Bias in a Picture Book

 Midsemester in LIS 5564, Information Needs of Children, I wrote a paper analyzing the potential biases of a picture book. The following is my analysis of Fry Bread.

Introduction

The book to be inspected is Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, written by Kevin Noble Maillard and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal (2019). It is the story of fry bread as food, shape, sound, color, flavor, time, art, history, place, and nation. The book discusses fry bread briefly in each of its aspects; how it is both uniting and diverse. The illustrations focus on this as well, featuring adults and children brought together as a family yet appearing different from each other; blond hair to dark hair, deep skin to light skin. It teaches the who, what, where, when, and why of the dish fry bread while emphasizing the togetherness of family and nations. A lengthy note at the end of the book further explains fry bread in context.

Check the Illustrations

In this picture book, the illustrations depict a wide range of people all belonging to a family unit. There are no stereotypes or token characters in its diverse cast (Council on Interracial Books for Children, p. 1). Many skin types, facial structures, and hair colors are depicted amongst both the children and adults. It even showcases various hair texture, with some straight, blond, haired characters and some curly, red heads and others with tight, neat, black braids. It features both men and women as prime players in the making of fry bread, sharing responsibilities for different parts of the process. 

Check the Story Line

            The Council on Interracial Books for Children notes that post-Civil Rights age, many books were eliminated based on outright racism, but “some of the subtle (covert) forms of bias to watch for” are still present in today’s children’s books (n.d., p. 1). The book Fry Bread however does not include any of these covert racist or sexist ideas. The story’s idea of success is varied—there is no one right way, but many ways to achieve the finish line of delicious fry bread by working together, male and female, young and middle-aged and old.

Look at the Lifestyles

            The Council on Interracial Books for Children cautions readers to “look for inaccuracy and inappropriateness in the depiction of other cultures” (n.d., p. 1). In the book Fry Bread the illustrations of cultural objects and symbols are carefully handled. For each aspect of fry bread illustrated and written about in the text, there is an accompanying note at the back of the book. These notes do not only explain fry bread, but also the culture of the people. Specifically, it explains the different cultural objects or symbols used in the illustrations and which tribe or nation they belong to. As an example, the fry bread as art page features children and women making dolls and baskets; the note in the back of the book explains “the handmade dolls and coiled baskets featured on this spread are part of a rich inherited history of both the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Seminole Tribe of Florida.” (Maillard, 2019, pg. 39). It goes on to explain a bit of history about Seminoles and their art (Maillard, 2019, pg. 39).

Weigh the Relationships

            As mentioned previously, this book features diverse characters both in gender and appearance yet they are presented as a cohesive family. The leaders in the book, those making the fry bread, are both male and female, young and old, dark skinned and light. An older woman with a medium skin tone and long black hair mixes the ingredients for fry bread in a huge bowl surrounded by children (Maillard, 2019, pg. 4-5). When the mixture is ready, a man of middle age handles frying the bread; he has a darker skin tone and black hair braided to his scalp with long ends (Maillard, 2019, pg. 13-14). There is no reference to “whites in the story” because all types of people are represented and active in the book (Council on Interracial Books for Children, n.d., pg. 1).

Note the Heroes

The Council for Interracial Books for Children asks “’Whose interest is a particular figure really serving?’” (n.d., pg. 2). In this case, the heroes would be the makers of the fry bread. Both a man and woman are serving their family by working together to bring a traditional dish to the table. By doing so, they not only feed their family but also keep alive traditions of their culture. In the notes at the back of the book, there is no downplay of what white culture did to the tribes and nations of the American continent; “despite colonial efforts throughout America to weaken tribal governments, fracture Indigenous communities, and forcibly take ancestral lands, Indian culture has proven resilient” (Maillard, 2019, pg. 33). This book shows the truth of what white culture has done to the Indigenous people and does not paint them as heroes or use whiteness as a bar for heroism.

Consider the Effects of a Child’s Self Image

            Bishop explains in her 1990 article that books can be windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. By this, she means sometimes children will read books and have a mirror where they see themselves in the book, or sometimes the book will be a window into another world that they can step into by sliding it open (Bishop, 1990). This book would be a mirror for children of minorities; they can see themselves in the various characters because they are of diverse facial structures, hair types, and skin hues. Even white children could see themselves too; there are two characters of light skin tone, one with straight blond hair and the other with curly red hair. “A child of color can readily identify to a positive and constructive end” with any of the characters that reflect their own image (Council on Interracial Books for Children, n.d., pg. 2). And the magic of the book is that all these diverse characters work together as a family to protect and carry on their native heritage. 

Consider the Author or Illustrator’s Background

            The Council on Interracial Books for Children wants the reader to question the authenticity of the author and illustrator to create a product about a certain race or sex (n.d., pg 2). Maillard, the author, reveals his connection to the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma through his mother’s side in the note at the back of the book (2019, pg. 35). He is a native of indigenous people and an authentic writer. The illustrator, Martinez-Neal, was born in Lima, Peru and moved to Connecticut to raise her children (Martinez-Neal, n.d., para. 3). Although less authentic as Maillard because she is not part of an indigenous tribe or nation, Martinez-Neal is a person of color living in the United States, and her illustrations are legitimate to the purpose of the book, gracefully depicting diverse characters.

Check Out the Author’s Perspective

            As the Council for Interracial Books for Children points out, the vast majority of books for children are written by “white, middle-class authors, with one result being an ethnocentric perspective” (n.d., pg. 2). However, this book shatters that majority since both author and illustrator are people of color, and the book’s note at the back does not shy away from the reality of white culture vs native culture (as mentioned previously in the Note the Heroes section). There are no “omissions or distortions” of what really happened to the indigenous people of America (Council on Interracial Books for Children, n.d., pg. 2). The author’s perspective is unique and genuine, emphasizing family, tradition, and hardships.

Watch for Loaded Words

            The Council on Interracial Books for Children cautions readers to look for loaded words that may demean people of color or women (n.d., pg. 2). This book is from the perspective of a male author and female illustrator of color, and there are no demeaning or sexist words used in the book. In fact, Maillard mentions in the note that fry bread is traditionally a woman’s domain, but he flipped that expectation by becoming the fryer once his elderly aunt could no longer handle the pan (2019). Again, this book is one of inclusivity and diversity focusing on family and tradition, so the author and illustrator were careful to choose their words and drawings faithfully.

Look at the Copyright Date

            The Council on Interracial Books for Children recognizes a long tradition of books about other races “written by white authors, edited by white editors, and published by white publishers” (n.d., pg. 2). This book, written and illustrated by two people of color and written in 2019 does not fit the bill for this concern of the Council on Interracial Books for Children. Roaring Book Press is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers, a British corporation and “one of the ‘Big Five’ English language publishers” (Macmillan Publishers, 2022, para. 1). So, the book was published by white publishers, but that does not seem to have harmed the message of the book; it is to be noted that Macmillan has offices in 41 countries, making them a truly international corporation (Macmillan Publishers, 2022, para. 1).

Conclusion

            This book was written in 2019, and the author and illustrator are the “winners of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Medal for the most distinguished informational book for children published in 2019” (Morales, 2020, para. 1). That is no surprise given the excellence of the book’s primary text for children and note in the back further explaining the origins, struggles, and triumph of both fry bread and the nations and tribes that make it. This book is highly recommended to both school and public libraries for its excellence in championing diversity, teaching about a non-dominant culture, and emphasizing the importance of family. This book should lead as an example to other authors and illustrators of how to inform and endear readers to other cultures.

References

Bishop, R. S. (1990). Windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6(3), ix-xi.

Council on Interracial Books for Children. (n.d.).10 quick ways to analyze children’s books for 

racism and sexism. SmartReading.org. http://smartreading.org/assets/10-Quick-Ways-to-  
Analyze.pdf

Macmillan Publishers. (2022, January 12). In Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macmillan_Publishers

Maillard, K. N. (2019). Fry bread: A native American family story. (J. Martinez-Neal, Illus.). 

Roaring Book Press.

Martinez-Neal, J. (n.d.). About Juana: The creator. JuanaMartinezNeal.com. https://juanamartinezneal.com/about/

Morales, M. (2020, January 27). Kevin Noble Maillard, Juana Martinez-Neal win 2020 Sibert 

Medal. ALA.org. https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2020/01/kevin-noble-maillard-juana-martinez-neal-win-2020-sibert-medal