Debbie Reese is a Nambé Pueblo scholar and educator. Reese founded American Indians in Children's Literature, which analyzes representations of Native and Indigenous peoples in children's literature. She co-edited a young adult adaptation of ''

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States ''An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States'' is a non-fiction book written by the historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and published by Beacon Press. It is the third of a series of six ReVisioning books which reconstruct and reinterpret U.S ...

'' with Jean Mendoza in 2019.

Early life and education

Reese was raised on a reservation in New Mexico and is a tribally enrolled member of the Nambé Pueblo nation. She received her doctoral degree in education from

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

. She later received her MLIS from

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

through a grant that funded 20 Native students to complete the degree.

Career

Prior to obtaining her PhD, she was a school teacher and taught at two American elementary schools, and at two schools for Native Americans: Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, Oklahoma, and

Santa Fe Indian School The Federal Government established the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) in 1890 to educate Native American children from tribes throughout the Southwestern United States. The purpose of creating SFIS was an attempt to assimilate the Native American c ...

in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She previously taught at

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois s ...

. In 2006, Reese founded American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL), an organization and website that offers critical analysis of Native and Indigenous peoples in children's literature. She frequently discusses the inaccuracy of depictions of Natives in classic American children's literature like ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

'' and ''

Little House on the Prairie The ''Little House on the Prairie'' books is a series of American children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (b. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls). The stories are based on her childhood and adolescence in the Midwestern United States, American M ...

'' series, and suggests that they lead readers to believe that Natives are no longer present. Reese advocates for teachers and parents to select books written for and by Native Americans as the best way to engage their narratives. She has repeatedly spoken against the publication of Native stories by white writers from the "big five" publishers. Reese was one of several writers who spoke out against the publication of children's book '' A Birthday Cake for George Washington'' and used AICL to track the publisher's response to the campaign. In 2019, she and Jean Mendoza co-wrote ''An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People'', based on ''

''. The book was named a 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Young Adult Honor Book.

Personal life

Reese resides in New Mexico. She is married and has one daughter.

Works

Accolades

* 2018 - May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award,

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

For ''An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People:''

* Best YA Nonfiction of 2019, '' Kirkus Reviews'' * Best Nonfiction of 2019, ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'' * 2020

American Indian Youth Literature Award The '' American Indian Library Association (AILA) awards'' are presented every two years to recognize the most outstanding contributions to children's literature by and about American Indians. The awards were established as a way to identify and ho ...

for Young Adult Honor Book * 2020

In the Margins Award The In the Margins Award, established in 2013, is an annual literary award presented to fiction and nonfiction "self published books by, for and about people of color living in the margins." The primary audience of the books is generally individua ...

References

External links

Official Twitter

American Indians in Children's Literature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reese, Debbie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Native American academics Native American women writers 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans Indigenous peoples in the United States University of Illinois College of Education alumni San Jose State University alumni 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans American librarians of Native descent