The Black Experience in Children's Fiction
Controversies Surrounding Award Winning Books
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12010369 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joel Taxel (,, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1986 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 245-281 |
| Publication date | 1986-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Curriculum Inquiry (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0362-6784 • E-ISSN: 1467-873X |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03626784.1986.11076005 |
| OpenAlex | W2066489301 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 24 |
Despite receiving prestigious literary awards, two historical novels for young people—Sebestyen's Words By Heart and Fox's The Slave Dancer—have evoked the bitter criticism of such politically oriented groups as the Council on Interracial Books for Children. It is claimed that these books present a distorted and inaccurate view of black culture and history. The controversies that have surrounded these books are examined and the books themselves are discussed in relation to a third novel—Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, a book lauded for both its literary qualities and its perspective on black history.It is argued that the traditional evaluation and criticism of the aesthetic values of children's literature must be joined by criticism which focuses on the sociohis- torical and cultural dimensions of that literature. I suggest that any liberties or inaccuracies in historical fact taken by authors must be justified by the contribution to the aesthetic qualities of the work. These liberties or inaccuracies must also be assessed in terms of their potentially harmful impact on children. The importance of attending to the sociohistorical and cultural dimensions of literature is also made by referring to recent research on the sociology of school knowledge
Aesthetics · Art · Criticism · Literary criticism · Literature · Political science · Relation (database · Sociology · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Gender Studies · Gender Studies in Language · History · Law · Philosophy · Themes in Literature Analysis
Slave and citizen
The Act of Reading
Education and Power
Ideology and United States History Textbooks
Learning to Labor
Reader, the Text, the Poem
Theory and Resistance in Education
The American Revolution in Children's Fiction
Social Class and School Knowledge
Slavery
Socialisation through Children's Literature
Freedom
The Reinterpretation of American History and Culture
What Is Cultural Studies Anyway
Prime Time Ideology
Socialization through Children's Literature
| Citations per year | 0.13 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1988 - 2021 (34) |
| Highly cited | No |