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Title: CALL IT COURAGE
Review: This book, which was first copyrighted in 1940, is still a good coming-of-age adventure, except for ONE BIG PROBLEM: racist imagery. The people the young South Seas islander hero must outwit and outrun in order to return to his homeland are terrifying "blacks," "savages," "eaters-of-men." This stereotyped characterization might have been acceptable to some in 1940, but society has since come to realize the harm it can cause to Black children's self-image and other children's attitudes toward Black people. To ethically introduce this book to a child requires either blacking out offending words (!) or prefacing and interspersing the reading with lessons in sociology and history, and even then, there's no assurance that damage won't be done. Why take the chance when there are so many other good books out there?Newberry-awarded books engender such trust. Isn't it time for the Newberry folks to reconsider their wisdom in granting this racist book a medal?
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