Counter Narratives: Fry Bread & Can I Touch Your Hair?
- Lauren Vines
- Oct 18, 2020
- 6 min read
To go along with Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight For Desegregation, I also read two other counter narratives representing racial minorities and their personal experiences.
I love Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story because it is something the author so graciously handed over to his audience of readers. This book gives a voice to those who have never been able to tell their own story as a Native American. In this book, fry bread is not only a beloved tradition in different Native American cultures, but it is a symbol of strength, resilience, family, and pride. Fry bread is something that is different for every family who identifies as Native American.
The author has personal experience as a Native American and grew up eating fry bread. In the author's note, he talks about the fact that everyone makes fry bread different, but everyone has "the best" recipe. I think it's important for children to understand their differences, but also feel a sense of pride and love who they are and where their family came from. Many Native Americans have faced hardships in America and oppression. Their families come from a place of sadness, relocation, and racial injustice. However, I love that fry bread is also a symbol of strength and resilience.
Many of the same qualities represented in this book are also represented in Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation - overcoming hardships, the telling of an often overlooked story, feeling pride for yourself despite what others say, and staying true to who you are and your values.
Meet the Author and Illustrator
Kevin Noble Maillard is not only the author of Fry Bread, but he is also a regular writer for the New York Times and a professor of law at Syracuse University. He is originally from Oklahoma and a citizen of the Seminole Nation. You can find out more about him on his website.
Juana Martinez-Neal was born and raised in Lima, Peru, but now lives in Arizona as an author and illustrator of several award-winning books including Alma and How She Got Her Name and Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story. You can find out more about her and her work on her website.
Awards
Fry Bread: A Native American Story has won the Robert F. Sibert award, which is given to authors and illustrators of the most distinguished books written in America. The book also won an American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award, which is presented for the very best books written and illustrated around Native American people in North America.
Classroom Implications
In an article written by Debbie Reese, she discusses ways to use Native American/Indigenous literature in the classroom. She writes about ways teachers have the power to either combat or encourage common stereotypes and misconceptions about Indigenous people. We can use literature in our classrooms that tell the rich history of Native American people and uncover truths that are often overlooked or pushed aside. The stories of Native Americans deserve to be told and appreciated. She first mentions to choose books that are tribally specific, focusing on tribes that are specific to your state. After reading this, I thought about the social studies curriculum in fourth grade, which is focused on the history of North Carolina. This would be a great time to talk about Indigenous people native to North Carolina and their history and how it helped shape our state. Reese goes on to mention that teachers should also use present-tense verbs when talking about Native American history. I think past-tense verbs often give us the warped idea that Native Americans used to have an impact, but not anymore. Using present-tense verbs will help combat this idea. Reese also mentions to use books written by Native American authors with #OwnVoice experiences. This is important because it helps establish empathy in classrooms while also telling untold stories and overlooked truths. We learn the most from those with personal experiences. And instead of only reading books by Native American authors one month out of the year, Reese recommends reading them all throughout the year.
Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship
Even though this story contains "fictional" characters, it is written from the perspectives of Irene Latham and Charles Waters. Although they did not know each other during elementary school, they became acquainted through a children's poetry community as adults. They both embarked on this journey of writing Can I Touch Your Hair? together to compare/contrast the lives of a young white girl and young black boy attending school together. In the author's note, it is mentioned that they both wanted to use their poetry to reflect their experiences related to race.
I love the authors' use of poetry throughout this book and how they use free-verse to show that even through their differences, their lives were also the same. I believe they used their poetry to represent the fact that we are all human, no matter what kind of skin we have. Because this book is written from the perspectives of the main characters (who also happen to be the authors), it allows readers to understand empathy and take a walk in someone else's shoes, so to speak. This book, along with Fry Bread, are great counter narratives for Sylvia Mendez because they all combat racial stereotypes while allowing everyone's voices to be heard.
On page 14, there's a poem written by Charles called "The Athlete." He writes about how he was first selected to play basketball, perhaps because of his skin color. But goes on to say that after he misses a shot, he is picked last. On the other hand, when it's his turn to read aloud in class, "everyone groans." But Charles is a good reader and the words "gush" out of his mouth, "smooth and fast like the River Jordan." Then he gets selected first to real aloud in class. I love this poem because it combats a common stereotype that all African Americans are good at sports, but not good at schoolwork like reading.
On page 20, another common stereotype among African Americans is challenged and disputed. At a family dinner, Charles is presented with "soul food," which is commonly made in his family. His dad tells him that "Soul food is [their] history." I though about fry bread when I read this. Even though soul food is a part of Charles' family history, it is not healthy food, which is something he is passionate about. He is vegan and struggles to tell his family about all the bad things that soul food leads to like diabetes and heart disease. I think it is often a misconception that all African Americans eat unhealthy.
Meet the Authors and Illustrators
According to her website, Irene Latham had wanted to be a writer since she was 8 years old. She began pulling out work that she had written over the years to pursue publishing. She includes a quote by George Eliot that I love to describe her journey as an author: "It is never too late to be what you might have been."
Some of her work includes Dictionary for a Better World (also written with Charles Waters) and Meet Miss Fancy. You can find more information about her on her website.
According to his website, Charles Waters was born and raised in Philadelphia, but first found his love for poetry while touring with Poetry Alive! which is a theater touring company. He then went on to become a Disney World actor and now an esteemed author and poet. Some of his most well-known works include Dictionary for a Better World (with Irene Latham) and Can I Touch Your Hair? You can find out more about Charles on his website.
Sean Qualls and Selina Alko are the illustrators for this book and also husband and wife. In the illustrator's note in the back, they mention that they wanted to take on this project because of the powerful dialogue between an African American boy and white girl, "just like [them]."
Sean Qualls grew up in central New Jersey and has been interested in art since he was a child. According to his website, he got his art inspiration from anything he could find, being that his family couldn't afford art supplies. He would use "discarded paper, blank end pages from old books..." Also on his website, it is stated that the goal of his art is to focus on "race and identity and the intersection of history and mythology, ultimately examining how we create our own identities or allow them to be scripted for us." There is a quote on his website that I love and think is so powerful: "My objective, in my own small way, is to repopulate the world with words and images that help people reshape the way they see themselves."
Although I could not find a working website for Selina Alko, I was able to find some information about her on the Harper Collins website, which you can check out here! She is from Canada and has been a painter since she was a child. Some of her other books include Why Am I Me? and The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage.
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