The Newbery books of 1973 - Julie of the Wolves- D&A October 2021

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

Join us to discuss this award winner from 1973:

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

Also any or all of these lauded books:

Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel
The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

I will not read Julie of the Wolves. I don't want it to get circulated. However, I am not, of course, advocating that it be 'banned,' and if any of you actually want to decide for yourselves, feel free. Anyway, here's my objection:

Debbie Reese's newsletter entry on it:

(Especially note this bit: "They cannot be justified as "a product of their time" because that justification assumes that everybody thought alike at that point in time--and that's just not true!")
**********************
American Indians in Children's Literature
Not Recommended: JULIE OF THE WOLVES by Jean Craighead George

Posted: 13 Apr 2020 05:58 AM PDT
Post by Debbie Reese

With COVID19, parents are spending more time with children who are home. I see parents talking about classics they read when they were young and reminiscing about those books. That is a problem! Many are outdated and racist. They cannot be justified as "a product of their time" because that justification assumes that everybody thought alike at that point in time--and that's just not true!

People who are misrepresented in classic or award winning books
do not think like the white writers who misrepresented them!

A good example is Julie of the Wolves. Way back in 2006 when I first launched this blog, I did a short post about Julie of the Wolves that linked to a review done by Martha Stackhouse. She is Inupiaq. I'm pasting that post here. It includes a link to Martha's review. Below is that post from 2006.

----------

First published in 1972 by Harper & Row, Julie of the Wolves won the Newbery Medal in 1973. It is included on a wide range of recommended book lists. It is available in audio and video; there is a sequel to it. Numerous teacher's guide and activity books are available for teachers to use when teaching the book. This is the summary of the Julie of the Wolves (from the Library of Congress):
"While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen year old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolf pack."
A few days ago on child_lit (an Internet listserv for discussion of children's books), a subscriber posted a link to a review of the book on the Alaska Native Knowledge Network webpage. The reviewer, Martha Stackhouse, is Inupiaq. She points out misrepresentations and misconceptions of Inupiaq culture, and says
"I humbly would not recommend the book to be put on school shelves."
Spend some time on the Alaska Native Knowledge Network pages. Read Martha Stackhouse's review of Julie of the Wolves. There is much to learn on their site about this and many other popular children's books set in Alaska (i.e. Gerald McDermott's Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest).

To find the book reviews, go to Honoring Alaska's Indigenous Literature, and click on "Examining Alaska Children's Literature" and "Critiquing Indigenous Literature for Alaska's Children."

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

Otoh, Frog and Toad books are wonderful and I'm glad of a chance to reread this one. I expect to find this readily, either locally or on openlibrary. Witches of Worm is by an author we've already seen garner attention from Newbery committees. That leaves The Upstairs Room, which I had never heard of.

[QNPoohBear]

My sister was Julie of the Wolves for book character day at school but I'm certain she never read the book. I'm not sure I ever did either.

I LOVED Frog & Toad so much when I was about 3 or 4. They were my imaginary friends, maybe my first book friends. A local store owner loves them too and named their store Frog & Toad. They have a whole Frog & Toad children's corner in the store.

I'm sure I read The Upstairs Room and the sequel. I don't think I've read The Witches of Worm. None of the book covers look familiar.

[Beverly, former Miscellaneous Club host]

Frog and Toad Together
I re-read this a couple of weeks ago, and wrote this review:
These five humorous and warm stories about a wonderful friendship between two amphibians shows that a beginning reader does not have to have a boring, rote, repetitive text. The stories are interesting and the text is right on target for a second grade reader. The watercolor illustrations help to move the stories along and break up the text on the page. If the Geisel Award had been around in the 70s, this Newbery Honor book would have been a shoo-in for a Geisel Award.

[QNPoohBear]

Beverly wrote: " The stories are interesting and the text is right on target for a second grade reader."

They're much more simple than that. My nephew is in second grade and is well beyond Frog & Toad level. Like Little Bear, they were read-alouds in my family and by the time I was in second grade, I had moved on to Laura Ingalls.

[Phil]

Frog & Toad is awesome. I'm a huge fan. I never read it as queer-coded, but I was also not surprised to learn that the author was gay.

I have always loathed Julie of the Wolves, and not because I know enough about the culture it depicts to take offense. Basically, I thought it was gross and depressing. The flashback about her "fiance" was distasteful, unnecessary, and unfair to people with mental disabilities.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

LOVE Frog & Toad. Wonderful book, wonderful series. Childhood favorites and has been a pleasure sharing them with my own children, too.

I remember reading Julie of the Wolves when I was a young teen. I don't remember much about it. I think it was somewhat disturbing and depressing -- I certainly never had any inclination to reread it in my youth and certainly never as an adult when I now understand more about why it is offensive to Native Americans.

I also read The Upstairs Room as a young teen. It made a big impression on me! I remember thinking it was well-written and absorbing, but I really couldn't say how well that opinion would hold up now that I've read a wider range of historical fiction. I've no desire to reread it, but I hope you all enjoy it and that it does stand the test of time.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Kathryn wrote: "LOVE Frog & Toad. Wonderful book, wonderful series. Childhood favorites and has been a pleasure sharing them with my own children, too.

I remember reading Julie of the Wolves when I was a young te..."

I do recall that books like The Upstairs Room and other similar novels about Jews being protected from the Nazis are sometimes seen by Holocaust survivors as wishful thinking and also as authors trying to show that there was much more resistance to the Nazis than there actually in reality was. And while I do think that this negativity might be a bit exaggerated, it is true that especially with regard to children’s literature featuring German or Dutch characters, you often either get accounts ignoring the Holocaust or more recent ones where characters heroically although often with futility try to protect Jewish neighbours.

[Beverly, former Miscellaneous Club host]

Manybooks wrote: "I do recall that books like The Upstairs Room and other similar novels about Jews being protected from the Nazis are sometimes seen by Holocaust survivors as wishful thinking"

I wonder if these types of stories were inspired by Anne Frank's diary, and other memoirs of Holocaust survivors.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Beverly wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "I do recall that books like The Upstairs Room and other similar novels about Jews being protected from the Nazis are sometimes seen by Holocaust survivors as wishful thinking"

I ..."

Probably, and also by the fact that right after WWII most children’s literature (and not just in Germany) tried to ignore WWII. But I can certainly understand that it must be traumatic for the descendants of Holocaust victims to be confronted by numerous novels showing Germans etc. protecting or trying to protect their Jewish neighbours etc. when the truth was generally not this.

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

Some of these have come in for me and I hope to get to them soon.

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

Re' Frog and Toad Together:

I like that the stories are both silly and profound, with the balance moving from more silliness to more subtle Literary value by the end of the book.

I just reminded my son, currently in training to be a math professor, of them. He says "Of course I remember them. My favorites. Absolute classics."
---
About the suggestion that the friends are lovers, well, they do live in separate homes. I'm concerned that not enough males are raised to know how to be close friends with each other, and that if this book is given the 'queer' label it might be discouraging to those boys who do want a deep friendship. Otoh, if 'queer' boys see themselves in this pair, that's fine, too.

Now, Bert & Ernie, they shared a home, right?

[QNPoohBear]

Yes Bert & Ernie share an apartment and a bedroom but they're not a couple, according to Sesame Street. Frog & Toad are friends and that friendship is sweet and can be interpreted in different ways if people choose. Back in the day when I was very little, they were my imaginary friends. I didn't imagine them as a couple or not a couple, just MY friends. That was my interpretation. I probably thought they lived together, with me, in my house along with Curious George, Corduroy and Strawberry Shortcake.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

I think we need to not go overboard with seeing male/male and female/female friendships (even if the characters share a house) as automatically being homosexual. The idea of Frog and Toad being lovers is ludicrous and as annoying as the “scholars” who years ago wanted to paint Anne Shirley’s friendship with Diana Barry as Lesbian.

[Phil]

Frog & Toad are imaginary animals. Bert & Ernie are puppets. One of the puppeteers said that, in his mind, they were a gay couple.

One of the articles I read about Lobel and Frog & Toad said that they were not not gay, which seems like a fair statement. They are open to interpretation, and it's not as if they are real people who have defined preferences.

[Phil]

On a related note, is Grimace a large taste bud?

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

Good points, all.

So anyway, I just finished The Upstairs Room. It took me longer than I wanted to give it. Good for children, esp. as a counterpoint to Anne Frank because the narrator is younger, and survives (to write this narrative memoir). I'd probably like it more if I were a child, or a fan of historical fiction, or whatever, so sorry I didn't more.

My library copy looks like it's been read at least a couple of dozen times, maybe twice that. Maybe by homeschooling families, maybe by young fans of HF.

[QNPoohBear]

Cheryl wrote: "Good points, all.

So anyway, I just finished The Upstairs Room. It took me longer than I wanted to give it. Good for children, esp. as a counterpoint to Anne Frank because the narra..."

I did enjoy it when I was a child and the sequel The Journey Back.

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

From my review for The Witches of Worm:

Well I'd be messed up if left alone all the time, too.
But according to many of the other reviewers, child readers see the paranormal and don't see the projection, the fact that it's never the poor cat, but always the neglected, confused, and imaginative little girl. They remember liking it anyway... but I don't think that I would have. I didn't particularly like it now, at first read as an adult, either. Otoh, I admire the heck out of it, so rounding up to four stars.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Cheryl wrote: "Good points, all.

So anyway, I just finished The Upstairs Room. It took me longer than I wanted to give it. Good for children, esp. as a counterpoint to Anne Frank because the narra..."

Glad to know it's held up well enough over the years and that you enjoyed it at least somewhat.

Great discussion re: Frog & Toad and Bert & Ernie, etc. Sorry for not chiming in earlier, but agree with the points already shared.