CCBC-Net Archives
Re: Latino Picture Books
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Woltering, Denise C <dwolteri_at_tulane.edu>
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:32:42 +0000
I have been very interested in this discussion as it has been one circulati ng and building for a couple years now (if not more). I have been on the Am йricas Award committee for a couple years and am now one of the coordinators of the award original ly founded by Julie Kline at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 1993. I t is so interesting to learn about some of the potential reasons there are fewer books being published/written/read on Latinos and Latin American cult ure in general in children's books.
This award highlights a books potential for classroom use. Through teacher workshops and curriculum development with teachers, librarians, and author s and illustrators themselves, it has been very interesting to see how this dialogue continues to frustrate many. It was very interesting to learn in the process about how to increase interest and diversity in quality Latino themed books which was done nicely with Monica Brown's "Side by Side: The S tory of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/Lado a Lado: La Historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez." http://www.monicabrown.net/books/huerta.html This book created a more diverse appreciation of the United Farmworkers Ass ociation. Increasing the diversity of Latino themed and books on Latin Ame rican culture is another issue I hope publishers will strive to fix. I appr eciate the publishers effort thus far but hope the frustration felt in the classrooms and libraries over a lack of quality diverse books on Latinos or Latin America is motivation alone to increasing b oth the writing and publi shing of these books.
Denise Woltering Vargas Manager, Educational & Community Programs Tulane University Stone Center for Latin American Studies 100 Jones Hall New Orleans, LA 70118-5698 TEL 504.862.3143 CEL 504.376.9492 FAX 504.865.6719 Stonecenter.tulane.edu
From: "jlow_at_leeandlow.com "
Date: Thursday, February 7, 2013 10:09 AM To: CCBC
Subject:
Latino Picture Books
I have been following this thread with interest and noticed Jason Wells of Abrams has been the only publisher to comment. As we celebrate our 20th yea r of publishing this year, I do have some good news to offer in regards to new Latino picture books in the pipeline.
We will be publishing a few Latino themed titles from our main LEE & LOW li ne and recently acquired Children's Book Press imprint this year. Note: A c ouple of the tiles while Latino themed will not be eligible under current g uidelines for the Belpre because the creators are not of Latino/Hispanic ba ckground. If the Belpre committee is finding a lack of titles to choose fro m it might consider revisiting the rule regarding the ethnic background of the book's creators. Of course if this rule were relaxed it would be a give n that all titles would be held to the high standards of authenticity to in sure quality and culture sensitivity. There is also the option of going bac k to a bi-annual award.
I completely agree with what Lulu Delacre's comments about the shifting tid e of public opinion and politics. Decision makers and editors read the pape rs and the volatility around Latino civil rights in our country is unsettle d and does not bode well for acquisitions.
For LEE & LOW our commitment to multicultural publishing runs deep. Providi ng multicultural themed books for children is our mission. But as an indepe ndent publisher our output has been and will continue to be small, focused, and steady. The question keeps coming up of why larger houses do not incre ase their offerings to the Latino market and I can only surmise that part o f the answer has to do with what internal measuring stick is being used to define how many books sold equals a successful book. Our benchmarks for wha t we deem to be a strong selling title may be another houses cut off point for putting a book out of print. The decisions that drive this issue boils down to pure mathematics.
The only viable solution to preventing the offerings from eroding further i s to support the houses that are publishing Latino books now. Presses like Cinco Punto and LEE & LOW do not have to be convinced that these books are important, we already believe it. When we acquired Children's Book Press it insured that a powerful bilingual backlist would live on. Without real fin ancial support, our publishing program will not grow. While this conclusion may come off as obvious or at worst self serving it is a fact.
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:32:42 +0000
I have been very interested in this discussion as it has been one circulati ng and building for a couple years now (if not more). I have been on the Am йricas Award committee for a couple years and am now one of the coordinators of the award original ly founded by Julie Kline at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 1993. I t is so interesting to learn about some of the potential reasons there are fewer books being published/written/read on Latinos and Latin American cult ure in general in children's books.
This award highlights a books potential for classroom use. Through teacher workshops and curriculum development with teachers, librarians, and author s and illustrators themselves, it has been very interesting to see how this dialogue continues to frustrate many. It was very interesting to learn in the process about how to increase interest and diversity in quality Latino themed books which was done nicely with Monica Brown's "Side by Side: The S tory of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/Lado a Lado: La Historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez." http://www.monicabrown.net/books/huerta.html This book created a more diverse appreciation of the United Farmworkers Ass ociation. Increasing the diversity of Latino themed and books on Latin Ame rican culture is another issue I hope publishers will strive to fix. I appr eciate the publishers effort thus far but hope the frustration felt in the classrooms and libraries over a lack of quality diverse books on Latinos or Latin America is motivation alone to increasing b oth the writing and publi shing of these books.
Denise Woltering Vargas Manager, Educational & Community Programs Tulane University Stone Center for Latin American Studies 100 Jones Hall New Orleans, LA 70118-5698 TEL 504.862.3143 CEL 504.376.9492 FAX 504.865.6719 Stonecenter.tulane.edu
From: "jlow_at_leeandlow.com "
Date: Thursday, February 7, 2013 10:09 AM To: CCBC
Subject:
Latino Picture Books
I have been following this thread with interest and noticed Jason Wells of Abrams has been the only publisher to comment. As we celebrate our 20th yea r of publishing this year, I do have some good news to offer in regards to new Latino picture books in the pipeline.
We will be publishing a few Latino themed titles from our main LEE & LOW li ne and recently acquired Children's Book Press imprint this year. Note: A c ouple of the tiles while Latino themed will not be eligible under current g uidelines for the Belpre because the creators are not of Latino/Hispanic ba ckground. If the Belpre committee is finding a lack of titles to choose fro m it might consider revisiting the rule regarding the ethnic background of the book's creators. Of course if this rule were relaxed it would be a give n that all titles would be held to the high standards of authenticity to in sure quality and culture sensitivity. There is also the option of going bac k to a bi-annual award.
I completely agree with what Lulu Delacre's comments about the shifting tid e of public opinion and politics. Decision makers and editors read the pape rs and the volatility around Latino civil rights in our country is unsettle d and does not bode well for acquisitions.
For LEE & LOW our commitment to multicultural publishing runs deep. Providi ng multicultural themed books for children is our mission. But as an indepe ndent publisher our output has been and will continue to be small, focused, and steady. The question keeps coming up of why larger houses do not incre ase their offerings to the Latino market and I can only surmise that part o f the answer has to do with what internal measuring stick is being used to define how many books sold equals a successful book. Our benchmarks for wha t we deem to be a strong selling title may be another houses cut off point for putting a book out of print. The decisions that drive this issue boils down to pure mathematics.
The only viable solution to preventing the offerings from eroding further i s to support the houses that are publishing Latino books now. Presses like Cinco Punto and LEE & LOW do not have to be convinced that these books are important, we already believe it. When we acquired Children's Book Press it insured that a powerful bilingual backlist would live on. Without real fin ancial support, our publishing program will not grow. While this conclusion may come off as obvious or at worst self serving it is a fact.
--- Jason Low Publisher LEE & LOW BOOKS 95 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 t. 212-779-4400 x. 27 f. 212-683-1894 e. jlow_at_leeandlow.com Learn more at leeandlow.com . Please consider the environment before printing this email ---Received on Thu 07 Feb 2013 04:32:42 PM CST
