From: Betty Tisel <tiselfar_at_visi.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:14:05 -0600

ures. how much to tell...

Hi folks,

thanks for the great topic and discussion.

People have already said this - but - I think it bears repeating - various children are already experiencing all the harsh realities. We can affirm children who are experiencing these things by publishing books that reflect the reality of their lives.

There is a negative consequence for children never seeing their reality reflected in printed words and pictures. "If it never shows up in books, I must be the only one." Not that readers consciously form that sentence....

At an Overcoming Racism conference this past weekend, I thought a lot about my white, economically privileged, mostly sheltered children. They too have had experiences which I will not share here but would be considered material for Tough Topics books. At the same time, they have not experienced many of the things they've read about, and my son (17) practically broke down and sobbed at the dinner table last week when I was talking about today's slavery and human trafficking. (I had done that app/survey/quiz that figures out how many people in the world in slavery or near-slavery conditions are working to make the stuff one's family uses. Our number was 61. The slave plantation/sweatshop is alive and well, it's just that we can't SEE the people who are working for us.)

I think there has been some good stuff written/quoted/published pertaining to our discussion, regarding The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The humor, the wonderful, unforgettable humor in that book will send me back to re-read it again and again. Nonfiction authors don't have as much room to inject humor into their work. I suppose they could try to interview funny survivors and include their quotes in the work!

Betty Tisel betty_at_tiselfarley.com Minneapolis mom, reader, book advocate
Received on Mon 21 Nov 2011 11:14:05 AM CST