Panelists Susan Marston, editorial director at the Junior Library Guild; Lauren Tarshis, editor of Scholastic’s Storyworks and author of the I Survived series; and Angela Ungaro, librarian at Brooklyn Friends School shared …
Ten lucky winners will be chosen at random and notified on August 31. And don’t worry new friends! Starting September 1, we’ll do it again, with monthly contests for teachers, …
New York, NY — July 7, 2016 – Longtime publishing executive and book advocate Carl Lennertz will join the Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader as Executive Director, …
The former executive director of World Book Night U.S. and creator of the American Booksellers Association’s Book Sense Children’s and Adult Bestseller and Indie Next lists, Lennertz brings years of experience in bookselling, sales, …
BISAC codes are the standardized descriptors for books used across the publishing and bookselling industries. Effective January 2017, new graphic novel headings will be implemented in the Juvenile Fiction, Juvenile Nonfiction, Young Adult …
Authors Matt de la Peña and Patricia McCormick were joined by industry insiders Kate Sullivan (senior editor at Delacorte) and Marietta Zacker (Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency). The discussion was moderated by Ashley Woodfolk, marketing manager at Macmillan Children’s …
Contributed by Nikki Garcia, assistant editor, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Six months ago, I wrote a post for
the CBC Diversity blog discussing
socioeconomic diversity and my personal struggles with financial security as
a child. I wish there were more children’s books when I was growing up that
didn’t make me feel different. So for this post, I want to name some books that
are showing young readers a different
economic view—a view through a different but important lens. Because you just
never know who is struggling to make ends meet.
Here is my book wish list for my
younger self:
Picture Books
Those
Shoes by Maribeth Boelts takes on
one of the most common ways young children notice something is different: they
start to notice all the new and cool things other children have, because their family
buys what they “need” versus what they “want.”
Last
Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
also approaches the same topic in a similar way. CJ takes the bus with his
Grandma every day, but one day he starts noticing how he’s different from everyone
else. Why don’t they have a car? And why do they get off the bus in a dirty
part of town?
Middle Grade
Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate is about a
family that has fallen on hard times. With little money for rent and food, they
are forced to live in their minivan.
In Minna’s
Patchwork Coat by Lauren A. Mills,
Minna’s family cannot afford a winter coat, so she is forced to use an old feed
sack, until her neighbors come together and create a coat out of scraps of old
fabric.
Young Adult
Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick
shows a young girl living with her mom and dog in the back of a school bus
since her mom’s boyfriend kicked them out. Always optimistic, her ability to
hope for a better future is constantly tested.
Tell
Us We’re Home by Marina Budhos is
the story of three girls living among the wealthy, but with one big difference:
they are the daughters of maids and nannies, and because of this, they live by
different rules.
These are just a few books that show
socioeconomic diversity across all age groups. Children are never too young or too
old to learn about different families.
Do you know any books that discuss socioeconomic
diversity, and touched your heart? Please let us know in the comments—I’m
always looking to add to my book wish list.
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.
Contributed by Donna Bray, Vice President, Co-Publisher of Balzer + Bray, HarperCollins Publishers
“How many people with disabilities work here?”
This was one of the first questions young author Aaron
Philip asked our staff when he and his family arrived at the HarperCollins
offices to meet us. We all looked around uncomfortably, because the answer is
that we work with few to no disabled employees. Aaron went on to speak
passionately about the invisibility he and other people with cerebral palsy – and
many wheelchair users – often feel when they rarely see themselves represented
in the workplace, in television and films, in books, in the news. Aaron is
ambitious – he wants a life and a career in the world. But where are his models?
This discussion inspired and has stayed with me, and has made me especially
glad to be able to contribute to bringing visibility to disability with the
publication of This Kid Can Fly.
An article in the New
York Times alerted me to Aaron’s story. The piece was about his
occupational therapist who’d been suspended without pay for using her school
email address to contact other staff about Aaron’s self-published book – a
project that the principal was aware of and the whole school community
supported. The therapist’s story was frustrating and sad, but I was intrigued
by what I learned about Aaron (pronounced AY-ron). An immigrant from Antigua,
he had come to this country at great sacrifice to his family to seek medical
help for his cerebral palsy. His family had even been homeless for a time,
which forced his father to carry Aaron up several flights of stairs every day,
as the building was not wheelchair accessible. Yet Aaron was clearly determined
to achieve. He was the inspiration for a nonprofit called This Ability Not
Disability and had self-published a book with their help, and had started a
Tumblr about his life, highlighting the struggles of wheelchair users and other
disabled people. I found his Tumblr (which also featured his anime art), and
the more I read, the more I realized that Aaron’s was an important story to
tell. With an authentic, accessible voice, Aaron talked about the particular
challenges of being a wheelchair-using kid and the loneliness he often feels.
One of the biggest hurdles for disabled children is social – other kids can be
intimidated by or afraid of what they don’t understand. I hoped that by
publishing the memoir of this extraordinary yet relatable 13-year-old, I could
give young readers who have their mobility a window into the experiences of a
wheelchair user that also highlights the commonalities of their lives. I also
hoped that other kids with disabilities would read Aaron’s story and feel
inspired and less alone.
Here are a few of my favorite recent books that shine a light
on the lives of young people who are wheelchair users and/or have cerebral
palsy. Feel free to add yours in the comments!
Reaching for Sun by Traci Vaughn Zimmer
Laughing At My
Nightmare by Shane Burcaw
Say What You Will by
Cammie McGovern
(Disability in Kidlit is a great
resource for reviews of other books about many different disabilities, and
every year the Schneider Award honors the best in children’s and teen books
that feature disabled characters.)
Donna Bray is vice president,
co-publisher of Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. As the
editor of picture books, middle-grade, and teen books, she is particularly
interested in seeking out new voices that reflect diversity of race, ethnicity,
class, culture, religion, and ability. She lives with her family in Brooklyn.
She’s right; the White House was built
in large part by slaves, along with freed black men and immigrants from
Scotland and Ireland. So why did I edit a book called The House That George Built? As Allie Jane Bruce points out in a recent blog poston Reading
While White, the book privileges white perspective and glosses over the
contributions of slaves.
When I first read Allie’s review, my stomach sank. I was
horrified. Of course she was right. Why hadn’t I seen it before?
The House That George
Built is a play on the old rhyme “The House That Jack Built.” At the time,
it seemed like a clever and appropriate twist for a book about how George Washington
conceived of a President’s House and then oversaw its construction. I set about
editing the text with two primary goals: (1) to keep the text tightly focused
on George and (2) to explain the building process as clearly as possible. As a
nonfiction editor, I’ve always been concerned with structure, focus, and technical
accuracy in picture books.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t as aware of issues of inclusion and
representation. The focus on George meant that the contributions of the people
who literally built the White House were minimized. The focus on the what of construction meant that the who ended up as short mentions in the
main text and author’s note. Looking back, the author and I regret these
decisions.
I edited The House
That George Built back in 2009. Fast-forward to 2016. The publishing
climate has dramatically changed—for the better in terms of awareness of
diversity issues.
For me, it’s a nerve-racking time, in some ways. Authors and
editors are being held to more rigorous standards, and I really don’t want to mess up. I certainly don’t want to incur the
wrath of the blogosphere. More importantly, I don’t want to produce books that perpetuate
racial stereotypes and white privilege, however unintentionally.
My fears aside, this is also an exciting and empowering time.
I feel like my eyes are being opened, like I’m learning and growing with every
article and blog post—Allie’s included. I’m receiving and acquiring more biographies
of people of color. I’m asking experts and other readers for honest feedback on
questions of representation. And I’m trying with every book to be as inclusive
as possible.
I’ve got a long way to go, clearly. But I hope to keep on
improving as an editor—and to do what I can to help publish nonfiction that
accurately reflects our diverse world.
Alyssa Mito Pusey is a senior editor at Charlesbridge,
editing picture books and middle-grade chapter books and specializing in
nonfiction.
Through his platform, “Reading Without Walls,” Yang hopes to inspire readers of all ages to pick up a book outside their comfort zone. In episode four of his podcast, Yang talks …
Contributed by Faye Bi, Senior Publicist,
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Cultural
Revolution in China, which historians agree took place 1966-1976. Many Western
media outlets were quick to provide retrospectives (see: The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, CNN, and The Atlantic), but up until recently, it represented a huge
gap in my historical knowledge, despite being born to two Chinese immigrant
parents. This colossal historical event that caused nearly 2-30 million deaths
(depending on whom you ask) was barely touched on in my formal education; China
was nowhere near its current economic prowess when I was a kid, not important
enough to be put under the international spotlight until now.
My parents, who arrived in Canada in 1989 with an infant-me in
tow, were tight-lipped about their life in China beforehand. They were born in
1960, young children who came of age during the Cultural Revolution under
conditions of which I was blissfully unaware. There were clues, of course—we
lived a frugal life on my father’s Ph.D. stipend, and I was taught from an
early age not to waste food. Education was highly prized, and my wardrobe was a
steady rotation of homemade clothes, knits, and hand-me-downs. And then there
were offhand comments, like, “I would have had to work in the countryside
if I hadn’t moved to Canada” from my father, or “My parents sent me
away as a baby to live with my grandmother” from my mother. I knew my
mother had worked in a shoe factory, on her feet for 12 hours a day, which
meant our early weekends selling spring rolls at the flea market for extra cash
were pittance.
I suspect my story is not uncommon amongst Chinese immigrants of
this time. As I got older, I found it difficult to ask questions, especially if
the memories were painful. My attempts were casually brushed aside, with a
“there’s a reason we moved—to make a better life for you.” It wasn’t
long before I did what I usually do when I’m stuck: turned to a book.
Ying Chang Compestine’s Revolution
Is Not a Dinner Party had been on my radar for a few years. I was wary of
adult non-fiction or even adult fiction, given my personal relationship with
the subject matter, but Compestine’s slim tome was perfect—inspired by her own
life growing up in Wuhan, where my mother has relatives. The book begins with
nine-year-old Ling, the daughter of two doctors in the best hospital in Wuhan.
She lives a comfortably middle class life, with new dresses in pretty fabrics
and occasional treats of chocolate. Her upstairs neighbors have a sewing
machine and a water heater. She complains when her mother makes food she
doesn’t like; loves learning English from her father and listening to Voice of
America; and lives the life of a young girl we wouldn’t find so unfamiliar to
our own.
Then Comrade Li shows up and Ling’s father’s office is cleared out
to be transformed into a bedroom for him. Comrade Li’s portrayal is a nuanced
one; Compestine certainly depicts him as a villain, but tender conversations
between him and Ling include exchanges of origami and eggs, later transforming
into Comrade Li basically taking all of the family’s food. Ling begins to hate
school when fellow students form a unit of the Red Guards and viciously bully
her for her love of dresses and her middle class background, calling her a
“bourgeois sympathizer.” The tragedies become more and more frequent:
when Ling and her father rescue an intellectual from committing suicide in the
river; when Ling and her mother watch Red Guards beat a midwife’s family; when
their neighbor, Niu, denounces his family and Ling’s, drawing a class line; and
when Ling’s own father is taken away and jailed.
Compestine does touch on the political events of the time, but she
focuses the story on Ling. In a sense, I’m not as interested in what Chairman
Mao did or what his motivations were, but how so many lives were irrevocably,
irreparably changed. Descriptions of waiting in line with ration tickets hoping
for meat; Niu being sent to reeducation camp in the country and trying to
escape; Red Guards and comrades trashing Ling’s home;, or just not having
enough food. Aside from the violent political struggles by the Red Guards
against dissenters, the utmost killer of the Revolution was famine.
It was a difficult read for me, with heartache and occasional
tears, imagining my parents growing up during this time period. Given that the
Red Guards were primarily made up of students, Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party’s perspective is rich and
harrowing, right at the center of the action. Though I’m sure it doesn’t fully
cover its vast scope, I was able to tell my father I’d read a book about the
Cultural Revolution. He wanted to talk about the political effects; I wanted to
talk about people. It was rough getting him to open up, but he did tell me that
he was one of the lucky ones—schools and universities had re-opened by the time
he was getting his education. His siblings (my aunts and uncles who were 8-12
years older than him) didn’t have those opportunities. “It set back an
entire generation,” he says. “I remember attending school sitting
next to students twice my age.”
Revolution Is Not a Dinner
Party has an uplifting ending, though hints at the troubles to come. After
Chairman Mao’s death, the political tides turn and Comrade Li is arrested.
Ling’s father is released from prison, and her family is reunited. My family
has a happy ending as well—and I appreciate every opportunity to learn those
stories. I have books to thank for starting the conversation.
Further Reading
Chun Yu, Little Green: Growing Up During the
Chinese Cultural Revolution
li Jiang, Red Scarf Girl
Moying Li, Snow Falling in Spring
Ying Chang Compestine, Revolution is Not a
Dinner Party
Faye Bi works as a Senior Publicist at Simon & Schuster Children’s
Publishing and Saga Press, and also volunteers for Sirens, a conference
dedicated to women in fantasy literature. She tweets at @faye_bi.
BRAND-NEW LIBRARIES CREATED IN 20 STATES New York, NY – June 8, 2016 – The Children’s Book Council (CBC) has partnered once again with The unPrison Project — a 501(c)3 …
A Stick is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by LeUyen Pham (Clarion Books/HMH, February 2012). All rights reserved.
In the second installment of his series, Yang shares the books that are currently on his reading list: Ninja! by Arree Chung, Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt, and Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat #5 by Kate …
In his third post, Yang discusses some of the different approaches to writing the script for comic books. Unlike in screenwriting, there is no industry-wide format for comic book scripts. Yang follows …
Cameras are magic. By capturing a moment in time, cameras
give us the ability to explore actions and emotions in a way that we cannot in
another medium. Each time I look through a lens, my perception of the world is
altered. I can see and photograph something large, magnificent, like a sunset
or something smaller, poignant, like a smile. Perception is a funny thing, it
can change big things to become more accessible and alter smaller things to
become more meaningful. In the instant a photograph is taken, a person is at
their most vulnerable because a camera will show only the truth. Every emotion,
from frustration to triumph, sadness to joy, is seen through the lenses of my
camera.
Children in particular express each emotion clearly. I’ve
photographed everything from weddings to landscapes, but working with children
and their families has been the most rewarding. Through previous work, I was
asked to photograph children that have special needs for a Finding My Way Books
series, true stories that highlight inclusion and self-determination. I am
fortunate to use my art to support diversity and literacy.
Once the story has been written, colors and shapes come to
mind for the design and to enhance telling the story. For one book in
particular, that was not the case until I took one of the final photos. The
child was reaching her arms up in excitement, and I knew that feeling was one I
wanted to carry through the design. Not only my perception, but my process was
changed by this vivacious girl.
I hope that my photography supports children and encourages
acceptance of differences. Diversity comes in many forms, and the pictures I
take capture how easy it is for all children to be included, no matter their
ability. Beyond that, images show how beneficial inclusion is for our society.
Inclusion is finally on its way to becoming the norm and not the exception. At
least, that is case in the United States.
Soon my perception will be altered in a very different way. I
was invited to travel to Tanzania to take pictures for more children’s books featuring
kids that have a disability. In the U.S., persons with disabilities have rights
and there is a degree of understanding about their different needs; laws are even
in place to discourage discrimination. But in other parts of the world, I know
this is not the case. Children with disabilities are hidden away and ignored. I
hope to find that this is not always so.
Having never traveled internationally, I know I’m in for a
many surprises. Going to a country that is so vastly different from the United
States will be eye opening in a way that I’m probably unprepared for. Then,
I’ll pick up my camera and my view will become changed again. I hope to see
children who are included with their peers and valued for their differences. I
may not see those things, but whatever I see through the lens of my camera, I
know I will be changed.
Mary Birdsell is a freelance photographer and a former Speech and Theatre teacher. She strives to create images that reflect the strengths of each child. Mary’s background in education, theatre and photography intersect as she visually creates our books. She uses colors and shapes to tell a story. For her each book is like it’s own theatre production. Mary has created eight books for Finding My Way books. Visit https://www.findingmywaybooks.net/ for more information.
