An incident concerning Wilder's depiction of Native Americans occurred in 1998, when an eight-year-old girl was read Little House on the Prairie in her elementary school class. In the book, a minor character says "The only good Indian is a dead Indian," to which Pa replies that "he didn't know about that. He figured that Indians would be as peacable as anybody else if they were let alone." The girl came home crying and her mother, Angela Cavender Wilson, a member of the Wahpetunwan Dakota nation and a scholar of Native American history, challenged the school on its use of the book in the classroom. This was one of many statements and actions that prompted the American Library Association to investigate and ultimately change the name of the Wilder Award to the Children's Literature Legacy Award. This award is given to books that have made a large impact on children's literature in America.
