Banned Book Week 2014 Quote Pull

Ahhh sweet, sweet debate.  In honor of acknowledging and evaluating multiple perspectives, here are some different points of view on Banned Books Week, an American Library Association campaign intended to draw attention to the challenging or banning of books deemed inappropriate/offensive.  (If you have time, go ahead and click the links so that you can read the quotes in context.)  Do you agree with Banned Books Week?  If not, what might be a better alternative?

"Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community -- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types -- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular." [American Library Association]

"At the same time the [American Library Association] is propagandizing about banned books, it itself is banning anything that does not promote its agenda." [Safe Libraries]

"Myth: Censorship is usually identified with conservative political or religious groups.  Reality: Examples include the Harry Potter series -- the principal reason, wizardry -- and Tango Makes Three -- the reason, supposed homosexuality of penguins. However, groups not usually identified as conservative also censor. A few years ago, the NAACP unsuccessfully sought to have the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary redefine the 'N' word and limit it to its offensive connotation. (The publisher refused to limit the definition since over time it has had many different meanings).  Concern has also been expressed regarding the depiction of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Some Jewish organizations have challenged its inclusion in the Language Arts curriculum in high schools." [Banned Books Week]

"If library patrons ask for a book to be moved or removed from the children’s section, it’s 'censorship.' If librarians make sure a book never gets there in the first place through a deliberately rigged collection process, it’s 'selection.' Double standards prevail, making librarians look like hypocrites.  It’s a pity that a profession that so upholds intellectual freedom can’t come up with better strategies and arguments than to whine about 'censorship' while effectively doing the very thing they complain about." [The Annoyed Librarian]

"Since there is never anything too stupid if it allows certain government officials to get before a camera or send out a press release claiming they're 'protecting children' from the horrors of the world, you end up with school boards and administrators that give in to pressure. And since no one wants to be against protecting children, that leads to the other set of government officials: those too chicken sh** to speak up and oppose something they know is wrong." [Daily Kos]

"Self-righteous, dissembling librarians are seeking once again to foment 'book-banning' hysteria through their annual dishonest Banned Books Week campaign (Sept. 21-27) sponsored by the self-righteous, dissembling, and politically partisan American Library Association (ALA).  The ALA pursues its hysteria-fomenting goal chiefly by ridiculing parents who, for example, don’t want their six-year-olds seeing books about children or anthropomorphized animals being raised by parents in homoerotic relationships. (Scorn and woe to those parents who hold the now-censored belief that homoeroticism -- even homoeroticism presented in whitewashed, water-colored images -- doesn’t belong in the picture books section of public libraries.)" [Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute]

"[Higgins’] point here is that libraries -- even children’s sections -- aren’t, can’t, and really shouldn’t be ideologically neutral grounds. This is what Higgins would have you believe is her modest, 'common sense' goal; but again, the absence of LGBTQ-affirming books would be, in itself, an ideological choice at this point. No, libraries cannot be neutral, but we should strive to be sure that they are as capacious as possible. I’d argue that there are enough shelves stuffed with the kind of pages Higgins likes already -- we could probably stand to have a few more dedicated to queer-friendly spines going forward." [J. Bryan Lowder, Slate]

Via SFCLibrary

KidLit in Puerto Rico: Part One

Well, I’m back from my trip to Puerto Rico, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to visit such a culturally rich and beautiful place.  After spending some time in Vieques, I was able to travel to El Yunque Forest – the only tropical rain forest in the US National Forest System – and Old San Juan.

El Yunque was breathtaking and unlike anything I’d ever seen before…

View from the Mt. Britton tower 

Los Picachos 

World's cutest tiny waterfall

But I’m a sucker for cities and LOVED San Juan.  Wandering through the Museo de las Américas, peering into the grand old churches, and sipping coffee were especially enjoyable.  (The coconut latte at Don Ruiz = very yes.)

Calle San José 

El Morro fortress 

Catedral San Juan Bautista 

La Virgen de Monserrate @ El Museo de las Américas

And because I’m me, of course I kept my eyes open for children’s literature and other types of multicultural educational texts along the way.  I was extremely curious about what I’d find, since I’m familiar with plenty of Puerto-Rican-American kidlit (such as works by Judith Ortiz Cofer, Carmen Bernier-Grand, Esmeralda Santiago, and Lulu Delacre), but, aside from the civic action comics I found in Vieques, I’ve never encountered any children’s books from Puerto Rico.

Fortunately, I wasn’t disappointed.  While the books I found certainly aren’t representative of all Puerto Rican children’s literature, I stumbled upon some very interesting titles in museum shops and independent bookstores. 

First up are two textbooks that I encountered in several stores.  Arrancando Mitos de Raíz (Uprooting Myths of Race) is an instructional text for teachers that focuses on dispelling racial myths and stereotypes about Puerto Rican people of African descent. 

Alongside this work was a textbook for students about Puerto Rico's African heritage called La Herencia Africana.

I loved seeing these books, since evidence of African cultural practices is very strong on the island, and so many Puerto Rican people have African ancestry.  Also, sadly, people of color face a lot of discrimination in PR, just as they do in the rest of the United States and other parts of the world.  However, I'm left wondering how popular these textbooks are in Puerto Rican schools and teacher preparation programs.  How widespread are anti-racist educational programs on the island?

Next, we have some poetry.  La Rosa Va Caminando (The Rose Goes Walking) is a collection of poems written by a young girl, Elsa Tió, between the ages of five and nine.  Still an active writer today, Elsa was a literary prodigy who crafted poems about subjects like nature, family, and love, and Sofía Sáez Matos has sumptuously illustrated Tió's verses with painted collages reminiscent of Eric Carle's work.

At Librería La Tertulia, a small store packed with some wonderful books in both Spanish and English, I came across another compilation of poetry for children -- Poemas con Sol y Son (Poems with Sun and Sound).  

This volume features poems from all over Latin America, and Puerto Rico is represented by six poets.  My personal favorite is by José Antonio Dávila:

La luna más que redonda

hoy está llena.

Tiene la cara hinchada

como el que tiene

dolor de muelas.

(The moon is more than round -- 

tonight it's full.

It has a swollen face

like someone who has

a toothache.)

:D

Well, I think I'm going to make this post a two-parter, so STAY TUNED for more Puerto Rican children's literature -- next time, I'll focus on non-fiction.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the new school year!  (And if you're not a teacher, parent, or student... Happy Mid-August!)

The World Cup: Enjoying the Good, Confronting the Bad

I love the World Cup.  No, I don't think you understand.  I LOVE IT.

From June 12th to July 13th, I'll be watching as many games as possible while still trying to function in other areas of my life.  There's a lot to love about this tournament: the soccer itself, the sportsmanship, and the way it brings the world together in celebration.

One of my favorite positive moments was when, in 2006, the Iranian team presented Oswaldo Sanchez, the Mexican goalie, with flowers before their match because his father had suddenly passed away a few days before.  I cried a little.

Then there was the time when the Ivorian national team helped negotiate a ceasefire during their country's civil war when they qualified for the tournament.  And that's not the first time soccer has helped ease political conflicts.

2006 Ivorian (Côte D'Ivoire) national football team

However, beneath all the World Cup's fanfare lurk some disturbing problems.

At the forefront is the issue of racism in soccer at local, national, and international levels.  Sadly, players of color are often racially harassed by fans, other teams, and even their own teammates.  One especially notorious type of harassment involves fans making monkey noises at black players and throwing bananas on the field.  Yes, that kind of thing still happens.

Fortunately, many players have taken a stand against racism by chastising fans or joining anti-racism organizations.  FIFA (the governing body of international soccer) also has its own anti-racism rules.

Dani Alves eating a banana thrown onto the field --

in your face, racist fan.

Unfortunately, though, these measures don't always stop racist actions.  Brazil, this Cup's host country, has its own "We Are Equal" campaign, but this message of tolerance and diversity has not made a dent in the problem.

And that's just one challenge.  Additionally, there's a lot of corruption in Brazil related to the World Cup -- squandering funds, anti-protest laws, military occupation of the favelas (slums), sex tourism.  Really rough stuff.

So what does this have to do with kids and education?

In The Land of Teaching, it's a well known fact that incorporating students' personal interests into the curriculum can help them become more engaged in learning.  Do you have any students who love soccer?  Then appealing to that interest and helping them develop critical thinking skills by examining these soccer-related problems might result in their finding a social justice cause that really appeals to them.

For example, younger kids could discuss racism in soccer, since that's a concept they can wrap their heads around -- disliking and harassing people because of their skin color and/or ethnicity is wrong.  Then they could come up with ways to address the problem, like starting their own anti-racism club at school or camp, or writing letters of support to players who have taken a stand against racism.

Meanwhile, high schoolers could also focus on racism or, if they're up for it, tackle some of the other challenges Brazil has been facing while preparing for this World Cup.  I wonder what kinds of great ideas they might come up with.

Long story short:

Enjoy the World Cup, but take the time to learn about the darker side of soccer that The Powers That Be so often try to cover up.  Confront problems.  If possible, support kids in doing the same.  Only then can we truly celebrate.

Getting Critical with Advertising

Recently, a McDonald's commercial about their coffee started popping up at the beginning of videos on a YouTube channel I'm subscribed to.  At first, I ignored the content of the ad as I impatiently waited for it to finish and the real videos to begin, but eventually, I started paying attention.  What I saw definitely bothered me.

The description of the video says that the ad is "shedding light on the process" of coffee growing and harvesting that leads to each individual cup of McDonald's coffee.  While I didn't really learn much about the process from watching, the ad definitely shed light on something.  Take a look:

Now watch it again with this question in mind: Whose faces do I see in this commercial?

The truth is, we don't see anyone's faces until we're shown the (probably rich) dude tasting the coffee at the end.  But all of the (probably not so rich) workers who grow, harvest, and prepare the coffee beans remain faceless.

We need to ask ourselves why that is.  Does McDonald's want us to think that the people who make our coffee aren't important?  On a broader note, does this commercial reflect our desire -- as affluent, privileged people -- to ignore people living in poverty?

People who work on coffee farms do, in fact, have faces.

If you're a teacher or parent, watching and analyzing this ad with your kids can be a great critical literacy exercise.  As I've mentioned before, critical literacy is more than just reading.  We can turn our critical eyes on anything we consume visually and mentally: television, movies, books, posters, paintings, graffiti, etc.

Companies are constantly barraging us with advertising in our society, and kids need to become critical consumers so they don't fall for every marketing ploy they encounter.  Therefore, it's incredibly important for us to teach our children how to question what they see and hear in the media.

So have you seen this commercial?  How could you work critical analysis of advertising into your lesson plans?  How could you take action to address the problematic elements of commercials?  Let me know what you think!

Related Posts:

Critical Literacy Isn't Just about Books

Farmworker Awareness

Cultural Studies Classes in Texas!

Breaking news from THE MOST IMPORTANT STATE IN THE HISTORY OF STATES

After witnessing the tragic fate of Mexican-American Studies in Arizona, I was relieved and thrilled this week when the Texas State Board of Education voted to spur the growth of ethnic/cultural studies classes statewide.  While they did not vote to mandate, create, and implement ethnic studies courses, the board members did call for publishers to submit learning materials to Texas school districts, and the districts can then implement them locally.

It's not perfect, but it's a huge step forward -- and it's wonderful that districts now have the explicit support of the Board of Education.  Hopefully, students will now have better access to courses on Mexican-American, African-American, Native American, and Asian-American Studies as electives.

As I've mentioned before, my youthful experiences with history focused pretty much -- with token exceptions -- on white European-American people and events, and, as you know, this trend continues today all over the country.  These courses will ideally allow any kid, regardless of ethnic background, the opportunity to learn about how people from different ethnicities and cultures contributed to our nation's history.  Because Mexican-American, African-American, Native American, and Asian-American history IS EVERYBODY'S HISTORY.

Unfortunately, some folks are upset about these developments, but I cling to the belief that time and constructive dialog will help ease the tensions.   

All in all, I'm excited to see what kinds of textbooks and materials the publishing companies submit to the Board of Education -- hoping for some great stuff!

Related Posts:

How Should We Remember the Alamo?

Lies My (Texas History) Teacher Told Me

Farmworker Awareness Books

It's Farmworker Awareness Week, a time when we can learn more about the ways we get our food and reflect on the injustices that migrant farmworkers face in the United States.  Of course, we should be thinking about these issues all year long, but this week a good time to start.  The people who help grow and harvest our crops have very difficult jobs, but they are practically invisible to most of us.  That invisibility needs to change.

Harvesting in NC

I went to college in North Carolina, and my parents moved there in 2007, so it's become my second home state.  It also has one of the highest migrant farmworker populations in the US.  On their website, the North Carolina Farmworkers Project / Proyecto de Trabajadores Agrícolas de Carolina del Norte provides lots of information about the inequities that farmworkers endure, such as:

• Extremely low pay for extremely hard work
• Lack of wage protection and employment benefits
• Substandard and overcrowded housing
• High rates of illness due to pesticide exposure, heat stress, skin disease, and other work-related problems
• Limited access to health care

Tobacco workers marching in Winston-Salem, NC

So what can we do?  One idea is seeking out a farmworker advocacy group near you and donating or volunteering.  Also, we can help children learn about these issues through literature.

Here are some picture books that address the inequities that migrant workers have faced in the past and still face today:

La Mariposa (Francisco Jiménez & Simón Silva, 2000)

Tomás and the Library Lady (Pat Mora & Raúl Colón, 2000)

Calling the Doves / El Canto de las Palomas (Juan Felipe Herrera & Elly Simmons, 2001)

Gathering the Sun (Alma Flor Ada & Simón Silva, 2001)

César: ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! (Carmen T. Bernier-Grand & David Díaz, 2004)

That’s Not Fair! / ¡No Es Justo!: Emma Tenayuca’s Struggle for Justice / La Lucha de Emma Tenayuca por la Justicia (Carmen Tafolla, Sharyll Teneyuca, & Terry Ybáñez, 2008)

Side by Side / Lado a Lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and César Chávez / La Historia de Dolores Huerta y César Chávez (Monica Brown & Joe Cepeda, 2010)

More resources from Colorín Colorado

As always, when we read these books with kids, we must remember to look at them with a critical eye and help young readers do so as well.  Reading about and discussing farmworkers' lives is a great first step to joining the struggle for migrant workers' rights.

Celebrating Cuentos: Lessons from the National Latino Children's Literature Conference

Well, I'm back from the National Latin@ Children's Literature Conference at the University of Alabama, and HOLY COW IT WAS GREAT.  I was dazzled by the campus, the Gorgas Library (where the conference was held), and -- most of all -- the connections I made with talented, gracious authors, illustrators, librarians, publishers, teachers, and scholars.

Not bad.

Really not bad.

Unfortunately, I had to miss the first day of the conference, but I was there alllll daaaay yesterday, and I have plenty to share!  In this post, though, I'm going to stick to the highlights, and I'll discuss other issues in more detail later.  Get ready for a bulleted list:

• During her keynote address, author Margarita Engle introduced her new book, Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal, and talked about her difficulties getting her works translated into Spanish (although they've been published in Korean and Japanese -- go figure).  Can you imagine being a bilingual/bicultural author wanting to share stories of Cuba and the Caribbean and having a publisher limit you to one language?  Margarita described her two languages and cultures as two wings that bring her balance and allow her to fly, so only being allowed to express herself in one language must be so stifling.

• Lila Quintero Weaver discussed Darkroom (go read it now!) and described growing up as a child of Argentinian immigrants in Alabama when the Latin@ population was "the minute minority."  Hearing her story of losing Spanish made me ache, but I appreciated her humor.  ("I barely speak English now," she admitted.  "I speak Southern.")  I also treasure her book because it provides us with a different perspective about the Civil Rights Movement.  Over the years, we've heard stories from African Americans, whites, Southerners, Northerners, Civil Rights leaders, segregationists, and ordinary Americans; but I've never encountered the perspective of a young immigrant girl, an "outsider" who arrived in Alabama at age five and recoiled from the foreign practice of segregation.  Darkroom is honest, refreshing, and wonderfully different.

• During her talk, publisher Teresa Mlawer brought up the statistic that only 3% of children's books reviewed were by or about Latin@s, which prompted author Meg Medina asked a great question: What can we do to change that statistic?  Teresa suggested that we -- authors, scholars, readers -- write more reviews of Latin@ children's books so that librarians and teachers are more aware of their presence.  (Additionally, she admitted that publishers need to do more to publicize these books and promote Latin@ authors.)  Meg then responded that librarians could create attractive displays for award-winning books so that library patrons can see winners of multicultural awards (like the Pura Belpré and Coretta Scott King honors) side-by-side with better-known awards like the Caldecott and Newbery; and another conference attendee mentioned that we can attend conferences in other education disciplines -- science, social studies, foreign language, etc. -- and spread the word about Latin@ books by discussing how teachers in all subject areas can incorporate children's literature into their lessons.  Some great, practical ideas!

(Meg also has some blog posts about taking steps toward greater diversity in children's lit, so go take a look.  I'm super miffed that I wasn't able to attend her keynote on Thursday.)

So there you have (some of) it -- more later!  I would highly recommend attending next year if you can, and I'll leave you with a picture of Neil, my random little alpaca mascot, showing off books by some of the authors & illustrators I met.

And a gratuitous picture of Vilano Beach near St. Augustine, FL (because I did that last week too).

This Texas girl was happy to see an attractive beach for once :)

Colorism and Skin Lightening

A few years ago, the cosmetics company L'Oreal came under fire for lightening Beyoncé's skin in a print ad, and the controversy brought the issue of colorism to the forefront of public discourse.  Colorism is "the stigma associated with skin complexion" or, practically speaking, the widespread privileging of light skin over dark skin.  This privileging occurs within and among many different ethnic groups; and in the United States, it goes back to slavery and the resulting skin color hierarchy within the African-American community.  In other words, black men and (especially) women with lighter skin are often seen as more attractive than people with darker skin.

Sadly, children's literature is not exempt from colorism.  I recently received a copy of Beauty and the Beast, a picture book written by H. Chuku Lee, illustrated by Pat Cummings, and published by Harper Collins earlier this month.

As you can see, the young woman on the cover has light skin.  When I opened the book, I couldn't find this woman in the pages -- everyone I saw had darker skin.  (You can see the illustrations inside the book on its amazon.com page.)  According to the publisher's description, the book is inspired by the Dogon people in Mali.  Here are some pictures of Dogon people:

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

To make sure I wasn't crazy, I asked some friends what they thought about the cover.  They agreed.  I assume that Lee and Cummings' desire in creating this book was to challenge the assumption that fairy tale heroines should be white and to affirm that brown skin and African heritage are beautiful -- extremely important messages.  What lesson are we therefore teaching our children when we read them a book in which that brown skin is needlessly lightened?

Later, I showed Beauty and the Beast to one of my professors, and she asked me if I'd heard of a book called Liar.

Written by Australian author Justine Larbalestier, Liar is a young adult novel whose protagonist, Micah, is a biracial teenage girl.  However, the original cover of the American version of the book depicted a white girl.  

Many readers (and the author herself) were understandably confused about the cover art and began debating the issue and expressing their concern.  Finally, the publisher Bloomsbury responded to public pressure and Larbalestier's requests and changed the cover to portray Micah as she is described.

This incident points out the power that publishing companies have and the belief that books with people of color on the covers won't sell.  Is this the explanation for the skin lightening on the cover of Beauty and the Beast?  I'm not sure, but I'm going to write to Harper Collins and ask them.  I'm also going to request that they change the cover art to reflect what is in the pages.  As we can see in the case of Liar, readers can use their voices to reach publishing companies and elicit change.  I urge you to take a look at Beauty and the Beast and join me -- colorism in children's literature publishing (and in general) needs to end.