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Re: diversity and reading
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From: Lyn Miller-Lachmann <lynml_at_me.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:03:17 -0500
I'd like to second what Rosanne said. When you have the opportunity to recommend a book on a given theme that has nothing to do with diversity, consider recommending a title with diverse characters. For instance, this morning, someone on the child_lit list wanted a book for eighth graders that features a protagonist who is a reluctant leader and who becomes a sort of hero in the course of the story. In general, calls like these tend to elicit responses of the most mainstream, most hyped books. Fortunately, this morning Christina McTighe and I jinxed each other by recommending the perfectly matched EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, which happens to feature a Jamaican American protagonist and a multiethnic supporting cast.
I'll let the more eloquent Rosanne have the final word on this.
Jewish books are not just for Jewish readers. Hispanic stories speak to a far broader audience than their own ethnic community. The window of opportunity for each young reader is so brief. Unless we, each of us, invites new readers to the books we love and wish to see more of, the situation will not change even with the sort of institutional shifts that would seek to make the same change.
Rosanne Parry WRITTEN IN STONE, 2013 SECOND FIDDLE, 2011 HEART OF A SHEPHERD, 2009 www.rosanneparry.com
Lyn Miller-Lachmann Gringolandia (Curbstone Press/Northwestern University Press, 2009) Rogue (Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin, 2013)
Received on Tue 19 Feb 2013 05:03:17 PM CST
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:03:17 -0500
I'd like to second what Rosanne said. When you have the opportunity to recommend a book on a given theme that has nothing to do with diversity, consider recommending a title with diverse characters. For instance, this morning, someone on the child_lit list wanted a book for eighth graders that features a protagonist who is a reluctant leader and who becomes a sort of hero in the course of the story. In general, calls like these tend to elicit responses of the most mainstream, most hyped books. Fortunately, this morning Christina McTighe and I jinxed each other by recommending the perfectly matched EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, which happens to feature a Jamaican American protagonist and a multiethnic supporting cast.
I'll let the more eloquent Rosanne have the final word on this.
Jewish books are not just for Jewish readers. Hispanic stories speak to a far broader audience than their own ethnic community. The window of opportunity for each young reader is so brief. Unless we, each of us, invites new readers to the books we love and wish to see more of, the situation will not change even with the sort of institutional shifts that would seek to make the same change.
Rosanne Parry WRITTEN IN STONE, 2013 SECOND FIDDLE, 2011 HEART OF A SHEPHERD, 2009 www.rosanneparry.com
Lyn Miller-Lachmann Gringolandia (Curbstone Press/Northwestern University Press, 2009) Rogue (Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin, 2013)
Received on Tue 19 Feb 2013 05:03:17 PM CST
