From: Nancy Lemke <bookhandler>
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 16:34:26 -0700

I just joined the CCBC service and caught the tail end of your thought-provoking discussion. One of the commenters mentioned the need to let people know about fine books when you come across them and to not let them languish into remainders. I see that as part of my job, so that's the perspective I'll add here. I am a bookseller and a writer of children's non-fiction. I am best known as a resource for materials on California Native Americans and California history for children. I travel through the state looking for quality materials in small museums and local bookstores, as well as from the big publishers. I put a lot of thought into the selection process of what ultimately ends up in my catalog, and how I write them up. I describe not only what I see as their strengths and value in the classroom, but also their weaknesses. My hope is that my customers (teachers and librarians) will learn to know how my selections fit with their values and needs and buy accordingly. CCBC's conversations in the past few days have pinpointed many of the frustrations and dilemmas I face as I go through the selection process.

In six years I am learning what teachers and librarians are looking for in my subject area. (Unfortunately, at times, this also equals what they will buy, and being a business, I have to keep that in mind.) I am thrilled when I find a wonderful new book like Home to Medicine Mountain, the true story of the illustrator, Judith Lowry's, father and uncle, Mountain Maidu and Hamawi-Pit River Native people, and their experiences at an Indian school in Riverside, California. I can hardly wait to get a book like that in my catalog because I know it is well done, and assume it will sell well and convey good information to its children readers. But my faith is not always proven accurate. I was just as excited about When the World Ended, Rumsien Ohlone Stories by Linda Yamane, a Rumsien Ohlone Native, and it sold so poorly I no longer carry it. Why the difference in sales? I don't know.

I am just as frustrated about Waheenee, An Indian Girl's Story Told by Herself to Gilbert L. Wilson. This is a fine book, from my point of view. It's the detailed memoirs of a remarkable Hidatsa woman ( I also sell books on Native people from other parts of the US) born in 1839. Her descriptions of life in her village are clear and direct. Her comments about her family convey deep feeling with which children today can identify. To me its authentic voice fits the needs of teachers, librarians and students. So its slow sales are a surprise and irritation to me, but it's still in the catalog. This year I added The Flight of Red Bird, The Life of Zitkala-Sa, which is in large part the own words of this memorable Yankton Native woman, and I hope it will do better. We'll see.

I guess, what I'm voicing is the dilemma many of us feel as people who wish to get quality books (readable, accurate, balanced and human) to children on sensitive topics, and deal with our own realities of life. For me, the structures of my customers' professions dictate some of their choices. Teachers ask me, "I only have two days to cover Native Americans, what's the best you've got for slow readers?" Librarians ask, "Does it come in hardback and where has it been reviewed?" Both of these are difficult criteria for small publishers to meet.

I am currently considering becoming a publisher of the books I see we need for kids on California history. But it is a real struggle to balance the need for integrity that I feel deeply, with the need to make a living. It's also hard to develop a true voice as a publisher, and know it will not match everyone's values. I appreciate the CCBC discussion which is opening my ideas.

Nancy Lemke
Received on Sun 31 Oct 1999 05:34:26 PM CST