The children's book I chose was Walt Disney's "Little Hiawatha" a Golden Book. The book was illustrated by Disney Studios and was published by the Golden Press and originally published in 1968. This book is about a little Indian boy named Hiawatha who wants to originally become a hunter but when faced with killing a rabbit he changes his mind. The rest of the story Hiawatha encounters a big mother bear and gets chased by her, but then his new forest friends save him. In this book, there are several stereotypes illustrated throughout. For example, according to the article "Evaluating Children's Literature" one of the items to check for is "the illustrations are authentic and non-stereotyped;" unfortunately this story fails this point (Bliss, 2013). For example, Hiawatha is a young Indian boy and is depicted by a "combination of culturally stereotypical characteristics" (Bliss, 2013). Hiawatha is illustrated as having red skin, is wearing a headband with feathers, has markings on his face, wearing moccasins and pants that depict as hand-made clothing, and is carrying a bow and arrow; all of which combine multiple Indian stereotypes.
Another checkpoint in evaluating a children's book is that the "lifestyles of characters are culturally accurate," and the story fails to express Native American culture (Bliss, 2013). In the beginning of the story Hiawatha is narrated as "wanted to most of all to be brave hunter" ( Disney, 1968, p. 3). By the story stating this, it stereotypes all Indians to be depicted as hunters and savage like people; however, the story depicts cruel irony in stereotyping Indians. For example, throughout the story the animals of the forest are the characters as shown as having the power; for example, when Hiawatha decided not to be a hunter anymore after almost killing the rabbit the story states "Hiawatha was surrounded by joyful friendly animals, right then he decided not to become a hunter after all" (Disney, 1968, p. 11). What becomes ironic about this story is that the power still stays within the animals of the forest; however, Hiawatha is now the prey and the one to be hunted by the mother bear he comes across; this shows how Indians can be seen as bad and dangerous people to children who may read this story.
Another point this story fails is that when writing this story "effects to a child's self image are taken into consideration" (Bliss, 2013). The way Hiawatha is illustrated depicts him of a typical Indian boy with mixed stereotypical characteristics, and if a young child with Native American race were to not look like Hiawatha or have any of his traits, that child may attach a negative connotation with their heritage; they may feel that they are not as important or special if they do not look Hiawatha as he is illustrated in the story. The way this story is illustrated and narrated can send negative messages to children who may read it, it depicts Native Americans as looking only one way and acting in a dangerous hunter way. For example, in the beginning of the story Hiawatha was afraid of a bug he had came across and the rabbit makes fun of him; as a response the story states "No little rabbit was going to make fun of him! Grabbing his bow and arrow, he chased the rabbit and finally cornered him" (Disney, 1968, p. 10). This can send a message to children that when an argument is taking the place the solution is violence; which is a completely incorrect way to solve an issue.
Overall, I think this story sends the complete wrong message to children about the class and race of Native Americans. The illustrations express Indians as dangerous people, and this can make a Native American child feel bad about him/her self. I would not recommend this book to any young child because it fails at expressing how Native Americans truly are and is filled with societal stereotypes and does not send a positive message to young children.
References:
AbeBooks.com [Website] http://www.abebooks.com/Walt-Disneys-Story-Little-Hiawatha-Australian/192791624/bd
Evaluating Children's Literature. (2013) Lecture. Kelly Bliss
The Little Hiawatha [Website] http://www.mousevinyl.com/content/walt-disneys-story-little-hiawatha-disneyland-records
