Foothills author looks critically at children’s lit

From the moment his eldest daughter came into the world, Ahwatukee Foothills resident of 10 years Dr. Neal Lester was interested in the fairy tales and stories to which she would be exposed.

Goldilocks, Rapunzel and Snow White have been standard children’s tales for years, idealizing blond curls and pale skin. While 71 percent (as of the 2000 census) of Phoenicians may take this for granted, many children exposed to these stories - including Lester’s daughter - don’t have golden curls or pale skin.

Lester is the chair of the English department at Arizona State University, specializing in African-American literary and cultural studies. His recently published third book, Once Upon a Time in a Different World, looks critically at the social norms, stereotypes and prevailing images in children’s literature and folklore.

“Because there are individuals whose experiences are deliberately absent from childhood texts, no socially and morally responsible adult has the luxury of ignoring the need to continue creating revisionist, age-appropriate texts that are as inclusive as possible,” Lester writes in Once Upon a Time (page 23).

It’s the theme Lester has been studying and advocating for almost two decades, the last one spent here with his wife and two children.

“When I came here 10 years ago from the University of Alabama I had dabbled in children’s texts,” Lester said during an interview in his ASU office last week. “This department had a very strong, young adult/adolescent literature department, and I was encouraged to go into African-American literature and children’s issues.”

A new kind of book

Those in the racial majority may infrequently pause to think about the effect that Goldilocks or Rapunzel could have on children that can’t relate to such stories.

“For people who have always been represented it doesn’t seem like a big issue,” he said, “but you’re always looking for yourself (to be represented) in things.”

Once Upon a Time in a Different World challenges many characteristics of the heroes and heroines in children’s texts. The first chapter delves into sexuality, arguing that children who may not define themselves as heterosexual will learn from such texts and their always-straight protagonists that there is something aberrant about themselves.

“People say, 'Why would the lead article be about sexuality and not African-American issues?’” Lester said. “It’s because race is embedded in a lot of what we don’t see. Talking about sexuality is talking about the issue.”

Lester’s article notes testimonies of homosexuals who say they knew there was something “different” about their attractions from ages starting in elementary school. While Lester doesn’t argue that children need to be exposed to the mechanical differences between straight and gay couples, he does argue that avoiding constant “heterosexism” can help children who will become homosexuals be comfortable in their own skin, as well as prepare all students for future encounters with homosexuals.

“That was a hard sell, because when you talk about sexuality and children people think you’re talking about sex and children, and you’re not. You’re talking about identity,” Lester explained.

“Sticks and Stones”

Another interesting, and likely controversial topic in Lester’s book is his view on utilizing children’s literature to combat direct racism.

Lester’s office is packed wall-to-wall with images and products revealing racial perceptions through the years. Displayed on shelf after shelf and adorning his walls are gems like Darkie Toothpaste, the packaging of which has a smiling Al Jolson-looking black man displaying white teeth contrasted against dark skin, and pickaninny and mammy dolls.

It’s part of Lester’s fascination with how different generations and cultures approach racism. He said the interest started in Birmingham, Ala., in 1991, when he was touring a house he would eventually buy. He asked the sellers where he could answer nature’s call and was directed to a restroom.

“I realized instantly that I had wandered embarrassingly into the wrong bathroom, the 'children’s bathroom,’ it was later clarified, when I noticed above the toilet of the elegantly decorated room an elaborately framed black and white print of about 13 half-naked preadolescent black boys feverishly climbing a broken wooden fence, implicitly trespassing to take a swim in a lake or pond,” Lester writes (page 56). “The bold caption below the picture read: 'Last one in’s a (n-----).’”

The same print now sits above Lester’s desk at ASU. The anecdote about the house in Birmingham leads off the third chapter of Once Upon a Time in a Different World, titled “Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones.” The chapter examines the lack of the “n-word” in children’s literature and the censoring of the word in different articles.

In “Sticks and Stones,” Lester argues that some children’s literature should address the word, precisely because it is a terrible and psychologically damaging term, and cites the experiences of many well-known black authors recounting the first time the slur was hurled at them.

“There is no reason African-American children’s authors should euphemize or shy away from this nearly universal African-American childhood experience,” Lester writes (page 68). “It is imperative that there be frank and open treatments of the word (n-----) in literature to which children and parents can turn in coping with attacks” (page 57).

A helpful resource

After 18 years of studying children’s literature from a critical perspective, Lester thought it would be helpful to collect his studies in one resource.

“It occurred to me I had been lecturing on things and writing about things and it would be nice to have all these things in one place,” he explained. “The challenge is in writing a book that parents will then buy because it has a good message.”

With Once Upon a Time in a Different World, Lester hopes people will begin to see the significance of the imagery in children’s literature and understand that it is in no way less important than any other text.

“People need to recognize that children’s literature doesn’t take a backseat to 'adult literature,’” he said. “All those children’s texts, and our culture, inform society about the adult world. The children aren’t writing children’s texts; adults are describing the world for children.”

And in-between discussions on self-perception, rebuttals to his articles from those within and outside academia, and inter-generational reviews to children’s books by both him and his daughter, it’s possible that he succeeds.

Lester’s book is available at most bookstores and at www.amazon.com. For information, you can also visit his publisher’s site at www.routledge.com.

Jason Ludwig can be reached at (480) 898-7916 or jludwig@aztrib.com.