[CALIBK12] Full text of reviews: TOUCHING SPIRIT BEAR

Mon May 5 09:26:29 PDT 2008

Kelly,

Here's the full text of what I wrote most 
recently, about SPIRIT BEAR. I'll send another 
email, with Slapin's review (referenced at the end of the post below).

Debbie

Sunday, May 04, 2008

<http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2008/05/in-last-few-weeks-richie-partingtons.html>A 
response to Richie's review of GHOST OF SPIRIT BEAR

In the last few weeks, Richie Partington's review 
of Ben Mikaelsen's sequel to Touching Spirit Bear 
has been making the round on Internet listservs.

He opens his review with this excerpt from Black-Eyed Peas "Where is the Love?"

"Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria
Kids wanna act like what they see in the cinema
Yo', whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness in equality
Instead of spreading love we spreading animosity."

He goes on to praise Ghost of Spirit Bear, but 
again and again, I come back to the lyrics he opened the review with...

"Wrong information always shown by the media" --- 
That describes, perfectly, the way that Native 
peoples are portrayed in the movies, cartoons, 
advertisements, commercial products, and, of course, children's books.

"Wrong information" also perfectly describes 
Mikaelsen's first book, so it is puzzling that 
Partington uses that phrase to describe the book. 
Either Richie hasn't read criticism of Native 
imagery in Touching Spirit Bear, or, like so many 
others, he thinks a critique of Mikaelsen's 
misuse and misrepresentation of Tlingit people doesn't matter.

The story relies on and draws heavily from 
Mikaelsen's ideas about American Indians. His 
writing includes stereotypes, old and new. 'Old' 
meaning those older ones that put American 
Indians in the same class as animals; 'new' 
meaning the new-age use of Native spirituality.

Chapter 1 opens with Cole in a boat on his way to 
spend a year on an island in Alaska. This is 
"banishment" and the outcome, we are told later, 
of Circle Justice. With Cole are two men, both of 
them Tlingit. One is Garvey, who is "built like a 
bulldog with lazy eyes" (p. 3). The other is 
Edwin who "stared forward with a steely patience, like a wolf waiting" (p. 4)

Bulldog? Wolf? Is this a style Mikaelsen uses to 
describe all his characters? Here's how he describes Cole:

"He was an innocent-looking, baby-faced 
fifteen-year-old from Minneapolis..." (p.5)

And here's Peter, the kid Cole beat up:

"...the skinny red-haired boy," (p. 7)

Cole's parents:

"His mom acted like a scared Barbie doll, always 
looking good but never fighting back or standing up to anyone" (p. 9)

"His dad was a bullheaded drinker with a temper" (p. 9).

Bullheaded is certainly derived from an animal, 
but the term is common usage for someone who is 
determined to do what he wants, regardless of 
what others might think or want. Given that, I 
think it is different from the ways that Garvey and Edwin are described.

It is through Garvey that Cole learns about 
Circle Justice. Based on my reading about Circle 
Justice, Mikaelsen (through Garvey) does a 
reasonably accurate job of laying it out on pages 
10-12. Where Mikaelsen goes astray is when Cole 
gets banished. Several meetings of the Circle 
have taken place, but Cole isn't making any 
progress. In frustration he tells the people at 
the meeting: "Send me someplace where I'm not in 
your face and can't hurt anyone. But why do I have to go to jail?" (p. 55).

Garvey replies "I'm a native Tlingit," he said. 
"I was raised in Southeast Alaska. It is possible 
I could make arrangements to have Cole banished 
to a remote island on the Inland Passage" (p. 55-56).

This banishment to an island comes straight out 
of the pages of the newspapers in 1994. 
<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E6DA1638F932A0575BC0A962958260&scp=1&sq=exile+turns+out+to+be+hoax&st=nyt>"Indian 
Boys' Exile Turns Out to Be Hoax" ran in the New 
York Times. Reading it is much like reading the 
early part of Touching Spirit Bear. Except for 
the part of the article that reads:

"Now it turns out there is no such thing as 
banishment in Tlingit culture, according to 
tribal leaders and elders in Alaska."

Hmmm... That gives me pause. Let' see... the 
article came out in 1994. HarperCollins published 
Touching Spirit Bear in 2001. Apparently the book 
wasn't vetted. Maybe they don't do that with 
fiction? MAYBE THEY SHOULD!!! Course, I know of 
two books that experts critiqued prior to 
publication, but the writer/publisher chose to 
ignore the suggestions (those two are Ann 
Rinaldi's My Heart is on the Ground, and one of 
those Indian in the Cupboard books by Lynn Reid Banks).

Course, the book reading world loved Touching 
Spirit Bear! It's on all manner of "Best Books" 
lists, it has gotten many awards and glowing 
reviews. The Horn Book Guide is the only major 
review journal that panned it, giving it a 5 (out 
of 6) and calling it "Marginal, seriously flawed, 
but with some redeeming quality." I'm not sure 
what the redeeming quality is. "Marginal" and 
"seriously flawed" are dead on, though.

If you're an editor, get fiction manuscripts 
reviewed by experts, and when the experts point 
out problems, listen to the problems. Do not 
assume that the research the author has done is 
sufficient. It is likely that he/she is ill-informed.

Be mindful of the sources that you use when 
creating/writing/reviewing a story with Native 
characters or content. Today, more than ever, it 
is possible to find material written by Native 
people. You don't have to rely on biased and 
outdated material to do your research!

I know---there's a lot of people out there who 
are huge fans of Touching Spirit Bear. Seems 
there's a strong feeling that this book helps 
kids who are bullies. It may do that, but it also 
helps everyone stoke their incorrect 
stereotypical ideas about who Native people are. 
For that reason, I cannot and do not recommend it.

[Note: Touching Spirit Bear has been written 
about twice before on these pages. See 
<http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2006_09_20_archive.html>Beverly 
Slapin's review and a piece I wrote about 
comments posted to her review 
"<http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2006_09_27_americanindiansinchildrensliterature_archive.html>Reaction 
to Slapin's review."

Visit my Internet blog and resource: American 
Indians in Children's Literature.
To get to it, go to my faculty bio and click on 'Web Page'
http://www.nah.uiuc.edu/faculty-Reese.htm

Debbie A. Reese (Nanbé Ówîngeh)
Assistant Professor, American Indian Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Native American House, Room 2005
1204 West Nevada Street, MC-138
Urbana, Illinois 61801

Email: debreese at uiuc.edu
TEL 217-265-9885
FAX 217-265-9880

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