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Re: By, For, About
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From: Norma Jean Sawicki <nsawicki_at_nyc.rr.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2014 14:39:55 -0500
I probably should not say this, and with advanced apologies to the very smart, lovely, learned Marc Aronson, whom I think of as a scholar…. I grew weary of studies and now take most of them with a grain of salt…Simplistic as it may sound, I think kids of under represented groups read like white kids…different interests at different times…or, kids who may prefer fiction to nonfiction and the reverse. Adults are sometimes too eager to put kids in under represented groups in a separate box when often times, kids are kids…
On and off, I have done a fair amount of tutoring/reading with kids in poor neighborhoods in the city.…many years ago, an eight year old boy I tutored in spanish harlem, wanted to read about Superman only. So much for the array of terrific kids books I carried…comic books, greeting cards with an image of Superman, etc…reigned supreme…one kid, one experience…
And an aside, and a major learning curve for me…at the time, I was dating a reporter who had a car. He had met Alex several times and suggested we take him to Central Park for a picnic and an afternoon of tossing around a football..His mom said yes, Alex was reluctant but willing. I cooked…fried chicken, etc…everything was homemade. We were not in the park for forty five minutes…and had not yet eaten when Alex became increasingly uncomfortable…edgy….he wanted to leave. We took him home, I gave him the basket with the meal….Right, wrong, whatever…Joe and I decided he was uncomfortable being out of his own neighborhood ….So much for this do-gooder….Norma Jean
On Feb 22, 2014, at 2:00 PM, Christine Taylor-Butler wrote:
> Just as there is danger in a single story - there is danger in citing a single commercial book published by two white males as the empirical proof devaluing the real life experiences of ethnic people on this thread who ARE and are RAISING the target audience.
>
> The idea that this one research study on boys in general is the definitive voice on what African American boys want in terms of reading is ludicrous. My own experience working with black males in schools suggests that they are turned off on books available because the adults in their lives keep feeding them books in which they are depicted as victims or victimizers. Something reinforced in the media.
>
> So let's agree to disagree. There are many boys who want informational texts. I know - I get a lot of them as college applicants. But I also knew quite a few boys who were secretly reading other books that aren't measured or captured because it's not on an accelerated reader list or not considered a "boy book" or not something they think makes them look manly. And like I said - many people of color don't necessarily tell the truth to white pollsters because past history creates a climate of suspicion.
>
> Sometimes the answer you get depends on who is asking the question.
>
> Just saying………Christine
>
>
> On Feb 17, 2014, at 10:16 AM, bookmarch_at_aol.com wrote:
>
>> I think professor Thomas proposes an excellent research agenda -- and I am mindful that it is time to switch subjects -- however the three categories listed leave out a fourth:
>>
>> books by members of under-represented groups (thus color, class, sexual orientation, disability, religious faith...) that are expressly not about their own experience. For example, books about math, about world history dealing any time or place (thus not "roots"), about astronomy, biology, geology, physics, chemistry; books about pets, hobbies, or anything and everything that an author might want to investigate and K-12 readers might find interesting. Nonfiction belongs to all of us, and authors of every stripe should be encouraged to explore its limitless universe of possible subjects. Indeed as many of you know, the argument of Reading Don't Fix No Chevys is that a significant cohort of male teenage readers especially from challenging backgrounds want nothing to do with books about themselves and are only interested in books that give them instructions for acting in the world.
>>
>> Marc Aronson
>
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2014 14:39:55 -0500
I probably should not say this, and with advanced apologies to the very smart, lovely, learned Marc Aronson, whom I think of as a scholar…. I grew weary of studies and now take most of them with a grain of salt…Simplistic as it may sound, I think kids of under represented groups read like white kids…different interests at different times…or, kids who may prefer fiction to nonfiction and the reverse. Adults are sometimes too eager to put kids in under represented groups in a separate box when often times, kids are kids…
On and off, I have done a fair amount of tutoring/reading with kids in poor neighborhoods in the city.…many years ago, an eight year old boy I tutored in spanish harlem, wanted to read about Superman only. So much for the array of terrific kids books I carried…comic books, greeting cards with an image of Superman, etc…reigned supreme…one kid, one experience…
And an aside, and a major learning curve for me…at the time, I was dating a reporter who had a car. He had met Alex several times and suggested we take him to Central Park for a picnic and an afternoon of tossing around a football..His mom said yes, Alex was reluctant but willing. I cooked…fried chicken, etc…everything was homemade. We were not in the park for forty five minutes…and had not yet eaten when Alex became increasingly uncomfortable…edgy….he wanted to leave. We took him home, I gave him the basket with the meal….Right, wrong, whatever…Joe and I decided he was uncomfortable being out of his own neighborhood ….So much for this do-gooder….Norma Jean
On Feb 22, 2014, at 2:00 PM, Christine Taylor-Butler wrote:
> Just as there is danger in a single story - there is danger in citing a single commercial book published by two white males as the empirical proof devaluing the real life experiences of ethnic people on this thread who ARE and are RAISING the target audience.
>
> The idea that this one research study on boys in general is the definitive voice on what African American boys want in terms of reading is ludicrous. My own experience working with black males in schools suggests that they are turned off on books available because the adults in their lives keep feeding them books in which they are depicted as victims or victimizers. Something reinforced in the media.
>
> So let's agree to disagree. There are many boys who want informational texts. I know - I get a lot of them as college applicants. But I also knew quite a few boys who were secretly reading other books that aren't measured or captured because it's not on an accelerated reader list or not considered a "boy book" or not something they think makes them look manly. And like I said - many people of color don't necessarily tell the truth to white pollsters because past history creates a climate of suspicion.
>
> Sometimes the answer you get depends on who is asking the question.
>
> Just saying………Christine
>
>
> On Feb 17, 2014, at 10:16 AM, bookmarch_at_aol.com wrote:
>
>> I think professor Thomas proposes an excellent research agenda -- and I am mindful that it is time to switch subjects -- however the three categories listed leave out a fourth:
>>
>> books by members of under-represented groups (thus color, class, sexual orientation, disability, religious faith...) that are expressly not about their own experience. For example, books about math, about world history dealing any time or place (thus not "roots"), about astronomy, biology, geology, physics, chemistry; books about pets, hobbies, or anything and everything that an author might want to investigate and K-12 readers might find interesting. Nonfiction belongs to all of us, and authors of every stripe should be encouraged to explore its limitless universe of possible subjects. Indeed as many of you know, the argument of Reading Don't Fix No Chevys is that a significant cohort of male teenage readers especially from challenging backgrounds want nothing to do with books about themselves and are only interested in books that give them instructions for acting in the world.
>>
>> Marc Aronson
>
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Received on Sat 22 Feb 2014 01:40:16 PM CST
