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RE: Multicultural Statistics for 2013
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From: Eason, Colette D <CEason_at_dallasisd.org>
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 17:01:21 +0000
Claudia is absolutely correct when she says the problem is not enough writers, but exposure to more authors, published and unpublished. With teachers reading the tried and true, not venturing out to find new volumes, better written books than in the past. I also think that just because a protagonist is white, children of color will not read them is incorrect. It is all a matter of exposure.
Case in point, one of my 2nd grade teachers began reading Ramona to her classes. I work on a campus/community that is primarily African-American, as well as Hispanic. We normally only have 1-2 children, and myself who are Caucasian. I have been the librarian here for 14 years. Our shelves are full of all types of characters, from every color, walk of life, genre, country. But I am always looking for recommendations of books with characters of diverse backgrounds. I had a full double set of the Ramona series when this teacher began reading them to her class. We are down to just a few copies left, and they are seldom on the shelf.
It is my opinion that if a book is well written, children are exposed to the writers works, and enjoyed by a trusted adult, it doesn’t matter the color of the protagonist. I also feel if the publishers reprinted popular works with a child of color depicted, that would work as well in many different areas. I know my granddaughters don’t care what color the character is, just if the story is good when grandma, or mommy reads to them, or they read to themselves. My students have enjoyed literally thousands of books I have read to them, suggested, challenged them to read on their own. So I am saying, yes we need more color on our covers, especially for children of color to identify with, but expose all of our kids to all walks of life, great literature, excellently written books for children no matter the color, and they will read the books. Publishers need to accept, and search for the next authors out there, not just the tried and true, the ones that pad their bottom line. We need great authors for our kids to become adult readers.
Just a lowly elementary librarian’s 2 cents! BTW, I have a ferocious reader in the 5th grade who thinks of B&N as his second home, for what it’s worth.
Colette D. Eason Librarian/Media Specialist Marsalis ES 5640 S. Marsalis Ave. Dallas, TX 75241 Box 317 972-749-3508 Cell; 469-556-3146 ceason_at_dallasisd.org<mailto:ceason@dallasisd.org>
DASL Past President 2013-14 TCEA Awesome Librarian of the Year 2013 TALL Texan 07'
"If you have a book you will always have a friend." Luelle Beaman Bell, maternal Great-Grandmother
From: Claudia Pearson [mailto:pearsoncrz_at_earthlink.net] Sent: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 10:33 AM To: Rosanne Parry; ccbc-net Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] Multicultural Statistics for 2013
Rosanne, you ask some interesting questions, and may find this Lee&Low blog discussion among agents informative. Agents are often gatekeepers for the big publishers who have closed their doors to unagented submissions - one of the reasons so many writers (not just non-whites) are becoming discouraged and turning to self-publishing - and their approach affects both the quality and quantity of what reaches the editors.
I especially like Adriana Dominguez's comments about how "diversity" is defined and her proactive approach to finding multicultural talent.
http://blog.leeandlow.com/2013/11/06/literary-agents-discuss-the-diversity-gap-in-publishing/
The industry as a whole depends on word of mouth referals, from the bookshelf to the librarians who review and recommends book, to the educators and school book panels who select books students study in school (recall please the banning of Matt de la Pena's books), to the agents and editors and booksellers and marketing committees, and back to the bookshelf and the librarians who review and recommend the books. The problem with word of mouth is that people tend to only know and recommend what they are exposed to.
To expand the scope of what is known, to break the pattern of bias, we all need to take a proactive approach to identify more non-whites with talent to bring into the industry, from top to bottom. Not just more writers and illustrators, in fact I think there is a huge talent pool out there already which has not yet been fully tapped and is being siphoned off into the self-publishing channel, but also working at Barnes & Noble, buying books and stocking the shelves, putting their favorite books face-out, in libraries and classrooms and on review and award panels, in the ranks of agents and editors and marketing and publishing,
Claudia Pearson
-----Original Message----- From: Rosanne Parry Sent: Feb 3, 2014 6:39 PM To: ccbc-net Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] Multicultural Statistics for 2013
Perhaps I am a habitual optimist but the thing I find very encouraging is the three fold increase in books by Native American authors and a substantial uptick in books with Native American content. I see looking at the longer history that the number of books with Native American characters has decreased pretty dramatically over time but I'm thrilled to see that this is the strongest year since records have been kept for Native American authors of children's fiction.Certainly we have a very long way to go but I think it's as important to notice progress as it is to notice continued deficit.
So I'd love to hear from publishers and editors who put out books by authors of color. Where did you find that author? Was that author tied into SCBWI or some other writers organization? Did they have an MFA? Did they win a contest or fellowship? Was that contest or fellowship particularly geared toward finding writers of color?
For writers of color I'd love to hear what helped or hindered your way. Did you have a mentor? Did an author visit your school when you were a child? Were there other writers or artists in your family or immediate community? If you are a white writer from a rural area or a low income household I'd be curios to hear if your experiences are the similar.
Statistics are one kind of helpful information but story is just as helpful.
Thanks for all your work in putting the numbers together and providing the forum for this conversation.
Rosanne Parry
Written in Stone, 2013 Second Fiddle, 2011 Heart of a Shepherd, 2009 www.rosanneparry.com<http://www.rosanneparry.com>
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Received on Tue 04 Feb 2014 11:06:51 AM CST
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 17:01:21 +0000
Claudia is absolutely correct when she says the problem is not enough writers, but exposure to more authors, published and unpublished. With teachers reading the tried and true, not venturing out to find new volumes, better written books than in the past. I also think that just because a protagonist is white, children of color will not read them is incorrect. It is all a matter of exposure.
Case in point, one of my 2nd grade teachers began reading Ramona to her classes. I work on a campus/community that is primarily African-American, as well as Hispanic. We normally only have 1-2 children, and myself who are Caucasian. I have been the librarian here for 14 years. Our shelves are full of all types of characters, from every color, walk of life, genre, country. But I am always looking for recommendations of books with characters of diverse backgrounds. I had a full double set of the Ramona series when this teacher began reading them to her class. We are down to just a few copies left, and they are seldom on the shelf.
It is my opinion that if a book is well written, children are exposed to the writers works, and enjoyed by a trusted adult, it doesn’t matter the color of the protagonist. I also feel if the publishers reprinted popular works with a child of color depicted, that would work as well in many different areas. I know my granddaughters don’t care what color the character is, just if the story is good when grandma, or mommy reads to them, or they read to themselves. My students have enjoyed literally thousands of books I have read to them, suggested, challenged them to read on their own. So I am saying, yes we need more color on our covers, especially for children of color to identify with, but expose all of our kids to all walks of life, great literature, excellently written books for children no matter the color, and they will read the books. Publishers need to accept, and search for the next authors out there, not just the tried and true, the ones that pad their bottom line. We need great authors for our kids to become adult readers.
Just a lowly elementary librarian’s 2 cents! BTW, I have a ferocious reader in the 5th grade who thinks of B&N as his second home, for what it’s worth.
Colette D. Eason Librarian/Media Specialist Marsalis ES 5640 S. Marsalis Ave. Dallas, TX 75241 Box 317 972-749-3508 Cell; 469-556-3146 ceason_at_dallasisd.org<mailto:ceason@dallasisd.org>
DASL Past President 2013-14 TCEA Awesome Librarian of the Year 2013 TALL Texan 07'
"If you have a book you will always have a friend." Luelle Beaman Bell, maternal Great-Grandmother
From: Claudia Pearson [mailto:pearsoncrz_at_earthlink.net] Sent: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 10:33 AM To: Rosanne Parry; ccbc-net Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] Multicultural Statistics for 2013
Rosanne, you ask some interesting questions, and may find this Lee&Low blog discussion among agents informative. Agents are often gatekeepers for the big publishers who have closed their doors to unagented submissions - one of the reasons so many writers (not just non-whites) are becoming discouraged and turning to self-publishing - and their approach affects both the quality and quantity of what reaches the editors.
I especially like Adriana Dominguez's comments about how "diversity" is defined and her proactive approach to finding multicultural talent.
http://blog.leeandlow.com/2013/11/06/literary-agents-discuss-the-diversity-gap-in-publishing/
The industry as a whole depends on word of mouth referals, from the bookshelf to the librarians who review and recommends book, to the educators and school book panels who select books students study in school (recall please the banning of Matt de la Pena's books), to the agents and editors and booksellers and marketing committees, and back to the bookshelf and the librarians who review and recommend the books. The problem with word of mouth is that people tend to only know and recommend what they are exposed to.
To expand the scope of what is known, to break the pattern of bias, we all need to take a proactive approach to identify more non-whites with talent to bring into the industry, from top to bottom. Not just more writers and illustrators, in fact I think there is a huge talent pool out there already which has not yet been fully tapped and is being siphoned off into the self-publishing channel, but also working at Barnes & Noble, buying books and stocking the shelves, putting their favorite books face-out, in libraries and classrooms and on review and award panels, in the ranks of agents and editors and marketing and publishing,
Claudia Pearson
-----Original Message----- From: Rosanne Parry Sent: Feb 3, 2014 6:39 PM To: ccbc-net Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] Multicultural Statistics for 2013
Perhaps I am a habitual optimist but the thing I find very encouraging is the three fold increase in books by Native American authors and a substantial uptick in books with Native American content. I see looking at the longer history that the number of books with Native American characters has decreased pretty dramatically over time but I'm thrilled to see that this is the strongest year since records have been kept for Native American authors of children's fiction.Certainly we have a very long way to go but I think it's as important to notice progress as it is to notice continued deficit.
So I'd love to hear from publishers and editors who put out books by authors of color. Where did you find that author? Was that author tied into SCBWI or some other writers organization? Did they have an MFA? Did they win a contest or fellowship? Was that contest or fellowship particularly geared toward finding writers of color?
For writers of color I'd love to hear what helped or hindered your way. Did you have a mentor? Did an author visit your school when you were a child? Were there other writers or artists in your family or immediate community? If you are a white writer from a rural area or a low income household I'd be curios to hear if your experiences are the similar.
Statistics are one kind of helpful information but story is just as helpful.
Thanks for all your work in putting the numbers together and providing the forum for this conversation.
Rosanne Parry
Written in Stone, 2013 Second Fiddle, 2011 Heart of a Shepherd, 2009 www.rosanneparry.com<http://www.rosanneparry.com>
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Received on Tue 04 Feb 2014 11:06:51 AM CST
