From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 17:20:54 -0600

Thanks to Lulu Delacre for sharing your perspective as an author and artist. It's discouraging for us, as it is for you, to find out that even award winning books are out of print. Are there other authors and artists who want to speak up?

Rosemary Brosnan, we appreciate your long-time editorial commitment to publishing excellent books, period, among which are books by Latino authors such as the late Omar Castenada and Lyll Becerra de Jenkins. Thanks for taking time to interpret how you've attempted to locate manuscripts and the small steps taken so far within the publishing community to reach the specific markets, as well as the general ones for Latino literature. We'd love to hear from other publishers and editors, as well.

It's important to hear from professional librarians working directly with today's children's such as Susan Daugherty, an active school library media specialist, along with public librarians Nina Lindsay and Angela Reynolds. It's good to read the appreciation of a particular Pura Belpre book from a parent such as Ruth Quiroa. Are there other school or public librarians or parents who want to step up to the open mike?

Carolyn Lehman's observation about "educator awareness" strikes an important chord with me and my CCBC colleagues. We talk with so many prospective teachers as they use the CCBC in a variety of ways. If the annual award and honor books, such as the Pura Belpre books or the Americas Award books to which we call their attention, might not even available for sale two years later, then what can be done, indeed? Thanks, Katy, for bring the Americas Award into our discussion. (By the way, this out-of-print issue for prospective teachers expands into a larger issue for teachers today as it relates to annual professional lists of "best books," such as the notable language arts books, or the notable social studies books of the year, as well.) We welcome comments from teachers of children and teachers of prospective teachers.

Uma Krishnaswami's observation about readers have been echoed in other ways. I, too, have wondered why it is that publishing representatives or booksellers or librarians or teachers would think a certain body of literature is of interest only to the people about whom it is written or whose culture it might - in part - reflect. Most certainly it is of compelling interest to those who find it to mirror or specifically inform some of their experience. However, it is - or might be - of great interest to many readers if only they knew about it. That's one of the reasons we spend almost two months talking on CCBC-Net each year about some of the books given heightened visibility through several of the many awards processes. However, to appeal to readers of any age in a substantial way for very long, award winning books must be excellent as literature, not written as messages or for curriculum purposes alone.

Marc Aronson asked, "Where are the coming of age novels, the memoirs, the rich poetry collections that can give teen age readers entry into these fascinating lives?" Such books do not have to be written by writers of Latino heritage. Think about the outstanding novels by the late Frances Temple whose "Tonight, by Sea" and "Taste of Salt" should never go out of print. However, before anyone goes off on a tangent after reading my remark, please remember that it's very very difficult to write well, period. Just doing that in itself is a remarkable accomplishment.

Writing outstanding fiction means imagining oneself in another's life, or in the lives, times, and cultures of many others. It's all the more challenging to write superbly if one doesn't live in the same environment, or if one is of a different gender, or if one lives at a different time, or in a different region, etc. In other words, it's always a challenge to move beyond the familiar when writing fiction, even when one is a skilled, imaginative writer.

It's an even greater challenge when the media to which one has been exposed throughout childhood and adulthood has contained such consistent misinformation so as to misrepresent and/or stereotype everyone in a particular group or culture. This is one of the reasons why outsiders to a particular culture or heritage often make incredible mistakes, and as Rosemary pointed out, often there are not people within the publishing environment who can point out the errors. I would add that there are few reviewers who can point out the errors, either. I was astonished to try to find informed reviews of the books eligible for the Pura Belpre Awards last year. Too many of the reviews were merely disappointing summaries, even those in specialized journals. Any reviewers want to comment about this?

This is one of the reasons for an award such as the Pura Belpre Award. This is why there are awards for handling a particular theme or topic well while - at the same time - writing well, illustrating with artistry. This is why there are awards for writing certain genres well. And this is why there is an award for the publisher of the outstanding translated children's book of the year.

Your informed contributions add so much to the the CCBC-Net discussion of Latino literature in general stemming from the discussion of the 2000 Pura Belpre Award winning and honor books. Please feel free to continue commenting on this subject, while we add translated books to our discussion mix in a brief examination of the 2000 Batchelder Award winners and honor books.

Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at ccbc.education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/) A noncirculating children's and young adult literature library for adults School of Education, University of Wisconsin - Madison Public Service Hours during the campus Spring Recess: Monday Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Received on Mon 13 Mar 2000 05:20:54 PM CST