Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian tale (1975 Caldecott Medal Winner)

Author / Illustrator :  Gerald McDermott
Publisher  :  The Viking Press
ISBN  :  0140502114
              (Buy / Borrow)

     Finally!  I've come to a week where my choice for the subject of a post was not difficult to make at all.  As you can see from the information above, I've chosen to cover Arrow to the Sun: a Pueblo Indian tale by Gerald McDermott as an example of a piece of multicultural children's literature.  Lest the ease with which I've made my selection be misconstrued as requiring less thought or effort in the examination of potential materials, I'd like to take this opportunity to assure my readers that my consideration for covering this book actually required more from me in the way of preparation.  The reasons for this will become self evident as my post progresses.
      Arrow to the Sun: a Pueblo Indian tale is a wonderfully illustrated narrative that tells a lovely story of a boy, born to a woman, whose father is the Sun.  Teased by the other children in his community because he did not know who his father was, he set out to find the truth.  Upon meeting with the Sun, he finds that he must successfully complete several difficult trials or rites of passage before ultimately being allowed to return to earth.  The beauty of McDermott's drawings and the magic of the story that they tell are truly deserving of an award, and indeed, it was the 1975 Caldecott Medal winner.  The problem, however, is that the story he tells cannot, as I've come to learn, accurately be referred to as an authentic Pueblo Indian tale.
     Upon my initial foray into the exploration of available materials for this post, I happened upon this book, and asked Professor Scardina if it would be an adequate subject.  I was relieved when I learned that it was acceptable but also shocked and a bit saddened when his reply appeared in my inbox accompanied by this link.  As it turns out, McDermott's award winning book is almost completely inaccurate from the cultural perspective of the Pueblo Indians.  "How could this be?", I thought to myself as I read the words of Debbie Reese's own blog essentially eviscerating both the book as well as Scholastic's "Arrow to the Sun Discussion Guide" created by Weston Woods.  Books deemed worthy of such prestigious awards like the Caldecott Medal could not be allowed to provide a miseducative experience for generations of American children, could they?
     As it turns out, I had fallen into the same trap as many others before me.  So focused on the fact that the book was the recipient of a well respected award was I, that I hadn't given much thought to whether or not the information supplied by the story was actually culturally relevant.  This, in turn, led me to re-examine what exactly the criteria are for a book to be considered eligible for the Caldecott Medal.  I knew that it was primarily based upon illustration, but according to the ALA website, there are specific criteria for awarding a Randolf Caldecott Medal, all of which are important for educators everywhere to understand.  Specifically of note, is a short, but significant, statement at the very end explaining that, "The committee should keep in mind that the award is for distinguished illustrations in a picture book and for excellence of pictorial presentation for children. The award is not for didactic intent or for popularity".
      Those words, "not for didactic intent", speak, or should speak volumes to all of us who assume the responsibility of providing information to young students.  It literally means that books that have received the Caldecott Medal are not required to be instructional material, despite the fact many teachers often use them as such in the classroom setting.  This is not to say that they should not be used as an educational tool.  On the contrary, I think that Arrow to the Sun would be a great subject on which to base a lesson for elementary school students.  It is in the type of lesson for which it is used , however, that my position differs.
     To use this book as part of a Social Studies lesson, for instance, would be irresponsible for a teacher, misleading for their students, and insulting to people of Pueblo Indian descent.  I cringe to think this, but doing so would be akin to showing an episode of the popular television show Glee to a class and having them infer that it was a documentary film detailing the American teenage experience.  Most of us would be appalled if something like this actually happened, and you can be sure that the parents of children in that class would be extremely displeased to say the least.  It is unfortunate, but the presence of the culture of the Pueblo Indians and in fact that of all Native Americans is so minimal in our current society, that a situation like this could take place, and probably already has.  How then, can we still utilize this award winning book in a constructive way?
     I personally believe that Arrow to the Sun presents us, as educators, with a great opportunity to help our students understand the concept of critical thinking and develop their own sense of what it is.  It is an especially poignant way to demonstrate that just because they've read some published material that has received an award, doesn't mean that they should blindly accept and internalize that material as fact.  We are all in agreement that it is healthy and beneficial to encourage questioning amongst the children whose lives we touch, but we must never forget that just as important, are the types of questions we guide them to ask.  It is up to us to do our due diligence while assembling the lessons that we will be using with our classes and be able to trust in our materials.  As I've learned over the course of creating this post, that due diligence requires us to finish the book for ourselves on a multidimensional level.  It's true that no one can think of everything, but if we're all trying to do just a little more individually, all of those little bits will amount to a whole lot collectively, and that will be a gift that we can give to young minds that will benefit for generations.