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When Marian Sang
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From: PMunozRyan at aol.com <PMunozRyan>
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 12:37:17 EST
I have been away for a week and am catching up on my CCBC reading. Please forgive me if this is off topic but I feel compelled to respond to the Dec. 6th post (below) regarding my recent picture book, When Marian Sang, illustrated by Brian Selznick.
My omission of the name of the Daughters of the American Revolution had nothing to do with an attempt at a "whitewash" and I never once considered that children "couldn't handle" reading about the group's identity. My frustration with this issue (for which I was also criticized in the Horn Book Review) comes from the tedious and careful decision-making that preceded the book's publication regarding this very point. My response today is to point out that sometimes an author's reasons for a particular avenue often have well-meaning intentions, even if they are not perceived that way.
It was with great care, many discussions with my editors, and for several reasons that I decided to not identify the group in the text. First, the D.A.R. had not been mentioned earlier in the book so the introduction at that point would have warranted explanation and elaboration. That seemed burdensome and would have interrupted the pacing and impetus of the story at a dramatic point in the book. It was my feeling that a young reader would question, "Who?" or a teacher reading the book to a child would have to stop to define the Daughters of the American Revolution (not an easy explanation.)
I also weighed, at length, another issue. If I named the D.A.R., then shouldn't I implicitly name the high school for failing to grant use of their auditorium, or the many towns who presented Marian Anderson the key to the city but denied her a hotel room, not to mention the names of the hotels? Or even the music school in South Philadelphia where she was denied enrollment?
(In her autobiography, My Lord, What A Morning, Marian Anderson refused to name the school.) It is difficult to measure the degree of injustice and prejudice in these varied instances. They were all cruel on many levels.
Finally, I did not name the D.A.R. in the text as a result of archival research, interviews, readings and the subsequent discovery and respect for Marian Anderson's feelings. She did not want to single out the entire membership of this national organization for something she felt were the feelings of one committee and their lack of understanding (whether that held true or not, Ms. Anderson had those convictions.) This point was covered briefly in my author's note but had much deeper roots to Ms. Anderson's attitudes about controversy and is explained in depth in Marian Anderson: A Singer's Journey, by Allan Keiler.
Ultimately, my primary loyalty was to the young readers, with the hope that the overarching appeal of a story would be compelling enough to lead them and/or the adults in their lives to continued reading in the author's note, upon their first reading of the book or later. Whether that was accomplished remains in their (and your) hands.
With great respect for these discussions, Pam Mu?oz Ryan
Received on Fri 13 Dec 2002 11:37:17 AM CST
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 12:37:17 EST
I have been away for a week and am catching up on my CCBC reading. Please forgive me if this is off topic but I feel compelled to respond to the Dec. 6th post (below) regarding my recent picture book, When Marian Sang, illustrated by Brian Selznick.
My omission of the name of the Daughters of the American Revolution had nothing to do with an attempt at a "whitewash" and I never once considered that children "couldn't handle" reading about the group's identity. My frustration with this issue (for which I was also criticized in the Horn Book Review) comes from the tedious and careful decision-making that preceded the book's publication regarding this very point. My response today is to point out that sometimes an author's reasons for a particular avenue often have well-meaning intentions, even if they are not perceived that way.
It was with great care, many discussions with my editors, and for several reasons that I decided to not identify the group in the text. First, the D.A.R. had not been mentioned earlier in the book so the introduction at that point would have warranted explanation and elaboration. That seemed burdensome and would have interrupted the pacing and impetus of the story at a dramatic point in the book. It was my feeling that a young reader would question, "Who?" or a teacher reading the book to a child would have to stop to define the Daughters of the American Revolution (not an easy explanation.)
I also weighed, at length, another issue. If I named the D.A.R., then shouldn't I implicitly name the high school for failing to grant use of their auditorium, or the many towns who presented Marian Anderson the key to the city but denied her a hotel room, not to mention the names of the hotels? Or even the music school in South Philadelphia where she was denied enrollment?
(In her autobiography, My Lord, What A Morning, Marian Anderson refused to name the school.) It is difficult to measure the degree of injustice and prejudice in these varied instances. They were all cruel on many levels.
Finally, I did not name the D.A.R. in the text as a result of archival research, interviews, readings and the subsequent discovery and respect for Marian Anderson's feelings. She did not want to single out the entire membership of this national organization for something she felt were the feelings of one committee and their lack of understanding (whether that held true or not, Ms. Anderson had those convictions.) This point was covered briefly in my author's note but had much deeper roots to Ms. Anderson's attitudes about controversy and is explained in depth in Marian Anderson: A Singer's Journey, by Allan Keiler.
Ultimately, my primary loyalty was to the young readers, with the hope that the overarching appeal of a story would be compelling enough to lead them and/or the adults in their lives to continued reading in the author's note, upon their first reading of the book or later. Whether that was accomplished remains in their (and your) hands.
With great respect for these discussions, Pam Mu?oz Ryan
Received on Fri 13 Dec 2002 11:37:17 AM CST
