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RE: Trans middle-grade?
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From: Christine Dengel <dengel_at_peachtree-online.com>
Date: Fri, 16 May 2014 20:44:21 +0000
Maybe doing a specific subject search for transgender themes in upper elementary and middle grade will leave you with only a few titles. But reflect on some titles that got major Newbery buzz this year with a new framework, thanks to the suggested articles, links, and comments from this thread alone.
I detected sentiments of androcentrism in Eleanor and Park. Like, how could a guy like Tom Selleck have fathered a boy who wears eyeliner?! But then Rowell shows us Park through Eleanor's eyes in all his majestic and totally feminine beauty. There's plenty of discussion material about femininity, masculinity, and attraction. And since the characters are quite dynamic, there's a lot of fluidity, too. Eleanor is "womanly" and wears men's clothing. Compare her to her regal mother.
Consider Doll Bones, where Zach's friendships are totally derailed by his father's disdain for dolls. Boys aren't supposed to play like that, and an abashed Zach resolves to grow up to become more of a man. But, it's ok for his 2 female friends to continue playing.
And Flora Belle Buckman's mother was also disapproving of her short haired, cynic daughter in Flora and Ulysses. It wasn't her hair as much as her appreciation for comic books (boys!) over romance novels (spinsters!)
I appreciate contemporary authors weaving in these elements into greater storylines. The stories are about other things, while the characters are complex without being archetypes.
Christine Dengel Baum, M.L.S. School and Library Liaison Peachtree Publishers 1700 Chattahoochee Ave Atlanta, GA 30318
(p) 404.876.8761 ext. 106 dengel_at_peachtree-online.com<mailto:dengel_at_peachtree-online.com>
Read our Peachtree Blog<blocked::http://www.peachtreepub.blogspot.com/> Follow us on Twitter: _at_PeachtreePub<blocked::http://twitter.com/Peachtreepub> Like us on Facebook<blocked::http://www.facebook.com/pages/Atlanta-GA/Peachtree-Publishers/123923364322059>
Find Peachtree's Fall 2014 catalog here<http://issuu.com/ptpatlanta/docs/fall_2014_catalog_pdf_for_online>.
From: Merri Lindgren [mailto:mlindgren_at_education.wisc.edu] Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2014 5:15 PM To: ccbc-net Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] Trans middle-grade?
While there definitely seems to be a void of novels with transgender themes for upper elementary and middle school age readers, the CCBC has recommended a few titles with gay characters in past years.? Totally Joe by James Howe (Ginee Seo Books / Atheneum, 2005) hints at 12-year-old Joe's sexuality, while So Hard to Say by Alex Sanchez (Simon & Schuster, 2004) describes the gradual coming out process of Frederick, thirteen and in middle school.?? In CCBC Choices we suggested Totally Joe for readers ages 10 to 14, and So Hard to Say for ages 12 to 15.?
Two books for similar age readers feature middle grade female protagonists with gay older brothers.? Twelve-year-old Fern's brother Holden has just entered high school and is coming out to his family in See You at Harry's (by Jo Knowles, Candlewick Press, 2012).? And in Jacqueline Woodson's After Tupac and D Foster (Putnam, 2008), eleven-year-old Neeka?s gay older brother Tash is the target of homophobia.
Merri
Date: Fri, 16 May 2014 20:44:21 +0000
Maybe doing a specific subject search for transgender themes in upper elementary and middle grade will leave you with only a few titles. But reflect on some titles that got major Newbery buzz this year with a new framework, thanks to the suggested articles, links, and comments from this thread alone.
I detected sentiments of androcentrism in Eleanor and Park. Like, how could a guy like Tom Selleck have fathered a boy who wears eyeliner?! But then Rowell shows us Park through Eleanor's eyes in all his majestic and totally feminine beauty. There's plenty of discussion material about femininity, masculinity, and attraction. And since the characters are quite dynamic, there's a lot of fluidity, too. Eleanor is "womanly" and wears men's clothing. Compare her to her regal mother.
Consider Doll Bones, where Zach's friendships are totally derailed by his father's disdain for dolls. Boys aren't supposed to play like that, and an abashed Zach resolves to grow up to become more of a man. But, it's ok for his 2 female friends to continue playing.
And Flora Belle Buckman's mother was also disapproving of her short haired, cynic daughter in Flora and Ulysses. It wasn't her hair as much as her appreciation for comic books (boys!) over romance novels (spinsters!)
I appreciate contemporary authors weaving in these elements into greater storylines. The stories are about other things, while the characters are complex without being archetypes.
Christine Dengel Baum, M.L.S. School and Library Liaison Peachtree Publishers 1700 Chattahoochee Ave Atlanta, GA 30318
(p) 404.876.8761 ext. 106 dengel_at_peachtree-online.com<mailto:dengel_at_peachtree-online.com>
Read our Peachtree Blog<blocked::http://www.peachtreepub.blogspot.com/> Follow us on Twitter: _at_PeachtreePub<blocked::http://twitter.com/Peachtreepub> Like us on Facebook<blocked::http://www.facebook.com/pages/Atlanta-GA/Peachtree-Publishers/123923364322059>
Find Peachtree's Fall 2014 catalog here<http://issuu.com/ptpatlanta/docs/fall_2014_catalog_pdf_for_online>.
From: Merri Lindgren [mailto:mlindgren_at_education.wisc.edu] Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2014 5:15 PM To: ccbc-net Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] Trans middle-grade?
While there definitely seems to be a void of novels with transgender themes for upper elementary and middle school age readers, the CCBC has recommended a few titles with gay characters in past years.? Totally Joe by James Howe (Ginee Seo Books / Atheneum, 2005) hints at 12-year-old Joe's sexuality, while So Hard to Say by Alex Sanchez (Simon & Schuster, 2004) describes the gradual coming out process of Frederick, thirteen and in middle school.?? In CCBC Choices we suggested Totally Joe for readers ages 10 to 14, and So Hard to Say for ages 12 to 15.?
Two books for similar age readers feature middle grade female protagonists with gay older brothers.? Twelve-year-old Fern's brother Holden has just entered high school and is coming out to his family in See You at Harry's (by Jo Knowles, Candlewick Press, 2012).? And in Jacqueline Woodson's After Tupac and D Foster (Putnam, 2008), eleven-year-old Neeka?s gay older brother Tash is the target of homophobia.
Merri
--
Merri Lindgren, Librarian
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
School of Education / UW-Madison
4290 Helen C. White Hall
600 N. Park Street
Madison, WI 53706
608-263-3930
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Received on Fri 16 May 2014 03:44:52 PM CDT
