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Re: Cultures and books as bridges OR If beautiful, not true, If true, not beautiful
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From: Barbara Binns <bab9660_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2014 14:04:04 -0800 (PST)
Claudia said: Conversely, we tend to offer books with non-white characters to white readers without assuming that the white reader should or could or would see himself or herself in those characters. Instead we offer these books as a way for white children to "put themselves in their shoes", as windows, not mirrors - subtly reinforcing them to adopt a positioning superior to the characters subjected to the reader's gaze. Admittedly I deal with older kids, seventh grade and up. But when I go in to talk to a book club, school, or library group, I always feature multicultural titles and I always do my booktalks in a w3ay designed to make them realize that all of the books I speak of are possible mirrors. I pick books that I feel show something universal a “they are me” story, no matter what the ethnicity of my audience. When I spoke of Yaqui Delgado is going to kick your ass, it was the universal story of being bullied and feeling there is no adult you can turn to, not the story of a Hispanic girl. All the Broken Pieces is about a boy feeling the pain of being separated from his family and the fear that his adopted parents won’t want him anymore after the birth of a baby, not about a Vietnamese boy after the war. Ditto for LGBT books. My goal in my booktalks is to present books where the characters have different ethnicities, but that is not THE ISSUE. For me it helps to have the ethnicity on the cover, I don’t have to mention it so it never becomes part of the issue when I talk with kids. As a result I have had great success with kids not being colorblind, but being open to seeing themselves in those characters and that white kids are not the only ones who have “universal” issues. As one white girl told me, she took Sharon Flake’s Pinned because I said the heroine was a female wrestler and she loved wrestling. The fact that the girl on the cover was black meant nothing to her. She was neither colorblind nor putting herself in the minority kids shoes, she was seeing herself as the girl wrestler. The same for my own books. Kids become interested when I tell them it's about a boy having issues with his father. With that one the response was "It's nice to know I'm not the only boy who sometimes hates his dad." Not the only white or black kid. If I described any of these books as being about Black or Hispanic kids I would be doing the books a short-sighed disservice. Instead I describe them as books about kids dealing with problem with their parents, and make them a mirror for any kid with those issues.
Barbara Binns w/a B. A. Binns What if you were the only one of your kind? Find out in Minority of One coming March 2014 from AllTheColorsOfLove press 2010 National Readers Choice Award Winner 2012 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2012-13 Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award Nominee Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Menwebsite - http://www.babinns.com facebook.com/allthecolorsoflove
On Thursday, February 27, 2014 12:14 PM, Claudia Pearson <pearsoncrz_at_earthlink.net> wrote:
Charles wrote:
"...What was interesting to me was the difference in the children’s reactions to the three types of books. Ready engagement with the City books, passing engagement with the Near Outback and virtually no engagement with the Remote books..."
Charles's email raises some questions for me, especially as it relates to the way children's publishing seems to depend on folklore and historical texts (whether fiction or fact) to introduce readers to others not like them.
We talk about having books with non-white characters on our bookshelves so that non-white children can see themselves in books, to offer them "mirrors." At the same time, we tend to expect nonwhite children to be able to identify with contemporary and futuristic white characters in fictional texts, to find the similarities between themselves and the characters which make these texts "mirrors" as well. We do not expect them to read these books for "windows" that will help them understand white culture and perceptions.
Conversely, we tend to offer books with non-white characters to white readers without assuming that the white reader should or could or would see himself or herself in those characters. Instead we offer these books as a way for white children to "put themselves in their shoes", as windows, not mirrors - subtly reinforcing them to adopt a positioning superior to the characters subjected to the reader's gaze.
Similarly, we encourage not just whites, but non-whites to look at folklore and historical texts as windows, as a way of remembering and understanding something in the past, to understand things that happened, not to anyone like them, but to people (and cultures) who are dead - a point that Debbie makes eloquently.
In my opinion, the debate about whether this or that text more accurately portrays the truth, or is a translation, or privileges one group's perspective over another ignores the most important issue surrounding the publication of more texts with realistic and relatable non-white characters. As several have already pointed out, while it is important to get the facts right and to honor distinctions that set cultures apart from one another, we need to offer more texts where non-whites are and should be perceived as mirrors, more contemporary stories and mysteries and fantasies and futuristic tales rather than more folklore and historical texts. We need to offer readers books that encourage all children to see others simultaneously as unique individuals, people shaped by their culture, and people very like themselves, to see them as human equals, as living vibrant people rather than as objects set apart and preserved in textual artifacts as though they were in a museum under glass.
Claudia Pearson
>
Claudia Pearson coRA SCBWI Southern Breeze Georgia - Alabama - Florida Panhandle pearsoncrz_at_earthlink.net Need a retreat? Check out the Hibbard Condos www.mtn-resorts.com/P213 www.mtn-resorts.com/P214 www.mtn-resorts.com/P215 www.mtn-resorts.com/P216 Special off-season discount for SCBWI members - email me! You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: bab9660_at_yahoo.com. 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
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Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2014 14:04:04 -0800 (PST)
Claudia said: Conversely, we tend to offer books with non-white characters to white readers without assuming that the white reader should or could or would see himself or herself in those characters. Instead we offer these books as a way for white children to "put themselves in their shoes", as windows, not mirrors - subtly reinforcing them to adopt a positioning superior to the characters subjected to the reader's gaze. Admittedly I deal with older kids, seventh grade and up. But when I go in to talk to a book club, school, or library group, I always feature multicultural titles and I always do my booktalks in a w3ay designed to make them realize that all of the books I speak of are possible mirrors. I pick books that I feel show something universal a “they are me” story, no matter what the ethnicity of my audience. When I spoke of Yaqui Delgado is going to kick your ass, it was the universal story of being bullied and feeling there is no adult you can turn to, not the story of a Hispanic girl. All the Broken Pieces is about a boy feeling the pain of being separated from his family and the fear that his adopted parents won’t want him anymore after the birth of a baby, not about a Vietnamese boy after the war. Ditto for LGBT books. My goal in my booktalks is to present books where the characters have different ethnicities, but that is not THE ISSUE. For me it helps to have the ethnicity on the cover, I don’t have to mention it so it never becomes part of the issue when I talk with kids. As a result I have had great success with kids not being colorblind, but being open to seeing themselves in those characters and that white kids are not the only ones who have “universal” issues. As one white girl told me, she took Sharon Flake’s Pinned because I said the heroine was a female wrestler and she loved wrestling. The fact that the girl on the cover was black meant nothing to her. She was neither colorblind nor putting herself in the minority kids shoes, she was seeing herself as the girl wrestler. The same for my own books. Kids become interested when I tell them it's about a boy having issues with his father. With that one the response was "It's nice to know I'm not the only boy who sometimes hates his dad." Not the only white or black kid. If I described any of these books as being about Black or Hispanic kids I would be doing the books a short-sighed disservice. Instead I describe them as books about kids dealing with problem with their parents, and make them a mirror for any kid with those issues.
Barbara Binns w/a B. A. Binns What if you were the only one of your kind? Find out in Minority of One coming March 2014 from AllTheColorsOfLove press 2010 National Readers Choice Award Winner 2012 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2012-13 Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award Nominee Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Menwebsite - http://www.babinns.com facebook.com/allthecolorsoflove
On Thursday, February 27, 2014 12:14 PM, Claudia Pearson <pearsoncrz_at_earthlink.net> wrote:
Charles wrote:
"...What was interesting to me was the difference in the children’s reactions to the three types of books. Ready engagement with the City books, passing engagement with the Near Outback and virtually no engagement with the Remote books..."
Charles's email raises some questions for me, especially as it relates to the way children's publishing seems to depend on folklore and historical texts (whether fiction or fact) to introduce readers to others not like them.
We talk about having books with non-white characters on our bookshelves so that non-white children can see themselves in books, to offer them "mirrors." At the same time, we tend to expect nonwhite children to be able to identify with contemporary and futuristic white characters in fictional texts, to find the similarities between themselves and the characters which make these texts "mirrors" as well. We do not expect them to read these books for "windows" that will help them understand white culture and perceptions.
Conversely, we tend to offer books with non-white characters to white readers without assuming that the white reader should or could or would see himself or herself in those characters. Instead we offer these books as a way for white children to "put themselves in their shoes", as windows, not mirrors - subtly reinforcing them to adopt a positioning superior to the characters subjected to the reader's gaze.
Similarly, we encourage not just whites, but non-whites to look at folklore and historical texts as windows, as a way of remembering and understanding something in the past, to understand things that happened, not to anyone like them, but to people (and cultures) who are dead - a point that Debbie makes eloquently.
In my opinion, the debate about whether this or that text more accurately portrays the truth, or is a translation, or privileges one group's perspective over another ignores the most important issue surrounding the publication of more texts with realistic and relatable non-white characters. As several have already pointed out, while it is important to get the facts right and to honor distinctions that set cultures apart from one another, we need to offer more texts where non-whites are and should be perceived as mirrors, more contemporary stories and mysteries and fantasies and futuristic tales rather than more folklore and historical texts. We need to offer readers books that encourage all children to see others simultaneously as unique individuals, people shaped by their culture, and people very like themselves, to see them as human equals, as living vibrant people rather than as objects set apart and preserved in textual artifacts as though they were in a museum under glass.
Claudia Pearson
>
Claudia Pearson coRA SCBWI Southern Breeze Georgia - Alabama - Florida Panhandle pearsoncrz_at_earthlink.net Need a retreat? Check out the Hibbard Condos www.mtn-resorts.com/P213 www.mtn-resorts.com/P214 www.mtn-resorts.com/P215 www.mtn-resorts.com/P216 Special off-season discount for SCBWI members - email me! You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: bab9660_at_yahoo.com. 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
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Received on Thu 27 Feb 2014 04:09:14 PM CST
