Books that Reference Racist Classics

Created on June 17, 2016, this page is a place for AICL to log children's and young adult books that reference racist classics. If you come across ones that aren't listed, please let me know.

Five Chinese Brothers
  • Klein, Suzy and Frank Remkiewicz. Horrible Harry and the Locked Closet. Published in 2004 by Penguin. Added to log on June 18, 2016
  • Lamstein, Sarah. Hunger Moon. Published in 2004 by namelos. Added to log on June 18, 2016.
  • Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Published in 1993 by Simon and Schuster. Added to log on June 18, 2016. (Note: I left off the title! Will look for it.)

Gone With the Wind 
  • Agosin, Marjorie. I Lived on Butterfly Hill. Published in 2014 by Atheneum Books. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Blume, Judy. Just as Long as We're Together. Published in 1987 by Orchard Books. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Boone, Martina. Compulsion. Published in 2014 by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster). Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • DiCamillo, Kate. Because of Winn Dixie. Published in 2000 by Candlewick.Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. Published in 1967 by Viking. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Lowry, Lois. Anastasia at Your Service. Published in 1982 by Houghton Mifflin. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. Published in 1989 by Houghton Mifflin. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Peck, Richard. A Year Down Yonder. Published in 2000 by Puffin Penguin. Added to log on June 17, 2016. 
  • Pilkey, Dav. Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets. Published in 1999 by Scholastic. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Price, Roger and Leonard Stern. More Best of Mad Libs. Published in 1958 by Penguin. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Sobol, Donald J. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch. Published in 1965 by Dutton, a division of Penguin. Added to log on June 17, 2016.

Indian in the Cupboard
  • Clements, Andrew. The Janitor's Boy. Published in 2001 by Simon and Schuster. Added to log on June 18, 2016.
  • Kline, Suzy. Horrible Harry and the Missing Diamond. Published in 2013 by Viking Penguin. Added to log on June 18, 2016.
  • McGovern, Cammie. Just My Luck. Published in 2016 by HarperCollins. Added to log on June 18, 2016.

Little Black Sambo
  • Dalgliesh, Alice. The Silver Pencil. Published in 1944 by Scribner Press (published in 1991 by Puffin). Added to log on June 20, 2016.
  • Grady, Cynthia. Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian They Left Behind. (Published in 2018 by Charlesbridge Publishing). Added to log on May 7, 2018. 

Little House on the Prairie
  • Anderson, William. M is for Mount Rushmore: A South Dakota Alphabet. Published in 2005 by Sleeping Bear Press. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Baskin, Nora Raleigh. The Summer Before Boys. Published in 2011 by Simon & Schuster. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Beech, Sandy. Weather's Here, Wish You Were Great. Published in 2015 by Simon & Schuster. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Dagg, Carole Estby. Sweet Home Alaska. Published in 2016 by Penguin Random House. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Dowell, Frances O'Roark. The Kind of Friends We Used to Be. Published in 2009 by Simon & Schuster. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Fleischman, Paul. Breakout. Published in 2003 by Cricket Books. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Gratz, Alan. Ban This Book. Published in 2017 by Starscape (imprint of Macmillan). Added to log on Oct 14, 2021. 
  • Greene, Constance C. Beat the Turtle Drum. Published in 1976 by Viking. Added to log on June 20, 2016.
  • Greene, Constance C. Nora: Maybe a Ghost Story. Published in 1993 by Harcourt Brace. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Gillies, Isabel. Starry Night: A Novel. Published in 2014 by Farrar Straus Giroux. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Griffin, Adele. Overnight. Published in 2003 by Penguin Putnam. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Hahn, Mary Downing. Took: A Ghost Story. Published in 2015 by Clarion (Houghton Mifflin). Added to log on June 20, 2016. 
  • Hale, Shannon. Dangerous. Published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Children's Books. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Harper, Meg. My Mum and the Green-eyed Monster. Published in 2006 by Lion Children's Books. Added to log on June 20, 2016.
  • Harrington, Karen. Courage for Beginners. Published in 2014 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Lasky, Kathryn. Double Trouble Squared: A Starbuck Family Adventure. Published in 1991 by Harcourt Brace. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Lasky, Kathryn. Blood Secret. Published in 2004 by HarperCollins. Added to log on June 17, 2016. 
  • Maccarone, Grace. The Haunting of Grade Three. Published in 1987 by Scholastic. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Martin, Ann. Stacey's Mistake (Babysitters Club). Published in 1987 by Scholastic. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • McDaniel, Lurlene. Prey. Published in 2008 by Random House. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • McDonald, Megan. Soaring High: A Julie Classic. Published in 2007 by American Girl Publishing. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • McDonald, Megan. The Sisters Club: Rule of Three. Published in 2009 by Candlewick. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • McGovern, Cammie. Just My Luck. Published in 2016 by HarperCollins. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • McKenna, Colleen O'Shaughnessy and Richard Williams. Good Grief... Third Grade. Published in 1993 by Scholastic. 
  • McLean, Hope. Jewel Society #4: Battle of the Brightest. Published in 2013 by Scholastic. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Mills, Claudia and Katie Kath. The Nora Notebooks, Book 1: The Trouble with Ants. Published in 2015 by Random House. Added to log on June 17, 2016. 
  • Monaghan, Annabel. Double Digit: A Girl Named Digit. Published in 2014 by Houghton Mifflin. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Myracle, Lauren. Eleven: The Winnie Years. Published in 2004 by Penguin. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. One of the Third Grade Thonkers. Published in 1988 by Atheneum. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. A Spy Among the Girls. Published in 2000 by Yearling Random House. Added to log on June 17, 2016. 
  • Parnell, Robyn and Katie & Aaron DeYoe. The Mighty Quinn. Published in 2013 by Scarletta Junior Books. 
  • Perry, Michael. The Scavengers. Published in 2014 by HarperCollins. Added to log on June 20, 2016.
  • Preller, James. Bystander. Published in 2009 by Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan). Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Rocklin, Joann. One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street. Published in 2011 by Amulet (Abrams). Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Scieszka, Jon and Lane Smith. Summer Reading is Killing Me! (Time Warp Trio). Published in 1998 by Viking (Penguin Putnam). Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Scieszka, Jon and Adam McCauley. See You Later, Gladiator (Time Warp Trio). Published in 2000 by Penguin. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Scillian, Devin and Doug Bowles. S is for Sunflower: A Kansas Alphabet. Published in 2004 by Sleeping Bear Press. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Simon, Coco. Alexis and the Perfect Recipe. Published in 2011 by Simon & Schuster. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Toffler-Corrie, Laura. My Totally Awkward Supernatural Crush. Published in 2013 by Roaring Brook Press. Added to log on June 20, 2016. 
  • Tripp, Valerie and Juliana Kolesva. Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit. Published in 2014 by American Girl Publishing. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Vail, Rachel. Not That I Care. Published in 1998 by Penguin. Added to log on June 17, 2016.
  • Wargin, Kathy-Jo and Karen Latham. V is for Viking: A Minnesota Alphabet. Published in 2003 by Sleeping Bear Press. Added to log on June 17, 2016. 
  • Yumoto, Kazumi. The Friends. Published in 1992 by Bantam Doubleday. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reference them in a good way or a bad way? Reference them like as in call-them-out on their use of racism?

Debbie Reese said...

I didn't make notes on them. My memory is that they were referenced, uncritically. Characters or story just happens to include them.

Anonymous said...

Thanks!

Betweenbabylonandjerusalem said...

What is the purpose of this webpage? Is it your opinion that these books shouldn't be read? If I'm writing a book and a character (good or bad) in the book says something like "That house was like something out of Gone With the Wind," does that book make it unworthy of reading in your eyes? Thank you for your response.

Debbie Reese said...

Unknown at 11:17 on Sep 22 2018:

It depends on the context. If the passage glorifies the book or movie without offering context on racism, then I would definitely object to the reference.

Deborah Menkart said...

I greatly appreciate this list because it exposes a disturbing trend. For example, I read "I Lived on Butterfly Hill" (2014) bv Marjorie Agosin. The story is about a young girl from Chile who flees the political turmoil in her country to join her Aunt who had to leave years before and is living in New England. As a consoling pasttime, the two of them watch "Gone With the Wind." Not once did Agosin surface the contradictions in watching such a racist film while fleeing from hate and violence that was also perpetuated, generations later, by white supremacist, profit seeking U.S. government and wealthy elite. It is jarring, irresponsible, and unnecessary to have "Gone with the Wind" potrayed as a comforting film for family time by political refugees. It is also of concern that no one in the publishing house insisted on that portrayal of the film either being removed or framed differently. Did they not notice when they read drafts of the book or just think it did not matter?

Elizabeth A. said...

Wilder's saying that the character "Pa" wanted to go where “there were no people. Only Indians lived there,”is the epitome of white settler colonialism which works so effectively to erase the lives, histories, and humanity of those who don't fit their narrative of triumphant Manifest Destiny. I have a whole blog post about the controversy about stripping Wilder's name from the award.

http://tangledhistories.org/american-history/no-people-only-indians/