Author: CBCbooks
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Facebook Users Name Harry Potter Series As Most Beloved Books
What were the findings? Not surprisingly, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series captured the number one spot. Other children’s books that made it into the Top 20 include The Lion, the Witch, …
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‘The Guardian’ Unveils An Unpublished Chapter From ‘Charlie & The Chocolate Factory’
The chapter, entitled “Fudge Mountain,” can be found in an early draft of Dahl’s beloved children’s book. Sir Quentin Blake, the famed artist, created new illustrations for this monumental unveiling. (The …
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CBC Diversity: Everyone Wants to be the Hero Sometimes
Contributed to CBC Diversity by Sara Farizan
When I write a story, I often don’t think about diversity. I don’t think about how many characters I should have of a certain ethnic or cultural background, or about whether I meet a quota on how many different types of people I have on the page. I don’t think about if what I am doing is unique or perhaps not as mainstream. If I thought about all of those things, I probably wouldn’t have written the books that I have, or will hopefully, continue to write.
When I do write a story, I think about people I know in real life. I think about issues I would like to explore or think need more attention. I think about books that I wish I had as a teenager and think about the books I appreciated from that period of my life. I think about how I still have so much to learn, not just about writing, but about the world, and people that make the world complex, interesting and beautiful.
Now that I do have a platform and an audience, I worry about representation. I worry about the characters I do portray and if people in real life feel that I don’t speak for them or if I am appropriating a culture or groups of people. I think about this so much now that I find sometimes it prevents me from writing about people who are different from me.
Perhaps this is why we don’t see as many diverse characters or diverse environments in children’s literature. There is a level of fear or discomfort about writing the wrong thing. Are we allowed to write from the perspective of a different race, culture, sexual orientation, religious belief or gender? Is this a privilege a writer is afforded? Will writing a character who is not like us feel false, cheap or so rife with stereotypes that what once started out as well-intentioned becomes part of the problem?
Now the answer is of course writers can write whatever they so choose. If we only wrote characters like us, stories would feel stifling and boring. I don’t plan on writing Persian characters or queer characters forever, but that’s what has been important to me for a very long time: the idea of identity and what it means to be one’s self.
That being said, when I do write characters that aren’t like me, they are reflections of people I have gotten to know in the real world. Friends I have grown up with. Friends I have met through travel or in school. Friends I have made at various jobs and in different stages of my life. The more people I come in contact with, the more connections I make with people who are not like me, allows my life to become richer and better.
It is in these friendships and connections that people can discuss what is really on their minds and what is important to them. It allows one to listen to someone else and become more empathetic. It makes one realize that there are so many different issues, so many different identities, and yet many people have more things in common with one another than they think.
We should see color. We should see religion. We should see homosexuality. We should see gender identity. We should see all the things that make people and the world different and not pretend that we are colorblind or that one story is enough to represent a whole group of people.
But we should also remember that most people have the same kinds of feelings and wants. Everyone wants to be the hero sometimes. Everyone wants to get the love interest sometimes. Everyone feels anger, grief, joy, sadness, and these are feelings writers understand completely. The more characters that we write as human, no matter what they look like or where they are from, the more stories will resonate with readers who so want to see themselves in books. So let’s do more of that, yeah?
Sara Farizan is the author of If You Could Be Mine. The daughter of Iranian immigrants, Farizan lives in San Francisco, but Boston will always be her home. She is an MFA graduate of Lesley University and holds a BA in film and media studies from American University. Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel is her second novel.
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20th Century Fox to Adapt ‘The Scorch Trials’ By James Dashner
“In the aftermath of The Hunger Games’ global success, many studios have turned to young adult books in the hopes of discovering the next great box office franchise, but that’s …
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‘Tactile Picture Books Project’ Goes Beyond Braille
Illustrations from Goodnight Moon and Harold and the Purple Crayon have already been adapted into this exciting new form.The team hopes that one day the technology that makes 3-D picture …
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Happy Birthday, Jon Scieszka!
Scieszka (rhymes with Fresca) is also the founder of Guys Read, a literacy program that encourages boys to become lifelong readers. Above all, his mission has been to connect with …
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How Does a Die-Hard Bibliophile React to a Person Who Doesn’t Enjoy Reading?
I’ve heard those words, or similar variations (‘I haven’t read a book since high school,’ or, even more mind-blowing, ‘Reading is boring’) many times in my life, and without fail, …
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Usher Joins Scholastic to Launch “Open a World of Possible” Initiative and Celebrate the Power & Joy of Reading
New York, NY — Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, today announced that Usher is joining with the company to launch a new “Open a World …
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CBC Diversity: Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist…
As proud members of the CBC Diversity Committee, we—Wendy Lamb and Dan Ehrenhaft—volunteered back in March to write a blog post, scheduled for this week. It was to be about unacknowledged, unconscious racism in YA. Our idea at the time was to make the blog post funny. Well, maybe not funny, but lighthearted. Sort of in the vein of the song “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” from Avenue Q. We wanted to laugh at the truth as a conversation starter.
That’s the future. Right now is no time for a joke.
What’s going on in our country is deadly, and dead serious.
We love this song, but this is no time to relax.
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Amy Ewing Has Written a Short Story Called ‘The Wishing Well’
The Wishing Well’ is part of a collection of children’s stories (of the same name) that are very popular in the Lone City, particularly the Marsh. For Violet, it has …
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Fox Star Studios May Create a Hindi Adaptation of ‘The Fault in Our Stars’
A Mumbai-based company called Fox Star Studios may create a Hindi version of The Fault in Our Stars movie. Apparently, the English language edition directed by Josh Boone has enjoyed …
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Kate DiCamillo and Lisa Von Drasek on the Joys of Reading Aloud
DiCamillo believes that reading aloud is an important communal activity for people of all ages, not just kids. She and Von Drasek take turns sharing excerpts from some of their …
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Gene Luen Yang Praises Diversity in Comics at National Book Festival Gala
The full text of Yang’s speech may be read at The Washington Post. Yang leapt this high oratory hurdle with the seeming ease of one of his superpowered characters. And …
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Kyle Zimmer, Co-Founder and CEO of First Book, To Be Honored by the National Book Foundation as the 2014 Literarian Medalist
With Zimmer at the helm, First Book — a Washington, DC-based nonprofit social enterprise — has distributed more than 118 million new books to children in need. Said NBF Executive …
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John Rocco Creates a ‘Blackout’ Companion
The story was inspired by Rocco’s experience with the Blizzard of 1978 during his childhood. Rocco recalls that the storm “hit Rhode Island with about 40 inches of snow and …
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Scholastic to Publish Illustrated Poetry Book For Kids by Nick Cannon
NEW YORK, NY — Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, announced today that it will publish an illustrated poetry book for children by celebrity entertainer Nick Cannon …
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Diversity in the News — August 2014
We hate to admit it, but summer is swiftly coming to a close and fall is almost here. Even though cooler weather is around the corner, there are plenty of …
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Five Star Publications, Inc. Launches a Monster of a Magazine with ‘StoryMonsters Ink’
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CHANDLER, AZ (Summer 2014)—Five Star Publications, Inc. is announcing the launch of a new monthly magazine. “StoryMonsters Ink” is a free, subscription-based e-digest that gives parents and …
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Bruce Springsteen & Frank Caruso Collaborate On a Picture Book
Springsteen’s book — starring a bank-robbing baby — was inspired by a song from his 2009 “Working On a Dream” album, as well as a picture book entitled Brave Cowboy …
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First Book and The International Reading Association Launch The ‘Lift Off to Literacy’ Campaign
The two organizations hope that people of all ages will pledge 60 seconds of every day (for a period of 60 days) to working on their literacy skills. Watch a …
