The Black Experience in Children's Fiction: Controversies Surrounding Award Winning Books

ABSTRACT

Despite receiving prestigious literary awards, two historical novels for young people—Sebestyen's Words By Heart and Fox's The Slave Dancer—have evoked the bitter criticism of such politically oriented groups as the Council on Interracial Books for Children. It is claimed that these books present a distorted and inaccurate view of black culture and history. The controversies that have surrounded these books are examined and the books themselves are discussed in relation to a third novel—Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, a book lauded for both its literary qualities and its perspective on black history.

It is argued that the traditional evaluation and criticism of the aesthetic values of children's literature must be joined by criticism which focuses on the sociohis- torical and cultural dimensions of that literature. I suggest that any liberties or inaccuracies in historical fact taken by authors must be justified by the contribution to the aesthetic qualities of the work. These liberties or inaccuracies must also be assessed in terms of their potentially harmful impact on children. The importance of attending to the sociohistorical and cultural dimensions of literature is also made by referring to recent research on the sociology of school knowledge.