View the issue here. - The Gordon School
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Speaking about stereotypes on amazon.com<strong>The</strong> Courage of Sarah Noble is a NewberyMedal winning novel that third gradersread during <strong>the</strong>ir study of <strong>the</strong> Europeancolonization of North America.<strong>The</strong>y <strong>the</strong>n critique <strong>the</strong> book, whichunwittingly offers several case studies in<strong>the</strong> stereotypical representations of NativeAmericans.Of <strong>the</strong> 316 customer reviews of this bookon amazon.com only one mentioned <strong>the</strong>stereotypes. Now <strong>the</strong>re are several, thanksto <strong>Gordon</strong>’s third graders.A Kid’s Review from amazon.comThis review is from: <strong>The</strong> Courage of Sarah Noble (Paperback)This book is about Sarah and her fa<strong>the</strong>r who travel to New Milford, CTin 1707. Sarah hears of <strong>the</strong> local Native Americans living nearby. But <strong>the</strong>only Native Americans she meets are Tall John, his wife—”a squaw”—and his kids. I find this weird because it seems that <strong>the</strong>y are <strong>the</strong> onlynative families <strong>the</strong>re, when I know that native families lived in villageswith o<strong>the</strong>rs. It is bad to call your wife a squaw because it is like <strong>the</strong>ydon’t have a name. But nowadays people know that it is offensive tocall people that.I think this book is very interesting, even though <strong>the</strong>re was a lotof stereotypical thinking about <strong>the</strong> Native Americans. For example,“<strong>The</strong> Indians came creeping in like brown field mice, <strong>the</strong>ir brown bodiesreflecting <strong>the</strong> light.” <strong>The</strong> book makes native people sound like shinymice. But back <strong>the</strong>n (1954) many people were not sensitive to <strong>the</strong>Native American’s feelings.If you read this book, you should not believe <strong>the</strong> way that <strong>the</strong> bookdescribes Native Americans. I think that Alice Dagliesh did teach me thatwhen you get to know someone, your perspective changes about <strong>the</strong>m.A third grader at <strong>the</strong> <strong>Gordon</strong> <strong>School</strong>9