they are not common, and seeing my son with them, I appeciate their beauty.
IMO this is an important, rich cultural event. I would hate for it to be forgotten simply becasue it was unpleasant.

 

[SageR]

My parents never censored my reading material but we did discuss it - both what I read for pleasure and what I had to read for school. So by the time I was old enough to read chapter books I was also aware enough to understand when writing showed archaic thought.

The Little House series were probably my favorite books as a child. I literally read my copies to pieces. Those books fueled my love of history and my desire to be a homemaker and maybe even a homesteader. But I can remember reading certain parts and understanding that they were not reflective of attitudes or practices that were appropriate in our circle of family and friends.

My advice is to put the books away until your dc are old enough to understand the concept of history and cultural change and the reintroduce, with the plan that if you don't read the books with them you will at least encourage them to talk about what they've read.

In the meantime there are many picture books that show rural life and historical concepts beautifully. Island Boy by Barbara Cooney, Oxcart Man by Donald Hall, When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant, The Quilt Story by Tony Johnston, Anno's Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno, The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton ...I'm sure there are more but these are some that we have and love.

 

[mouso]

I would also wait. And that's coming from someone who CANNOT WAIT to read these with DD. I have read them all countless times. When I was young I knew that these things were wrong- without even reading them with an adult.

Pa does disagree with Ma at some point and I was always glad that he did. I was also never spanked and the books didn't scar me in terms of that either.
There is also a book where they put on a minstrel show. I am already thinking about how to address that when we read it.

I think censoring them takes away from the stories and a valuable discussion. I would rather wait until I don't feel I have to censor.
But, of course, you should do what you think your DC is ready to!

Sort of OT: I would recommend getting the Little House cookbook and making the recipes as you read them in the books. I used to make sugar on snow and stuff with kids that I worked with and it was always a HUGE hit.

 

[beanma]

There are picture book versions of the Little House books, too, that don't have the offensive stuff.

 

[jeliphish]

It's important, I think to discuss history with your child. ("Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it"). 4 years old is a bit young so you may want to wait a couple more years. I LOVED THE BOOKS and still quite often think of them.

 

[Liquesce]

I don't really consider Little House 4-year-old material ... my basic principle is that if it contains things that I'm going to have difficulty discussing in a manner that my child can grasp and really think about themselves and formulate opinions on themselves, if it contains material that I feel I should skip over, it's a book that should be put away for an older age.

 

[SparklingGemini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by beanma There are picture book versions of the Little House books, too, that don't have the offensive stuff.

Yes! These are FANTASTIC!

As for reading the "grown-up versions, I don't know that I would necessarily wait but I would watch for any questioning of the themes covered and discuss them as maturity allows.

A four year old may not understand there is anything wrong with how things are presenting in the books. And I don't think I would try to make a child understand unless they are questioning. Its kind of like making trouble where this is none. You know?

I would just read them again later when the child is more mature and discuss it then.

 

[ashleyhaugh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SageR The Little House series were probably my favorite books as a child. I literally read my copies to pieces.

wow i thought i was the only one, lol. i went through 3 or 4 sets as a kid/teenager/ i bought them in hardback as an adult.

with that said, im not sure how to handle it. my ds is only 18 months. i read my first one (by the shores of silver lake

) in second grade. i was out of school the day we got to pick a free book and my teacher picked it for me knowing id love it. the rest is history, lol. im visiting my mom right now, and she said i never asked any questions about it. i remember knowing enough to know that some of the things they said weren't ok to say now.

 

[isfa]

can someone explain why curious george is offensive? i haven't read them since i was little and i just don't remember.

 

[Chamsia]

Oh we LOVE Little House. Right now my almost-3 daughter just enjoys the picture books (My First Little House series.) But we look forward to the real ones!

For now I skip things I don't want my child saying ("I hate you", "stupid", "dumb"--it's amazing how much of this there is in picture books!) But we won't censor once she can read.

The way the man with the yellow hat traps and abducts George is pretty distressing.

Also bad are the Babar books. The funny part is in the original book when the king of the elephants eats a bad mushroom, turns green, and dies. My tot went around for 2 weeks saying "bad 'shroom, bad 'shroom". Babar also marries his child cousin. In another book he winds up on an island with dark, dark savages with bones through their noses.

I've also heard that the Raggedy Anne and Andy books are highly offensive, from a mom who remembered them fondly from her girlhood.

I'm cool with sitting Indian Style becoming "pretzel legs" or "criss cross applesauce". Now we need a non-offensive term to replace the term "Indian Giver".

 

[phathui5]

I would read them in their entirety, when she's older, and then talk about how back then that was how white settlers thought of the natives because they were afraid of what they didn't know.

 

[MusicianDad]

Put them away for know. When DC is older, she can read them and after you can discuss how things have changed since the book was written and how people have come to understand that these views are inaccurate.

Like Fek, I hated when someone would stop in the middle of reading and say "That's now right so we do it differently/don't speak like that anymore." I hated it even more when someone would try and change what was written into some thing politically correct. I mean, yeah calling the Natives savages is a bad thing, but at the time that's about as the understanding went. There really wasn't another way of thinking for most people.