CCBC-Net Archives

RE: Latino Picture Books

From: Leeper, Angela <aleeper_at_richmond.edu>
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2013 22:56:31 +0000

What does the first day of school, getting a new pet, celebrating a birthda y, attending a sleepover, or loosing a tooth look like in a Latino home? I would love to see more picture books that take common childhood experience s and frame them in the Latino culture. Children of all cultures crave the se books.

Angela Leeper Director of Curriculum Materials Center University of Richmond 28 Westhampton Way Richmond, VA 23173 804-289-8433 (office) 804-287-6369 (fax) aleeper_at_richmond.edu

From: Megan Schliesman
 Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 11:30 AM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject:
 Latino Picture Books

Let's start our discussion for the first part of February: Latino Picture Books: Where Have They Gone? The number of Latino picture b ooks from U.S. trade book publishers has never been vast, but in 2012 the o utput was notably grim. We first noticed it at the CCBC as we'd look for b ooks to include in our monthly discussions and later as we read and selecte d titles for CCBC Choices, our annual best-of-the-year list. So when the 2 013 Pure BelprŠ¹ Award Illustrator Award had no honor books, we know we we re not the only ones unsurprised. It's hard to find a body of outstanding n ew books to honor when the overall number is so low. What's happening here? Why isn't there a constant and steady stream of new Latino picture books to not only respond to the changing demographics of our nation but the need s and interests of all children? We invite your thoughts during the first p art of February.

We know many others are paying attention to this. We hear all the time fr om Wisconsin librarians and teachers about the need for more Latino literat ure, including books in Spanish.

What is going on? And perhaps just as important, what can we in the library and education and publishing communities do? (I know the answer seems obv ious from publishers, but it seems we all have a role to play when it comes to supporting the need for books like these.) Megan

-- 
Megan Schliesman, Librarian 
Cooperative Children's Book Center 
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 
600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 
Madison, WI 53706 
608/262-9503 
schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu 
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ 
---
Received on Tue 05 Feb 2013 10:56:31 PM CST