Industry News
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Neil Gaiman on Writing Longhand
I was sparser, I would think my way through a sentence further, I would write less, in a good way. And when I typed it up, it became a very …
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Malinda Lo to Write a Young Adult Mystery Novel
I’ve been reading mystery fiction since I was a child, when I devoured Nancy Drews by the dozen, and even today the main genre of fiction I read is crime …
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Holiday Gifts for Every Kid Lit Lover!
Shop now at the official Children’s Book Week Store! Established in 1919, Children’s Book Week is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. From May 2-8, 2016, the Children’s …
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U.S. House passes Every Student Succeeds Act
CHICAGO – The U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 1177, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The bill now moves on to the Senate and if passed, and signed into …
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Michael Pietsch Praises Young Readers
The generation of young readers now entering their adult years had a richer diet of superb books published for them than any before…As this generation comes to the market over …
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2016 Morris Award Finalists Announced
This year’s finalists are: Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas (Bloomsbury Children’s Books) Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert (Hyperion/Disney Book Group) Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (Balzer …
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It’s the Economy
Contributed by Nikki Garcia, Assistant Editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
As someone who’s been lucky enough to be an editor for over two years, I’m interested in highlighting and advocating for all kinds of diversity. By now, we’re all familiar with the different types of diversity: race and ethnicity, sexuality and gender, ability, and religion—but one that doesn’t seem to be spoken about as much is socioeconomic diversity. This is the one I have felt deeply over the years. Money plays an important role in all of our lives—whether it’s the school we attended and the amount of financial aid we received, or access to job opportunities, our identities have all been shaped by finances from an early age. I often felt like I had to figure it out for myself—and figure it out for my family too. So when we talk about diversity of authors, their characters, and their stories—and the publishing professionals who turn these stories into books—economics are and always will be a factor.
This is something I’ve experienced firsthand. Growing up in New York City, one of the most expensive cities in the world, money was a constant worry. Even when I was too young to really understand how money worked, I still held my breath until this magical day arrived… payday. I knew money was something my parents stressed about. I could feel it in the air. But it wasn’t until I was much older that I truly understood that many of my hardships came from a socioeconomic level. My family didn’t have an understanding of the best ways to handle money, and this lack of knowledge was passed down, generation by generation.
My parents also assumed I was being given all of the information I needed from my high school guidance counselor regarding affordable colleges and how to apply for financial aid for school. But because the school was extremely overcrowded, I never received this information. This led to attending colleges I couldn’t really afford and racking up a student loan debt I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. So much information was missing, and I wasn’t taught to go look for it because… well, that was just not something we did.
These hiccups along the way to working in publishing made it so much harder to get to this moment in my career. This makes me question whether many people in publishing have had similar experiences. I wonder about the aspiring authors who can’t afford writing classes, or the promising future editors, publicists, and others who can’t afford to spend a summer in New York City to take on an internship. And what about all of those smart and diverse individuals who don’t even know that publishing exists as a viable career option? What can we do to help bring more socioeconomic diversity into the world of publishing?
I’m so happy to see organizations like We Need Diverse Books begin to tackle this problem. Their scholarship program is only the first step in adding more diversity. So I’m posing this question: How do we reach the high school and college students that are figuring all of this out on their own? How do we help the ones who don’t have the means or the information to help themselves? All suggestions are welcome.
Nikki Garcia is an assistant editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers where she works on books for all ages. During her time at LBYR, she has had the honor of working with authors such as Peter Brown, Wendy Mass, Matthew Quick, and Monica Brown. Born and raised right here in New York City, Nikki graduated from St. John’s University, and thankfully didn’t have to travel very far to make her dreams come true.
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Girls Who Code Partners with Penguin Young Readers
Some of the projects in development include a nonfiction book introducing coding for summer 2017, and a series of middle-grade fiction titles and board books. Girls Who Code…is a graphically …
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Why Reading is More Than Fundamental
Reading not only sparks a child’s imagination, but paves the way for lifelong learning. Reading tugs [children] outside of themselves, connecting them to a wider world and filling it with wonder. …
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Happy 30th Anniversary, ‘Polar Express’!
Allsburg and the team at Houghton MIfflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers are confident that the anniversary edition features an improved look, while preserving the magic of the original. As part …
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Read-Alouds for All Ages
From literary dinners, festive staged readings, and read-aloud sleepovers, there are countless ways incorporate reading aloud into your everyday routine. The benefits are clear: comprehension, vocabulary, and imagination are developed …
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Winners Announced for the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards
More than 3 million votes were cast for this year’s awards. Several popular authors — including two Children’s Choice Book Award winners — were recognized with this honor for their latest …
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Public Libraries Build New Spaces for Teens
With newly-designed areas for silent study, group work, video and music production, gaming, and more, public libraries are quickly becoming hot spots for teens. [Librarians] are making a concerted effort to …
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Measuring the Humor in Nonsense Words
Subjects were presented pairs of nonsense words, and asked to rate them on a scale not-funny to funny. Words that scored the highest were those with higher entropy or weirdness. The results …
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The Birth of YA
New York City librarian Mabel Williams championed the YA genre back in 1929 when she helped publish the first “NYPL Books for Young People” list, which is still going strong. Margaret Scoggin …
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BBC to Create a ‘His Dark Materials’ Television Show
Pullman wrote a total of three books for this fantasy series: Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, and Amber Spyglass. The author himself will serve as an executive producer for the …
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The Dyad Reading Method
The dyad method has been shown to promote literacy skills by incorporating sight and sound with the tactile experience of turning the page. When done well, dyad reading is “like dancing.” …
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The 2016 ‘What Kids Are Reading Report’
According to the 2016 study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, most students are selecting books below their grade level, and STEM-related books are being passed up. The good news is …
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Portraying American Indians in Children’s Books
According to a recent survey by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only 38 out of 5,000 children’s titles published between 2002 and 2015 featured American Indian characters, and a mere 20 books were written or illustrated by …
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Picture Book Summit Yields Big Rewards for We Need Diverse Books
New York, NY – The first annual Picture Book Summit, an international online conference for children’s picture book authors, raised more than $7000 for the nonprofit group We Need Diverse …
