From: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net
Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 15:15:46 +0000 (UTC)

This has been a very educational discussion for me. I am a librarian in a mostly (but not as predominantly as it once was) white suburban middle school, but I personally have always held the CSK award in high esteem. Like many librarians, I have fun every year reading all of the "mock" blogs, and I play a "game" with myself, trying to see how many of the award winning books of the year I can read ahead of time--that is, before they're announced. Obviously, it's hit and miss, but I read a lot of great books that way. What I'm realizing now is why just about every year I manage to hit the CSK winners--because they're chosen from such a small pool compared to some of the others. On the other hand, I'm obviously missing a lot of books by authors of color that don't stand much of a chance for any of the "major" awards. I am going to make it a goal to rectify that omission in my reading now, so all of this preaching going on is not just "to the choir." :) I'm also currently doing a master's thesis. I looked at the list of books I was looking at .... and, yes, I am embarrassed to say that all are by white authors. I needed recent books with specific characteristics, and chose ones I was familiar with that worked. On further thought, I absolutely need to include books by authors of color as well, even if it means actively seeking out books I don't yet know. And this comes from someone who generally thinks of herself as "sensitive" (well, don't we all like to think that) .... I try to include books by authors of color in every display I do, no matter what it's about ... I have my CSK and Pura Belpre posters displayed MORE prominently than my Newbery and Caldecott posters, to draw attention to them .... and I keep running lists of the books I purchase by and about various ethnicities, so I'm aware that I'm keeping up with purchases in each area, and also so I have a place to go for recommendations (NOT so I recommend books to kids by ethnicity--I DON'T do that--but just so I DO remember to keep using and recommending these books). Yet, clearly, I have a lot to learn.


Re Barnes and Nobles: I've never given this a lot of thought in terms of books by people of color, but as a librarian I've always been frustrated browsing there because there's so little diversity of any sort. Love browsing indie stores, but have so little time for that .... :( Browsing online, one can find anything (and one can browse/shop many indie stores online) ... so there's really no excuse for NOT finding and purchasing the best of what's out there. At least IMO, that's one of the very top priorities of my job as a school librarian, even though collection development gets overshadowed by a lot of other responsibilites these days. Kids won't read what's not there.


Maggie Bokelman Librarian Eagle View Middle School Mechanicsburg, PA

---
You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: ccbc-archive_at_post.education.wisc.edu.
To post to the list, send message to: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu
To receive messages in digest format, send a message to...
    ccbc-net-request_at_lists.wisc.edu
...and include only this command in the body of the message:
    set ccbc-net digest
 
CCBC-Net Archives
The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp
To access the archives, go to: 
http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net
and enter the following:
username: ccbc-net
password: Look4Posts

Received on Wed 05 Feb 2014 09:16:18 AM CST