Reflection Post

After exploring Native American Children's Literature, I came across a few themes. First, I noticed that there is a large amount of folklore or folk stories about Native Americans. However, if one wants to find a contemporary representation of Native Americans, he or she must "go digging" so to speak. One resource that I found extremely helpful for this assignment was the Oyate Catalog, which can be found at: http://www.oyate.org/catalog/index.html

This resource provides a list of books that is split up by grade level, media, or topic. It was through this source that I was able to find a few books that I thought would be quality ones to use. However, when looking for these books at the local library, I had a difficult time and had to make some changes to my book list.

Overall, I think that someone looking at my text set would learn that there are multiple ways to represent Native Americans in a modern light. Also, the blog about a professional resource brings up the question of insiders versus outsiders in Native American literature, and how it is a much more complicated line to draw in contrast to other "groups" or topics of literature. It is critical to express to students that Native Americans are not a thing of the past, they are very much in the present and we need to consider this when discussing this cultural group with children.