Thanks for the recommendation! If that's the time period she likes right now, might I suggest The Birchbark House? That's the one the nieces and I are reading through together at the moment.
Absolutely! Suggest away! When I find a new author for myself or the girls, 9 times out of 10 it came from fellow readers on my friendslists here or elsewhere. It's one of the reasons I hang around :-)
It's a really good book (and a good Native alternative to the Little House books which can be... problematic. But I'm really serious about casual racism), but it does have two smallpox epidemics, so you should be aware.
Casual racism in an accurate historical context doesn't bother me; in fact, I think it's important to represent attitudes accurately. I prefer it immensely to giving characters in a historical setting modern attitudes and insights, which feels dishonest to me. Mind, this is not because I approve in any way of casual racism, but rather because I think historical honesty and accuracy is vital to our understanding of ourselves and our history. From that standpoint, I appreciate the way that the Little House books are "unexpurgated." But I also like to see multiple perspectives.
A good example, I think, would be the most recent film rendering of True Grit. The racism in it isn't portrayed as something that's good, but rather just as the way things/people were and related at the time. It's accurate (as far as I know, anyway) without being made to appear a desirable state of affairs
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A good example, I think, would be the most recent film rendering of True Grit. The racism in it isn't portrayed as something that's good, but rather just as the way things/people were and related at the time. It's accurate (as far as I know, anyway) without being made to appear a desirable state of affairs ( ... )
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