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Re: Cultures and books as bridges OR If beautiful, not true, If true, not beautiful
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From: Ebony Elizabeth Thomas <ebonyt_at_gse.upenn.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 11:25:02 -0500
On Feb 27, 2014, at 5:04 PM, Barbara Binns <bab9660_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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.
>
Absolutely, Barbara. I am noticing this phenomenon as well. This is where the kids are going. Many are already there. Just as there has been a sea change in the culture over the past 10-15 years around orientation and marriage equality, I suspect we'll soon see shifts in children's/YA literature and media as well. That gives me hope. I don't think the answer is coming from outside of the field, but it will come from within it.
My task is to change the culture through my classroom, through my research, and with my checkbook. I am a believer in dialogue (see my quote below), but at the end of this month, I find myself extremely sad and disappointed when I think about how this discussion has gone. I unsubscribed after the devolution of the conversation this weekend because I was upset at Saturday's posts, but resubscribed when Debbie told me that there wasn't much discussion of Eric Gansworth's IF I EVER GET OUT OF HERE. I resubscribed last night, and I still don't see much discussion of Gansworth's work. Tomorrow is March 1, and as we know, the topic will change, never to be broached again until February 2015.
In the future, I really wish we'd use "diversity month" to discuss the works and achievements of authors, publishers, and advocates who have a commitment to diversity and multiculturalism. Instead of focusing on what we don't have in children's literature and media, why not increase visibility of what's out there? Why not celebrate this, and at the end of the month. The best part of this discussion was the week we talked about Tim Tingle, but there could have been so much more.
Ebony
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 11:25:02 -0500
On Feb 27, 2014, at 5:04 PM, Barbara Binns <bab9660_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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.
>
Absolutely, Barbara. I am noticing this phenomenon as well. This is where the kids are going. Many are already there. Just as there has been a sea change in the culture over the past 10-15 years around orientation and marriage equality, I suspect we'll soon see shifts in children's/YA literature and media as well. That gives me hope. I don't think the answer is coming from outside of the field, but it will come from within it.
My task is to change the culture through my classroom, through my research, and with my checkbook. I am a believer in dialogue (see my quote below), but at the end of this month, I find myself extremely sad and disappointed when I think about how this discussion has gone. I unsubscribed after the devolution of the conversation this weekend because I was upset at Saturday's posts, but resubscribed when Debbie told me that there wasn't much discussion of Eric Gansworth's IF I EVER GET OUT OF HERE. I resubscribed last night, and I still don't see much discussion of Gansworth's work. Tomorrow is March 1, and as we know, the topic will change, never to be broached again until February 2015.
In the future, I really wish we'd use "diversity month" to discuss the works and achievements of authors, publishers, and advocates who have a commitment to diversity and multiculturalism. Instead of focusing on what we don't have in children's literature and media, why not increase visibility of what's out there? Why not celebrate this, and at the end of the month. The best part of this discussion was the week we talked about Tim Tingle, but there could have been so much more.
Ebony
-- Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Reading/Writing/Literacy Division Graduate School of Education University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6216 Office: (215) 898-9309 Fax: (215) 573-2109 Email: ebonyt_at_gse.upenn.edu Website: http://scholar.gse.upenn.edu/thomas Twitter: _at_Ebonyteach Tumblr: ebonyteach "If I do not love the world--if I do not love life--if I do not love people--I cannot enter into dialogue." --Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed --- 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: Look4PostsReceived on Fri 28 Feb 2014 10:25:40 AM CST
