Comments on: Librarians Sound Off: Not a Lack of Latino Lit for Kids, but a Lack of Awareness

By: Graciela Tiscareño-Sato

Graciela Tiscareño-Sato — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 20:38:29 +0000

Here’s another perspective. Some of us aren’t waiting around for risk-averse mainstream publishers to decide that our literature matters; we’re entrepreneurs and we’re creating our own independent publishing and marketing firms, and launching best selling books into global markets just like the big boys. One of our biggest challenges can be summed up in this email I received this morning from a major library system. “Materials of this nature will be considered for branch collections of The New York Public Library only if accompanied by a review from a standard reviewing medium. These include The New York Times (or other major newspapers which regularly review books), Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist and Choice. Reviews published in other well-established periodicals, academic journals and genre magazines are also acceptable.” If getting reviewed by these guys is a requirement for entry into major library systems, then no wonder the perception remains that our literature doesn’t exist! These established reviewing agencies of nearly exclusively white men and women have been making news for years because the authors they review have been found to be 90% white. We certainly have tried. We submitted our first two books to ALL those agencies but received zero reviews. Maybe it’s the word Latino in the title of the first book, the author’s obviously Latino last name or the presence of English and Spanish on the cover of our first bilingual children’s book that scares them? Who knows. I do know that someday when the nation is fully 1/3 Latino, I’ll be laughing that we once had this conversation….for now we press on and create our own way into libraries, schools and homes. It’s the creative, bootstrapping kind of approach that has always worked when others said it couldn’t be done. :-)

Graciela Tiscareño-Sato
Chief Creative Officer and Publisher, Gracefully Global Group LLC
Publisher of “Good Night Captain Mama / Buenas Noches Capitán Mamá”
ISBN: 9780983476030
and
“Latinnovating: Green American Jobs and the Latinos Creating Them”
ISBN: 9780983476009

By: Lack of Awareness of Culture | Allison's Book Bag

Lack of Awareness of Culture | Allison's Book Bag — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 19:58:43 +0000

[...] for Latino literature, in an article published by the School Library Journal, librarians spoke up not about a lack of books but about a lack of awareness of this culture. One [...]

By: Kamala Platt

Kamala Platt — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 16:45:39 +0000

I sent the following to the NYTs after the article ran, but it was not published…
RE: “For Young Latino Readers, an Image Is Missing” by Motoko Rich, December 4 2012 (Education section…)
On 12/5/12 2:41 PM, Kamala Platt wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/education/young-latino-students-dont-see-themselves-in-books.html?hp&_r=0

“For Young Latino Readers, an Image Is Missing” compels me to write: I concur with its premise–students benefit from finding themselves in books. I agree that schools need more Latina/o books. Yet, I find sad irony in the images missing from the article itself: those of Latina/o books and authors, and their publishers. In the Comments, Bobby Byrd notes that Rich fails to mention Independent Publishers like his Cinco Puntos Press. For starters, Rich misses Arte Público’s Piñata Books, Wings Press books like San Antonio poet laureate Carmen Tafolla’s award-winning biography of Emma Tenayuca, books from Pat Mora (her website lists over 30 children’s books, many bilingual) and Francisco Alarcon (two of his among 50 bilingual children’s books on a 2011 CCBC* list.) Latina/o children’s books are flourishing despite lack of recognition on many fronts and having been explicitly excluded from classrooms by Arizona HB2281 & subsequent Tucson rulings.

By: In the news: Sáenz, Díaz win Pura Belpré Awards | The Hispanic Reader

In the news: Sáenz, Díaz win Pura Belpré Awards | The Hispanic Reader — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 01:59:41 +0000

[...] In this School Library Journal story, librarians reacted to a recent New York Times article about the lack of Latino literature in [...]

By: SundayMorningReads | Crazy QuiltEdi

SundayMorningReads | Crazy QuiltEdi — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:14:07 +0000

[...] School Library Journal recently published “Not a Lack of Latino Lit for Kids, but a Lack of Awareness”. [...]

By: Dana Goldberg

Dana Goldberg — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 23:09:43 +0000

I appreciate any press that draws attention to this issue, but the fact that you only call out Latin American publishers is really disappointing. No mention of Children’s Book Press, Lee and Low, Groundwood Books, Arte Publico Press, Piñata Books? Hard to believe! There are publishers stateside that are putting out really fabulous Latino books, they deserve some name-checking!

By: B. A. Binns

B. A. Binns — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:37:21 +0000

Raising awareness about what exists is a huge problem, it’s the whole discovery aspect. I know when I go to talk about multicultural books at education and library conferences, people in the audience are always amazed by the wealth that already exists. Finding quality books and materials is the big problem, because sometimes it is a needle in the haystack activity.

By: Raising Awareness on Latino lit for kids! « Creative Action Artist

Raising Awareness on Latino lit for kids! « Creative Action Artist — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:48:54 +0000

[...] Raising Awareness on Latino lit for kids! [...]

By: Shelley Diaz

Shelley Diaz — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:16:37 +0000

Hi Jennie,
Thanks so much for reading and commenting. The CCBC study is mentioned in the 4th paragraph under the Expanding the Market heading. Yes, it’s alarming that Latino titles being published have declined in 2012, and it is our hope that the more people are aware of the books that already exist, the more publishers; authors; editors; will be convinced that this is a viable market.

By: Julie Esanu

Julie Esanu — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:34:47 +0000

Each student is shaped by personal experiences and culture and that we can explore different cultures through the integration of resources into the classroom curriculum and library program. It is critically important that students see themselves reflected in the library collection and programming and in the books that they read in their classroom and for pleasure. By doing so, we build students’ self-esteem and cultivate empathy, respect, and cultural and global awareness. As such, our school initiated the MOSAIC project—a school-wide reading program that uses globally diverse literature to teach targeted reading strategies. Each month the entire school reads a single text portraying a different country or region and uses it to explore culture and delve into a reading strategy appropriate for the grade level. Through the MOSAIC project, we’ve been able to open the doors to new worlds to all our students. For more information on the project, see http://www.apsva.us/Page/6203.

By: Jennie

Jennie — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 04:26:37 +0000

There is a lack of awareness of literature , but this entry does not mention the Cooperative Children’s Book Center data (Children’s Books by and about People of Color Published in the United States http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/pcstats.asp) which was referenced in the New York Times article. Yes, people are writing and there are more titles about Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans — but looking at the data from CCBC indicate that these percentages are very low. Does CCBC provide a list of titles used int their report ? In another entity collecting this data or are these observations that books are published.

By: Jennie Quinonez

Jennie Quinonez — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 04:20:31 +0000

There is a lack of awareness of literature , but this entry does not mention the Wisconsin study (Children’s Books by and about People of Color Published in the United States http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/pcstats.asp) which was referenced in the New York Times article. “in 1994 we began keeping statistics for the numbers of books “by and about” American Indians, Asian/Pacifics and Asian/Pacific Americans, and Latinos” Yes, people are writing and there are more titles but looking at the data from CCBC the percentages are very low.

By: Don Bos

Don Bos — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:52:17 +0000

Another great award to follow is the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award out of Texas State University’s College of Education. The 2012 winners were ‘Sylvia and Aki’ by Winifred Conklin and ‘Diego Rivera: His World and Ours’ which was both written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh.

By: Librarians Sound Off: Not a Lack of Latino Lit for Kids, but a Lack of Awareness | Loida Garcia-Febo

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:23:45 +0000

[...] -Sharing an article published by School Library Journal- [...]

By: Mary Donley

Mary Donley — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:04:06 +0000

Good article but not enough emphasis on English language bicultural books, such as
Bless Me, Ultima and adult books such as Amigoland (Oscar Casares).

By: Jeanette Larson

Jeanette Larson — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:51:44 +0000

Interesting article. It is so difficult to get most children’s books in front of any kind of audience. So little money and effort is spent publicizing them. As bad as it is for most children’s literature, it is harder by multiples for Latino books. The awards help but unfortunately are often still considered to be “special interest” by bookstores and libraries. Naidoo’s ah-ha moment holds for almost every reader–they want to see themselves in books. A 43-year-old student in my children’s lit class at UT-Austin finally made a connection to reading when he read a book about a kid with ADHD…Joey Pigza was just like him. Librarians try to connect kids with books they will relate to, but first we have to have access to the kids. And we have to have the books that will be meaningful to them. The struggle continues.

By: Amy Cheney

Amy Cheney — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:21:02 +0000

Yay!

Great article!

For those that are interested, we are forming a book committee that will look for more “gritty” reads for latino readers, books like It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way by Luis Rodriguez, The Secret of Sonia Sanchez by Sitomar, Next Stop by Ivan Sanchez, Detoured by delaCruz.

In the Margins Committee
What is it? A group of Librarians under the umbrella of Library Services for Youth in Custody seeking out and highlighting books: preschool through adult fiction and non-fiction titles of high-interest appeal to boys or girls, ages 9-18 who may fit into one or all of the following categories:

multicultural (primarily African American and Latino)
from a street culture
in restrictive custody
reluctant readers
What does it do? The committee will select and review the best books of the year, specifically for the population listed above. Titles of interest may be unusual, possibly unreviewed, have multicultural characters, dealing with difficult situations including (but not limited to) street life, marginalized populations, crime, justice, war, violence, abuse, addiction, etc.

Blog featuring highlighted titles: YA Underground, a School Library Journal (SLJ) column will run reviews every other month or so through-out the year. Please see: http://www.slj.com/2013/01/books-media/collection-development/ya-underground-books-for-teens-you-might-have-missed/ for an example.

The final list will be decided upon by this committee and also run in SLJ. Books will be put on the Library Services for Youth in Custody website.

Committee membership and requirements:
research and nominate titles that are self, independently and small press published,
research and nominate titles of interest from all publishers
provide written review of books, and read for special content for detention facilities
read all nominated titles
work with or do outreach to teens in custody and/or from street culture.
get feedback from at least 3-10 teens on each title
actively participate in email discussions
meet 4-6 times a year via video conferencing and/or in person

For more information, contact Amy Cheney at ajcheney@mac.com