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Both in school and out, young children are exposed to racist and sexist attitudes These attitudes--expressed over and over in books and in other media--gradually distort their perceptions until stereotypes and myths about minorities and women are accepted as reality. It is difficult for a librarian or teacher to convince children to question society's attitudes. But if a child can be shown how to detect racism and sexism in a book, the child can proceed to transfer the perception to wider areas. The following 10 guidelines are offered as a starting point in evaluating children's books from this perspective.

1. CHECK THE ILLUSTRATIONS

Look for stereotypes. A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about a particular group, race, or sex, which usually carries derogatory implications. Some infamous (overt) stereotypes of Blacks are the happy-go-lucky-water-melon-eating Sambo; of Chicanos, the fiesta-loving, macho bandito; of Asian Americans, the inscrutable slant-eyed "Oriental"; of Native Americans, the "primitive" craftsman and his squaw; of Puerto Ricans, the switchblade-toting teenage gang member; of women, the completely domesticated mother, the demure, doll-loving little girl, or the wicked stepmother. While you may not always find stereotypes in the blatant forms described look for variations which in any way demean or ridicule characters because of race or sex.
        Look for tokenism. If there are non-White characters in the illustrations, do they look just like Whites except for being tinted or colored in? Do all minority faces look stereotypically alike, or are they depicted as genuine individuals with distinctive features?
        Who's doing what? Do the illustrations depict minorities in subservient and passive roles or in leadership and action roles? Are males the active "doers" and females the inactive observers?

2. CHECK THE STORY LINE

The Civil Rights Movement has led publishers to weed out any insulting passages, particularly from stories with Black themes, but the attitudes still find expression in less obvious ways. Thc following checklist suggests some of the subtle (convert) forms of bias to watch for.
        Standard for success. Does it take "White" behavior standards for a minority person to "get ahead"? Is "making it" in the dominant White society projected as the only ideal? To gain acceptance and approval, do non-White persons have to exhibit extraordinary qualities- excel in sports, get A's, etc.?
        Resolution of problems. How are problems presented, conceived, and resolved in the story? Are minority people considered to be "the problem"? Are the reasons for poverty and oppression explained or are they accepted as inevitable? Does the story line encourage passive acceptance or active resistance?
        Role of women Are the achievements of girls and women based on their own initiative and intelligence, or are they due to their good looks or to their relationship with boys? Are sex roles incidental or critical to character and plot? Could the same story be told if the sex roles were reversed?

3. LOOK AT THE LIFESTYLES

Are minority persons and their setting depicted in such a way that they contrast unfavorably with the norm of White middle-class suburbia? If the minority group in question is depicted as "different" are negative value judgments implied? Are minorities depicted exclusively in ghettos, barrios or migrant camps? If the illustrations and text attempt to depict another culture, do they go beyond oversimplifications and offer genuine insights into another lifestyle? Look for inaccuracy and inappropriateness in the depiction of other cultures. Watch for instances of the "quaint-natives-in-costume" syndrome.

4. WEIGH THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PEOPLE

Do the Whites in the story possess the power, take the leadership, and make the important decisions? Do non-Whites and females function in essentially supporting roles?
        How are family relationships depicted? In Black families, is the mother always dominant? In Hispanic families, are there always lots and lots of children? If the family is separated, are societal conditions-unemployment, poverty--cited among the reasons for the separation?

5. NOTE THE HEROES AND HEROINES

For many years, books showed only "safe" minority heroes and heroines-those who avoided serious conflict with the White establishment of their time. Minority groups today are insisting on the right to define their own heroes and heroines based on their own concepts and struggles for justice.
        When minority heroes and heroines do appear, are they admired for the same qualities that have made White heroes and heroines famous or because what they have done has benefited White people? Ask this question: Whose interest is a particular figure really serving?

6. CONSIDER THE EFFECTS UPON A CHILD'S SELF-IMAGE

Are norms established that limit the child's aspirations and self-concepts? What effect can it have on Black children to be continuously bombarded with images of the color white as the ultimate in beauty, cleanliness, virtue, etc., and the color black as evil, dirty menacing, etc.? Does the book counteract or reinforce this positive association with the color white and negative association with black?
        What happens to a girl's self-image when she reads that boys perform all of the brave and important deeds? What about a girl's self-esteem if she is not "fair" of skin and slim of body?

7. CONSIDER THE AUTHOR'S OR ILLUSTRATOR'S BACKGROUND

Analyze the biographical material on the jacket flap or the back of the book. If a story deals with a minority theme, what qualifies the author or illustrator to deal with the subject? If the author and illustrator are not members of the minority being written about, is there anything in their background that would specifically recommend them as the creators of this book?
        Similarly, a book that deals with the feelings and insights of women should be more carefully examined if it is written by a man-unless the book's avowed purpose is to present a strictly male perspective

8. CHECK OUT THE AUTHOR'S PERSPECTIVE

No author can be wholly objective. All authors write out of a cultural as well as a personal context. Children's books in the past have traditionally come from authors who are White and who are members of the middle class, with one result being that a single ethnocentric perspective has dominated American children's literature. With the book in question, look carefully to determine whether the direction of the author's perspective substantially weakens or strengthens the value of his/her written book. Are omissions and distortions central to the overall character or "message" of the book?

9. WATCH FOR LOADED WORDS

A word is loaded when it has insulting overtones. Examples of loaded adjectives (usually racist) are savage, primitive, conniving, lazy, superstitious, treacherous, wily, crafty, inscrutable, docile, and backward.
        Look for sexist language and adjectives that exclude or ridicule women. Look for use of the male pronoun to refer to both males and females. While the generic use of the word "man" was accepted in the past, its use today is outmoded. The following examples show how sexist language can be avoided: ancestors instead of forefathers; chairperson instead of chairman; community instead of brotherhood; firefighters instead of firemen; manufactured instead of manmade; the human family instead of the family of man.

10. LOOK A THE COPYRIGHT DATE

Books on minority themes--usually hastily conceived-- suddenly began appearing in the mid-1960's. There followed a growing number of "minority experience" books to meet the new market demand, but most of these were still written by White authors, edited by White editors, and published by White publishers. They therefore reflected a White point of view. Only in the late 1960s and early 1970s did the children's book world begin to even remotely reflect the realities of a multi-racial society. And it has just begun to reflect feminists' concerns.
        The copyright dates, therefore, can be a clue as to how likely the book is to be overtly racist or sexist, although a recent copyright date, of course, is no guarantee of a book's relevance or sensitivity.

Source: Reprinted from the Whole Child textbook with permission from the Bulletin of the Council or. Interracial Books for Children, Inc.