Books that Socialize Children
Introduction
Books are considered by many to be teachers and enforces of the lessons of life. Beginning in early childhood, we are encouraged to read. Often, our knowledge and perceptions of the world are formed with the help of books. Awards are given for books considered to be outstanding for children, and the most prestigious of these awards is the John Newbery Medal. Ever since the medal was first awarded in 1922, each book that has received the Medal is sought after and recommended by educators, librarians and parents. This serves as a way to introduce and reinforce certain values to children; it provides an easy list of acceptable books to choose.
The written word is instilling in today’s children the values they will cherish and act upon in the future. While television is probably the most influential media, books nonetheless play a large role in the socialization of youth. They are shaping children’s perceptions of the world. How are today’s children being socialized? This paper looks at the messages that prevail in modern children’s literature, specifically recent recipients of the John Newbery Medal.
A Short Background of the John Newbery Medal
The man that the medal was named for, John Newbery, is considered the first person to write and publish books for children. He recognized the potential to influence children through the use of books. Newbery’s books include fables, rules of behavior, rhymes, puzzles, lectures and moral stories (Sutherland, p. 66). He hoped that by creating books that appealed to children he could influence them to espouse the ideas considered proper in eighteenth century England.
Interestingly enough, the Newbery Medal (named after and Englishman) is presented only to Americans. The Medal is awarded for outstanding contribution to American children’s literature. Criteria for choosing an outstanding book include interpretation of the theme, clarity in presentation and appropriateness of style (American Library Association, p. 3). Clearly, the Newbery award committee is specifically looking for books with concepts that can be recognized and are deemed suitable for the young.
The Medal was proposed by Frederic G. Melcher in 1921 to the meeting of the Children’s Librarians’ Section (now called the Association for Library Service to Children) of the American Library Association. Part of the stated mission of the Medal is to “…encourage good writing” (American Library Association, p. 1). The book must be an original work by the author or authors and must have been originally published in the United States. The author(s) of the winning publication must be citizens or legal residents of the U.S. The first Medal was awarded in 1922 to The story of mankind by Hendrik Willem von Loon.
Literary Review
Language has long been accepted as a means to educate and socialize. The use of language in books is rather important in the socialization process. Knowles and Malmkjaer (1996) point out that the use of words is the most effective way to influence children. Language is so powerful as a socializing agent because it is the vehicle through which the young learn about the social world and its customs, institutions and hierarchies (Halliday in Knowles and Malmkjaer, p. 44).
The book Eyeopeners! (Korbrin, 1988) points out that children often accept what they read as fact. Korbrin points out that writers must decide what to include and what to leave out of their writing. She also points out that this creates an automatic bias (p. 65). As children read, they are introduced to the author’s bias and very often it is considered fact. Books also teach kids how to learn. They often think about the characters and situations encountered in the books they read (Korbrin, p. 37).
These characters and situations provide a framework on which children base their
behavior. B.F. Skinner emphasized the importance of reinforced behavior (operant conditioning). This is the principle of physically rewarding for behavior that is considered desirable. Albert J. Bandura take this idea of reinforced behavior a little further. According to Sutherland (1986), Bandura suggests that children learn vicariously. He asserts that when a youth learn about a model and the consequences of the model’s actions, the child will make behavioral decisions based on what happened to the model (Sutherland, p. 37).
Children are more influenced by implicit messages. “A theme…especially if it emerges naturally through characters and events is far more likely to be absorbed and remembered than homilies on those themes by the author” (Sutherland, p. 48). Books that are didactic in nature are much less likely to be effective in the socialization of children. This fits in with the more subtle, subconscious learning Knowles and Malmkjaer consider to be most influential. The American Library Association does not award the John Newbery Medal for lesson based content. However, it is still impossible to escape the biases of the authors, as Korbrin points out.
Likewise, Choosing books for children (Hearne, 1999) expounds upon the idea of “…astutely moral novels that never become moralistic” (p. 92). The use of language to describe rather than tell also provides memorable lessons and clear recollections of the behavior of characters in the books. In the telling, it is important to keep things simple, as children may miss the theme if it is couched in too much symbolism (Hearne, p. 69). The Newbery criteria include the clear descriptions of characters and settings as requirements for the outstanding book for that year (American Library Association, p. 4).
Gibbs and Earley (1994) of the Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation advocate the use of children’s literature to instill core values in the young. Some of the values considered ‘core’ are compassion, courage, honesty, fairness, responsibility, respect and perseverance. It is also considered a bad idea to introduce controversial topics (Gibbs and Earley, p. 13). The importance of discussion is also pointed out. As Judd and Hellinger would agree, socialization in education is dependent upon reinforcing those values already being taught by other institutions (such as the family and religion). In Using children’s literature to develop core values (1994), Gibbs and Earley also point out that the teaching of core values by encouraging children to read carefully chosen books “is essential to the survival of democracy” (p. 23).
Finally, both Using children’s literature to develop core values and Choosing books for children include lists of recommended books and the things that can be learned from them. Gibbs and Earley recommend seventy books. Twelve of these are Newbery Medal winners. Hearne’s list of almost one hundred books includes seventeen Newbery honorees. The percentage of Newbery Medal recipients from both lists is 17%. Nearly one in five of recommended books is a Newbery Medal winner.
Methodology
In order to determine what messages are being used to socialize children through the use of books, I read the John Newbery Medal books for the years 1990 to 2000 (eleven books). Because these books are so recommended, and also occupy a substantial amount of space on reading lists, I consider these a fair indication of the literature that adults prefer to use as means for teaching children. In addition, I also find it applicable that many of the authors that have won Newbery Medals have other books on these lists.
While reading these eleven books, I took notes of the representation of race in both the main characters and secondary characters. The gender of each of the characters was also recorded. I made note of other demographic information as well: the socioeconomic position of each main and secondary character was noted. In order to express the ratio of poor characters to the total of those represented in the applicable racial groups, I use percentages.
I also read the books and analyzed the content of each; the search was for the messages given in the text. I looked for the reinforcement of traditionally accepted roles, the roles played by whites and minorities, men and women, the treatment of discrimination by the author, the establishment of traditional families, the concepts of hard work and perseverance, the value of education, and the value of independence as part of democracy and patriotism.
Findings
Each of the books has one main character, except The view from Saturday, which has four characters that are focused on equally and considered main characters. This makes 14 main characters in all. Of the 14 main characters, 10 are white, 1 is black, 1 is Indian and 1 is half Native American. There was one main character who does not have a race. These numbers were surprising to me, as I expected that there would be better representation of African-Americans as minorities.
A review of the secondary characters reveals numbers that are a little more expected. There is a total of 48 characters that contribute to the story, but who are not focused on as the protagonist. Of these 47, 29 are white, 15 are black, 1 is Hispanic and 1 is Indian. There are 5 secondary characters whose race is never made reference to. Two of these five are not in the book The giver.
The giver (the 1994 winner) by Lois Lowry is an interesting case. It is a book that takes place at a time when there are communities that have been genetically engineered not to see colors. This way everyone can be seen as the same. In this book, there is no reference to race, as it is unknown. Everyone is seen by everyone else as the same shade of gray. Likewise, all objects are the same non-color as the people. It is impossible to speculate as to the race of any of the characters; I think this was Lowry’s intent in portraying a world devoid of racial diversity.
The allocation of the collection’s male and female characters is more nearly equal. There are 6 female main characters and 8 male. However, when looking at secondary characters, we again see a large disparity. There are 31 males and only 17 females. Despite my education and the traditional view of women as being part of the ‘private life’ I was still surprised. It still seems to me that if over half of the inhabitants of this planet are female, that the characters would know as many females as males.
There are no rich characters in any of these books. Hard work is rewarded by other means, except in the case of Stanley Yelnats in Holes (1999 winner) by Louis Sachar. And Bud in Bud, not Buddy (2000 winner) by Christopher Paul Curtis. Both are economically upgraded to middle-class. All of the characters are either poor or middle-class. Except, of course, in The Giver, where all people are the same. This is a truly communistic existence. There are some who have jobs that are considered to be of higher honor, but all people’s needs are taken care of in the same way, and all people have the same luxuries (i.e. at age nine each person is given his or her own bike by the community).
There are 6 white main characters that are poor, and 12 secondary that are poor for a total of 18 poor white characters. This is 47% of the white characters. There are 6 minority poor characters, 1 main and 5 secondary. This represents 33% of minority characters. It is interesting to note, however, that the all of the poor minorities are black. The other minorities represented (Indian, Hispanic and part Native American) are either middle class or we aren’t given any indication of their economic background. Middle-class minorities make up 60% of those mentioned, while the percentage of white middle-class characters is 45%.
The roles given to the characters largely reflects long-held roles of minorities. The single black main character is poor and traveling. He is Bud of Bud, not Buddy. The story takes place during the Great Depression era. Bud eventually joins up with a colored jazz band that is doing passably well for the times. While the book is reflective of the times, it is interesting to me that a modern author would choose such a time period to write about. I was surprised that the books on this recent and modern list do not include a black protagonist in today’s modern society. Salamanca, the part Native American, is portrayed as being especially in touch with nature and her feelings in Walk two moons (1995 winner) by Sharon Creech. This is a typical modern portrayal of Native Americans. Most of the inmates that Stanley knows at the juvenile camp are minorities (black and Hispanic). Stanley is white, but he has been sentenced to do time at the camp for a crime he didn’t commit.
There is no contradiction of traditionally accepted gender roles in any of the books, with the always exceptional The Giver. Jonas’ mother is involved in Law and Justice while his father is a Nurturer. This is a reversal of traditional roles. However, in this community where each person is assigned a job according to the abilities observed by the ruling council, it is Jonas, the main character and a male, who is chosen for the job of highest honor. The current holder of the job is male. The last person to be chosen to train for this job called Receiver was female. She failed, as she could not handle the strain of it.
All of the other characters fill traditional roles. From Brat (later called Alyce) in The Midwife’s Apprentice (1996 winner) by Karen Cushman which takes place in medieval England up through Nadia in the modern The view from Saturday (1997 winner) by E.L. Konigsburg all the females are uncontroversially domestic. Although Nadia is a member of the academic bowl team, she is the only female member. She adds her female characteristics to the group, and when she is alone she engages in activities socially accepted as past times for girls. Those females that do work must because of the Great Depression (as Billie Jo and her mother in Out of the dust by Karen Hesse), are the sole supporter as a single parent, or are childless and working in a traditionally acceptable field (Mrs. Olinski as a teacher in The view from Saturday). No female characters, main or secondary, bring enlightenment to other characters. In Maniac Magee (1991 winner) by Jerry Spinelli, Missing May (1993 winner) by Cynthia Rylant and Walk two moons those who teach lessons are male. Often they are helping the female characters discover themselves or giving them a piece of new knowledge. While in Number the stars (1990 winner) by Lois Lowry, Out of the dust, and The midwife’s apprentice each of the main female characters comes to her own self-understanding, none of them contribute to others’ self understanding.
Discrimination is not a topic addressed very often in these books. It is most often discussed in books set in different time periods. It is seen in Bud, not Buddy set in the 1930s. However, the discrimination Bud encounters is from others of his own race. Bud is an orphan whose mother died when he was six. He is placed in the Amos home. These are middle-class blacks who feel they are superior to this urchin who is “vermin” and “does not wish to be uplifted.” Discrimination is experienced by black and white alike in Maniac Magee. The twon of Two Mills is divided: blacks in the East End and whites in the West End. Both groups suffer from disillusions about the other group. People are equally cruel to members of the other race who cross the line of demarcation between white and black. The racial discrimination discussed in Holes is of a different nature. When Zero, Stanley’s black friend, offers to dig for one hour on Stanley’s hole each day in exchange for reading lessons, Stanley is ostracized by the other black boys at Camp Green Lake.
Other forms of discrimination are addressed. Brat is treated badly in The midwife’s apprentice because she is homeless. In Number the stars Annemarie’s Jewish friend Ellen is marked for deportation to a German concentration camp. Mrs. Olinski is disabled and faces ridicule by some of her students in The view from Saturday.
Nearly every character in these selected books comes originally from a traditional family. Bud is one of the exceptions. His mother is single and has had Bud out of wedlock. Bud does not know who his father is. Brat is homeless, but finds a family is Jane the midwife. In The Giver the people are organized into family units of one mother, one father, one boy and one girl. All people take pills that eliminate the sex drive (called Stirrings) and the job of Birthmother is assigned. Babies are then placed in homes that apply for children. Two children, however, is the limit. This is still a version of the traditional family.
Most characters who are not in traditional families are in their position because of the death of a parent or due to divorce. Except in the case of a few. Summer in Missing May was orphaned, but her great aunt and uncle took her in, creating a “mother” and “father” for her. Similarly, Jeffery in Maniac Magee was orphaned. He was given to an aunt and uncle until he ran away. However, by the end of the story, he is accepted into the Beale home with a traditional nuclear set-up. The only remarkable thing about Jeffery’s situation is that he is white and his new family is black. All of the characters who lost one parent through death or divorce wish to have that ideal family again. Those not born with the traditional family seek to obtain it. There are no homosexuals represented in any of the books, and the position of children adopted into homosexual partnerships is not addressed.
The traditional and accepted American values of hard work and perseverance are present in all of these novels. Even though Annemarie in Number the stars is Danish, she still subsribes to a good work ethic. She doesn’t give up either. When faced with German soldiers while delivering a special packet to her uncle (doing this job because it is customary for girls to deliver lunches) she quietly endures and never gives up until the packet is safely delivered. Marty in the book Shiloh (1992 winner) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has to work hard in order to earn the beagle that he desires. Brat must earn her keep with the midwife, Jeffery does odd jobs and tends children to earn a place in the various families he stays with, Stanley and Zero persist in surviving after they run away from Camp Green Lake. They also work hard at digging up the treasure buried in the vast desert wasteland. All of these efforts are invariably rewarded. Perhaps the example that best illustrates the high value we feel children should place on work and persistence is from The Midwife’s Apprentice: “I have come back. And if you do not let me in I will try again and again….I know how to try and risk and fail and try again and not give up.”
Education is another ideal that is stressed by these books. Every main character can read. The secondary characters that can’t read learn from the main character. Jeffery teaches the illiterate Grayson (who is white) to read in Maniac Magee while Stanley teaches Zero in Holes. Those characters who go to school are all good students. Billie Jo in Out of the Dust, Stanley, Summer from Missing May, Annemarie in Number the Stars, Marty from Shiloh, Jonas in The Giver, all of the academic team members in The view from Saturday, and Salamanca from Walk two moons all receive high marks. In The view from Saturday, Nadia, Julian, Ethan and Noah, the members of the academic bowl team are considered to have almost celebrity status at school. Now that it is seen how smart they are, any of the small teasings that might have come before are gone.
Even in medieval England, not know for its enlightened state, the value of education is portrayed. Brat changes her name to Alyce when a drunk in another village mistakes her for an Alyce, who can read. Brat insists that Jane and all others she associates with call her Alyce. And she strives to learn to read. In addition, she understands that she must learn from the midwife and receive education in order to do her chosen profession well.
Independence as far as it is related to democracy and patriotism is also present. The only book that speaks badly of any government figure is Bud, not Buddy when a homeless man explains Hoovervilles to Bud. However, in the book America is still considered great and Bud has the freedom to go west and seek a better life. Marty learns in Shiloh that he can make a contract with an adult in our country. And it has to be honored. When Judd tries to back out of his end of the bargain, Marty’s father reminds Marty that the dog is now his. The law will be on Marty’s side, since he made a written contract. In Missing May as the main character Summer goes on a trip with her great-uncle Ob and their friend Cletus they look expectantly for the capitol building of West Virginia. The building is described as a place for the great lawmakers to work. And the ability of citizens to enter this edifice is made into somewhat of an awe-inspiring event.
The virtues of freedom and democracy are seen even more clearly in The Giver. It seems like a perfect life in the community. Everything is planned out. Each person is told what he or she will become. A small group of Elders (men and women) make the decisions with help from the community Receiver. The Receiver is the one who holds all the memories of what has ever happened in the world. Somehow, at this point, humankind has found a way to pass memories to the few who are capable. There is only one Receiver in the community, and s/he is the only person who knows about things before the Sameness happened. This way the Elders have access to painful memories, but don’t have to experience them. The Receiver can give wise council because s/he is the only person who remembers the feel of war, of weather, of true love and family. The memories were handed down from Receiver to Receiver. Receivers are also the only people who can see colors, as it the ability is remembered from the handed down memories.
As Jonas begins his training and starts to receive, he begins to think that this way of living is wrong. Things are hidden from most people. There isn’t the freedom of information. He begins to long to see the places called Elsewhere. These are places that aren’t subjected to the Sameness. He wants to find a place where people have the freedom “to make wrong choices.” This is a story about how freedom is only achieved by having a government that allows its people to make decisions.
Conclusion
It is apparent that the themes discussed in these books do teach certain values and provide certain views of reality. In books, as well as in other media, minorities and women are under represented. It is important to note, however, that there is a more desirable socioeconomic representation. Unlike what was pointed out in “Blue collar blues” working class people are not portrayed in recommended books as stupid or lazy. They are literate and work very hard to accomplish their desires. Minorities in books are often portrayed as middle-class while still maintaining significant parts of their cultural upbringing.
As Judd and Hellinger point out, however, the purpose of education is to preserve the status quo. These books, recommended by educators and read by school children everywhere certainly do this. It is not done as a didactic lecture, but rather in story form. Children are taught to work hard, value education, respect their leaders and revere democracy. Books reinforce the images seen other forms of media. Exoo points out in “A Shadow Show in Cathode Rays” that what people see is what they will tend to believe. Likewise, what people read repeatedly is what they will come to perceive as the truth.
These books teach us that discrimination against minorities was, for the most part, a problem of the past. The books set in today’s time period do not address the problem of discrimination. Everything is fine now. Likewise, other controversial issues are avoided. We learn that the media, such as television and movies, avoid causing a stir. These books that are recommended by the educational elite are similarly devoid of inflammatory material.
Children are socialized by everything around them. With certain values being enforced on every front, they are learning what is considered acceptable. Books, especially those that are widely read at the behest of those in charge of children’s education, serve as socializers. The messages found in books are reinforcing what is learned from family, school and other media. These messages reiterate traditional roles, minimize the perception of the effects minorities and women have on society, and portray models that are rewarded by adhering to the taught and accepted virtues of hard work, education and life in a democracy.
To further expand my study I would include more books in my reading sample. I would read the winners of other awards and read books on the accepted book lists at schools. I would also include books that have been banned. These would be helpful in creating a contrast of books that are not seen as good examples of children’s literature. I would like to know what values are in them that are not deemed desirable traits for children to learn.
I would like to spend time on the developmental journeys that are portrayed. What are the steps the models go through in order to arrive at a conclusion or state of actualization and how does it relate to the actual experiences that children have? I would like to interview children to find out what they learned from these books. Are the values we see taught in books the same values that children are learning from them? After all, any adult can look at a children’s book and see what values s/he sees portrayed. But we can’t be sure that these are the same values that children are perceiving.
Bibliography
American Library Association (2001). The John Newbery Medal. [On-line]. Available HTTP:
http://www.ala.org/alsc/nmedal.html.
Gibbs, L., and Earley, E. (1994). Using children’s literature to develop core values. Bloomington, Indiana: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
Hearne, B. (1999). Choosing books for children. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Knowles, M., and Malmkjaer, K. (1996). Language and control in children’s literature. New York: Routledge.
Korbrin, B. (1988). Eyeopeners! New York: Penguin Book Group.
Sutherland, Z. (1986). Children and books. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company.
