Year: 2015
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Why Libraries Still Matter
The transition to digital opens up new possibilities for the collecting and sharing of information. And though the future of the library is unclear, its role is as vital as ever. The …
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Bedtime Stories for All
Reading together each night could be the key to instilling a lifelong love of literacy. Youth services coordinator and parent Lisa G. Kropp shares tips for reinstating the valuable activity at …
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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Introduces Comprehensive English Language Proficiency Program to Meet Growing Demand
BOSTON, MA – Global learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) today introduced Escalate English © 2017, an intensive English language development (ELD) program. Specifically designed to support intermediate-grade English learners, this …
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#BooksThatHooked: Authors Share Which Books Inspired Them To Write
New York, NY (October 27, 2015) – On Wednesday, October 28, 2015, authors on Twitter will share about the books that inspired them to become writers using the hashtag #BooksThatHooked. The …
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Hook Kids on Reading with Graphic Novels
Reluctant readers who don’t usually reach for chapter books may find a lot to love in comics. Visual literacy is just one of the many skills that comics help to …
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Christopher Myers on Diversity and Respectful Disagreement
Color-blindness is a myth, and anyone who tells you ‘I don’t see race’ (though they may mean well) is lying to you, or to themselves, or both. We all see …
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Bestselling Children's Recording Artist Laurie Berkner to Publish Three Picture Books with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
New York, NY — Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, announced today that it will publish three picture books with award-winning and bestselling …
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#DrawingDiversity: 'A Chair for My Mother' by Vera B. Williams
A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams (Greenwillow Books/@harpercollinschildrens, October 1982). All rights reserved.
In memory of the late author and illustrator, Vera B. Williams.
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Little Pickle Press Launches YA Imprint
Relish Media’s debut title is a novel in free verse, based on the true story of a teen’s struggle with abuse. The first in a trilogy, Breath to Breath by Craig Lew …
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HMH Launches Online Subscription Service
For $9.99 a month, subscribers will have access to a range of HMH e-books, games, and educational material designed for children ages 3-7. The content on Curious World speaks to emerging research …
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Goddard Riverside Community Center Honors Scholastic Chairman and CEO Dick Robinson at Annual Gala
New York, NY — Goddard Riverside Community Center will celebrate Scholastic Chairman and CEO Dick Robinson at its Annual Gala to be held Tuesday, October 27th at historic Gotham Hall …
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National Ambassador Kate DiCamillo's Live Webcast
DiCamillo believes that, no matter the book, reading forges valuable connections and promotes understanding. Read together. Sit down and read together. It might start out as something that you feel …
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The Eric Carle Museum Launches #GetBehindPictureBooks
Authors, illustrators, teachers, librarians, and other kid lit devotees have posted photos of themselves with favorite titles. Join the fun and spread the love of picture books! Remember to tag @carlemuseum.
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Michael Slack to Create the Shorty and Clem Series
Shorty is “a very short dinosaur” while Clem is “a very large quail.” Slack was represented by Lori Nowicki, a literary agent at Painted Words, who “brokered the deal for world …
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The Importance of Role Models and Being Representative
By Taran Matharu
A year and a half ago, my book, The Novice, went viral on a social reading app called Wattpad, being read over 6.5 million times. I receive dozens of messages from my fans every day. Two questions are asked the most. The first is not unusual: aspiring writers requesting I read and comment on their work. But the other might surprise you. It’s people asking me if I am Indian/Pakistani/Asian.
At first I thought it was just curiosity about my profile picture, as I am an unusual mix: half Indian and half Caucasian Brazilian. But there was one thing that all of the askers had in common — they were all young Asians.
They will usually go on to talk about how I have inspired them to write or read more. Others simply empathized with my characters, sometimes mentioning dark-skinned ones such as Seraph in Summoner: The Novice. It seemed to me that they wanted a role model. I wondered why that was, until I realized something.
As I understand it, children will often seek role models that they can empathize with, choosing those that are similar to them. When you ask a young girl to name her role model, she will invariably select a woman. Ask a boy and he’ll often choose a man. It follows that this is true of culture, race, and appearance.
Yet, when you look at publishing, there are fewer ethnic minority authors that are representative of the Western world. More often than not, when I go to author events, I find myself as the only minority in the room. I don’t think this is evidence of biases or racist tendencies in the industry though.
I believe the problem is cyclical. A lack of minority authors to inspire budding writers causes a dearth of them again in the next generation. The problem is made worse by a similar lack of ethnic minorities in children’s books. Even if they do appear, the book is often either set in that character’s country of ethnic origin, or the book is specifically about race and culture.
In the end, lack of diversity in publishing sends an unintentional message to children of minority backgrounds: Reading and writing isn’t for them. Considering how important reading is to a child’s development, this is a real problem.
But why does this happen? It may be a simple emulation of the “greats,” who lived in a far less diverse society. Perhaps authors choose to write characters that are most similar to themselves. But I think there is an element of fear when writing a minority character, which adds to the problem. The writer might ask his or herself:
• Is the character unintentionally being portrayed as a stereotype?
• Is the language used to describe the character’s skin color offensive?
• How does one describe an East Asian person’s eye shape or skin tone?
• Is white the “default” for a character unless you describe their color?
• Is skin tone the best way to identify a character’s race?
• In a fantasy world, is race irrelevant?In an age of snap judgements, Twitter shaming, and author controversies, it can be easy to play it safe and avoid creating diverse characters altogether. I urge authors to be brave. The answers to these questions are not as hard to find as you might think:
• Read diverse books with diverse characters. Most authors learned their trade by reading and studying authors that came before them. This is no different.
• Ask. If you yourself aren’t from a diverse background, you’ll know people who are. If in doubt, see what they think is the best way to go. They won’t have all the answers and opinions will differ, but isn’t that the case with all writing?
• Trust your editor. He or she can help you get on the right track. Don’t be afraid to seek guidance if you’re unsure.As writers, we need to break the cycle. We should celebrate authors who include diverse characters and not demonize them if they don’t do it perfectly.
There’s no easy solution. I don’t think that diverse writers should be given special treatment, or that we should lower the bar for them. Instead, writers like me should take our responsibility as role models seriously; the best people to inspire reading and writing are the authors themselves, be that through mentoring or simple engagement with fans. And maybe by having this conversation, we can encourage writers to be more representative of the world we live in, whatever their genre or background.
Taran Matharu wrote his first book when he was nine years old. At twenty-two, he began posting The Novice on Wattpad (the online writing website) and reached over three million reads in less than six months. The Novice is the first of three books in the Summoner series, and Taran Matharu’s fiction debut. Taran lives in London.
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Pew Survey Finds Young Adult Reading Up
80% of young adults reported having read a book (in whole or in part) within the past year, whereas just 72% of adults answered the same. The survey, which was …
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Upcoming YA Book-to-Film Adaptations
Here’s a look at some of the page-to-screen productions we can look forward to: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 – based on the trilogy by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic). Release Date: …
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Little, Brown Books for Young Readers to Publish Neil Patrick Harris' Debut Middle Grade Series—The Magic Misfits
New York, NY — Megan Tingley, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, announced today the acquisition of The Magic Misfits, the debut middle-grade series …
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Remembering Author Vera B. Williams
Williams’s picture book A Chair for My Mother earned the artist her first Caldecott Honor in 1983. The book was part of her series about a Hispanic girl named Rosa and her family. Readers can …
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#DrawingDiversity: 'Rain!' by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Christian Robinson
Rain! by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Christian Robinson (@hmhkids/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, March 2013). All rights reserved.
