From: sully_at_sully-writer.com
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:52:17 -0700

nt In my experience as librarian, I've f ound that kids of all ages are discerning readers. They recognize when they're reading a book they're not ready for and put it dow n. I've never known a reader to be traumatized by what he/she read. It's qu ite often that kids find it quite healing to read a book about a trauma tha t they or someone they know suffered. One that immediately comes to mind is Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak . Laurie has received thousands of l etters from girls and young women over the years who are vicitms of rape wh o found the story healing.

Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian Author, T he Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb (Holiday Ho use, 2007) Visit my web site, ht tp://www.sully-writer.com Visit my blog, Rogue Librarian: All About Books and Reading http://sul ly writer.wordpress.com Facebook Page: .c http://www.facebook.com/sullywriter
 &nbs p;

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inal Message -------- Subject: Re:
 How much...? From: Rosa

nne Parry rosanneparry_at_co mc ast.net Date: Sat, November 19, 2011 8:46 pm To: "m sully_at_sully-writer.com Cc: Christine T aylor-Butler kansascit ym om_at_earthlink.net , ccbc-net s. ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu

I am going to disagree but only in part. Certainly there is value in the "unfiltered" view of of a da rk and difficult topic. But some readers are not ready for it. Age and matu rity is one factor. But here's another. Suppose I have in my classroom an A frican student who has immigrated to the US having been subject to rape and torture, and a witness to genocide? Does that student really need to a no- holds-barred description of the brutality, horror, and tragedy of slavery? Or does that book re-traumatize a person who already knows everything she n eeds to about human brutality?
 
 
 I think w hat' s needed is a range of intensity on any dark and difficult topic. The Cats in Krasinski Square by Karen Hess is a morsel of information about the Holo caust. A picture book audience can digest it without having to face down th e full plate of torture and death. That small sample opens the conversation which can continue with Devils Arithmetic, Number the Stars, Diary of Anne Frank, Maus and many others. A childhood favorite of mine, Snow Treasure, touched very lightly on the brutality of Nazi's, but got me curious enough at the age of 9  to look up the Nazi's in Poland in the encyclopedia, which lead me to concentration camps, a topic I found much easier to read a bout in a non-fiction format.
 
 
 I'm sure most of you are aware of the talk given by Cimamanda Adichie, The Danger o f a Single Story.  One of the things I love about this list and child_ lit is that people will pull together a list of books on a topic, so that w e all become aware of the range of what's available and can steer readers t o a book at the appropriate reading level but also the appropriate intensit y level. "true"

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bsp-mo Rosanne Parry DI SECOND FIDDLE, 2011
 HEART OF A SHEPHERD, 2009

www. rosann eparry.com

IV On N ov 1 9, 2011, at 4:25 PM, D_bl sully_at_sully-writer.com wrote: an

-LEF

AMILY:

I agree with much of what you say, Christine, and I'm glad you men tioned Tom Feelings's The Middle Passage . That is certainly one of the most powerful books about slavery published for young people I have ev er seen and its power is indeed owed to fact that Feelings holds nothing ba ck in his depicition of the brutality, horror and tragedy of slavery. Anoth er book I find immensely powerful because of the honest approach to th e subject is Chris Crowe's Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case . I say the more honest and "unfiltered" the appro ach to such subjects, the better.

Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian Auth or, The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb (Hol iday House, 2007) Visit my web site, r. http://www.sully-writer.com Visit my blog, R og ue Librarian: All About Books and Reading or http://sullywriter.wordpress.com Face bo ok Page: ht tp://www.facebook.com/sullywriter KQUO TE style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 8px; FONT-FAMILY: ve rdana; COLOR: black; MARGIN-LEFT: 8px; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=replyBlockqu ot
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Subject: Re: 
 How much...?
From: Christine Taylor-Butle
r ka nsas citymom_at_earthlink.net 
Date: Sat, November 19, 2011 4:18 pm
To : ccbc-net c cbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu 
 
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Man y writers are attempting to write controversial subjects from a more honest vantage point. But those manuscripts aren't getting through the gatekeeper s. In some cases, the characters are adjusted (or the authors learn to writ e) characters that are hopeful, cuddly, or (you fill in the blanks) have a non-ambiguous feel good ending. But children don't always live a reality wi th a happy ending. Life is messier than that.
Children's publishing is about profits, not pursuit of truth. So what is published isn't necessar ily representative of what's being submitted which is why so many establish ed authors are quietly looking at options to produce some work independentl y.  And, truth be told, I know several authors of award winning books that smile for the camera but don't "love" the book that was edited and pub lished because of what was changed or stripped out.  So I think it's a n important distinction that a published book may or may not always represe nt the author's intent. Said a close friend: "I was forced to write a book I didn't want to write with a character I didn't love anymore." But to say that in public would be political suicide. The proof, for me, is when the o nly people raving about the books and recommending it to others are the adu lts not the children it was intended for.
On the flip side, there ar e some subjects that are easier to absorb when seen from a distance. I don' t need to touch the dead body with my own hands to know a horrific crime wa s committed.  I do think, however, that the media does tend to mine th e same territories ad nauseum for safety reasons and because they're a "sur e bet" to earn out an advance. 
But yes - children are subject ed to brutal death in Harry Potter, a horrific, bloody pregnancy in Breakin g Dawn, but we can't talk about the things they see every day on TV. A good example of a book that is "unfiltered" in it's raw honesty is THE M IDDLE PASSAGE by the late Tom Feelings. I couldn't get through the book in one sitting and it does require some cushion for a child to decompress thos e brutal images. But it knocks the message out of the park.
The plac e for us to start is to demand more honesty and more variety of voices at a cquisitions. Publishing is the only industry I've ever worked with that spe nds little or no time with its end-user.  Instead, we allow the voices of additional gatekeepers down the line to filter the material and influen ce what is produced. By the time the child gets their hands on the material , it may be far removed from what the author - or illustrator - intended. Based on my work with college bound students over the past few decade s, and from countless school visits working with younger students for the d ay, I've always contended that if publishers actually KNEW their readers, t hey'd have more of them clamoring for their books without an adult putting it in their hands.......C e 
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From: Claudia Pearson
S 
AN sty le="FONT-FAMILY: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif" class=3 DApp 
I do not understand why it is okay to write about vampires ripping humans ap art, but not okay to write about humans doing the same thing to one another , especially when it is a truth which needs to be taught and explored with the hope that it could be prevented from ever happening again. 
lace 
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Received on Sat 19 Nov 2011 09:52:17 PM CST