Critical Resource Review

Krishnaswami, Uma. Common Errors in American Children's Books with South Asian Characters or Content. 2000. http://www.umakrishnaswami.com/commonerrors.html

This article was written by an Asian Indian author who writes books for children and young adults. When I read the article, it reminded me of the whole "insider/outsider" debate that we talked about towards the beginning of this semester. She states, "in the children's market, we're writing for "readers-in-progress," so to speak, since young readers are still developing their knowledge and sense of the world. Don't we need to make sure we give them material that is accurate?" Krishnaswami has written an article that contains many different errors that she has found when reading literature about the South Asian culture.

Many people seem to clump South Asian people into the same category and don't realize that there are many cultures that comprise of this large area. The author makes the important point that an author should do research before writing about a culture that they are unfamiliar with. Otherwise, errors can result and children are being misinformed. She is not necessarily agreeing that all people should be insiders to write. She is just making the point that resources and people are available to look over the validity of the content written.

When writing a book, Krishnaswami states, "ask yourself if the story is doing justice to the place it purports to represent. If you're not sure, it's not too hard to find an informed reader to offer additional opinions for you to consider." She also talks about her recent experience about writing a book about Sikhism and states, "I was recently sent a review copy of a nonfiction book on Sikhism. I'm not Sikh, so I got a friend who is to read the book and give me his comments. He found a few errors I might have missed, yet confirmed that the author had, all in all, approached the subject with care and respect."

Her quote at the top of the article says it all: "When you're writing of places and people you don't really know, there are times when watching the travel videos just isn't enough!" I agree that it is very important to research what you are writing about because stereotypes and inaccurate information can be avoided by the process doing so.