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Since November 2016, I've decided to bring more attention to diverse authors and diverse books, because now more than ever #WeNeedDiverseBooks. So this will be one of an occasional series of posts.





The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly (March 2016, Greenwillow/Harpercollins, 304 pages, for ages 8 to 12)

Synopsis (from the publisher):  Soledad has always been able to escape into the stories she creates. Just like her mother always could. And Soledad has needed that escape more than ever in the five years since her mother and sister died and her father moved Sol and her youngest sister from the Philippines to Louisiana. Then he left, and all Sol and Ming have now is their evil stepmother, Vea. Sol has protected Ming all this time, but then Ming begins to believe that Auntie Jove—their mythical, world-traveling aunt—is really going to come rescue them. Have Sol’s stories done more harm than good? Can she protect Ming from this impossible hope?

Why I recommend it:  The author makes us fall in love Sol's 12-year-old girl voice, a voice that's brave and funny and achingly honest. With so many quotable lines, I had trouble coming up with just one favorite.

This book will break your heart into thousands of pieces--and then knit them all back together. A strong sibling bond, good friends, and a kind neighbor lift this contemporary novel up into heartwarming territory, as does the power of Sol's imagination. Sol is so real, you'll want to hug her and buy her some ice cream.


Favorite lines:  When Vea's in a good mood--which is like, never--she brings home extra tartar sauce               for Ming.
                          Today wasn't a tartar sauce day.







Find other diverse children's books at: The Logonauts and Pragmatic Mom

Find the author at erinentradakelly.com

Follow her on Twitter at erinkellytweets

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I'm taking a blogging break. 

And during this time I'm going to read every diverse MG book I can get my hands on, that I haven't yet read. Because now, more than ever, We Need Diverse Books!*

Reviews when I return.


*I also donated to them today. If you're frustrated or upset about things, please consider doing something positive. Donate to a charity. Volunteer. Hug someone. Read.

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Today is Picture Book 10 for 10, which is a community of educators who share "must-have" picture books for classrooms. My list includes stories that will inspire children to write about their own experiences in new ways.

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Pia Ceres is LEE & LOW’s summer intern. She is a recipient of the We Need Diverse Books Internship Program grant. She’s a rising senior at Brown University, where she studies Education & Comparative Literature, with a focus in French literature. When she’s not reading, you can find her watching classic horror movies from under a blanket, strumming pop songs on her ukulele, and listening to her grandparents’ stories about the Philippines. In this blog post, she talks about her first book fair with LEE & LOW BOOKS.

By morning, a sticky summer swelter had set in, but the anticipation was unmistakable, electric in the air. They would be coming soon. Across two blocks, along 135^th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, booksellers, authors, and representatives from nonprofits fussed with tents and paraphernalia. Somewhere I couldn’t see, a live jazz band began to practice; its strident trumpet blared the beginning of a celebration. In moments, the hot asphalt would be teeming with families and lovers of literature from around the country gathering for the Harlem Book Fair.

The Harlem Book Fair is the largest African-American book fair in the country. With the aim of celebrating literacy within the Black community, the fair, held annually, offers a full day of presentations and rows of exhibition booths. Although it kicked off its 18^th successful year last Saturday, this was my very first time participating in a book fair. Helping Keilin and Jalissa represent LEE & LOW and sell some of our books, I was open to every possibility.

The challenge came early on: Someone asked me to find a book for her niece, then added, “She hates reading.” Yikes. Sounds like a tall order, but not surprising. Most of the educators and families who stopped by our booth were concerned that their kids didn’t see themselves in the books assigned at school. It reminded me of when I was a kid and had to read about primarily white boys and the wilderness or dogs or something. For this woman, I suggested The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen. Maybe, I hoped, this would be the book that would start to change things.

At a book fair, one sees firsthand that books, particularly children’s books, are a meaningful part of relationships – an aunt wishing her niece a story that reflects her. I spoke with a dad who wanted an exciting bedtime story; a soon-to-be teacher, eager to fill her first classroom with books as diverse as her students; a mom who wanted to share her native language, and her young daughter who wanted to read it. As I listened to people’s requests, the book fair revealed a striking truth: For a lot of folks, books are expressions of love.

Of course, the day ended with a sudden and cinematic downpour, with jabs of wind that caused our white tent to take to the air like a storm-battered sail and had Keilin, Jalissa, and I drenched, scrambling to protect the books! Because if any day reminded us that books are precious, it was this one.

If books bridge worlds, then book fairs are a space for bridging those connections. The Harlem Book Fair allows diverse stories to come into people’s hands and helps create a world-full of readers – reflected, interconnected, loving and loved.

 

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Here is what in truth is just a query masquerading as a legitimate blog post.  I am never above misusing my power when I’m curious.  And while I’m sure somebody somewhere has brought this up, I certainly can’t recall it being as big a topic as it could be.

The other day I was talking with some folks about ebooks and the state of electronic publishing for kids today.  Now as you may or may not know, most library systems don’t have a lot of choices when it comes to purchasing e-materials.  At New York Public Library we were a large system so we could afford to buy ebooks from Overdrive, 3M, as well as stuff like Freegal.  Here at Evanston Public Library we just have Overdrive and Hoopla.

Now the thing about ebooks is that only a small selection of print materials come out in ebook form in any given season.  A colleague of mine recently decided that it would be a good idea to buy a bunch of diverse ebooks for their collection, so they tried to find as many as they could that were available for purchase.  The problem?  For as few diverse children’s books as we see each and every year, we see even fewer diverse ebooks.

So I put it to you: Is this a problem that is already being discussed and addressed, or is this something we should make a concerted effort to rectify?  Have studies been done on this already and I’m just late to the party?  I honestly don’t know so I put it to you.  If you have some knowledge to drop on me, drop it.

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It’s a bicoastal book-to-book battle, but it’s an everybody-wins sort of thing.

Beginning in the fall and running through the end of 2015, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Children’s Alliance (NCIBA) and the New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council (NECBA) were competing to see which coast’s booksellers can sell the most copies of certain titles with diverse characters.

NCIBA was touting One Word from Sophia (Atheneum, June 2015) by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Yasmeen Ismail; and The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher (Delacorte, September 2014) by Dana Alison Levy. NECBA was promoting Last Stop on Market Street (Putnam, January 2015) by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson — which just yesterday received the Newbery Medal, a Caldecott Honor, and a CSK Illustrator Award Honor.

The idea was to “provide hard evidence to publishers that diverse books sell,” according to a statement from NCIBA’s new Diversity Committee.

Brookline Booksmith participated in a similar campaign while I worked in the children’s section there. The Great Greene Challenge of 2014 was a competition to see which bookstore could sell the most copies of Varian Johnson’s The Great Greene Heist (Scholastic/Levine), a funny caper with a diverse cast pictured clearly on the cover. The most challenging part of handselling this book was its lack of wildly popular comp titles. The easiest way to sell a book from Intermediate Fiction was to say, “If you liked Percy Jackson/Harry Potter/Diary of a Wimpy Kid…” Recommendations for a middle-school caper novel often sounded a little out-of-the-blue. The solution? Honesty. When I explained to customers that we were competing to sell this title to prove to publishers that a book with kids of color on the cover could sell, it often piqued their interest. “That needs proving?” one customer asked. Some did walk away with copies of The Great Greene Heist. Others picked different books, but in at least a few cases, they picked different diverse books. The exchange almost always led to some discussion about the need for more diversity in children’s literature.

Let’s hope the same happened with this initiative! We’re looking forward to seeing the results announced. (And far be it from this New England bookselling alum to say which reason is the best region, but may the best region win!)

The post Go, indies, go! appeared first on The Horn Book.

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So I’m going to confess something to you.  All year long, from January onward, I’ve been keeping track of any picture book, easy book, or early chapter book I’ve seen containing some kind of diversity.  Have I missed books?  Of course I have!  You cannot make a list like this without missing something.  Books from publishers like Kar-Ben Books and Inhabit Media (amongst others) should be better represented, but I failed to keep proper track early in the year.  There probably isn’t enough Lee & Low or Cinco Punto either.  At the same time, the books that I was able to gather could be potentially useful to folks.  You will find them organized by their publication release dates.

I apologize beforehand that sometimes the notes here do not mention the specific ethnicities of the characters.  Often this is because the book itself has not made it clear.  For these titles, you will need to look at the books individually.

As ever, if you see something missing here please note it in the comments. Also, if you think I’ve included wrong information about a book, let me know so that I can make the change.

Enjoy!

Title                              Author            Pub Date     Age        Subjects                               Type

Families	Shelley Rotner & Sheila M. Kelly	1/1/2015	Ages 3-6	family, alternative lifestyles, same sex families	Picture Book
3, 2, 1, Go!	Emily Arnold McCully	1/1/2015	Ages 4-6	strong girls, science girls, STEM	Easy Reader
How to Grow a Friend	Sara Gillingham	1/6/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, friendship, nature	Picture Book
The Bear Ate Your Sandwich	Julia Sarcone-Roach	1/6/2015	Ages 4-6	nature, bears, cities, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
Last Stop on Market Street	Matt de la Pena	1/8/2015	Ages 4-6	family, multigenerational, lower income, African-American, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
The Tea Party in the Woods	Akiko Miyakoshi	1/8/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, Asian, animals, tea parties	Picture Book
Ready, Set, Kindergarten!	Paula Ayer	1/9/2015	Ages 4-5	Diverse Main Character, starting school, biracial	Picture Book
My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay	Cari Best	1/13/2015	Ages 4-7	Disability, friendship, sports, African-American, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
Freedom’s School	Lesa Cline-Ransome	1/13/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, African-American, American history, freedom	Picture Book
Juna’s Jar	Jane Bank	1/15/2015	Ages 3-6	multi-cultural, moving, Asian-American, friendship, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
Harlem Renaissance Party	Faith Ringgold	1/27/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, African-American, American history	Picture Book
Sofia Martinez: My Family Adventure	Jacqueline Jules	2/1/2015	Ages 6-9	family, Latino-American, Diverse Main Character	Chapter Book
Sofia Martinez: The Missing Mouse	Jacqueline Jules	2/1/2015	Ages 4-6	family, Latino-American, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
A Dozen Cousins	Lori Haskins Houran	2/3/2015	Ages 4-6	family, Multi-ethnic Cast, boys, girls	Picture Book
The New Small Person	Lauren Child	2/10/2015	Ages 4-7	family, new baby, siblings, jealousy, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
I Had a Favorite Hat	Boni Ashburn	2/17/2015	Ages 4-6	Diverse Main Character, Clothing, Imagination	Picture Book
The Red Bicycle	Jude Isabella	3/1/2015	Ages 4-7	multi-cultural, Africa, bicycles, philanthropy, world culture, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
The Sock Thief	Ana Crespo	3/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Latin America, soccer, sports, altruism, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
Jessica’s Box	Peter Carnavas	3/1/2015	Ages 4-6	Diverse Main Character, Disability, friendship	Picture Book
Party Croc! A Folktale from Zimbabwe	Margaret Read McDonald	3/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, folktale, promises	Picture Book
No, No, Kitten!	Shelley Moore Thomas	3/3/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, Cats, Pets	Picture Book
Stone Angel	Jane Yolen	3/3/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Jewish, WWII, Holocaust, hope	Picture Book
Red	Jan De Kinder	3/9/2015	Ages 4-7	Bullying, Friendship, School	Picture Book
Bird & Diz	Gary Golio	3/10/2015	Ages 4-7	jazz, African-American, American history, music, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
My Pen	Christopher Myers	3/10/2015	Ages 6-9	Diverse Main Character, Imagination, Drawing, Art	Picture Book
Red, Yellow, Blue (And a Dash of White Too!)	C.G. Esperanza	3/10/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, Imagination, Colors, Art, African-American	Picture Book
Peace Is an Offering	Annette Le Box	3/10/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, peace, friendship	Picture Book
15 Things Not To Do With a Baby	Margaret McAllister	3/15/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, new baby, siblings	Picture Book
Thank You, Jackson	Niki Daly	3/15/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, manners, Africa	Picture Book
Salsa: Una Poema Para Cocinar / A Cooking Poem	Jorge Argueta	3/17/2015	Ages 4-6	cooking, Latino-American, family, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
And What If I Won’t?	Maureen Fergus	3/17/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, family, mothers, behavior	Picture Book
Drum Dream Girl	Margarita Engle	3/24/2015	Ages 5-7	Diverse Main Character, Cuba, music, girls, multi-racial	Picture Book
Families, Families, Families!	Suzanne Lang	3/24/2015	Ages 4-6	family, alternative lifestyles, same sex families	Picture Book
How to Surprise a Dad	Jean Reagan	3/24/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, fathers, family	Picture Book
The Best Friend Battle	Lindsay Eyre	3/31/2015	Ages 6-9	friendship, jealousy, Latino-American, Multi-ethnic Cast	Chapter Book
The Five of Us	Quentin Blake	3/31/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, ability, self-esteem	Picture Book
Finding the Music / En Pos de la Musica	Jennifer Torres	4/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Latino-American, music	Picture Book
Poems in the Attic	Nikki Grimes	4/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, African-American, family	Picture Book
The Flying Hand of Marco B.	Richard Leiter	4/1/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, imagination, flying	Picture Book
My Family Tree and Me	Dusan Petricic	4/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Asian-American, biracial, family tree	Picture Book
Never Give Up: A Story About Self-esteem	Kathryn Cole	4/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, self-esteem, perseverance	Picture Book
I Am Ivan Crocodile	Rene Gouichoux	4/1/2015	Ages 5-7	bullying, disability, emotions	Picture Book
Grandma in Blue With a Red Hat	Scott Menchin	4/14/2015	Ages 4-6	family, multigenerational, art, African-American, Diverse Main Character	Picture Book
Hens for Friends	Sandy De Lisle	4/14/2015	Ages 5-7	Diverse Main Character, Latino-American, farm life, chickens	Picture Book
There’s No Such Thing As Little	LeUyen Pham	4/14/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, concepts, perception	Picture Book
Little Sleepyhead	Elizabeth McPike	4/14/2015	Ages 2-4	Multi-ethnic Cast, bedtime, babies	Picture Book
Little Chanclas	Jose Lozano	4/15/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, Latino-American, clothing	Picture Book
Princess Nina	Marlise Achterbergh	4/21/2015	Ages 4-6	alternative lifestyles, princesses, strong girls	Picture Book
Big News!	Ida Siegal	4/28/2015	Ages 6-9	Diverse Main Character, Latino-American, mystery	Chapter Book
Never Ask a Dinosaur to Dinner	Gareth Edwards	4/28/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, dinosaurs, bedtime	Picture Book
Izzy Barr, Running Star	Claudia Mills	4/28/2015	Ages 6-9	Diverse Main Character, sports, friendship, African-American	Chapter Book
Race the Wild: Rain Forest Relay	Kristin Earhart	4/28/2015	Ages 6-9	Diverse Main Character, nature, adventure, animals	Chapter Book
The Nesting Quilt	Cathryn Falwell	5/1/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, new baby, crafts	Picture Book
A Day at Grandma’s	Mi-ae Lee	5/1/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, Korea, sleepovers, separation, family	Picture Book
Lailah’s Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story	Reem Faruqi	5/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Muslim, holidays, differences	Picture Book
Grandma Lives in a Perfume Village	Fang Suzhen	5/1/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, Taiwan, death, grandparents	Picture Book
Ally-Saurus	Richard Torrey	5/5/2015	Ages 4-6	friendship, strong girls, gender stereotypes, dinosaurs	Picture Book
Stella Brings the Family	Miriam B. Schiffer	5/5/2015	Ages 4-7	family, alternative lifestyles, same sex families	Picture Book
Don’t Throw It to Mo!	David A. Adler	5/5/2015	Ages 6-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, Diverse Main Character, sports, football, self-esteem	Easy Reader
Anna, Banana, and the Friendship Split	Anica Mrose Rissi	5/5/2015	Ages 6-9	Diverse Main Character, friendship, fighting	Chapter Book
Interstellar Cinderella	Deborah Underwood	5/5/2015	Ages 3-6	strong girls, science girls, STEM, fractured fairytales	Picture Book
Feet Go to Sleep	Barbara Bottner	5/12/2015	Ages 4-6	family, bedtime, body parts, Multi-ethnic Cast	Picture Book
Bright Sky, Starry City	Uma Krishnaswami	5/12/2015	Ages 5-7	science, strong girls, astronomy, urban life	Picture Book
With a Friend By Your Side	Barbara Kerley	5/12/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, friendship	Picture Book
Sunday Shopping	Sally Derby	5/15/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, African-American, shopping, money	Picture Book
One Family	George Shannon	5/26/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, alternative lifestyles, family, multigenerational	Picture Book
Battle Bugs: The Lizard War	Jack Patton	5/26/2015	Ages 6-9	Diverse Main Character, action, insects, reptiles, adventure	Chapter Book
Battle Bugs: The Spider Siege	Jack Patton	5/26/2015	Ages 6-9	Diverse Main Character, action, insects, spiders, adventure	Chapter Book
In a Village By the Sea	Muon Van	6/9/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, Vietnam, Cumulative Tale	Picture Book
What James Said	Liz Rosenberg	6/9/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, friendship, rumors	Picture Book
One Word from Sophia	Jim Averbeck	6/16/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, Diverse Main Character, manners	Picture Book
Vamonos! Let’s Go!	Rene Colato Lainez	7/1/2015	Ages 2-4	Multi-ethnic Cast, Latino, nursery rhymes, transportation	Picture Book
Rosie Goes to Preschool	Karen Katz	7/7/2015	Ages 2-4	Multi-ethnic Cast, starting school, preschool, friendship	Picture Book
Freckleface Strawberry: Backpacks	Julianne Moore	7/14/2015	Ages 4-6	alternative lifestyles, same sex families, cleaning	Easy Reader
We’re Getting a Pet	Sue Fliess	7/14/2015	Ages 2-4	Diverse Main Character, new pet, animals	Picture Book
Charlotte and the Quiet Place	Deborah Sosin	7/21/2015	Ages 4-6	Diverse Main Character, African-American, New York City, peace	Picture Book
Bucky and Stu Vs. The Mikanikal Man	Cornelius Van Wright	7/28/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, African-American, superheroes, imagination, friendship	Picture Book
Double Happiness	Nancy Tupper Ling	7/28/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, Asian-American, moving, travel	Picture Book
Marvelous Cornelius	Phil Bildner	7/28/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, hope, hurricanes, African-American	Picture Book
Shanghai Sukkah	Heidi Smith Hyde	8/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Jewish, China, history, holidays	Picture Book
Talia and the Very Yum Kippur	Linda Elovitz Marshall	8/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main character, Jewish, holidays	Picture Book
Meg Goldberg on Parade	Andria Warmflash Rosenbaum	8/1/2015	Ages 4-6	Jewish, parades, New York City	Picture Book
The Seeds of Friendship	Michael Foreman	8/4/2015	Ages 4-6	Diverse Main Character, immigrants, friendship, Africa	Picture Book
The Great and Mighty Nikko!	Xavier Garza	8/4/2015	Ages 4-6	Diverse Main Character, bilingual, Latin-American, counting, Mexican wrestling	Picture Book
I’m New Here	Anne Sibley O’Brien	8/4/2015	Ages 4-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, immigration, immigrants, friendship	Picture Book
The Green Musician	Mahvash Shahegh	8/7/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Muslim, folktales	Picture Book
Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox	Danielle Daniel	8/11/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, feelings, animals, Native American	Picture Book
In the Canyon	Liz Garton Scanlon	8/18/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, nature, animals	Picture Book
Pumpkin Day!	Candice Ransom	8/25/2015	Ages 4-6	Diverse Main Character, African-American, autumn, seasons	Easy Reader
Happy In Our Skin	Fran Manushkin	8/25/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, self-esteem, celebrating differences	Picture Book
Mango, Abuela, and Me	Meg Medina	8/25/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, grandparents, immigration, Latino-American	Picture Book
Leo	Mac Barnett	8/25/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, ghosts, friendship	Picture Book
Elephant in the Dark	Mina Javaherbin	8/25/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, Iran, folktale	Picture Book
What Does It Mean to be Kind?	Rana DiOrio	8/25/2015	Ages 4-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, kindness, life skills	Picture Book
My Two Blankets	Irena Kobold	9/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, immigrants, friendship, Africa	Picture Book
On the Ball: Unleash Your Imagination	Brian Pinkney	9/1/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, African-American, soccer, persistence	Picture Book
In a Cloud of Dust	Alma Fullerton	9/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Africa, bicycles	Picture Book
Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation	Edwidge Danticat	9/1/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, immigration, separation, Carribean	Picture Book
Sail Away	Langston Hughes	9/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, poetry, water	Picture Book
Poo in the Zoo	Steve Smallman	9/1/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, zoo, poop, rhyming picture books	Picture Book
Sadako’s Cranes	Judith Loske	9/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Japan, WWII, hope, peace	Picture Book
Backyard Camp-Out	Jerdine Nolen	9/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, camping, friendship	Easy Reader
Block Party Surprise	Jerdine Nolen	9/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, parties, friendship	Easy Reader
Monster Trouble!	Lane Fredrickson	9/1/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, monsters, bedtime	Picture Book
The Little Kids’ Table	Mary Ann McCabe Riehle	9/1/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, holidays, dinner, manners	Picture Book
Lizard From the Park	Mark Pett	9/8/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, NYC, dinosaurs, friendship	Picture Book
Oskar and the Eight Blessings	Richard & Tanya Simon	9/8/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Jewish, NYC, holocaust, Hannukah, Christmas	Picture Book
I Am a Bear	Jean-Francois Dumont	9/8/2015	Ages 4-7	homelessness, poverty, compassion, bears	Picture Book
It’s Tough to Lose Your Balloon	Jarrett J. Krosoczka	9/8/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, feelings, problem solving	Picture Book
Jumping Off Library Shelves: A Book of Poems	Lee Bennett Hopkins (ed)	9/8/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, poetry, libraries	Picture Book
Flop to the Top	Eleanor Davis	9/15/2015	Ages 4-6	Diverse Main Character, friendship, popularity, pets	Easy Reader
P’esk’a and the First Salmon Ceremony	Scot Ritchie	9/15/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Native Americans, history	Picture Book
Oscar Lives Next Door	Bonnie Farmer	9/15/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, jazz, music, illness	Picture Book
Miracle on 133rd Street	Sonia Manzano	9/22/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, NYC, Latino-American, Christmas	Picture Book
How the Sun Got to Coco’s House	Bob Graham	9/22/2015	Ages 4-6	Multi-ethinic Cast, daytime, the world	Picture Book
Roar!	Tammi Sauer	9/29/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, dragons, friendship	Picture Book
Kamik’s First Sled	Matilda Sulurayok	10/1/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Native voices, dogs	Picture Book
Ketzel the Cat Who Composed	Leslea Newman	10/6/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Jewish, cats, music	Picture Book
Mixed Me!	Taye Diggs	10/6/2015	Ages 3-6	Diverse Main Character, biracial, self-esteem	Picture Book
Little Shaq	Shaquilloe O’Neal	10/6/2015	Ages 6-9	Diverse Main Character, basketball, African-American, self-esteem	Chapter Book
Two White Rabbits	Jairo Buitrago	10/13/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Mexico, migrants, immigration	Picture Book
West Meadow Detectives	Liam O’Donnell	10/13/2015	Ages 6-9	Multi-ethnic Cast, autism, detective stories	Chapter Book
Me and My Dragon: Christmas Spirit	David Biedrzycki	10/13/2015	Ages 4-6	Diverse Main Character, Christmas, dragons, poverty	Picture Book
Today is the Day	Eric Walters	10/13/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, orphans, Kenya, birthdays	Picture Book
Bottle Cap Boys Go Dancing on Royal Street	Rita Williams-Garcia	10/15/2015	Ages 4-6	Diverse Main Character, African-American, dance, New Orleans	Picture Book
Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein	Amanda Peet & Andrea Troyer	10/20/2015	Ages 4-7	Diverse Main Character, Jewish, Christmas, Hanukkah	Picture Book
Pablo & Jane and the Hot Air Contraption	Jose Domingo	10/20/2015	Ages 6-9	Diverse Main Character, graphic novels, adventure	Chapter Book
Little Red Gliding Hood	Tara Lazar	10/27/2015	Ages 4-6	Diverse Main Character, fairy tales, ice skating, fractured fairy tales	Picture Book
Strictly No Elephants	Lisa Mantchev	10/27/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, friendship, differences, inclusion, pets	Picture Book
I Can’t Wait!	Amy Schwartz	10/27/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, friendship, emotions	Picture Book
Bigfoot Does Not Like Birthday Parties	Eric Ode	10/27/2015	Ages 3-6	Multi-ethnic Cast, Bigfoot, birthday parties	Picture Book
One Today	Richard Blanco	11/3/2015	Ages 4-7	Multi-ethnic Cast, poetry, patriotism	Picture Book
Lola Levine is Not Mean!	Monica Brown	11/3/2015	Ages 6-9	Diverse Main Character, biracial, Jewish, Latino-American	Chapter Book
Specs for Rex	Yasmeen Ismail	11/3/2015	Ages 4-7	glasses, self-esteem, first day of school	Picture Book
The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk	Kabir & Surishtha Sehgal	11/3/2015	Ages 2-4	Multi-ethnic Cast, India, nursery rhymes, transportation	Picture Book
Snow Rabbit	Camille Garoche	11/3/2015	Ages 4-6	Disability, sisters, nature, rabbits	Picture Book
The Little Tree	Muon Van	11/10/2015	Ages 4-7	adoption, nature, environment	Picture Book
Don’t Feed the Geckos	Karen English	12/1/2015	Ages 6-9	Multi-ethnic Cast, soccer, cousins, Latino, family	Chapter Book

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A few weeks ago, Scholastic and We Need Diverse Books announced a Special Edition of the Scholastic Reading Club program.

You know what I'm talking about, right? You remember your teacher handing out those book club flyers? You remember poring over the options, deciding which ones you'd get? And then the joy when they arrived!

I was on both ends of that program. As a kid, I got books that way, and as an elementary school teacher, my students got books that way, too.

Like anyone, Scholastic has an uneven track record in terms of the books they publish. Some are great, some are not.

When I saw the first page of the flyer for this collaboration between Scholastic and We Need Diverse Books, my first thought was "Oh no! Not Stone Fox!" That book has stereotypical imagery in it. The stoic Indian in it is violent, too, striking the white kid that is the main character. Even though it all comes out ok in the end, I don't recommend it. Stereotypes are just no good, for anyone.

I've finally gotten a chance to look over the entire flyer and am really glad to see Joseph Bruchac's Eagle Song is in there. I like that book a lot and recommend it. (The flyer also has Bruchac's story about the Trail of Tears, but I haven't read that one yet.)

Don't waste a dollar on Stone Fox. Spend three dollars instead, and get Eagle Song. Danny, the main character, is Mohawk. The setting is present day. His dad is a steelworker. They've moved to a city where Danny feels alone and is teased about his heritage. Like other Native families who find themselves in cities, they seek out a Native community, and find it at the American Indian Community House. Lot of good in this book! I highly recommend it. It was first published in in 1999 by Puffin Books.

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The Scholastic Reading Club and the We Need Diverse Books organization have established a new partnership.

The two collaborators have created a special book club flyer with over 75 books that star diverse protagonists and feature diverse storylines. During the holiday season, this flyer will be distributed to more than 100,000 classrooms and 2.5 million students.

Here’s more from the press release: “The collection showcases a wide variety of titles highlighting important themes about race and ethnicity, multiculturalism, different religions, LGBTQ stories, individuals with disabilities and more. The range of titles and the diversity of the authors will resonate with the widely diverse population of young readers served by Scholastic Reading Club through schools nationwide and help them understand and appreciate people, cultures and experiences different from their own. Additional titles beyond those featured in the flyers will be available online at Scholastic.com/ReadingClub.”

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This past weekend, we noticed an unusual number of superheroes, cosplayers, and characters from our favorite TV shows flooding thesubways, buses, and streets of New York City. Did we unknowingly fall into an alternate universe?

Turns out that it was just New York Comic Con, the annual pop culture phenomenon dedicated to comics, graphic novels, anime, video games, movies, and television. The first convention was held in 2006 and it has continued to grow steadily over the past several years, bringing an ever-growing number of comics and pop-culture fans to New York City. And not only has Comic Con continued to grow, but so has programming dedicated to issues of diversity and diverse creators. We were lucky enough to get a pass for LEE & LOW staff. Below, three staff members share their highlights from the show:

Keilin, Marketing and Publicity Associate

Oh Comic Con. What a crazy event to go to, but definitely worth every minute!

I went to a Geeks of Color Meetup, hosted by Diana Pho (editor, Tor Books), and featuring Shelley Diaz (editor, School Library Journal), and author Melissa Grey (The Girl At Midnight). It was great to mingle with other “geeks” and to get to know Diana and Shelley.

The greatest thing about the Meetup was seeing the diversity in the room. There was one group of people that I joined that was talking about the new Star Wars movie coming out, and it didn’t matter that we were all from different backgrounds because we all could geek out about something we were all collectively excited for. Diana often hosts these types of meetups for people of color, and if anyone is interested, you can contact her on her website, Beyond Victoriana.

After the Geeks of Color Meetup, I booked it over to the Asian American Comics and Creators panel, which unfortunately was full. On the positive side, that just meant that there was a full house to participate in a discussion on Asian Americans in the comic book industry. While the depictions of Asian Americans in comic books has improved, there is more that can still be done.

The thing I like most about conventions like these is that it shows you the wide spectrum of people within fandoms, whether it’s seeing a black Wonder Woman or an Asian Peggy Carter. Nerding out is for everyone!

Rebecca, Marketing and Publicity Assistant

Thanks to things like the We Need Diverse Books campaign, diversity has been on people’s minds more than ever before. Last year, we saw one of the most diverse television seasons we’ve gotten in a while. It’s no surprise that diversity in comics and geek culture was on a lot of people’s minds at New York Comic Con! I attended 4 panels focused on various aspects of diversity at the show this year.

At the Pushing Boundaries panel, there was a discussion about representation. Author Marjorie Liu spoke about the burden that authors of color often face when they are the only ones representing entire cultures. They have to make sure that their characters are “perfect” and not stereotypical; however, trying to tell a “perfect” story gets in the way of an authentic narrative. This is the danger of a single story: one person from a marginalized or underrepresented group can’t represent everyone from that group.

Some of the other panelists, like Jeremy Whitley, the creator of Princeless, spoke about using their work to fill a need. Jeremy Whitley’s daughter is a person of color, so he wanted to write a comic where a young black girl would see herself as a princess that went on adventures. Geek Out was started as a space for LGBT+ fans of comics. At one point in the discussion, the panelists spoke about bad representation. Is bad representation better than no representation? There was no clear answer, as one panelist said he preferred bad representation to none at all. But author Marjorie Liu said, “As a woman of color, I’m allergic to bad representation.”

The pervading feeling at the “Geeks of Color: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” panel was that while people are paying more attention to diversity and things with diverse content, we still have a long way to go. Industries need to diversify from within as well as to seek out diverse creators. Diversity naturally happens when there are a variety of people creating things.

Authors Melissa Gray, Daniel Jose Older, Sara Raasch, and Kim Harrison discussed what made the protagonists of their novels “kick ass.” Melissa Grey (The Girl at Midnight) discussed how female characters are never allowed to be unlikable, like male characters often are. They’re usually expected to be “nice.” Daniel José Older wants his books to show the diversity in Brooklyn, because a book should be like a friend and tell you the truth.

At the Women in Geek Media panel, the panelists encouraged the room full of people to create their own works. Everyone, they told us, has a unique story to tell. Many of the women talked about having to create their own spaces and writing with a unique voice, which is what made them stand out. They also encouraged everyone there who was fed up with the lack of representation of women, people of color, and other marginalized groups in media to channel their anger thoughtfully and to hold content creators accountable.

All the panels I attended were full almost to capacity. It was great to see how much people are clamoring for more diverse representation. But the real highlight of Comic Con was meeting Amandla Stenberg!

Stacy, Publisher of TU BOOKS

On Thursday night of Comic Con, I went to the #BlackComicsMonth panel moderated by Dean MizCaramelVixen. It was an all-star lineup, including Chad L. Coleman (who played Tyreese on The Walking Dead), who is producing a new comic that stars his likeness, and comics artists and writers Scott Snyder, David Walker, Mikki Kendall, Shawn Pryor, Steve Orlando, Christine Dinh, Mildred Louis, Jeremy Whitley, and Afua Richardson. If you want to see the whole panel, you can view it on YouTube.

The panel started out by talking to a standing-room-only crowd of at least 300 people about what “diversity” meant to them. Christine Dinh spoke about how there are more young women reading comics—that kids are more diverse than ever. Another panelist talked about how what it means to be black could mean so many different things, and that all those representations were important—that there is no one way to be black.

Everyone on the panel emphasized how important the voices of people of color are in comic books. Kendall said, “If you don’t see yourself out there, put your stuff out there.”

Later that night was a fangirl panel (“She Made Me Do It: FanGirls Lead the Way”) discussing how important women are not only in the creation of art but also in the appreciation of it. On the panel were Jamie Broadnax, who created Black Girl Nerds; Rose Del Vecchio and Jenny Cheng from myfanmail.com, a site that sends fandom products to subscribers; and Sam Maggs, author of The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy and writer for The Mary Sue.

One of the main topics of the panel was discussing how women and girls get challenged to show their “credentials” as geeks. “I’m so over the cred thing. You don’t have to prove anything to show your passion for fandom,” Broadnax said. Maggs agreed and went on to discuss how those fans should also be reflected in the stories they consume, saying, “A range, diversity of stories can only mean better content for everyone. Why can’t white dudes look up to a black girl protagonist and have her be their role model?”

On Sunday, the We Need Diverse Books panel focused on the hashtag #IAmNotYourSidekick, discussing the importance of narratives that center the experiences of characters of color. On a personal note, the panelists discussed the first time they’d ever seen a “mirror” of themselves in a book. Some never did, at least until adulthood. Dhonielle Clayton, a Harlem Academy librarian and WNDB VP of librarian services, mentioned that she had mirrors, but only about slavery and civil rights, not fun books. Variety in representations of marginalized people is so important, she said.

The panel also discussed the importance of opening doors for writers of color, talking about the quotas of some houses (“we already have our ‘black book,’” even if the topics are completely different), and how writing cross-culturally is possible to do well, but how it must be done responsibly. Daniel José Older pointed out that too often white writers want to jump on the bandwagon of “diversity” as if it were a trend, but, he asked, “We talk about writing the other, but can you write about yourself? Can we write about whiteness?” (Older wrote an excellent article on this topic last year at BuzzFeed.)

Everyone on the panel agreed that the way to fix the problem was to talk up diverse books. “Buy diverse books!” YA author Robin Talley said. “The more you do, the more there will be.” Older also noted not to assume that a traditionally published book that stars a diverse character will have a million-dollar marketing campaign. “It likely won’t!” he said. Panelists agreed that word of mouth is one of the most important marketing tools for diverse books—sharing them with friends, talking about them on social media, and requesting them from libraries and bookstores were all mentioned as important methods of helping diverse books grow in the market.

To see pictures from Comic Con, check out the TU BOOKS Facebook page and the LEE & LOW Facebook page.

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I can’t really remember if I looked for literature with kids like me as a child. Did I read books about quiet, geeky girls because I could relate? Or did I read books about quiet, geeky girls because that’s what was available? Did I search for a character with whom I could identify? Or could I identify with most characters because I am white? It doesn’t really matter — when you boil it down, I didn’t have to look for literature that represented me because literature already did. I was (and am) privileged.

Working in the field of children’s literature, it is very clear to me that we need diverse books — we need diverse books, authors, publishers, retailers, and readers. Everyone should be able to pick up a book and find a character with whom they can relate. But a problem I personally encounter is that my privilege (as privilege is wont to do) can keep me from truly understanding how important it is to see oneself in literature. I want more diverse books and greater diversity in the industry, but I can only say that from my white, cisgendered point of view. I can speak. But I don’t really understand.

Recently, though, I actually had the powerful experience of finding myself in media. I’m part of a seemingly very small community: as a thirty-one-year-old, sober female, I have never met another person just like myself. My recovery group is primarily white men over the age of 50, with a small number of women all over the age of 40. I am almost always the youngest in the room. And, more often than not, I am one of two or three women in a room packed with twenty-plus people. Now, I adore my SMART Recovery group and have made some wonderful friends. But they don’t know, really, what it’s like for me. I ask any 20- or 30-something, single female to try explaining the difficulties of contemporary dating without alcohol to a room full of older, married, white men. You do it. Tell me how it goes.

And then I discovered John Mulaney’s stand-up. Mulaney is thirty-two years old, successful, and sober. He’s sober! And young! And funny! I watched two of his shows, glorying in his few bits about sobriety, and immediately sought more (thank you, YouYube). I didn’t know I was looking for someone with whom I could identify — didn’t realize it was missing from my life at all — but once I found him I had this remarkable feeling. I felt seen. Noticed. I was reminded that I’m not alone. That there are others like me. Okay, okay, he’s not a woman. But let’s not get over-excited here. Knowing there was one person like me pushed me to look for others, to seek more connections.

And this is what finding oneself in literature can do for a child. It gives worth. It allows companionship. It creates hope. And it sparks a desire to find more — more books with characters like this, more forms of media that apply to the child, and other children like them to share this experience with.

I will never truly be able to understand how important it is for a young, Hispanic woman or a straight boy with two mothers to see themselves in literature. Not really. But I was given a brief glimpse of that experience. And it was wonderful.

The post Seeing yourself in literature appeared first on The Horn Book.

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In this guest post from the Lee & Low archives, professor Katie Cunningham discusses ways to diversify Common Core recommended texts. As we gather resources to begin the new school year, Katie’s post is a good reminder that each year offers a fresh opportunity to look at the books we use with new eyes to see if they are serving us, and serving our students.

We live in an increasingly diverse society. Nowhere is this more evident than in classrooms, in both urban and suburban schools.  Nationally, our classrooms are almost 45% non-White and the trend toward greater diversity is expected to continue. Our classrooms reflect this trend, but our classroom libraries do not. The New York Times found that despite making up about nearly a quarter of the nation’s public school enrollment, young Latino readers seldom see themselves in books. Those of us in schools working with children from minority backgrounds know this to be true as we scan our bookshelves and find protagonists that are overwhelmingly white and living in suburban, privileged settings. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center found that in 2011, only 6% of children’s books featured characters from African American, American Indian, Asian Pacific/ Asian Pacific American, or Latino backgrounds.

Toni Morrison said, “National literature reflects what is on the national mind.” More than ever, we have a responsibility to reflect national population trends through our literature selections. As of 2011, teachers are being directed to the Common Core State Standards and its corresponding Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Performance Tasks, which has suggested texts for read-alouds and independent reading for students at grade level bands K-12.

While not required reading, there remains confusion among teachers and administrators about how to approach the list. As you scan the suggestions, you’ll quickly find a return to traditional texts like Black Stallion in fourth grade and Little Women in sixth through eighth grade. I’m of the opinion that reading traditional texts like the Preamble and Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” (also in Appendix B) can give students cultural capital needed to be successful within the educational system.

Yet, while we can turn to the Standards for suggestions, we need to turn to the children in our own classrooms and ask ourselves whether they see themselves represented in books. Not only a responsibility, this is a moral imperative. We need to ensure a balance between traditional texts and books that offer contemporary portrayals of life and youth today, that reflect the lived experiences of the students in our classrooms.

The Uncommon Corps has started a campaign to better Appendix B and has a running Better B list worthy of checking out to hear what’s on the national mind. Teachers searching for a solution can also consider classic and contemporary multicultural pairings such as those below, especially when searching for titles that represent childhood. If we keep questioning what’s accepted as our national literature for children, we will rightfully start to see books that provide mirrors for every child in every class.

Classic and Contemporary Multicultural Pairings

CLASSIC: Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant

CONTEMPORARY: Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic by Ginnie Lo; Elizabeti’s Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen; Loose Tooth by Margaret Yatsevitch Phinney; Bird by Zetta Elliott

CLASSIC: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

CONTEMPORARY: Angel’s Kite by Alberto Bianco; Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

CLASSIC: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

CONTEMPORARY: Alicia Afterimage by Lulu Delacre; Cat Girl’s Day Off by Kimberly Pauley

CLASSIC: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

CONTEMPORARY: Galaxy Games: The Challengers by Greg Fishbone; Chess Rumble by G. Neri; Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri

ABOUT KATIE CUNNINGHAM: Guest blogger Katie Cunningham is an Assistant Professor at Manhattanville College. Her teaching and scholarship centers around children’s literature, critical literacy, and supporting teachers to make their classrooms joyful and purposeful. Katie has presented at numerous national conferences and is the editor of The Language and Literacy Spectrum, New York Reading Association’s literacy journal.

 

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Literacy/kidlit folks: please take a minute to read, sign, and share this open letter to Jet Blue about their new Soar with Reading program.  This is a promising pilot program that aims to encourage literacy by placing book vending machines in low-income areas of Washington, DC. Sadly, the selection of books lacks diversity, and only four out of the initial selection of books reflect diverse authors or characters. Author Zetta Elliott, with help from the community, has researched and written an excellent letter to Jet Blue. Please read and sign the letter here, then share it with your networks.

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Title: Gracefully Grayson Written by: Ami Polonsky Published by: Hyperion, 2014 Themes/Topics: transgender, middle school, orphans, theatre, self-acceptance, bullying Suitable for ages: 8 -12 Opening: IF YOU DRAW a triangle with the circle resting on the top point, nobody will be able to tell that … Continue reading →

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I have been mulling over how to expand my interviews, which I so enjoy doing, and have decided that while I want to continue with a focus on illustrators, I want to also incorporate chats with other members of the … Continue reading →

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Today’s diversity read is one I had been looking forward to since meeting the author at one of the biannual SCBWI conference LGBTQ meetings a year ago. It doesn’t exactly fall into any of my categories, but boy, is it … Continue reading →

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Mitali Perkins is the acclaimed author of such books as the middle-grade Jane Addam’s Award Honor Book Rickshaw Girl, which was included in New York Public Library’s 2013 list of ‘100 Great Children’s Books‘, and YA novel … Continue reading ... →

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We Need Diverse Books. We absolutely do. Books that don't merely place a "non-mainstream" character into the story for the sake of inclusion. Books that go much deeper than the announcement of, or allusion to, skin color, origin countries, sexual preferences. Books that don't operate as if conforming to PC checklists. Books that function outside the circle of slogans and tell real stories.

Truly diverse books are books in which the culture and cultural heritage and economics of the characters are essential to the story being told. They explore wide ranging personages, languages, histories, orientations, dreams. They are steeped in the particular social and personal pressures faced by very particular (and particularly well-drawn) characters. They introduce characters that seem to live not just on the page, but off it.

Middle grade/YA novels such as Ann E. Burg's Serafina's Promise, Thanhha Lai's Inside Out and Back Again, and Patricia McCormick's Never Fall Down and Sold have, among many other titles, introduced lasting, fully dimensional, diverse characters to younger readers. With her second stunning middle grade novel, Blue Birds, Caroline Starr Rose has made another important addition to this canon.

Blue Birds is a novel in verse that explores a little-known chapter of American history concerning the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke. It's late in the 16th century. English explorers have arrived to Roanoke Island, off Virginia. Conflict and distrust erupt among the native tribes and the English.

Into this setting Rose has placed two young girls—Alis, from England, and Kimi, a Roanoke who has watched the English bring disease and disaster to her world. Out on her own, Alis discovers the natural beauty of the place. Watching, Kimi must decide whether or not to trust this fair-skinned creature. Will Alis and Kimi be able to peel back the social prejudice and befriend one another? Will they be able to step over the great divide that rises whenever individual people are presented with difference? And what will they do—what can they do—as tensions mount in their respective communities?

Rose has given us a complex story, a real and researched story, a story that, despite its roots in late 16th century America, feels contemporary. The questions about other are neither dodged nor trumped, and they never feel commercially strategic. The questions arise because such questions naturally do, because this is the story Starr is telling. And look how gracefully and honestly she tells it:

Why do they dress as they do?
To speak their language,
does it feel as it sounds,
like sharpened rocks on  your tongue?
What makes their skin
the color of a snake's underside?
Why do the men not keep their faces smooth
but grow hair from their cheeks?
Do they ever bathe?
For their strong odor lingers
long after they've gone.

Though they
have brought us heartache,
must all of them
be enemies?

In bringing readers Alis and Kimi, Starr has not just brought us a distant era. She's brought her readers a way of sinking in with real questions about difference—and a credible suggestion that such differences might be overcome.

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I am loving the variety of books I am reading to complete this challenge, and today’s story comes under #5 bullying and #3 in as far as this little boy is questioning and non-conforming! Title: Morris Micklethwaite and the Tangerine Dress … Continue reading →

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• Top of the morning to you, froggies!  I had one heckuva weekend, I tell you.  Actually it was just one heckuva Saturday.  First there was the opening of the new Bank Street Bookstore location here in NYC.  I was one of the local authors in attendance and, as you can see from this photograph taken that morning, I was in good company.

At one point I found myself at a signing table between Deborah Heiligman and Rebecca Stead with Susan Kuklin, Chris Raschka, and Peter Lerangis on either side.  I picked up the name tag that Jerry Pinkney had left behind so that I could at least claim a Caldecott by association.  Of course that meant I left my own nametag behind and a certain someone did find it later in the day . . .

Then that afternoon, after wolfing down an Upper West Side avocado sandwich that had aspirations for greatness (aspirations that remained unfulfilled) I was at NYPL’s central library for the panel Blurred Lines?: Accuracy and Illustration in Nonfiction.  This title of silliness I acknowledge mine.  In any case, the line-up was Sophie Blackall, Brian Floca, Mara Rockliff, and her Candlewick editor Nicole Raymond.  It was brilliant. There will perhaps be a write-up at some point that I’ll link to.  I just wanted to tip my hat to the folks involved.  We were slated to go from 2-3 and we pretty much went from 2-4.  We could have gone longer.

• I’ve often said that small publishers fill the gaps left by their larger brethren.  Folktales and fairy tales are often best served in this way.  Graphic novels are beginning to go the same route.  One type of book that the smaller publishers should really look into, though, is poetry.  We really don’t see a lot of it published in a given year, and I’d love to see more.  The new Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award may help the cause.  It was recently announced and the award is looking for folks who are SCBWI members and that published their books between 2013-2015.  It makes us just one step closer to an ALA poetry award.  One step.

• How did I miss this when it was published?  It’s a New Yorker piece entitled Eloise: An Update.  It had me at “The absolute first thing I do in the morning is make coffee in the bathroom and check to see what’s on pay-per-view / Then I have to go to the health club to see if they’ve gotten any new kettlebells and then stop at the business center to Google a few foreign swear words.”  Thanks to Sharyn November for the link.

• Y’all know I worship at the alter of Frances Hardinge and believe her to be one of the greatest living British novelists working today, right?  Well, this just in from the interwebs!  Specifically, from agent Barry Goldblatt’s Facebook page:

BSFA and Carnegie Medal longlister Frances Hardinge’s debut adult novel THE KNOWLEDGE, about a London cab driver with a special license to travel between multiple alternative Londons, who, after rescuing a long-missing fellow driver, finds herself caught up in a widening conspiracy to control the pathways between worlds, to Navah Wolfe at Saga Press, in a two-book deal, for publication in Summer 2017, by Barry Goldblatt at Barry Goldblatt Literary on behalf of Nancy Miles at Miles Stott Literary Agency (NA).

Mind you, this means I’ll have to read an adult novel now.  I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

• Speaking of England, I’m tired of them being cooler than us.  For example, did you know that they have a Federation of Children’s Book Groups?  A federation!  Why don’t we have a federation?  I’ll tell you why.  Because we haven’t earned it yet.  Grrr.

• Ooo!  A new Spanish language children’s bookstore has just opened up in Los Angeles.  And here we can’t get a single bookstore other than Barnes & Noble to open up in the Bronx in English, let alone another language.  This is so cool.  Methinks publishers looking to expand into the Latino market would do well to court the people working at this shop, if only to find new translatable material.

• Fancy fancy dancy dancy Leo Lionni shirts are now being sold by UNIQLO.  Some samples:

Smarties.

• Roxanne Feldman is one of those women that has been in the business of getting books into the hands of young ‘uns for years and years and years.  Online you may recognize her by her username “fairrosa”.  Well, now she has a blog of her very own and it’s worth visiting.  Called the Fairrosa Cyber Library, it’s the place to go.  However – Be Warned.  This is not a site to merely dabble in.  If you go you must be prepared to sit down and read and read.  Her recent posts about diversity make for exciting blogging.

• Phil Nel has compiled the greatest Dr. Seuss blog post of all time.  I said it.  I stand by it.  Doubt me if you dare.

• Me Stuff: Because apparently the whole opening of this blog post didn’t count.  Now Dan Blank is one of those guys you just hope and pray you’ll meet at some point in your life.  He’s the kind of fellow who is infinitely intensely knowledgeable about how one’s career can progress over time and he’s followed my own practically since the birth of my blogging career.  If I appeared in Forbes, it was because of Dan.  Recently he interviewed me at length and the post is up.  It’s called Betsy Bird: From “Invisible” Introvert to Author, Critic, Blogger and Librarian.  I feel like that kid in Boyhood with Dan.  Really I do.

• It was Adam Gidwitz who alerted me to a theatrical production going on in town right now that holds my interest in its hot little hand.  He says the company is fantastic and that the show is entirely worth it.  Though, with a name like BAMBIF*CKER/KAFFEHAUS: A caffeinated ride through sex, death, deer, and Zionism how could it not be?

• Fact: The Cotsen Children’s Library of Princeton has been interviewing great authors and illustrators since at least 2010.

• Fact: Access to these interviews has always been available, but not through iTunes.

• Fact: Now it is.  And it’s amazing.  Atinuke.  Gary Schmidt.  Rebecca Stead.  Philip Pullman.  It’s free, it’s out there, so fill up your iPod like I am right now and go crazy!  Thanks to Dana Sheridan for the info!

The other day I linked to a piece on the term “racebent” and how it applies to characters like Hermione in Harry Potter.  It’s not really a new idea, though, is it?  Folks have always reinterpreted fictional characters in light of their own cultures.  This year the publisher Tara Books is releasing The Patua Pinocchio.  Now I’ve been a bit Pinocchio obsessed ever since my 3-year-old daughter took Kate McMullen’s version to heart (it was the first chapter book she had the patience to sit through).  With that in mind I am VERY interested in this version of the little wooden boy.  Very.

• Ever been a children’s nonfiction conference?  Want to?  The 21st Century Children’s Nonfiction Conference has moved to NYC this year and it’s going to be a lot of fun.  I’ll be speaking alongside my colleague / partner-in-crime Amie Wright, but there are a host of other speakers and it’s a delightful roster.  If ever this has ever been your passion, now’s thWe time to go.

• Diverse books for kids don’t sell?  To this, Elizabeth Bluemle, a bookseller, points out something so glaringly obvious that I’m surprised nobody else has mentioned it before.  I’m sure that someone has, but rarely so succinctly. Good title too:  An Overlooked Fallacy About Sales of Diverse Books.

• And speaking of diverse books, here’s something that was published last year but that I, in the throes of the whole giving birth thing, missed.  The We Need Diverse Books website regularly posted some of the loveliest book recommendations I’ve ever seen.  We’ve all seen lists that say things like “Like This? Then Try This!” but rarely do they ever explain why the person would like that book (I’m guilty of this in my own reviews’ readalikes and shall endeavor to be better in the future).  On their site, the WNDB folks not only offered diverse readalikes to popular titles, but gave excellent reasons as to why a fan of David Wiesner’s Tuesday might like Bill Thomson’s Chalk.  The pairing of Lucy Christopher’s Stolen with Sharon Draper’s Panic is particularly inspired.  The covers even match.

Daily Image:

I am ever alert to any appropriation of my workplace that might be taking place. Recently I learned that in the Rockettes’ upcoming holiday show there will be this set in one of the numbers.  Apparently Patience and Fortitude (the library lions) will be voiced by (the recorded voices of) Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.  I kid you not.

Years ago when I worked in the old Donnell Library I looked out the window of the Central Children’s Room to see three camels standing there chewing their cud or whatever it is that camels chew.  They were with their trainer, taking a walk before their big number in the Rockettes’ show.  The crazy thing was watching the people on the street.  The New Yorkers were walking past like the it was the most natural thing in the world.  This is because New Yorkers are crazy.  When camels strike you as everyday, something has gone wrong with your life.

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Every year, the Cooperative Children's Book Center tracks how many books are by, or about, people of color. They just released the numbers for 2014.

It's not pretty.

For some context--they estimate 5000 books for kids and teens were pubbed. They looked at 3500 of them. I took the number of books about an ethnic group and divided it by 3500 to get the percentage. I then did the number of books by an ethnic group and did the same thing. (CCBC breaks it out into two numbers--how many are about that ethnic group, and how many do not contain significant cultural content of that group. I added those two numbers together to get a total.)

I then graphed those percentages against the percentage of the US population of the same ethnic group. (Source: 2013 Census Bureau info) (I added the numbers for Asian and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander to get a number to compare to CCBC's Asian Pacific/Asian Pacific American)

Ideally, all of these percentages should be equal.

They're not:

We can certainly do better than this.



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In the world of children’s literature, I can’t think of a day that hasn’t been better than the one before it. On Monday morning, February 2nd, this theory proved true. Diversity in children’s literature was honored in a multitude of ways. Librarians, families, teachers and kids all awaited the Monday morning Youth Media Award announcements with anticipation. They waited to hear if their favorite girl would win an award in more than one category, if their favorite author would garner the top prize, if the book that reflected their lives and spoke to them would stand tall and proud amongst the best of the best. As the medal winners’ names were spoken, dreams were coming true all across the country.

Each day that you have an opportunity to talk about diversity in children’s literature is a day when you are making the world more welcoming and real for all children. Literature awards can spark all kinds of conversations about why we need diverse books. (#WeNeedDiverseBooks).

The news spread far and wide like fire on a prairie (or snow headed for Chicago). Those announcements, though, were just a smattering of the literature awards that will be given this year. Also announced at the American Library Association’s Midwinter conference were the winners of the The Asian Pacific American Library Association (APALA) literature awards. These include a winner and honor book in children’s, young adult, and picture book categories.

The Asian Pacific American Library Association was established in 1980 to create an organization that would address the needs of Asian Pacific American librarians and those who serve Asian Pacific American communities. Since 2001 they have been honoring the best books published in the previous year for children and young adults related to Asian/Pacific American experiences (either historical or contemporary) or Asian/Pacific American cultures.

The APALA winners are announced during the midwinter meeting, but there is no fanfare until the annual ALA conference awards ceremony. And so, while we were all shouting “hooray” for the likes of Jacqueline Woodson, Kwame Alexander, Duncan Tonatiuh and others……..even more dreams were quietly coming true.

2015 Winners:
Young Adult

Winner: Tiger Girl by May-Lee Chai (GemmaMedia)

Honor: Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang (First Second), illustration by Sonny Liew.

Children’s

Winner: Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner (Disney/Hyperion Books)

Honor: Ting Ting by Kristie Hammond (Sono Nis Press, Canada)

Picture Book

Winner: Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin by Chieri Uegaki and Qin Leng (Kids Can Press)

 

Honor: Father’s Chinese Opera by Rich Lo (Sky Pony Press)

 

 

 

 

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Andrea R. Milano is a Youth Services Librarian at Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon and she is writing this post on behalf of the Public Awareness Committee.

The post Dreams Do Come True appeared first on ALSC Blog.

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Last week (Friday, January 30, 2015), I was at the Day of Diversity at the American Library Association's 2015 Midwinter Conference. This is my recap of the highlights (for me) of the day. I am glad I was invited. It provided me the opportunity to meet some terrific people I've known via social media for several years. A more personal reflection of the ALA's 2015 Midwinter Conference is forthcoming.

[T]he great fear I entertained of my brethren was occasioned by the many stories I had heard of their cruelty toward the whites—how they were in the habit of killing and scalping men, women, and children. But the whites did not tell me that they were in a great majority of instances the aggressors—that they had imbrued their hands in the lifeblood of my brethren, driven them from their once peaceful and happy homes—that they introduced among them the fatal and exterminating diseases of civilized life. If the whites had told me how cruel they had been to the “poor Indian,” I should have apprehended as much harm from them.

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A new year means a new chance to get to all the things you didn’t get to last year. And by “things,” what we really mean is BOOKS. We also know that reading diversely doesn’t happen by accident; it takes a concerted effort to read a wide range of books.

So, we thought we’d help on both counts by offering up a list of the diverse authors we’re resolving to read in 2015. Some are new, and some have just been on our list for years. This is the year we plan to get to them – perhaps this will be your year, too?

1. Valynne E. Maetani, Ink and Ashes

Ink and Ashes is Tu Books’ first New Visions Award winner! This debut novel follows a Japanese American teen named Claire Takata. After finding a letter from her deceased father, she opens a door to the past that she should have left closed.

2. Joseph Bruchac, Killer of Enemies and Rose Eagle 

The award-winning Killer of Enemies follows seventeen-year-old Apache monster hunter Lozen in a post-apocalyptic world.

The prequel, Rose Eagle, follows seventeen-year-old Rose of the Lakota tribe.  After her aunt has a vision, Rose goes on a quest to the Black Hills and finds healing for her people.

3. Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming

Everyone’s talking about Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson’s memoir in verse about her childhood in the American South and in Brooklyn that recently won the 2014 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. But have you read it yet?

Her other novels include Miracle’s Boys and If You Come Softly.

4. Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

 Junot Diaz’s Pulitzer-prize winning novel follows Oscar, an overweight, ghetto Dominican American nerd as he dreams of becoming the next J.R.R. Tolkein. This book is filled with Dominican history, magical realism, science-fiction and comic book references.

5. I.W. Gregorio, None of the Above 

In this debut novel, Kristen, has a seemingly ideal life. She’s just been voted homecoming queen and is a champion hurdler with a full scholarship to college. Everything unravels when Kristen and her boyfriend decide to take it to the next level, and Kristen finds out she’s intersex. Somehow her secret is leaked to the whole school.

6. Edwidge Danticat, The Farming of Bones

This novel covers the Parsley Massacre of 1937 in Dominican Republic. Anabelle Desir and her lover Sebastien, decide they will get married at the end of the cane season and return to Haiti. When the Generalissimo Trujillo calls for an ethnic cleansing of the country’s Haitians, Anabelle and Sebastien struggle to survive.

 7. Eric Gansworth, If I Ever Get Out of Here

Lewis “Shoe” Blake, a boy growing in the Tuscarora Indian Reservation in upsate New York in 1975, isn’t used to white people like George Haddonfield being nice to him. Lewis is also the target of the bully Eddie Reininger. Will George still be Lewis’s friend when he finds out the truth of how Lewis actually lives?

8. Alex Sanchez, Rainbow Boys

Alex Sanchez’s debut novel follows three boys, Jason Carrillo, Kyle Meeks, and Nelson Glassman, as they struggle with their sexualities and their friendships.

9. Natsuo Kirino, Out

Masako Katori lives with her dead-beat husband in the suburbs of Tokyo, where she makes boxed lunches in a factory. After violently strangling her husband, she uses the help of coworkers to cover her crime.

10. Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Summer of the Mariposas and Under the Mesquite

Summer of the Mariposas is a retelling of the Odyssey set in Mexico. When Odilia and her sisters find the body of a dead man in the Rio Grande, they decide to take his body back to Mexico.

In Under the Mesquite Lupita is an aspiring actress and poet, and the oldest of 8 siblings. When Lupita’s mother is diagnosed with cancer, Lupita struggles to keep her family together.

11. Naoko Uehashi, Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, which is set in a fantasy Asian-inspired world, inspired an anime of the same name. Balsa is a body guard who is hired by  Prince Chagum’s mother to protect him from his father, the emperor, who wants him dead. A strange spirit possesses Prince Chagum that may be a threat to the kingdom.

12. Nnendi Okorafor, Akata Witch

American-born Sunny is an albino girl living in Nigeria. Although she doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere, Sunny discovers her latent magical abilities and joins 3 other students to learn how to control her powers. Sunny and her friends have to capture a career criminal who uses magic as well.

13. Zadie Smith, White Teeth

White Teeth focuses on the intertwining stories of two wartime buddies living in London with their families, and addresses topics such as assimilation and immigration in the U.K.’s cultural hub.

14. Aisha Saeed, Written in the Stars

Naila’s conservative immigrant parents say that they will let her wear her hair how she wants, choose what she will study and be when she grows up, but they will choose her husband. When Naila breaks this rule by falling in love with a boy named Saif, her parents take her to Pakistan to reconnect her with her roots. But Naila’s parents’ plans have changed, and they’ve arranged a marriage for her.

15. Alex Gino, George

Everyone thinks George is a boy, but George knows that she’s a girl. After her teacher announces that the class play is Charlotte’s Web, George hatches a plan with her best Kelly, so that everyone can know who she is once and for all.

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My husband’s best friend returned to us the other day from his vacation in South America bearing gifts.  Amongst them was a t-shirt for my daughter featuring this cartoon tyke:

Know her?  If you’re American the answer is probably no.  But if you were Argentinian you’d instantly recognize her as Mafalda.  She was Argentina’s answer to Charlie Brown from 1964 to 1973 and is basically recognized all over the world . . . with the exception of the U.S.

She gets me to thining.  When we talk about the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign we need to look beyond standard fictional fare.  We need to look at easy books, early chapter books, nonfiction, poetry, fairytales and folk tales, and, yes, graphic novels.  And of all the comics published specifically for the young reader market in 2014 that were marketed to libraries, only one had anything even faintly resembling Latino content (Lowriders in Space by Cathy Camper, ill. Raul the Third).

None of this is to say that if Mafalda were translated for the American market she wouldn’t appear with an adult publisher like Dark Horse.  Like the aforementioned Charlie Brown she had some pretty advanced jokes.  No, for me Mafalda is just proof positive that when we’re looking for diverse characters, we shouldn’t forget about the ones published internationally.  Our scope is so limited here in the States.  If there is any unexpected offshoot of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, I hope it’s that we are able as consumers and publishers to expand our focus and look into those characters and creations from countries outside of our own. Mafalda is just the tip of the iceberg.

A couple of her comic strips to amuse you today:

And a fun piece on her unexpected origins.

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