All materials in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be used for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. Address FEATURE usage requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions.
When Worlds Col lide Recent Developments in Children’s Literature
Debbie Reese [email protected]
22 Knowledge Quest | Diversity Matters All materials in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be used for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. Address usage requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions.
Volume 45, No. 3 | January/February 2017 23 All materials in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be used for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. Address usage requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions.
It is a collision of media, but it is also a collision of the point of view and critical lens that Native people and people of color bring to our analyses of children's and young adult literature. And it is making a difference.
omething unprecedented is hap- were recalled, and the book will be and their significance to the Native Spening in children’s and young reprinted without that line (Hertzel peoples who create them. Given our adult literature. Within the space 2016). relationship (we worked together on of a year, three different publishers an article for Booklist), I wrote to the recalled books that were criticized On August 4, 2016, an editor at author about the line and asked if on social media. Within that same Candlewick sent out an e-mail it might be edited. Pérez responded period, second printings of several stating that When We Was Fierce would immediately, and the line is not other books were revised, and two not be released as scheduled on in the second printing of the book children’s literature review journals August 9, 2016 (Barack 2016). (Reese 2016). took action to address the way they During the summer months, librar- write reviews. Additionally, writers ian Edith Campbell and writer In August 2016 Julie Murphy, and editors for several journals, as Jennifer Baker, both of whom are author of Dumplin’ (HarperCollins well as bloggers at those journals’ African American, had written 2015), wrote that she is revising the online sites, wrote about issues extensive critical analyses of the passage in her book in which she specific to diversity. depiction of African American used “spirit animal.” This revision, youth in When We Was Fierce. Accord- she said, is in response to her lack of I see these developments as worlds ing to the e-mail, the book’s understanding of problems associ- colliding. In short: Native people author, e. E. Charlton-Trujillo, ated with use of that phrase (Murphy and people of color are using social and publisher are reflecting on the 2016). media and content-area blogs to critiques. It is unclear if the book is review books that misrepresent us. being revised. In Murphy’s and Pérez’s books This effort is, in essence, more than the problematic phrases can easily one kind of collision. It is a collision On January 17, 2016, Scholastic be revised because neither book of media, but it is also a collision of issued a statement that it was with- is about Native peoples. As these the point of view and critical lens drawing its picture book A Birthday authors realized, the same ideas can that Native people and people of Cake for George Washington by Ramin be communicated without using color bring to our analyses of chil- Ganeshram. In the weeks prior phrases that are microaggressions dren’s and young adult literature. to that decision, Scholastic had (seemingly innocuous phrases that And it is making a difference. received a great deal of criticism for denigrate or demean a person or the book’s whitewashing of the lives culture of a marginalized com- Book Recalls and Revisions of the enslaved people in George munity). Washington’s home. The book will In late August 2016 the University not be revised. Review Journals Respond to of Minnesota Press recalled Sky Blue Water: Short Stories for Young Readers The next printing of Ashley Hope Societal Change (edited by Peterson and Morgan Pérez’s Out of Darkness (Carolrhoda On May 4, 2016, Vicky Smith, the 2016) days before its launch date Lab 2015) will have a small but book review editor at Kirkus Reviews, because its foreword included a significant revision. Her story, set wrote about a recently instituted paragraph with the line “Columbus in 1937 in East Texas, is about two change. Her article “Unmaking discovered America.” Shannon teens who fall in love. One of them the White Default” is aptly titled. Gibney, one of the authors who has a is Black. On page 98 of the first Reviews in Kirkus now identify story in the collection, took a photo printing, a character uses “low the race of all major characters, of the page with that line, put it on man on the totem pole” to refer to including white ones. Prior to this, her Facebook page, and wrote to his status. Although that phrase the race of major characters was the editors. Within a few days, the is commonly used that way, it is a mentioned only if they were not four thousand copies of the book misrepresentation of totem poles white. Over the summer of 2016,
24 Knowledge Quest | Diversity Matters All materials in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be used for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. Address usage requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions.
Figure 1. Characters in childrens’ books less diverse than children in U.S. population. (Illustration credits: Sarah Park Dahlen, Molly Beth Griffin, and illustrator David Huyck)
Kiera Parrott of School Library Journal offered its reviewers an eight-week This effort is, in essence, more course designed to increase their awareness of issues specific to depic- than one kind of collision. It is a tions of marginalized peoples and how reviewers can improve their skills collision of media, but it is also a in describing and reviewing books (Miller 2016). collision of the point of view and After several online discussions of Lane Smith’s picture book There Is critical lens that Native people a Tribe of Kids (Roaring Brook Press 2016), School Library Journal ran a story and people of color bring to on the differing positions people have taken about it (Barack 2016). I had our analyses of children’s and seen the cover of Smith’s book, but it was Sam Bloom’s 2016 review of it at young adult literature. And it is Reading While White that prompted me to take a look at the ways the children are depicted adorned in leaves. Some making a difference.
Volume 45, No. 3 | January/February 2017 25 All materials in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be used for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. Address usage requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions.
The racial and cultural demographics of the suggest it is harmless play, while United States are Sam and I argue that the children are playing Indian; debates related changing. It follows, to the picture book occurred on multiple online discussion forums. therefore, that the In the article Barack (2016) cited librarians who felt that, in their content of books will defense of the book on the Asso- ciation of Library Service to Chil- dren (ALSC) online discussion change, too. list, their “neutral” point of view was being attacked. Uncomfortable with the discussion, one librarian decided not to renew her member- American Indians in Children’s ship in ALSC and the American Resources Literature
26 Knowledge Quest | Diversity Matters All materials in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be used for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. Address usage requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions.
The guidelines for some of ALA’s Debbie Reese, a former elementary school teacher and assistant professor in award committees were also revised American Indian Studies, publishes the blog American Indians in Children’s in 2015, and, in a meeting with Literature. Tribally enrolled at Nambe Pueblo, her book chapters and articles are committee chairs, Kathleen T. Horning (2015) recommended that taught in university classrooms in English, education, and library science across the committee members recognize their Photo credit: Della Noh U.S. and Canada. She is frequently invited to deliver keynote lectures and workshops personal and experiential limita- at major universities and for tribal associations and organizations. tions and seek out content-area blogs like mine (American Indians in Children’s Literature), Latinxs in Kidlit, and Rich in Color to Works Cited: improve their competency in exam- Association for Library Services to Miller, Rebecca T. 2016. “The Power ining books under consideration Children. 2015. “Competencies of Words: Answering the Call to for Librarians Serving Children in Action on Inclusion.” Library Journal for ALA awards. See the sidebar for Public Libraries.”
Volume 45, No. 3 | January/February 2017 27