(NAME-MCE) Yolen's book

[Cindy Lutenbacher]

 From Children's Literature re Encounter:

"This children's picture book tells about the encounter of the Taino 
people with Columbus. The story is told from the point of view of a 
small Taino boy frightened by three dream birds who come to him in 
sleep. When he wakes, he finds three "great canoes" anchored off the 
shores of his island and tries to warn his chief. He is ignored and 
the strangers are welcomed, much to everyone's eventual sorrow. Yolen 
may believe that she envisioned life through the eyes of a Taino boy, 
but the feelings she attributes to him run counter to Taino society. 
To explain why the boy is ignored, she repeats five or six times, "I 
was but a child." This makes the story gain power, but it is based on 
a European, not an Indian model of society. Indian society is built 
on mutual respect. Yolen's word choices are another slap in the face. 
She talks of how the Indians "gave" their souls, or "took" European 
words, as if the victims were to blame. Encounter may have been 
well-intentioned, but I wonder why it wasn't reviewed before 
publication by an organization familiar with the culture, such as 
OYATE. The book is an overly-sentimental, off-kilter story and one 
more betrayal to Native people. Its half-truths make it more 
insidious than books that have obvious misrepresentations."

Cindy Lutenbacher
Morehouse College