American Indians in Children's Literature

"How!" is not the way American Indians say 'hello'

In old westerns, Indians are shown saying 'hello' to white people by saying "how" and raising the right hand (as if to take an oath). While most kids don't watch these old westerns, they do watch cartoons that represent this. It can be seen in an episode of the Muppet Babies, the Transcontinental Whoo-Whoo. And, it is also seen in Disney's Peter Pan, which is being released again.

Teachers, parents, librarians, big brothers and sisters... If you buy Peter Pan and watch it with a child, please point out the stereotypes of American Indians shown throughout the film.

[Note: Earlier on this post, I referenced 2nd graders who are posing questions to me about American Indians. I misunderstood a question that was posed again and again. They asked me what 'ho' means. I thought they were misspelling "how" but I was wrong on two points. The students are 4th graders, and they are, indeed, asking what "ho" means. Apparently, Joseph Bruchac uses that utterance to get student's attention when he does school visits. I don't think there is any Native significance to his utterance. It's just something he does, much like teachers who turn lights on and off to refocus a classroom of children. I asked librarians if they knew of books with "how" in them as a Native word for hello, and heard back from many who said they do not have books like this, but several see kids using this word on the playground. One woman told me she saw a teacher teach this word to children in her class.]