CCBC-Net Archives
Forward from GraceAnne and John
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Debbie Reese <d-reese>
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 1997 13:01:16 -0600 (CST)
Debbie:
You've brought me down out of the trees for this one, so let me introduce myself: I have been a children's librarian (at New York Public) for some fifteen years, an active book reviewer for Kirkus and SLJ (and NYPL, which still asks for staff reviews for new children's books before they're put up for order), and
(he writes with a Cheshire Cat grin) chaired the 1997 Newbery committee. The issue of stereotypes has been something I've wrestled with ever since I wrote a glowing review of Zemach's _Jake and Honeybunch Go To Heaven_ and was shown the error of my ways by Barbara Rollock--she compared it to "Green Pastures". Ever since, I have tried to distinguish between the author's preconceptions and my own, and to make clear in reviews which are which--and I think we do have to talk about "preconceptions", because if an author is consciously creating stereotypes, it's hard to see how his or her story (unless it's a farce, maybe) could deserve respectful treatment. How's that for a long sentence? Anyway, if you're asking whether to mention stereotypes in a review, I'd say yes, but only if you can prove it. If you're asking just what constitutes a stereotype--well, I ask the assembled multitudes: is a general, universally applicable definition possible?
John Peters (jepeters at nypl.org)(using GraceAnne's e-mail because I'm on vacation)
Debbie Reese Doctoral Student Early Childhood Education University of Illinois 51 Gerty Drive Champaign, IL 61820t69 Office #: (217) 33386 Home #: (217) 38428 d-reese at uiuc.edu
Received on Sat 22 Feb 1997 01:01:16 PM CST
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 1997 13:01:16 -0600 (CST)
Debbie:
You've brought me down out of the trees for this one, so let me introduce myself: I have been a children's librarian (at New York Public) for some fifteen years, an active book reviewer for Kirkus and SLJ (and NYPL, which still asks for staff reviews for new children's books before they're put up for order), and
(he writes with a Cheshire Cat grin) chaired the 1997 Newbery committee. The issue of stereotypes has been something I've wrestled with ever since I wrote a glowing review of Zemach's _Jake and Honeybunch Go To Heaven_ and was shown the error of my ways by Barbara Rollock--she compared it to "Green Pastures". Ever since, I have tried to distinguish between the author's preconceptions and my own, and to make clear in reviews which are which--and I think we do have to talk about "preconceptions", because if an author is consciously creating stereotypes, it's hard to see how his or her story (unless it's a farce, maybe) could deserve respectful treatment. How's that for a long sentence? Anyway, if you're asking whether to mention stereotypes in a review, I'd say yes, but only if you can prove it. If you're asking just what constitutes a stereotype--well, I ask the assembled multitudes: is a general, universally applicable definition possible?
John Peters (jepeters at nypl.org)(using GraceAnne's e-mail because I'm on vacation)
Debbie Reese Doctoral Student Early Childhood Education University of Illinois 51 Gerty Drive Champaign, IL 61820t69 Office #: (217) 33386 Home #: (217) 38428 d-reese at uiuc.edu
Received on Sat 22 Feb 1997 01:01:16 PM CST
