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From: Stacy Whitman <stacylwhitman_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:30:48 -0500
(Whoops--I replied last week, but realized I accidentally sent it to child_lit instead of ccbc-net! Sorry, I haven't been back on CCBC in years, and my first reply I sent to the wrong list, so I hope it's okay to stillchime in a little late.)
I just had to comment and say that you can't assume universal access to books. In middle income and up neighborhoods, sure. In middle-income neighborhoods the ratio of age-appropriate books per child is 13 to 1. In low-income neighborhoods the ratio is 1 for every 300 children. And out of the people who live in poverty, the largest percentage by far are children of color (though not to say that all children of color live in poverty, obviously). But we absolutely must take access to books into account and it's a lot more complicated than assuming universal access.
(For a source for those numbers, see footnote in this .)
Which is why, in my opinion, we (as a society, a nation, not just people interested in children's literature) need to be talking as much about re-funding all those libraries that are being cut, both public and school, and the cuts to other literacy programs that support diverse reading materials in schools, as we are about publishers' responsibilities to publish diversity.
Thanks, also, for the discussion of how librarians can make a difference by making sure to purchase diverse books. I attended the NYPL children's literature salon panel on diversity on Saturday, and Lyn Miller-Lachmann, of this list, asked the crowd how we might support diverse literature, particularly the small presses who are already doing this work on a regular basis. I suggested that regular readers (not necessarily book professionals), sometimes we need to look beyond the bookstore, because with the way particularly the chains are focusing more on bestsellers and less on the midlist, small presses are often being left in the wake. One thing I forgot to mention then, but that you know all about, is that patrons can also request titles that they're aware of but that aren't in the library's catalog. That's one thing I've been suggesting to everyone I know who says they'd love to buy my books but can't afford them--ask for them at the library. Library budgets are shrinking, but you never know--perhaps the l ibrarian wasn't aware of the book before a request was made.
Best, Stacy Whitman Publisher, Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books http://www.leeandlow.com/p/tu.html
On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Charles Bayless
wrote:
Assuming universal access to books and assuming that all attributes with which children identify are proportionally and randomly present in book characters as they are in real life, then - Number of books with self-identity Function of Number of Books Read X Number of Characters per
Received on Mon 04 Mar 2013 10:30:48 AM CST
Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:30:48 -0500
(Whoops--I replied last week, but realized I accidentally sent it to child_lit instead of ccbc-net! Sorry, I haven't been back on CCBC in years, and my first reply I sent to the wrong list, so I hope it's okay to stillchime in a little late.)
I just had to comment and say that you can't assume universal access to books. In middle income and up neighborhoods, sure. In middle-income neighborhoods the ratio of age-appropriate books per child is 13 to 1. In low-income neighborhoods the ratio is 1 for every 300 children. And out of the people who live in poverty, the largest percentage by far are children of color (though not to say that all children of color live in poverty, obviously). But we absolutely must take access to books into account and it's a lot more complicated than assuming universal access.
(For a source for those numbers, see footnote in this .)
Which is why, in my opinion, we (as a society, a nation, not just people interested in children's literature) need to be talking as much about re-funding all those libraries that are being cut, both public and school, and the cuts to other literacy programs that support diverse reading materials in schools, as we are about publishers' responsibilities to publish diversity.
Thanks, also, for the discussion of how librarians can make a difference by making sure to purchase diverse books. I attended the NYPL children's literature salon panel on diversity on Saturday, and Lyn Miller-Lachmann, of this list, asked the crowd how we might support diverse literature, particularly the small presses who are already doing this work on a regular basis. I suggested that regular readers (not necessarily book professionals), sometimes we need to look beyond the bookstore, because with the way particularly the chains are focusing more on bestsellers and less on the midlist, small presses are often being left in the wake. One thing I forgot to mention then, but that you know all about, is that patrons can also request titles that they're aware of but that aren't in the library's catalog. That's one thing I've been suggesting to everyone I know who says they'd love to buy my books but can't afford them--ask for them at the library. Library budgets are shrinking, but you never know--perhaps the l ibrarian wasn't aware of the book before a request was made.
Best, Stacy Whitman Publisher, Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books http://www.leeandlow.com/p/tu.html
On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Charles Bayless
wrote:
Assuming universal access to books and assuming that all attributes with which children identify are proportionally and randomly present in book characters as they are in real life, then - Number of books with self-identity Function of Number of Books Read X Number of Characters per
Received on Mon 04 Mar 2013 10:30:48 AM CST
