I read this article and wondered why the person who wrote it thought it was timely (besides the fact that the New York Times already wrote about the subject). The fact that the majority of children's book characters are white is hardly surprising. I think we're all aware of this fact.
The solution proposed is to make sure that the editors and staff at publishing houses are more diverse so that the cycle can be broken somewhere along the line. The editors choose the books with primarily white main characters. Those books are the only options for children. We all get use to those choices...and maybe even get locked into them.
I say that because the article kind of glosses over the fact that books featuring non-white characters tend to sell poorly. This begs the question: why aren't we buying books with diverse characters?
Maybe a clue is what one African-American journal professor said about "not trying to make [her] kids read books about slaves all the time" and wanting a story about a black wizard every once in a while.
I concur.
Here might be the real reason for those poor sells. All the books with non-white characters are too familiar or too stereotypical. I'm sure people of color are writing diverse tales...right? Their characters are not all slaves or poor children growing up in Harlem...right?
That's what I'm going to assume. So how about when those stories are submitted that they are accepted as things that can be a part of the black or Asian or Hispanic or Native American experience instead of just the stories about oppression and hardship.
I think this is a wake up call that we are all ready to move on beyond our pasts and legacies. We need to be aware, however, that there are stumbling blocks when others won't let us do this.
I'm hoping that's not what happening here, though. I'm also hoping that people of color are not skipping over books with diverse characters just because they are less interested in them.
I'd have no idea what to say about that.
--Quoted from an article by Nina Terrero in Issue #1306 of Entertainment Weekly "Kid Lit's Primary Color: White." April 11, 2014.
The solution proposed is to make sure that the editors and staff at publishing houses are more diverse so that the cycle can be broken somewhere along the line. The editors choose the books with primarily white main characters. Those books are the only options for children. We all get use to those choices...and maybe even get locked into them.
I say that because the article kind of glosses over the fact that books featuring non-white characters tend to sell poorly. This begs the question: why aren't we buying books with diverse characters?
Maybe a clue is what one African-American journal professor said about "not trying to make [her] kids read books about slaves all the time" and wanting a story about a black wizard every once in a while.
I concur.
Here might be the real reason for those poor sells. All the books with non-white characters are too familiar or too stereotypical. I'm sure people of color are writing diverse tales...right? Their characters are not all slaves or poor children growing up in Harlem...right?
That's what I'm going to assume. So how about when those stories are submitted that they are accepted as things that can be a part of the black or Asian or Hispanic or Native American experience instead of just the stories about oppression and hardship.
I think this is a wake up call that we are all ready to move on beyond our pasts and legacies. We need to be aware, however, that there are stumbling blocks when others won't let us do this.
I'm hoping that's not what happening here, though. I'm also hoping that people of color are not skipping over books with diverse characters just because they are less interested in them.
I'd have no idea what to say about that.
--Quoted from an article by Nina Terrero in Issue #1306 of Entertainment Weekly "Kid Lit's Primary Color: White." April 11, 2014.
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