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Re: Three more thoughts on discovering and growing the numbers of diverse books
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From: Claudia Pearson <pearsoncrz_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 08 Feb 2014 13:58:18 -0500
Good talking points Cheryl. I have a question, however, prompted by a recent review of some "Best Books" lists. Yes, there are some wonderful books out there, but what I was seeing were books that were sometimes a decade or two old when it came to recommended multicultural reads. How often do publishers publish new texts on common subjects, & do you see trade publishers depending on backlist titles for multicultural content rather than including new front list texts for e.g. books about the first day of school or middle school social dilemnas, or the seasons, etc. E.g., SNOWY DAY is great, but perhaps a bit dated, especially in it's depiction of clothing - what push is there (if any) to publish something new that might supercede it?
-- Claudia Pearson Look Again Press On Feb 8, 2014 12:16 PM, Klein, Cheryl <CKlein_at_Scholastic.com> wrote:
Dear all,
Thanks for the great ongoing conversation here. I wanted to offer three more thoughts/avenues of discussion:
1. If librarians, booksellers, or general readers are interested in learning about new releases of diverse titles, I highly recommend the CBC Diversity newsletter, which comes out every two weeks. It includes a roundup of all the diverse titles published recently (by CBC member publishers, granted) and links to discussions of diversity around the web. You can sign up for it here: http://www.cbcbooks.org/membership/newsletter-sign-up/
2. I was struck by the example one list member offered that "many African Americans applaud the attention paid to movies such as Twelve Years a Slave, Fruitvale Station and The Butler - in public. But in private, the chasm shifts and you find that those lauds are not from the younger generation who are sick of that being the only image they get."
This puzzled me a little, as 2013 also included films like THE BEST MAN HOLIDAY (which was a big success at the box office), BAGGAGE CLAIM, PEEPLES, BLACK NATIVITY, and several Tyler Perry movies, all telling contemporary stories with attractive middle- or upper-class casts. Similarly, there's been a repeated assertion that all African-American books are either issue-focused or historical -- but this ignores terrific recent books like Sharon Flake's PINNED, Crystal Allen's HOW LAMAR'S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY and THE LAURA LINE, Nikki Grimes's WORDS WITH WINGS and Dyamonde Daniel titles, books by Lamar Giles (FAKE ID) and Alaya Dawn Johnson (THE SUMMER PRINCE, which is future-set speculative fic) and Sundee T. Frazier (most recently BRENDAN BUCKLEY’S SIXTH-GRADE EXPERIMENT) and Varian Johnson (who has an awesome middle-grade called THE GREAT GREENE HEIST — a multicultural middle-school OCEAN'S 11 — coming out in June) (full disclosure: I edited it) and of course Walter Dean Myers (INVASION and DARIUS AND TWIG) . . .
I bring this up to make the point that if “we get what we measure,” as has been said repeatedly, the whole measure of what is being published has not always been accurately portrayed in this discussion. Are the overall numbers and proportions still too small? Yes, absolutely. But I would offer the parallel truism that “we get more of what has worked in the past” — the results that HAVE been measured and succeeded, which, in book terms, means titles that publishers and booksellers know they can sell. So let’s talk more about the great diverse books that ARE out there (as list members like Uma have been doing), read and purchase more of these books ourselves, help THOSE get more visibility and more sales, and that will encourage publishers and editors and assist them in acquiring new titles more than almost anything else I can name.
3. One of publishers’ biggest problems in reaching audiences of color is that there are not many bookstores (chain or indie) in areas with majority people of color. (One welcome exception here in New York is La Casa Azul in El Barrio.) As a result, discoverability of titles becomes that much harder for mirror communities. There was a great suggestion in this timely Wall Street Journal article (http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/02/04/the-lost-boys-and-girls-of-childrens-literature/) that “to reach consumers, publishers and booksellers have to think out of the box. Go to the people – church bookstores, social and civic organizations. Here you will find a willing audience – willing to invest in their children.”
I love this idea, but I would venture that most publishers would not know where to start here — which African-American churches have bookstores, which of the hundreds of possible social and civic organizations in the thousands of cities in the U.S. would be interested and willing to help. And from the other end, I’m sure that it could be extremely frustrating and time-consuming for people from those church bookstores or social and civic organizations to reach out to all the individual publishers to find the diverse books they’re interested in. So I’m asking genuinely: What could we do to make this easier for everyone? Do we need a cross-publisher catalogue of titles by diversity groups that would make it easy for interested groups to find the titles that mirror them? Is there an association of church bookstores or a network of literacy-focused organizations whom publisher representatives can contact? What connections and clearinghouses do we need to build to make discoverability easier within mirror communities?
Thanks again for all the wonderful energy and discussion —
Cheryl Klein
Date: Sat, 08 Feb 2014 13:58:18 -0500
Good talking points Cheryl. I have a question, however, prompted by a recent review of some "Best Books" lists. Yes, there are some wonderful books out there, but what I was seeing were books that were sometimes a decade or two old when it came to recommended multicultural reads. How often do publishers publish new texts on common subjects, & do you see trade publishers depending on backlist titles for multicultural content rather than including new front list texts for e.g. books about the first day of school or middle school social dilemnas, or the seasons, etc. E.g., SNOWY DAY is great, but perhaps a bit dated, especially in it's depiction of clothing - what push is there (if any) to publish something new that might supercede it?
-- Claudia Pearson Look Again Press On Feb 8, 2014 12:16 PM, Klein, Cheryl <CKlein_at_Scholastic.com> wrote:
Dear all,
Thanks for the great ongoing conversation here. I wanted to offer three more thoughts/avenues of discussion:
1. If librarians, booksellers, or general readers are interested in learning about new releases of diverse titles, I highly recommend the CBC Diversity newsletter, which comes out every two weeks. It includes a roundup of all the diverse titles published recently (by CBC member publishers, granted) and links to discussions of diversity around the web. You can sign up for it here: http://www.cbcbooks.org/membership/newsletter-sign-up/
2. I was struck by the example one list member offered that "many African Americans applaud the attention paid to movies such as Twelve Years a Slave, Fruitvale Station and The Butler - in public. But in private, the chasm shifts and you find that those lauds are not from the younger generation who are sick of that being the only image they get."
This puzzled me a little, as 2013 also included films like THE BEST MAN HOLIDAY (which was a big success at the box office), BAGGAGE CLAIM, PEEPLES, BLACK NATIVITY, and several Tyler Perry movies, all telling contemporary stories with attractive middle- or upper-class casts. Similarly, there's been a repeated assertion that all African-American books are either issue-focused or historical -- but this ignores terrific recent books like Sharon Flake's PINNED, Crystal Allen's HOW LAMAR'S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY and THE LAURA LINE, Nikki Grimes's WORDS WITH WINGS and Dyamonde Daniel titles, books by Lamar Giles (FAKE ID) and Alaya Dawn Johnson (THE SUMMER PRINCE, which is future-set speculative fic) and Sundee T. Frazier (most recently BRENDAN BUCKLEY’S SIXTH-GRADE EXPERIMENT) and Varian Johnson (who has an awesome middle-grade called THE GREAT GREENE HEIST — a multicultural middle-school OCEAN'S 11 — coming out in June) (full disclosure: I edited it) and of course Walter Dean Myers (INVASION and DARIUS AND TWIG) . . .
I bring this up to make the point that if “we get what we measure,” as has been said repeatedly, the whole measure of what is being published has not always been accurately portrayed in this discussion. Are the overall numbers and proportions still too small? Yes, absolutely. But I would offer the parallel truism that “we get more of what has worked in the past” — the results that HAVE been measured and succeeded, which, in book terms, means titles that publishers and booksellers know they can sell. So let’s talk more about the great diverse books that ARE out there (as list members like Uma have been doing), read and purchase more of these books ourselves, help THOSE get more visibility and more sales, and that will encourage publishers and editors and assist them in acquiring new titles more than almost anything else I can name.
3. One of publishers’ biggest problems in reaching audiences of color is that there are not many bookstores (chain or indie) in areas with majority people of color. (One welcome exception here in New York is La Casa Azul in El Barrio.) As a result, discoverability of titles becomes that much harder for mirror communities. There was a great suggestion in this timely Wall Street Journal article (http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/02/04/the-lost-boys-and-girls-of-childrens-literature/) that “to reach consumers, publishers and booksellers have to think out of the box. Go to the people – church bookstores, social and civic organizations. Here you will find a willing audience – willing to invest in their children.”
I love this idea, but I would venture that most publishers would not know where to start here — which African-American churches have bookstores, which of the hundreds of possible social and civic organizations in the thousands of cities in the U.S. would be interested and willing to help. And from the other end, I’m sure that it could be extremely frustrating and time-consuming for people from those church bookstores or social and civic organizations to reach out to all the individual publishers to find the diverse books they’re interested in. So I’m asking genuinely: What could we do to make this easier for everyone? Do we need a cross-publisher catalogue of titles by diversity groups that would make it easy for interested groups to find the titles that mirror them? Is there an association of church bookstores or a network of literacy-focused organizations whom publisher representatives can contact? What connections and clearinghouses do we need to build to make discoverability easier within mirror communities?
Thanks again for all the wonderful energy and discussion —
Cheryl Klein
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Received on Sat 08 Feb 2014 12:58:59 PM CST
