(no subject)
Note to help understand this story: At Borders (unlike when I was working at Atlantic books) we don’t decide where books are shelved, that’s decided at a more corporate level. Books come in pre-stickered with information (such as where they go) on them and we can’t change their correct locations in the computer.
Secondly, if we have any questions/complaints about anything outside of the store level we can e-mail that to “question box” the people at the receiving end figure out who the question goes to and ensures we get a response. It’s a nice feature.
I sent this e-mail to QB tonight:
As I was shelving in the kids section I discovered a book that I strongly believe should not be shelved in the kids section.
The book is “The Tar Baby and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus” by Joel Chandler Harris. The BINC is 7105359. For reasons I can’t understand this is in the children’s storey collection section
The stories/poems in the book were written on a plantation in Georgia around the turn of the century. it was written in southern black vernacular and is difficult for me, a literary adult, to understand, much less a child. Worse, in my view, since it was written around the turn of the century in the south, it is embedded with the racism of the culture that produced it. I am a strong believer that no book should ever be banned, but this book is not appropriate for kids. The stories did become part of our culture (Brer Rabbit is one of the main characters in the stories) and it is an interesting glimpse into the past; but not a glimpse appropriate for children. Let me quote the first two lines of “the plough hand’s song” to illustrate my point:
“Nigger mighty happy w’en he layin’ by co’n-dat sun’s a slantin’;
Niger mighty happy w’en he year de dinner ho’n-dat sun’s a slantin’;”
Added to this text, as well, are the original drawings, which are similar in tone to the text.
Is there a reason that this book is in kids? What about in fiction/lit, of African American fictin or studies? Or poetry?
Laura Eliason MS 0569
Secondly, if we have any questions/complaints about anything outside of the store level we can e-mail that to “question box” the people at the receiving end figure out who the question goes to and ensures we get a response. It’s a nice feature.
I sent this e-mail to QB tonight:
As I was shelving in the kids section I discovered a book that I strongly believe should not be shelved in the kids section.
The book is “The Tar Baby and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus” by Joel Chandler Harris. The BINC is 7105359. For reasons I can’t understand this is in the children’s storey collection section
The stories/poems in the book were written on a plantation in Georgia around the turn of the century. it was written in southern black vernacular and is difficult for me, a literary adult, to understand, much less a child. Worse, in my view, since it was written around the turn of the century in the south, it is embedded with the racism of the culture that produced it. I am a strong believer that no book should ever be banned, but this book is not appropriate for kids. The stories did become part of our culture (Brer Rabbit is one of the main characters in the stories) and it is an interesting glimpse into the past; but not a glimpse appropriate for children. Let me quote the first two lines of “the plough hand’s song” to illustrate my point:
“Nigger mighty happy w’en he layin’ by co’n-dat sun’s a slantin’;
Niger mighty happy w’en he year de dinner ho’n-dat sun’s a slantin’;”
Added to this text, as well, are the original drawings, which are similar in tone to the text.
Is there a reason that this book is in kids? What about in fiction/lit, of African American fictin or studies? Or poetry?
Laura Eliason MS 0569