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RE: Tight Times and Poverty
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From: Sarah Prielipp <sprielipp_at_sagchip.org>
Date: Fri, 13 May 2011 12:30:59 -0400
Unfortunately, current economy what it is, I think the situations described by Mr. Sullivan here are more realistic and happening at higher socioeconomic levels than just poverty/working class. Families have to make more difficult decisions about vacations, schools, sports, eating out, etc. as their finite incomes (whether from working class or professional jobs, single- or double-income households) become budgeted toward everyday necessities like groceries and gas to get to work for those who do not have public transportation. While these are luxuries and should perhaps not be "expected," it is difficult for children to understand why the family cannot go to the movies as regularly or take vacations or even just go for ice cream when this has been their previous norms. Tight times do not affect just the "poor." Perhaps books about frugality and living with a "less is more" perspective for children might be good settings or situations for children's authors as well. Maybe parents need these lessons too.
Sarah Prielipp
Tribal Librarian
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe
7070 E. Broadway
Mt. Pleasant,MI 48858
989.775.4519
sprielipp_at_sagchip.org
Find books and more: www.youseemore.com/saginaw
________________________________
From: sully_at_sully-writer.com
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 11:51 AM To: 'CCBC Network' Subject: RE:
Tight Times and Poverty
What I would like to see are more children's stories portraying families that are called the "working poor." The kind of people depicted in adult nonfiction works like Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed and David K. Shipler's The Working Poor: Invisible in America. These are the people who clean the hotel rooms where we stay, serve the meals and wash the dishes at the restaurants where we eat, stock the shelves and man the cash registers at the places where we shop.
When possible, I've made a point of traveling on Greyhound buses the last couple of years to save money, be more "green," and to deny the greedy airline industry some business. It's been an eye-opening experience traveling by bus. You see a whole other side of America, one I don't depicted much in children's books.
Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian Author, The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb (Holiday House, 2007) Visit my web site, http://www.sully-writer.com Visit my blog, Rogue Librarian: All About Books and Reading http://sullywriter.wordpress.com Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/sullywriter
Date: Fri, 13 May 2011 12:30:59 -0400
Unfortunately, current economy what it is, I think the situations described by Mr. Sullivan here are more realistic and happening at higher socioeconomic levels than just poverty/working class. Families have to make more difficult decisions about vacations, schools, sports, eating out, etc. as their finite incomes (whether from working class or professional jobs, single- or double-income households) become budgeted toward everyday necessities like groceries and gas to get to work for those who do not have public transportation. While these are luxuries and should perhaps not be "expected," it is difficult for children to understand why the family cannot go to the movies as regularly or take vacations or even just go for ice cream when this has been their previous norms. Tight times do not affect just the "poor." Perhaps books about frugality and living with a "less is more" perspective for children might be good settings or situations for children's authors as well. Maybe parents need these lessons too.
Sarah Prielipp
Tribal Librarian
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe
7070 E. Broadway
Mt. Pleasant,MI 48858
989.775.4519
sprielipp_at_sagchip.org
Find books and more: www.youseemore.com/saginaw
________________________________
From: sully_at_sully-writer.com
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 11:51 AM To: 'CCBC Network' Subject: RE:
Tight Times and Poverty
What I would like to see are more children's stories portraying families that are called the "working poor." The kind of people depicted in adult nonfiction works like Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed and David K. Shipler's The Working Poor: Invisible in America. These are the people who clean the hotel rooms where we stay, serve the meals and wash the dishes at the restaurants where we eat, stock the shelves and man the cash registers at the places where we shop.
When possible, I've made a point of traveling on Greyhound buses the last couple of years to save money, be more "green," and to deny the greedy airline industry some business. It's been an eye-opening experience traveling by bus. You see a whole other side of America, one I don't depicted much in children's books.
Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian Author, The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb (Holiday House, 2007) Visit my web site, http://www.sully-writer.com Visit my blog, Rogue Librarian: All About Books and Reading http://sullywriter.wordpress.com Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/sullywriter
---Received on Fri 13 May 2011 12:30:59 PM CDT
