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jake (of MINN AND JAKE), multicultural poetry, and the NBGS annual list
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From: janet_at_janetwong.com
Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 21:03:23 -0500
Dear All:
What a terrific discussion!
Jane Fleming: in response to your post, can I introduce you to my multiracial boy character Jake of MINN AND JAKE? He's short but he's jumping up in the back of the room, saying "Hey, I'm 1/4 Korean!" (Note: his ethnicity is not mentioned at all in Book 1 but comes up incidentally in the sequel when we meet his grandmother.)
And please allow me to chime in with a plug for poetry! Many cultural backgrounds are represented in poetry today. The series that I've been working on with Sylvia Vardell the past couple of years, THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY, features dozens of poems by poets who are identified as "multicultural," such as Alma Flor Ada, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Joseph Bruchac, F. Isabel Campoy, Margarita Engle, Nikki Grimes, Monica Gunning, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Linda Sue Park, Carmen Tafolla, Charles Waters, and Carole Boston Weatherford). (Note: We have a little announcement coming on March 1st about science poems, including bilingual ones.)
Also: along with the award lists and "regular Notables," please don't forget the NBGS annual list (Notable Books for a Global Society)--published with book summaries and lesson plans for teachers in the Spring issue of THE DRAGON LODE. http://clrsig.org/nbgs_books.php
Looking forward to hearing more voices--keep the good thoughts coming! Janet janet_at_janetwong.com
On Feb 5, 2014, at 8:17 PM, jane_at_kidslikeus.org wrote:
> Hi Uma and all,
> We, too, found nothing especially "cringe-worthy" in the other books in the Alvin Ho series, but after some discussion a couple of years ago, our teacher-reviewers came to the conclusion that we couldn't recommend any of them. As you point out, we can't "go along" with our books to justify what we've written (or in our case, what we've selected for the collection) and we didn't want teachers or students misinterpreting our inclusion of one as endorsing the series. For us, the "playing Indians" scene egregiously qualifies as a "non-negotiable" even though we are really desperate for more titles in this transitional chapter book format with primary characters of color. I'd have to check our database, but beyond Bobby vs. Girls and Calvin Coconut, I don't think we've found any others published in the past ten years with primary characters who are Asian American (or multiracial) boys.
> Jane
>
> --------------
> Jane Fleming
> Kids Like Us
> Chicago, IL
> www.kidslikeus.org
> _at_KLUBooks
>
Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 21:03:23 -0500
Dear All:
What a terrific discussion!
Jane Fleming: in response to your post, can I introduce you to my multiracial boy character Jake of MINN AND JAKE? He's short but he's jumping up in the back of the room, saying "Hey, I'm 1/4 Korean!" (Note: his ethnicity is not mentioned at all in Book 1 but comes up incidentally in the sequel when we meet his grandmother.)
And please allow me to chime in with a plug for poetry! Many cultural backgrounds are represented in poetry today. The series that I've been working on with Sylvia Vardell the past couple of years, THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY, features dozens of poems by poets who are identified as "multicultural," such as Alma Flor Ada, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Joseph Bruchac, F. Isabel Campoy, Margarita Engle, Nikki Grimes, Monica Gunning, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Linda Sue Park, Carmen Tafolla, Charles Waters, and Carole Boston Weatherford). (Note: We have a little announcement coming on March 1st about science poems, including bilingual ones.)
Also: along with the award lists and "regular Notables," please don't forget the NBGS annual list (Notable Books for a Global Society)--published with book summaries and lesson plans for teachers in the Spring issue of THE DRAGON LODE. http://clrsig.org/nbgs_books.php
Looking forward to hearing more voices--keep the good thoughts coming! Janet janet_at_janetwong.com
On Feb 5, 2014, at 8:17 PM, jane_at_kidslikeus.org wrote:
> Hi Uma and all,
> We, too, found nothing especially "cringe-worthy" in the other books in the Alvin Ho series, but after some discussion a couple of years ago, our teacher-reviewers came to the conclusion that we couldn't recommend any of them. As you point out, we can't "go along" with our books to justify what we've written (or in our case, what we've selected for the collection) and we didn't want teachers or students misinterpreting our inclusion of one as endorsing the series. For us, the "playing Indians" scene egregiously qualifies as a "non-negotiable" even though we are really desperate for more titles in this transitional chapter book format with primary characters of color. I'd have to check our database, but beyond Bobby vs. Girls and Calvin Coconut, I don't think we've found any others published in the past ten years with primary characters who are Asian American (or multiracial) boys.
> Jane
>
> --------------
> Jane Fleming
> Kids Like Us
> Chicago, IL
> www.kidslikeus.org
> _at_KLUBooks
>
---
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Received on Wed 05 Feb 2014 08:03:43 PM CST
