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RE: Latino Picture Books
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From: Barthelmess, Thom <tbarthelmess_at_dom.edu>
Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:34:46 +0000
There are so many facets of this fascinating discussion that I want to chim e in about but I need to speak to Rosanne's salient comments about libraria ns' on-the ground responsibility to support Latino picture books (and lots of other books, too), a responsibility that only begins with buying them.
As librarians, every time we bring a collection of books together we are sa ying something to our users about who we are. And our users, young people w ho are busy figuring out just what the library is and how books and stories will be part of their lives, are listening. An eight-week storytime series presents a selection of books to the community and implicit in that presen tation is a message: these books are the library. We do a terrific job maki ng sure that each individual book is storytime-appropriate. But are we look ing at the books in the aggregate? We produce great booklists of recommende d reading, highlighting individual titles with lots of appeal in all kinds of categories (historical fiction, if you like..., while you're waiting fo r..., etc.). But do we consider the diversity of the list as a whole? These microcosmic collections teach our communities what the library has to offe r. They teach our communities what literature is. We had better be controll ing those messages.
I agree with Rosanne, with all the energy of my heart, that all kids need b ooks about all kinds of people and things. But if we want kids to understan d that, we need to show it to them. We need to buy those books. And then we need to use them and display them and recommend them and write about them and read them aloud. And not just in February or May or from September 15 t o October 15 or whenever. Every time the library says "Look at these books, " in whatever way, let us be sure that the books we point to reflect the di versity of diversity.
$.02, Thom
Thom Barthelmess Curator, Butler Children's Literature Center Graduate School of Library and Information Science Dominican University 7900 W Division St River Forest, IL 60305 v: 708.524.6861 f: 708.524.6657
From: Rosanne Parry
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2013 1:52 PM To: Jason Low; CCBC Subject: Re:
Latino Picture Books
Interesting conversation. I appreciate Jason Low's comments and his dedicat ion to broadening the spectrum of book, but I'm not sure I agree that the d ecisions driving publishing boil down to pure mathematics.
My publisher is huge. Given the recent merger I believe it qualifies as a c ontinent. Yet I've never been asked to tone down or take out non-white char acters, or in fact do anything purely for the purpose of making the book mo re commercially viable. Somebody's minding the bottom line, but they aren't barging into the editorial process to do it. In deciding on my next book m y editor took one about a Quinault and Makah family--a smallish tribe from a fairly remote part of the Pacific Northwest. I had other stories that see med more commercially mainstream to me but he's willing to take a gamble on this one and here's my impression as to why.
My first book about a rural and religiously observant family is far from th e cultural mainstream even though many of the characters are white. It got good critical attention but has never been carried by the chains. Ordinaril y that would be a problem. But librarians and independent booksellers have supported this title and it's done just fine. It's not a blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination but what keeps it in print are the state childr en's choice book award lists, the battle of the books lists, and community- wide reading programs. I think my editor is willing to take a gamble that l ibrarians will find this new title useful in the curriculum and discussion worthy in he community, and that he's willing to take a very small margin o f profit to serve that need. So making sure those regional book award prog rams continue and thrive and keeping librarians in every school is vital to the survival of non-mainstream books.
I like Debbie Reese's idea of 1000 libraries making a point to a publishing house by all ordering a book on the same day. That would be a valuable dem onstration. But I think a better demonstration of your considerable power i n the market place would be to focus on your local communities and make sur e every time there is a local book award, or a community read or summer rea ding list that a reasonable proportion of characters of color are represent ed in those books. If we are only thinking in terms of brown books for brow n children, we will never change the status quo. We need brown books for ev ery child. We need LGBTQ books not because a child might be questioning bu t because every child without question will live in a world where some of t heir colleagues and friends and family members are in a gender minority.
Although I believe strongly that a child needs to sometimes see their own face when they look into a book, I wrote about cultural survival among the Quinault and Makah, not because they are so needy (the Quinault Nation is t he largest employer in their county.) but because it is my heritage too. Su ppression of native language, art, music, and dance happened to the Irish. Unjust imprisonment, economic discrimination, religious persecution, deport ation without due process and the dispersal of families due to economic har dship and even starvation is as much my heritage as it is any person of col or. But it wasn't until I read about these issues in a non-white context th at I started asking questions about my own ancestors. So part of the answer , as Christine Taylor-Butler so eloquently said is to make sure "non-issue" books like Alvin Ho get the attention they deserve. I'd also like to see " issue" books sometimes feature white characters. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys is a great example of a book
where being white and Protestant does not confer any social or economic advantage.
Thanks everybody for a thought provoking morning!
Rosanne Parry WRITTEN IN STONE, 2013 SECOND FIDDLE, 2011 HEART OF A SHEPHERD, 2009 www.rosanneparry.com
Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:34:46 +0000
There are so many facets of this fascinating discussion that I want to chim e in about but I need to speak to Rosanne's salient comments about libraria ns' on-the ground responsibility to support Latino picture books (and lots of other books, too), a responsibility that only begins with buying them.
As librarians, every time we bring a collection of books together we are sa ying something to our users about who we are. And our users, young people w ho are busy figuring out just what the library is and how books and stories will be part of their lives, are listening. An eight-week storytime series presents a selection of books to the community and implicit in that presen tation is a message: these books are the library. We do a terrific job maki ng sure that each individual book is storytime-appropriate. But are we look ing at the books in the aggregate? We produce great booklists of recommende d reading, highlighting individual titles with lots of appeal in all kinds of categories (historical fiction, if you like..., while you're waiting fo r..., etc.). But do we consider the diversity of the list as a whole? These microcosmic collections teach our communities what the library has to offe r. They teach our communities what literature is. We had better be controll ing those messages.
I agree with Rosanne, with all the energy of my heart, that all kids need b ooks about all kinds of people and things. But if we want kids to understan d that, we need to show it to them. We need to buy those books. And then we need to use them and display them and recommend them and write about them and read them aloud. And not just in February or May or from September 15 t o October 15 or whenever. Every time the library says "Look at these books, " in whatever way, let us be sure that the books we point to reflect the di versity of diversity.
$.02, Thom
Thom Barthelmess Curator, Butler Children's Literature Center Graduate School of Library and Information Science Dominican University 7900 W Division St River Forest, IL 60305 v: 708.524.6861 f: 708.524.6657
From: Rosanne Parry
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2013 1:52 PM To: Jason Low; CCBC Subject: Re:
Latino Picture Books
Interesting conversation. I appreciate Jason Low's comments and his dedicat ion to broadening the spectrum of book, but I'm not sure I agree that the d ecisions driving publishing boil down to pure mathematics.
My publisher is huge. Given the recent merger I believe it qualifies as a c ontinent. Yet I've never been asked to tone down or take out non-white char acters, or in fact do anything purely for the purpose of making the book mo re commercially viable. Somebody's minding the bottom line, but they aren't barging into the editorial process to do it. In deciding on my next book m y editor took one about a Quinault and Makah family--a smallish tribe from a fairly remote part of the Pacific Northwest. I had other stories that see med more commercially mainstream to me but he's willing to take a gamble on this one and here's my impression as to why.
My first book about a rural and religiously observant family is far from th e cultural mainstream even though many of the characters are white. It got good critical attention but has never been carried by the chains. Ordinaril y that would be a problem. But librarians and independent booksellers have supported this title and it's done just fine. It's not a blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination but what keeps it in print are the state childr en's choice book award lists, the battle of the books lists, and community- wide reading programs. I think my editor is willing to take a gamble that l ibrarians will find this new title useful in the curriculum and discussion worthy in he community, and that he's willing to take a very small margin o f profit to serve that need. So making sure those regional book award prog rams continue and thrive and keeping librarians in every school is vital to the survival of non-mainstream books.
I like Debbie Reese's idea of 1000 libraries making a point to a publishing house by all ordering a book on the same day. That would be a valuable dem onstration. But I think a better demonstration of your considerable power i n the market place would be to focus on your local communities and make sur e every time there is a local book award, or a community read or summer rea ding list that a reasonable proportion of characters of color are represent ed in those books. If we are only thinking in terms of brown books for brow n children, we will never change the status quo. We need brown books for ev ery child. We need LGBTQ books not because a child might be questioning bu t because every child without question will live in a world where some of t heir colleagues and friends and family members are in a gender minority.
Although I believe strongly that a child needs to sometimes see their own face when they look into a book, I wrote about cultural survival among the Quinault and Makah, not because they are so needy (the Quinault Nation is t he largest employer in their county.) but because it is my heritage too. Su ppression of native language, art, music, and dance happened to the Irish. Unjust imprisonment, economic discrimination, religious persecution, deport ation without due process and the dispersal of families due to economic har dship and even starvation is as much my heritage as it is any person of col or. But it wasn't until I read about these issues in a non-white context th at I started asking questions about my own ancestors. So part of the answer , as Christine Taylor-Butler so eloquently said is to make sure "non-issue" books like Alvin Ho get the attention they deserve. I'd also like to see " issue" books sometimes feature white characters. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys is a great example of a book
where being white and Protestant does not confer any social or economic advantage.
Thanks everybody for a thought provoking morning!
Rosanne Parry WRITTEN IN STONE, 2013 SECOND FIDDLE, 2011 HEART OF A SHEPHERD, 2009 www.rosanneparry.com
---Received on Fri 08 Feb 2013 12:34:46 AM CST
