Image from Pixabay

This week the Association for Library Service to Children made a big decision.  They are changing the name of the award given to a children’s book author for a lasting, life-long contribution to children’s literature.  It will now be called the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, changing from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.  This decision was made after a year of careful study by a committee, seeking input from the ALSC community.  The committee, and the board, decided that the new name was a better fit because the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, beloved by many and wonderful in many ways, also include harmful racist stereotypes and statements–particularly about American Indians, but also about African Americans.

Some folks are equating this decision with wanting to erase all the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder, banning or burning her books.  I don’t see it like that at all.  It is a decision to change the name of the award to one that does not associate it with an author whose works are problematic and painful.  As my friend and colleague Reb said, it is making the tent bigger, making it a tent that perhaps more people might want to come into now that its name is free of difficult baggage.  It is not erasing Wilder’s work, banning her books, or even stripping her of any awards.  It is simply changing the name of an award to make it more fitting to its purpose.

I know we have a lot of Laura Ingalls Wilder fans in our area, and she lived (and set my favorite of her books) in our neck of the woods (literally).  It can be painful to look at things that we have found meaningful and enjoyable and see that there are some serious problems with them.  That doesn’t mean that we get to avoid doing that.  It is true that Laura Ingalls Wilder was writing from the perspective of her time of most white settlers. It is true that her books have a lot of wonderful characters, exciting plot points, and excellent writing.  It is also true that her depictions of American Indians are inaccurate and damaging. 

Newbery-Award-winning author Grace Lin had a wonderful suggestion for how to handle beloved books that have racist elements.  You should read/watch her talk about it, but in a nutshell, she recommends treating classic children’s books that have racist elements (or other problematic content) like you would a relative who is racist.  Keep an eye out for things that are racist, and talk about it with your children afterwards.  This is great advice for a family.  How can libraries put this advice into play?