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What Are You?, Latino Literature, The Census
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From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 09:18:48 -0600
The fine book "What Are You? Voices of Mixed-Race Young People by Pearl Fuyo Gaskins (Henry Holt, 1999) comes to mind during our CCBC-Net discussion of the Belpre Award books and Latino literature for young readers in general. With "What Are You? in hand, readers can dip into or browse through first-person statements by 45 mixed-race young people, ages 14&, revealing recurring themes and concerns: the feeling of being rejected by one or more racial groups, the pressure to choose one part of their racial heritage over another, and an unwillingness to be pigeonholed. Find this book. There's nothing like it in books for young adults.
Someone told me or maybe I read it that one reason publishers give for not publishing more Latino literature is that there's not a broad sense of what might be "Latino" as there is "African American." Examine the first part of such an observation by looking at the categories in the current national census. Three of the broad categories one may choose are "Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino." After that, one may also choose one of the following: Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or a category to be named by an individual, i.e.fill in this blank "other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino." Take a close look at your census form when it arrives in your mail. You'll find other categories of self-identification very interesting. I thought of the book "What Are You?" as I read the census form early this morning.
If there's an assumption that any Latino literature must appeal to all Latinos, one has to wonder who in a publishing house asks about this? Maybe it's the internal entity asking who will buy this book if we acquire this fine manuscript? Rosemary Brosnan's anecdote about a large urban bookstore being unwilling to stock a particular Latino picture book story about Three Kings Day haunts me. Are there marketing folks in publishing houses and supersized bookstores who assume that Latino families don't buy books? don't use public libraries? don't read to their children? don't want their children to read? don't want their children to see something of themselves in some of the books they read at school or get from a library? who assume that non-Latinos have absolutely no interest in a picture book story about Three Kings Day?
With these rhetorical questions in mind, please remember that I am not advocating that books of ordinary or mediocre quality be published
- or given an award - to "meet a need" or "fill a gap," as the sayings go. It does no writer or artist any good to be named for an award for which her/his book is not deserving, and it certainly does not serve children and young adults responsibly to do that. I prefer not to name an award winner - any award, you name it - in a given year than to pander or patronize in order to "meet a need" or "fill a gap." Perhaps the large urban bookstore felt that the particular book in question was ordinary or mediocre. I venture that this reason wouldn't fly with most of us any more than it did with Rosemary. Why? Because we routinely see so many ordinary or mediocre books promoted for sale in large urban bookstores. However, whether or not a bookseller decides to stock a book is altogether different from a professional book committee's deliberations.
Perhaps the above quandries will help to interpret the enormous challenge and responsibility of reaching a group consensus on any book award committee, even those whose only charge is to identify
"distinguished art or writing." Add the second level to "distinguished art or writing" and then perhaps one can begin to understand both the importance of awards taking into account standard criteria for excellence along with a specific other perspective on excellence. Find the book "What Am I?" It might not clarify the questions some of us are asking, but it will provide essential personal insights at a time when impersonal census statistics will begin to dominate the news.
Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at ccbc.education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/) A Library of the 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 Tue 14 Mar 2000 09:18:48 AM CST
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 09:18:48 -0600
The fine book "What Are You? Voices of Mixed-Race Young People by Pearl Fuyo Gaskins (Henry Holt, 1999) comes to mind during our CCBC-Net discussion of the Belpre Award books and Latino literature for young readers in general. With "What Are You? in hand, readers can dip into or browse through first-person statements by 45 mixed-race young people, ages 14&, revealing recurring themes and concerns: the feeling of being rejected by one or more racial groups, the pressure to choose one part of their racial heritage over another, and an unwillingness to be pigeonholed. Find this book. There's nothing like it in books for young adults.
Someone told me or maybe I read it that one reason publishers give for not publishing more Latino literature is that there's not a broad sense of what might be "Latino" as there is "African American." Examine the first part of such an observation by looking at the categories in the current national census. Three of the broad categories one may choose are "Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino." After that, one may also choose one of the following: Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or a category to be named by an individual, i.e.fill in this blank "other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino." Take a close look at your census form when it arrives in your mail. You'll find other categories of self-identification very interesting. I thought of the book "What Are You?" as I read the census form early this morning.
If there's an assumption that any Latino literature must appeal to all Latinos, one has to wonder who in a publishing house asks about this? Maybe it's the internal entity asking who will buy this book if we acquire this fine manuscript? Rosemary Brosnan's anecdote about a large urban bookstore being unwilling to stock a particular Latino picture book story about Three Kings Day haunts me. Are there marketing folks in publishing houses and supersized bookstores who assume that Latino families don't buy books? don't use public libraries? don't read to their children? don't want their children to read? don't want their children to see something of themselves in some of the books they read at school or get from a library? who assume that non-Latinos have absolutely no interest in a picture book story about Three Kings Day?
With these rhetorical questions in mind, please remember that I am not advocating that books of ordinary or mediocre quality be published
- or given an award - to "meet a need" or "fill a gap," as the sayings go. It does no writer or artist any good to be named for an award for which her/his book is not deserving, and it certainly does not serve children and young adults responsibly to do that. I prefer not to name an award winner - any award, you name it - in a given year than to pander or patronize in order to "meet a need" or "fill a gap." Perhaps the large urban bookstore felt that the particular book in question was ordinary or mediocre. I venture that this reason wouldn't fly with most of us any more than it did with Rosemary. Why? Because we routinely see so many ordinary or mediocre books promoted for sale in large urban bookstores. However, whether or not a bookseller decides to stock a book is altogether different from a professional book committee's deliberations.
Perhaps the above quandries will help to interpret the enormous challenge and responsibility of reaching a group consensus on any book award committee, even those whose only charge is to identify
"distinguished art or writing." Add the second level to "distinguished art or writing" and then perhaps one can begin to understand both the importance of awards taking into account standard criteria for excellence along with a specific other perspective on excellence. Find the book "What Am I?" It might not clarify the questions some of us are asking, but it will provide essential personal insights at a time when impersonal census statistics will begin to dominate the news.
Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at ccbc.education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/) A Library of the 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 Tue 14 Mar 2000 09:18:48 AM CST
