Yesterday (September 15, 2015), a new blog was launched. Titled
Reading While White, its contributors are--as the blog title indicates--white. The contributors are librarians who I know personally and professionally.
The most recent issue of
Children and Libraries (Summer 2015), has articles by two of the contributors. Kathleen T. Horning's "Milestones for Diversity in Literature and Library Services" is a timeline of significant events in children's literature but it is loaded with information. She noted, for example, that in 1984, Jamake Highwater was exposed as a fraud. She referenced
Akwesasne Notes, a source that most people in children's literature weren't reading at the time. It points to the depth of her commitment to diversity. She's at the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Allie Jane Bruce's article is "On Being White: A Raw, Honest Conversation." In it, she shares a personal story about how, over time, she became fully aware of her identity and a societal reluctance to talk about whiteness. Avoiding that discussion, she writes, lets racism be "other people's problem." She wrote
Why a White Blog?, which is the first post at
Reading While White. It is provocative and engaging, too. Yesterday as I read through Twitter, I saw that many people excerpted parts of her post as they shared news about the blog. She's at Bank Street College in New York City where she's done some outstanding work with children, teaching them to read critically. See her recent post,
Rewriting History: American Indians, Europeans, and an Oak Tree.
Something both women and I share is a commitment to children. My article in the summer issue of
Children and Libraries is the Last Word column. I wrote about my niece's baby, her names (one is her Tewa name, the language we speak at Nambe), and children's books I want her to have.
I look forward to reading
Reading While White. Because it is written by librarians, I think librarians will be especially interested in what is shared there.
Holy ham hocks, is this a useful guide for anyone who reviews kid's books!
From Cover to Cover, by Kathleen T. Horning, first came out in 1997, but a revised edition was published last year. The book now includes sections on graphic novels, fractured fairy tales, and verse novels. Many of the books cited as examples have been updated as well.
Chapter One starts off with a clearly presented account of how children's books are published and then goes on to list and define the parts of a book. Subsequent chapters give readers a tour of the major categories of children's literature, including nonfiction books, traditional literature (folktales and fairy tales), poetry, picture books, easy readers and transitional books, and fiction. (Unfortunately, YA books aren't represented as a separate category.)
For each genre, Horning explains what reviewers should take into account when evaluating a book. When judging an easy reader, for example, a reviewer should consider vocabulary, sentence length, plot, illustrations, and the book's design (the size of the typeface, the space between words, the space between lines, the number of lines per page, and so forth).
The final chapter deals with writing a review. Horning sets out the process in distinct steps. After first preparing and selecting a book, a conscientious reviewer reads and takes notes, asking herself questions while doing so. Sometimes it is necessary to consult outside sources and to fact check. Finally it's time to write the review and decide what to include and what to leave out.
As someone who blogs regularly about children's books, I found this book immensely helpful. I strongly recommend it to anyone who write or cares about children's books.
From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books (revised edition)
by Kathleen T. Horning
HarperCollins, 240 pages
Published 2010
This week Nonfiction Monday is at
Apples with Many Seeds.
Holy ham hocks??
I, too, think this a really worthwhile book. I promote it to the student teachers in the education faculty, as a way to learn about children's literature. When you've had little exposure to kids lit. it can be overwhelming figuring out where to start and what makes a good book. This gives a person lots to work with.
Good recommendation.
Tammy
Sounds interesting. I'm going right now to see if my library has this.
Hmm, I'll have to look for it. Thanks!
This sounds like a good resource, both for me and a lot of the education students we get in the library. Sometimes I feel like I'm back in school when they come in with syllabi in hand and ask for lists of books.