Great post, Elizabeth. Every year I look for the picture books about contemporary black kids, and find very few (sometimes none). Hope this article will help.

This should have read:

It would be wonderful to see more books that spoke to the experience of children of all the races in this country and to those who straddle more than one as well.

Denise, I heartily agree with that sentiment, and I hope that my call for books about children of color makes that point, as well.

What a wonderful, important article! Thank you for writing it and caring. I will send you some titles to consider for your list. Cheers to you! And thanks RRR for spreading the word about the article ;).

Those of us who grew up without them are trying to change the climate. Internal dialogue among authors of color has revealed that those books are often actively blocked. And some are being told there 1. is no market for them, 2. children of color don't buy books, or 3. the publisher already has it's "quota" of ethnic authors (often 1 or 2). The trend and the stories being told are pretty consistent across the board. If you aren't writing a "Black stereotype" book, you can't make the sale. If if you are black, the odds are against you when writing a mainstream title.

As a mom I ask, how many books about civil rights, slavery, or urban ghetto poverty am I supposed to buy in a lifetime?

We ALL hope publishers will change - but the recent controversy involving Bloomsbury's decision to put (and then retract under the threat of boycott) a white cover on a book about a black protagonist shows why it isn't going to happen in the near future.

But your editorial is right on time. I thank you and so do my daughters.

Sunny Holiday, by Coleen Murtagh Paratore, is a breath of fresh air: a lively, charming character who deals with issues of class, but for whom race largely breezes on past.

However, I would have to voice some sympathy with publishers who soft-pedal skin color in cover designs. I often see older customers' faces cloud over when I present such great books as Elija of Buxton, and they dismiss it with, "I don't think he'd relate to that one. What else can you show me?" Kids seem to have far less of a problem with that, and when the cover figures are a group, a mix doesn't seem to be an issue. There's such a strong assumption that if the character on the cover is dark-skinned, the book is about race. NOBODY ever wrote about it better than Mildred Taylor.

Your point about "the erroneous assumption that white kids will not want to read about non-white kids" stirred an old and a vivid memory. I, at age 10 or so, had picked out a book at a scholastic book fair with a 10-12 year old African American girl as the protagonist, brought it him and read it with pleasure. My parents called me in to see them and had the book in their hands, looking very pained and concerned. "Was I all right? Why had I chosen that book?" Prejudice really does run deep. What a fine essay you've crafted here.

you have wonderfully articulated what i have been ranting about for more than a decade. i searched and searched and searched for books with characters of color without the story being about them being Black, Mexican, Korean, Pakistani, Homosexual etc. children are children regardless of their skin color and all children experience similar development and emotion. thank you again for your words and fierce commitment. it is so nice to feel that i am in good company.

Elizabeth -- This post is just spot on. I have to say that I'm feeling a sense of hope at the surge of like-minded voices out there right now. The Liar cover is helping to drive that so, ironically, we may have B.bury to thank. The thing about a market-driven culture is that we're just supposed to shrug and accept it that publisher's say they're sorry but nobody's buying the books with people of color on the cover. I'm thinking we're supposed to be a little upright than that and make sure that the market doesn't hold total sway over our morals, our evolution or our integrity...

In a Children's Literature class for future librarians, we had a similar discussion regarding images in children's books. In small groups, we studied one image and tried to read as many titles as possible containing that particular image and determine whether or not it was positively portrayed, full of stereotypes, etc. My group chose Muslims, and even though we found books, the majority were so didactic that no kid would enjoy reading them. It was quite infuriating. It was even harder to listen to the presentations about all of the other images that were either full of stereotypes or almost nonexistent in children's literature (everything from Hispanics to old women). I sincerely hope others in the industry will take notice of the problem if enough of us speak up.

Some books that have multi-cultural characters are also big sellers: the Twilight series features the Native American wolfpack and also a black american vampire. Also in Harry Potter there are the Indian twins that Harry and Ron take to the dance in book 4, there's the chinese girl that Harry falls in love with in books 3,4 & 5 and then there's Dean who are the Weseley twins best friend who is the announcer for the Quidditch tournaments. So its not that multi-cultural books don't sell, its that people THINK the books won't sell.

Thanks, Elizabeth, for highlighting these issues. Great article!

Great article. I have one small quibble- most kids and YA literature featuring Jewish characters is in fact Holocaust or historical lower East Side NYC immigrants. Outside of old Judy Blume books, it's pretty rare to find a normal everyday character who just happens to be Jewish.

So eloquently said. Thank you.

way to go, dahlink! *awesome* article. ;)

Excellently done, as always.

Nikki Grimes' Dyamonde Daniel books are good for early readers, and RUBY AND THE BOOKER BOYS is good for elementary. And ROOM WITH A ZOO by Jules Feiffer (I wish it had a sequel).

Brava, Elizabeth! Care to tackle the trope that a boy won't read that because there's a girl on the cover? While girls will read omnivorously (that might not be the right word for it)? There are a lot of things that are taken for granted, that may not deserve to be.

This is a great article, and I, too, am glad that the conversation around race and representation in the kidlit community is continuing...I'd urge you to read Laura Atkins' provocative essay on white privilege in the children's publishing industry (which you can find at her blog, lauraatkins.com/blog/tockla.html). I also grew up in the '70s and Ezra Jack Keats' wonderful books were the ONLY ones I had that featured children who looked like me. They were fun, "slice of life" books and I do wish we had more like them. I take issue, however, with your suggestion that the homogeneity of the publishing industry isn't "intentional." It's no accident that 99% of editors are white and middle-class; it's not "natural" or "inevitable," any more than all our previous presidents being white and male. I'd urge everyone to check out the Cooperative Children's Book Center, which keeps statistics on children's publishing: last year, less than 3% of all books published for kids were written by black people. That is NOT because black people don't know how to write, or write uninteresting stories...it's no "accident." And lastly, I would encourage everyone to realize that markets are shaped, they aren't organic, and at the end of the day WE are the market--so if publishers are tracking trends, check your own shopping habits and make sure you're buying books by and about people of color.

LOVE Emma and Nobody's Family Is Going to Change. Great post!

Folks, there's a little technical glitch going on with the comments. They're showing up, and then disappearing minutes later. It's happened to other publications in the Reed universe, and they're trying to fix it. So please keep a copy of your comments in case they disappear. If ever there were a post with comments I want to read and share, this is it!

Thank you for writing this! Although I am not a publisher or a bookseller, i am a lover of children and young adult literature. my husband and i are in the process of trying to adopt and will most likely adopt a child of color. One of my first realizations as we started this journey was that 90% of all of my most beloved books feature white heroes and heroines and I wondered how I would share my great love of books in a way that related more to my child's experience...and for lack of a better phrase..just wasn't so white. I have found a few books, and been reminded of a few here but, as you say - there is room for so many more! I look forward to your list.

Check out the Nikki and Deja book series!

Zetta, thanks for your comment. I absolutely didn't mean that the race inequity in publishing is "natural" or "inevitable." I don't believe that there's a conspiracy of white publishers not to hire editors and assistants of color, though there certainly may be complacency and habit involved. Salaries need to be a liveable wage and career outreach needs to happen in high schools, too.

Hear, hear! I WANT to share books that feature kids of color who get into typical kid scrapes and adventures. "A Wild Cowboy" by Dana Smith and the Calvin Coconut series by Graham Salisbury are a couple of perfect examples of such books. If only more publishers had had the luxury I enjoyed, growing up in an ethnically diverse community, maybe we'd see more books like these.

I'm a teen librarian, not the author, and wanted to recommended Jim Fusilli's "Marley Z and the Bloodstained Violin." It's a middle grade mystery about a 14 year old black girl who, along with a multicultural cast (including Asian, Hispanic, European, and white friends) investigate the case of a stolen rare violin from Juilliard. SLJ recommends it for grades 5-9 and Booklist recommends it for grades 5-8, so I'm not sure whether it's the right age for what you're looking for in your bibliography or if you're moreso looking for books for elementary students.

Fantastic post! My brain is currently knee deep in Spring 2010 but these two fall titles jumped to mind:

Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle & Nerds by Michael Buckley both feature a multicultural cast.

Thank you for your important post and for caring about our plight. I can never find Afro-Cuban books or Afro Latino books of any kind and keept telling myself, "I can't possibly be the ONLY Latina author who speaks Spanish and writes books with diversity in a market of 50 million Hispanics."

Excellent post. Will recommend to everyone!

Thanks for such a well-articulated blog on an extremely important issue. Just wanted to give a shout out to a backlist title, Eloise Greenfield's "Honey I Love"--a book of poems that inspires kids to write as well as read poetry. Through the poems, an African American child speaks playfully and movingly of things she loves.

Thank you for this wonderful post! In light of the Bloomsbury controversy, this is definitely an issue that also needs to be illuminated. Growing up, I read & loved the Ramona series, and from time to time often wondered if there would ever be an African-American equivalent heroine such as Ramona. In recent years there have been a few similar protagonists such as Ruby and the Booker Boys and the Keena Ford series, but I still think there is ample room for many more.

Elizabeth, this is so well-articulated and absolutely needed. I wish it was on the cover of PW to be sure everyone read it. It is key that these issues are discussed, and even more important that people who work in publishing are willing to look at the status quo and discuss how the publishing culture dictates much of what is produced. What if PW did a series of interviews with editors on this topic, getting them to reflect on their own experiences acquiring and editing children's book written by authors of color? What we need is openness, honesty and a willingness to discuss uncomfortable topics for things to begin to move forward. Thanks for adding a voice here.

Very puzzling, this article. While it seems to go to the heart of the matter regarding issues of race and dominant culture it does so while maintaining a dominant culture stance. Which seems to have gone unnoticed. The title of her article – "Where's Ramona Quimby, Black and Pretty?" – may be rhetorical in nature but it reveals the bias that corrupts the entire piece: that if only there were more black equivalents to white books, justice would be served. This leads to the subsequent misconception that publishers are purposely suppressing diversity in order to over-serve a market dominated by white people. I appreciate the kindness and sincerity behind Bluemle’s lament, but what she is really wishing for is a fantastical publishing world that is insulated from the grim realities of everyday American culture. How can race not matter in books when it matters so very much in our everyday lives? We live in a deeply divided society in which a disproportionate number of black children (33%) live in poverty and this is something that can not and will never be remedied by the publishing industry. This isn’t to say that there shouldn’t be more books of a contemporary nature featuring black children (or hispanic children, or native american children, or asian children), but what’s with Ramona? Unfortunately, many black authors are succumbing to the equivalence theory with boiler-plate efforts like Mr. Chickee, Sassy, and Ruby and the Booker Boys – books that shed no light whatsoever on the advancement of race relations or literature. Representation is not achieved through equivalence. Equivalence is the ideology of the master (“someday you can be just like me”), not the advocate. Consider the Coretta Scott King awards – are they the equivalent of the Caldecott and the Newbery awards? Or are they an alternative? Are they inclusive or exclusive? Say yes or no to any of these questions and you’re in deep shit. In the end and at best, these awards are a conundrum, born from the best intentions of the dominant culture. I don’t think any of us (dominant folk) really know or understand what a truly integrated, representative, and just world looks like. How can we? I just hope it doesn’t look too much like it does now, right?

Thanks Elizabeth.
The only thing more discouraging is the dearth of kids of color in books for brand new readers. (think the Geisel Award-type books) When I try to find books for my newest readers, the most fragile readers...there is very very little for them.

Thanks again.

Bitterman wrote:

'Where's Ramona Quimby, Black and Pretty?' – may be rhetorical in nature but it reveals the bias that corrupts the entire piece: that if only there were more black equivalents to white books, justice would be served. This leads to the subsequent misconception that publishers are purposely suppressing diversity in order to over-serve a market dominated by white people.

Your observation wasn't lost on me. I wondered as much. In fact, the opening tripped me up at first.

We do not need equivalents in the sense they mirror the dominant culture and we don't need more of the same limited representations that are allowed in mainstream: historical, oppression, poverty, slave narratives.

Children of color want diversity in themes, genres and treatment. Race can inform a book without being the central theme. We need real, contemporary representation on covers. Children of color read and want fantasy, adventure, sci-fi, graphic novels and pop culture.

No group is monolithic. Part of the problem with misconceptions about POC is the perpetuation of stereotypes in literature. Every child of color is not poor or traumatized. We sorely need more books that represent all classes across race and ethnicity.

Children and YA readers want stories that reflect their experiences and interests. In multicultural lit there is a tendency to push historical and cultural lessons that often appeal more to a gatekeeper: teacher, mentor and librarian than the child. Let's not forget the other real need for fantasy and escapism.

Lastly, speaking to the point OF conspiracy and the absence of color in the industry, has anyone else thought about how from the Liar controversy to this current article how all these conversations are published in dominant spaces and written by non-poc writers? POC writers, parents, educators and librarians are clearly engaged in these debates but the fact that we are not represented in the mainstream spaces initiating these conversations says something about the imbalance of power, access and opportunity to impact change.

Chiming in fairly late in the day here on an issue that seems to have rattled more than a few folks on this blog. As the author of a picture book that features the kind of kids Elizabeth mentions (African American, middle class, and the book is about friendship, not race) I HAVE run across reluctance by the buying public. The book has won awards, been included on school reading lists. Yet, I have had people tell me with a straight face, "My that's a lovely book, but I just can't imagine who I could buy it for." These same people invariably were accompanied by a small white child of precisely the right age. I was left without an answer for these people...or at least not one an author should utter at her own book signing if she ever wants to be invited back by the bookstore.
Depressing.

Hmm. I'm confused about how you seem to be interpreting my point. Inclusion does not mean equivalence to me; separate but equal is not what I'm talking about. The use of Ramona was a convenient symbol, meant to introduce people to the topic of this large discussion (it's no easy task to come up with a lively, descriptive, brief title), and was not meant to be taken as the only example of what I hope to see in children's literature. This is an important conversation, and I trust that we are all speaking from the limitations of our own experiences and with the best intentions.

While there are nearly as many books for children of color as there should be, they are out there if you're willing to look. It's interesting that as our country becomes more brown, books for children of color become more difficult to find! I enjoyed reading this article and your resolve to make the effort! Do check out the HappyNappyBookseller Blog for children's and middle grade books! From there you can also find numerous other blogs to link.

I'm pretty sure that The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County (from the '07 picture book of the same name) could give Ramona a run for the money, if only she'd star in a middle-grade novel!

I'm not a bookseller, just a mom who reads (and blogs).

May I add Habibi by Nye, Shabanu by Staples, Partot in the Oven by Martinez, and Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Fuller Boy by Schmidt?
Looking forward to a list.
bookseller Jane

I agree. I didn't read any of that stuff into the blog. For the record, I've been bending Elizabeth's ear about this for years. I want to see books for my daughters that are based on problems girls like them have that don't have ANYTHING to do with race, poverty or civil rights and slavery.

They want diversity in their adventures not race based angst. They want to laugh. They want to fall in love vicariously. And frankly, what is wrong with a AA Ramona? Is her experience a distinctly white one? If not - then the point is made. Kids are kids - color is just one dimension and not always the most important one in a story. But if the stories are always presented using a white face, and any ethnic characters are just backdrops for the drama with no real role to play - then a more insidious message creeps through.

Diversity means just that - regardless of color. POC are not a homogenous blob. Time publishing caught up with the rest of us in that realization.

Again, I think your heart is in the right place but you're being a bit blind to your own perspective. Many of your observations are presumptive whether you realize it or not. Like that story David Foster Wallace told about the old fish swimming past the two young fish and the old fish says, "How's the water?" and the young fish swim on until finally one says to the other, "What the hell is water?"

Speaking as an author (of color), you've practically taken the words out of my mouth.

Based on comments I've heard, the LIAR thing, things even said about my own books, there are individuals in our industry from the teacher to librarian, to the reviewer, and yes, even the bookseller, who look at books of color with some sort of expectation. They expect them to be a certain way. They want them to BE a certain way. And if they don't fit those expectations, they don't know what to make of it.

It is so frustrating. Because every time I hear it, see it, "feel" it, I go back to what it was like for me when I was a kid. I didn't live during the Qing Dynasty. I didn't fly kites. Nope, I didn't dragon dance for fun. So I ate up books about animals. I could relate to animals more than I could relate to book with Asians in them. Wow. Now that is saying something.

We still have the same problem. It's better than it was before for sure, but it's STILL a problem.

I can only imagine how many kids have given up on books (of color) because they have some expectation of what they're going to get, based upon book after book after book that continues to reflect the same flavor of experiences over and over again. We've made it harder for ourselves for today's kids to pick up a book (of color) because we often make it about color, color, color!

Mary's example was really interesting. The parents of young children today. Parents who are probably just around my age. I think it's possible that a lot of people don't consciously decide to pick a book of color for a child. I don't think it's because they just prefer white books, necessarily. But I do believe there is some sort of perception out there about what books of color are about. Racism. Kite-flying. What-have-you. How could their child possibly relate?

And that's a problem people need to be aware of. We've kinda created all these stereotypes about Black books, Asian books, Latino books. And now we're trying to climb out of it.

Don't get me wrong, we still need the awesome books that are out there about race, history, and cultural heritage, etc. But we've still got a looooonng way to go to creating a more balanced view of the world and changing all those perceptions about what a multicultural book HAS to be about.

Well, you seem to have hit a nerve with this one, Elizabeth. Good for you! Anything that gets a healthy discussion going in this country today is a good thing.

We sell a lot of Walter Dean Myers, Mildred Taylor, Patricia McKissack, Sharon Draper, and Mary Hoffman's Amazing Grace. And has everyone forgotten The Golden Hour and The Hour of the Cobra by Maiya Williams? But we also have had the problem some of these other posters have had -- where we present a potential book to a customer and they look at the cover and say no thanks. Whereas I'm sure their kids wouldn't care one way or the other.

I agree that we need more Young Reader books with multi-ethnic characters. I've had customers request them and books like that are few and far between.

As for picture books, publishers are still producing hundreds of books with animal characters, who can certainly be loved by children of all races, colors and backgrounds.

So where would CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS fit into the discussion? In all of the ones I own, the first one begins as follows:

"Meet George Beard and Harold Hutchins. George is the kid on the left with the tie and the flat-top. Harold is the one on the right with the T-shirt and the bad haircut. Remember that now.


And I have to say that I never do remember which one is George and which one is Harold unless I flip back to the beginning and check. They're two very bad boys who are very good friends. My son started reading independently because of these books.

Elizabeth, thank you for writing this entry. The more people talk about this topic, the sooner things will improve

One thing that bothered me, all the book covers featured are by White authors. This wouldn't be an issue if authors of color got as much exposure as white authors. I think it would be nice that an article about the need for more diversity would feature one book cover by a Black authors.

I always hear there aren't children's and YA books out there featuring people of color but its really not that simple anymore.

These books are out there, I find them on a regular basis to review on my blog. Though I usually have to hunt them down.

Yesterday I added The Smell of Old Lady Perfume by Claudia Guadalupe Martinez to by library queue. The book came out in 08 but didn't hear anything about it last year or this year. I am constantly finding great children's and YA books with people of color that have been out for months, yet have been featured no where.

There are children's and YA books with characters of color, but no one knows about them or how to find them.

If no one knows about the books that are out no one can buy them. If no one buys what is available, publishers are less likely to publish more books featuring characters of color.

Is there there enough diversity in children's literature? Noooo, publishers seem to pigeonhole authors of color limiting the stories that are told.


But, I think along with wondering where are all the books (with various storylines) featuring poc, people should also be asking how can books featuring poc that are out be found. These books are out waiting to be read and loved. Once that happens more books will follow. (hopefully)

I am off to make a list of titles to email to you. Its going to be long because I love making list, so I hope your ready.

Again, thanks for this

Elizabeth, I appreciate your "fat-washed" comment regarding the book "Nobody's Family Is Going to Change." We need lots of books that thoughtfully explore body-size/physical health issues. We need more books that feature characters that, like real people, come in all sizes. And we need more books with "fat" characters that deal with conundrums that have nothing to do with their body size--which is hard for real live people to do because ours is a size-fixated society in which fat prejudice is totally acceptable in the mainstream.

Not to overlook the main point of your article, though. As an author of color, it made me breath a sigh of relief.

Came back to say I love your new picture book, How Do You Wokka Wokka?

I didn't put 2 and 2 together before, I am a little slow at times

We've commented on this issue over on Jacket Knack as well, with an interview with author Nnedi Okorafor: jacketknack.blogspot.com/2009/08/pants-on-fire-more-about-liar-book.html

Elizabeth,

I have been light to medium brown-skinned all my life, the daughter of a Filipina immigrant and a Caucasian Navy father. My stepdad is Cajun. My husband is half Cuban and half Honduran. My 9 year old daughter, who is such a racial blend, is what Hispanic people call "Morena," meaning "brown-skinned." We have a hard time finding books with characters that, in my daughter's words, "look like me." I would love to see publishers open up to creating books that reflect true racial diversity. Lee & Low is a publisher that strives to represent people of "color" - Black, Asian and Hispanic, with a list of quality books that address these populations. President Obama himself is not just Black. He is mixed. Collective voices create change. If we utter loud enough, perhaps the publisher will hear and heed us.

Thank you for addressing such an important issue in your post. As an editor and marketer of multicultural children's books, I know there are some exciting, quality stories featuring contemporary characters of various ethnic backgrounds. Independent publishers like Just Us Books (in business for 22 years), Lee & Low (in business for 18 years), and Marimba Books (a new multicultural imprint) dedicate their ENTIRE publishing lists to children's books that reflect the diversity of our society. For parents, teachers, librarians and book sellers who say multicultural children's books are hard to find, please try these publishers first.

www.justusbooks.com
www.leeandlow.com
www.marimbabooks.com

I thought I'd add an interesting twist to this conversation, where are all the smart black males in literature. One of my best friends in high school was Ryan Bickem O'Neill and he was black and super intelligent, he was in national honor society and graduated valedictorian and I couldn't help but notice that very, very few books featured smart black males. That's why I put up Harry Potter, but I'd also like to add Pendragon and Artemis Fowl. Smart black males are rare in literature, they seem to be an endangered species, because in high school (4 years ago) he complained that the only black males in books were 97% gangster or downtown types when he was an Uptown, middle class black male who got good grades and went to a private Catholic school. Only the Artemis Fowl books (that he loved) measured up to him, plus the smart aleck Dean Thomas, which he nick-named himself came close to who he was. I am a mix blood with 1/4 Japanese blood, 1/6 Native American blood, 1/10 black blood, 1/5 Pacific Islander and the rest European. I'm mostly white so I claim white, but my skin is kaki colored and I have tilted eyes. As I had basically the same conversation 4 years ago with Ryan Bickem O'Neill, there are black books, there are asian books but there are near nil mix blood books. I don't expect there to be books with people of my same mix (that'd be insane) but it'd be nice to have mix blood books that don't deal with the civil rights movement, but are of normal kids doing normal stuff. My dad works on cotracts for NASA, my mom's a community college professor and I graduated from a private high school, went to public college and graduated magna cum laude in political science with a minor in English (although I had enough hours to be an English major and not a minor, grrrr!).

Julianne, Sundee Frazier's charming book, BRENDAN BUCKLEY'S UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING IN IT, is about a biracial ten-year-old boy. Race does figure in thematically, since Brendan wants to find out more about his white grandfather, but it's also just a great middle-grade story about a boy.

My daughter is almost half-Chinese, a little bit British, and the rest German. I am hoping, too, that I will be able to find more books that show her in them. Not her, necessarily of course. But biracial or multiracial kids.

I am currently writing a contemporary chapter book that doesn't focus on race per se, but shows that her parents are not from the same racial background.

And for writers out there, let's put out a call for more books that features kids who are adopted from overseas, too. There's not a lot out there in MG and YA.

I have a suggestion for some great series that star contemporary American kids of color: David Mortimore Baxter is a young, African-American tween with a sense of humor, cool friends, and a typical kid's challenges at school and at home. Claudia Cristina Cortez is a 13-year-old Hispanic-American girl who is "cool, confident, and has a complicated life." And Katie Woo is a 2nd grade Asian-American girl who has her own series of early chapter books. All three series have lots of comedy (and a little romance with Claudia), strong characters, and they deal with real-life issues. These are great choices for reluctant readers, too.

Through the discussion that's been happening because of this post, I came across a terrific resource for booksellers: a blog by Doret Canton (who commented earlier), called "White Readers Meet Black Authors," which describes itself this way: "Your official invitation into the African American section of the bookstore! A sometimes serious, sometimes light-hearted plea for EVERYBODY to give a black writer a try."

It's painful that in the year 2009 we even need to have a blog like this, but wonderful that, since we do need it, it exists. For every bookseller who struggles with a reluctant white customer, take a look here for some great ideas. welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com/2009/01/guest-post-by-happy-nappy-bookseller.html

I enjoyed this article Elizabeth, and I covet the day when the markets will be flooded with books and stories about people of color by people of color. Not just as the writers, but as the publishers and manufacturers of the books.

Diana, I've been hearing from many such publishers, and my compiled list will include an appendix of all included publishers, along with links to their websites.

Great conversation! I am a mom of three readers, and I have to say that the cover really does influence buying...I have been in the library and wanted to get a book for my son, but known he would never try it based on the cover. He likes adventure/fantasy books, so anything that looked quiet or "talky" would not really appeal to him. (That said, he really loves the Warriors and Redwall series' and you might think pictures of cats or mice might seem quiet) But anyway, I have noticed a blossoming of books featuring people of color since my first child was born 14 years ago. I think the selection is a lot better. I would like more intelligent movies featuring poc (and don't tell me about the Disney princess movie, I know, I know!).

I wish I could take credit for great blog White Readers Meet Black Auhtors, but alas I can't. It's actually the blog of author Carleen Brice. Who has two novels out,

Orange Mint & Honey and newly released Children of the Waters. Both are wonderful and Children of the Waters will make you cry. It's about two sisters, one Black one White, who find out about each other later in life.

Since we talking a little more representation of people lives, though its an adult title I think its relevant to tell what Brice's new novel was about.

Plus one should never assume a book is written by an author of color that all the characters will be the same race as the author.

I can only claim one blog- Thehappynappybookseller

Someone mentioned this title earlier, finished Lauren Myracle's upcoming release Luv Ya Bunches. Great read.

Loved the diversity of the characters. It had a natural unforced feel. Four girls - Black, White, Chinese, and Muslim.

Doret, thanks for the correction about Carleen's blog.

I also just wanted to note that I corrected my original post to read "thin-washed" instead of "fat-washed." Makes more sense.

Elizabeth,

From your mouth to God's (and editors) ears.
Well done.

This issue is near and dear to my heart, and its time has more than come.

So far, I've gotten private emails from 34 authors and publishers of color, sharing their own stories of the kinds of stumbling blocks they've come across trying to get books out there. Everything from publishers not sending requested books to awards committees (but saying they had; committee members confirming that they hadn't), to authors being told a publisher already had "a black book" on its list, authors being told that their books would be considered if there was more of a racial "hook" (i.e., slavery, civil rights, the typical narrow range of books we tend to see get published most often), authors being turned down by agents who love their work but think they can't sell it because publishers just aren't buying books by authors of color, and on and on and on. I'm not even doing justice to the many kinds of subtle and not-so-subtle forms of racism people of color have met in their efforts to get the publishing world to reflect the real world. Oh! And I've also heard from white authors and illustrators who have encountered publisher resistance to making their books more diverse. That's so disheartening. Ack.

Publishers, I think there's been a lot of progress. Just not nearly enough. It's the marketing machine that throws us all off course.

We all know that white writers aren't better writers. Sure, a lot of dreck comes across the transom from all sides, but when editors say they are not getting good submissions from authors of color, I just don't buy it.

The irony is that everybody I've ever met in the children's book world embraces inclusiveness, tolerance, and diversity. It's that old bugaboo, money, that starts making people do shifty things. Books with brown faces on the covers *have* had a tougher time in the marketplace. But great books will always transcend a bad cover (look at The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963; when that book came out, it screamed library book! boring! but it reached the audience it so brilliantly deserved) -- and good books, solid wonderful books, will also find a mainstream market if they *are* marketed.

Lisa Yee's hilarious books have been a phenomenal success; I don't think it's a coincidence that she is a marketing genius herself. Ditto Mitali Perkins. But not every terrific writer is a terrific marketer, and it worries me that so often books are left to their own devices when marketing money is spent on, for instance, the kinds of celebrity books that will sell scads of copies and never be read more than once.

Children DO NOT CARE about race in picture books and beyond. Well, that's not exactly accurate; if they notice race, it's uniformly in a good way, either to be interested in people who look different from themselves or, most of all, to find children like themselves in stories. It's adults making assumptions and being narrow and overly aware of race who put the kibosh on buying those books. It's unfair to the children and a disservice to the books.

One of the blog post commenters made a great point: maybe white buyers avoid books about people of color because so often the books that get published ARE *about* race, and so even non-race-oriented friendship and family and school stories get dimissed out of hand.

It would be so easy to overcome the bias in the marketplace. If we build it, they will come. When the world in children's books reflects the world we live in, this conversation will be a thing of the past, and I can't wait for that day. But we're the ones who have to make it happen.

Thanks, E,

For lending your voice to this issue. You eloquence is greatly appreciated from those of us who have been in those trenches.

I know that pubs have to make $, and I agree that we all have to promote and support these books. Most of us do. But come on, let's take some high level marketing muscle from celeb books and use it where the result will change lives.

Carol Chittenden's description of customer face falling when presented with a book with black face on cover, is an accurate description of racism in 21st century, I am afraid.

As an added aside, the mystery genre for kids is even more totally white (or animal). In mysteries for adults there are all sorts of diversity combinations but almost no black, Hispanic, or native American child detectives (amateur or otherwise).

Thanks for initiating this discussion, Elizabeth. As a sales rep in New England, I think you would be surprised at how many buyers will NOT buy a kids book with a child of color on the cover. I think this disappointing fact needs to be addressed as well.

Yes, all of us buyers and gatekeepers are responsible, too. If publishers publish the books, we have got to buy them and handsell them. The two definitely go hand in hand. For buyers and booksellers confronting white disinterest: I've found the best thing to do with a reluctant customer is just read a tantalizing little snippet of the book. That way, the story speaks for itself--always the strongest appeal. Not that I'm perfect, by any stretch; sometimes you just know that that grandma is dead set against the book you're showing her, so you give up. Forcing books on people isn't the way to educate or inspire them. The trick is not to forget that people's attitudes change; maybe that grandma will soften over time with more exposure, so it's almost always worth it to keep trying. We just need to be aware and not get lazy ourselves.

I'm using a pen name here. My book illustrated by a well known and awarded African-American writer/illustrator has 2 black girls prominently displayed on its cover and white girl in the background.

Two weeks ago, I sold books as a vendor at the local V.A. hospital. When people paused at my table, I immediately told them what my book was about. This resulted in a decent amount of sales (actually quite a few more than I expected to make on a non-V.A payday. I'm returning there to vend ASAP.)

My biggest customer? A white, grandfatherly looking V.A. employee who not only bought books for his grandkids but called a patient on his cell phone and asked if the patient wanted books for >his< grandkids. The patient did. So the grandfatherly man bought a couple of copies to deliver to him.

Granddad returned twice more that day to buy copies of my book. Plus other people arrived to buy them because he'd sent them to my table. People who weren’t referred by Granddad bought my books that day as well including a white female vet in a wheelchair.

White people, brown people, green people. People buy books with black people on the cover if they think they--or the person they're buying them for--will enjoy them. That is, people buy such books if they get an opportunity to know they exist.

If it weren’t for the realities of my daily life, I’d be out everyday hocking my book the way I did at the V.A. But this is not feasible for me at this time in my life.

As you so aptly pointed out, Elizabeth, situations like mine, in which an author does not have inexhaustible amounts of time and energy to invest in book promotion (situations which are more the norm than not), are ones for which publishers’ promotion departments—and other major players in the industry--can improve the odds of books by non-celebrity black authors getting noticed and sold.

The other aspect of effective book promotion that I forgot to mention, and that most authors are not able to provide on a sustained basis, if at all, is a deep-pocket financial commitment to cover everything from printing to travel costs.

Also, the white Granddad who bought several of my books (a middle grade novel, by the way) did so for his grandSONS. He thereby refuted an often-stated assumption related to gender, not race: boys won't read books about girls (or adults won't buy books featuring girls for boys).

I have a 12 year-old son who'll read any book that he enjoys (and even some books he doesn't enjoy)--regardless of the race, gender, or whatever of its characters. He’s just as comfortable reading “The Dangerous Book for Boys” that I bought him as he is “The Daring Book for Girls” that I bought his sisters. And he doesn’t hide the cover of the latter when he reads it. It never occurs to him to not read a book because “it’s for girls” or to read a book because “it’s for boys.”

I think my son’s and his sister’s reading habits (which are just as equal-opportunity as his) stem from the fact that from birth on they were exposed to all kinds of books--not just so-called "boys" or “girls” books.

As with getting books by authors of all ethnicities noticed on the market, getting kids to read a wide variety of books is all about exposure.

I don't want this subject to die down.
When I started reading to my daughter , I couldn't find any books with little girls that look like her.
So I decided to write my own books. Children of color living everyday lives.
My stories will be out soon. I hope they inspire children to read. All children.

"Marketing genius?" Ha! Despite my best efforts, my books have never been picked up by the chains. Thanks to state lists, librarians, bloggers, regional indies, and author visits, I manage to earn out my advances.

Most of them, that is.

I've wondered if the beautiful brown face on my First Daughter covers worked against good reviews and timeliness to hinder pre-pub orders -- which took place way BEFORE a presidential race between two candidates with brown daughters.

Oh, well. On to the next book. Thanks, E, for this.

Another cover outrage is The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez. In the Disney catalog the color of the model for the cover was very white. The girl in the novel is supposed to be a first generation Mexican-American. As a Mexican-American myself who grew up in Texas, I can't remember any of my friends, family, schoolmates ever looking so Anglo and white. Of course it doesn't mean there aren't people of Mexican descent that look this way, but it's not typical. I find this an especially sad situation since the publisher is Jump at the Sun, an imprint supposedly open to embracing the diverse experience.

Elizabeth, Great topic! Right off I thought of Ann M. Martin's Main Street Series where one of the 4 best friends is African American. 4 out of 7 of the covers show the 4 girls. Appleville Elementary 's Fire Alarm has an African American fireman on the cover. In the SISTERS 8 series, the girls are of color. Andrew Clements' EXTRA CREDIT has a boy from Afghanistan on the cover. TWO OF A KIND by Jacui Robbins illustrated by Matt Phelan seems to have a lot of multiracial friends. The wonderful new TESS'S TREE has multiracial characters. Just a start. I'll be thinking of that as I open new boxes! This reminds me of something Patty Gauch did years ago. I always thought that it was amazing to see a child with Downs Syndrome as the main character of a "regular story" and have Floyd Cooper's amazing portrait as the cover art in Fleming's BE GOOD TO EDDIE LEE. I always thought that Patty was an incredible editor and person, but that cover pumped those feeling up even more!

Those emails you've gotten from authors of color, and white authors, about their experiences with discrimination and being published - we really need to hear those voices! Is there a chance that Publishers Weekly could do something like this? It's tricky as many authors are afraid to publicly speak, and be perceived as biting the hand that feeds them. But maybe there could be something anonymous, or an invitation to established authors who have less to lose to talk about their experiences. We need this to be public, to be open, and for those from inside and outside of the industry to discuss and reflect on what is happening. I'd appreciate any comments on the essay I wrote in white privilege in children's publishing. which Zetta Elliott already mentioned. The more voices speaking out on this topic, the better!

Laura, I totally agree. Will ponder and talk with PW. It's far too easy to sweep this discussion under a rug, and there needs to be a way to keep it going. I'm looking forward to reading your article. In the meantime, I'm continuing to compile and organize the wonderful list of titles that keep coming in (and more from my bookstore that haven't been mentioned yet but that I come across in my daily bookselling life, hooray). I'm thinking of making the list a wiki that people can add to. Any thoughts on that idea are welcome! If people want to keep the discussion going, please feel free to Twitter or FB or share the link to this article with your circle of friends.

Elizabeth, thank you for putting words to the feelings of so many of us. I wanted to share a gem I stumbled upon last summer -- Matthew and Tilly by Rebecca C. Jones and illustrated by Beth Peck. Copyrighted in 1991, this is a picture book about the friendship between a boy and girl. They play together, interact with the folks in their city neighborhood, and have the usual between-friends squabbles. Children will easily see themselves in the activities of these two buddies. My favorite part of this little treasure? The children are two different races -- and it is NEVER mentioned!

I just read Laura Atkins' fabulous blog post about white privilege and assumptions in children's book publishing (thanks, Zetta, for pointing the way to this article). It's really much more than a blog post; she delivered this paper at the IRSCL (International Research Society for Children's Literature) congress held in Frankfurt. I'd encourage everyone to read it. She speaks from her experiences as a white editor, and articulates so beautifully the challenges of changing a structure that's deeply ingrained and shaped largely by marketing forces that operate from within white privilege and use a "lowest common denominator" approach in their presumption of how books might be received by librarians and teachers and booksellers. (Laura says all this much more clearly in her article.)

Hallelujah for your post and for continuing this important conversation.
Thanks also for the call out for books that feature MC characters
in a contemporary setting. Looking forward to reviewing your list!

Thanks, Elizabeth, for reading the essay and your positive words. I'm just more and more convinced that people need to speak loud and long on this issue. And in some ways, especially the white people who are and have been involved in publishing and children's books, acknowledging that things are not working with the status quo. As with your anonymous emails, I've had several people write to me to share their stories who don't feel they can do so openly. How can things change in a culture or fear where people don't feel they can openly discuss this issue? I'd be happy to help in any way with a PW article or series on this topic. You can reach me at Laura(at)lauraatkins.com. Thanks again for your passion and voice on this!

Folks, the book list is coming along beautifully, and I just wanted to invite more submissions of recent books featuring any and all children of color (not just African American). The blog post started out with one theme to make the point, but genuine inclusiveness is the whole goal here. Thank you for continuing to email your stories and ideas and book titles--it's really been an amazing to receive this outpouring of passion and commitment. Thank you!

I heard an interview on Fresh Air last week with Robert Siegel, the director of Big Fan. He talked about the importance of casting. He felt that the studio approach — of which he was critical — was not to find the right actor for the part, but to find the most bankable star who wouldn’t be totally crushingly wrong for the part. I think that’s part of the dynamic here. Publishers, authors, illustrators, on some level look for the character that will be most easily identified with by the largest possible swath of the book-buying public, who won’t be totally wrong for the book. Of course, there are some books in which the subject demands a Jewish protagonist, or an African-American protagonist, or Latino, and so on — books that deal with experiences unique to those peoples. So books with Jewish characters skew toward the Holocaust, and books with blacks skew toward slavery and civil rights, and so on. I’m not defending this, or saying that racism, subtle and otherwise, isn’t alive and well and the main cause of this. But there are other subtle dynamics that contribute to these trends, too, that are worth considering.

There's a fascinating, important Newsweek article on young children's perception of race, in which researchers find that it is much better for parents and educators to talk openly and directly about race than to assume that children are colorblind: www.newsweek.com/id/214989/page/1. I would add that a terrific tool to help this discussion along is Julius Lester's Let's Talk About Race (paperback, 978-0064462266).

OK,(Let's see if I can put my foot in my mouth) Here is another topic for book lovers concerning race: While we are bemoaning the lack of children's fiction which includes minorities, I know a number of white writers who feel uncomfortable or have been clearly discouraged about creating minority characters. Now, I would be thrilled if more writers of color were encouraged and supported in this predominantly white field, and wouldn't be surprised if there are subtleties of culture that white writers might get wrong. But writing fiction involves using our imagination, and, somehow, it has become politically incorrect for white writers to presume that they understand a life of color. As a female writer, I create male characters of various ages, but if I have the audacity to create a character with a different skin tone, and particularly write from their point of view,I'm considered presumptuous. I think there are a lot of stories that have not been published because their author's skin did not match the color of their characters, which, in my opinion, is pretty ridiculous and adds to the dearth of diversity in our literature.