Guten Tag! My trip with the German Book Office.

Riky Stock holding a 
very special German cheese.

Back in April, Riky Stock, director of the German Book Office in New York reached out to me with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—to join a group of children’s book editors on a trip to Frankfurt and Hamburg to meet with German publishers and agents.  The German Book Office hosts this annual trip for editors to experience the wonders of beer, brats, and books in hopes of building a bridge between our two countries, for both American books that could succeed in Germany and vice versa.

My fellow editors for this year’s trip included Stacey Barney from Putnam/Penguin (and one of the founders of CBC Diversity!), Sheila Barry from Groundwood Books in Canada, Grace Maccarone from Holiday House, Ben Rosenthal from Enslow, and Reka Simonsen from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Our group had a great vibe, and by the end of the trip, we had our fair share of inside jokes and insightful discussion about books and, in particular, why foreign translations are so difficult for the North American market.

Diversity in the News

July 11th - July 18th, 2013

CBC DIVERSITY/COMMITTEE MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

• Children's literature lacks diversity, say authors, librarians at The Tennessean – includes thoughts from Alvina Ling, Executive Editorial Director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and CBC Diversity Committee Member

ON OUR RADAR

• Kids React Adorably To Cheerios Ad That Sparked Racist Backlash (VIDEO) at the Huffington Post
• Related:  The Cheerios ad (VIDEO); an interview (VIDEO) with the young star of the ad and her family about the controversy on MSNBC
• Part IV: Are All Book Covers Created Equal? Bank Street 6th-Graders Talk With Knopf Editors!
• Has ‘Caucasian’ Lost Its Meaning? at the New York Times
• 'Fat Angie' Author Reaches Out to At-Risk Kids at PW – the author has embarked on an At-Risk tour, using her book as a springboard for “conversations with at-risk youngsters, including those who are economically disadvantaged, bullied, and LGBTQ.”
• Community Angered by Tossed Black History Collection at School Library Journal

Diversity in the News

May 30th – June 6th

ON OUR RADAR

• Gendered covers are failing young adult readers at The Guardian
• UK's first black children's laureate: new history curriculum could alienate pupils at The Guardian
• Why Aren’t More Mexican Children’s Books Making it to America? at Publishing Perspectives – Patricia van Rhijin, director at CIDCLI, discusses the problems getting Mexican children's books published in the US. American publishers are "so square," she says.
• Related: A Mexican Conundrum at Fuse #8
• The Truth About Multicultural Stories at The Rumpus
• When the Personal Becomes Political – 2 books that “don’t overstate the obvious but bring a deeper awareness of race, white privilege, and the messy business of transforming society one mind at a time.”
• Guest Blog by Zoraida Córdova at Diversity in YA – Mermaids in America, or, how does this Ecuadorian girl end up writing fantasy?
• A Short List of Great Resources for Racial Diversity in Young Adult Sci-Fi at BitchMedia
• LGBT: The Next Generation by Bill Konigsberg at Diversity in YA

Searching For Our Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin is a Taiwanese-American, Los Angeles born, Harvard educated, undrafted NBA point guard who rose to unexpected stardom on the New York Knicks (he’s now a member of the Houston Rockets). A little over a year ago, in February 2012, Lin had a moment in history that transcended sports and race and became a worldwide phenomenon affectionately referred to as “Linsanity.” This meteoric rise is best encapsulated in the CBS “60 Minutes” special that recently aired. In a nutshell: Lin went from bench-warming obscurity to international sensation as he led the New York Knicks on a winning streak that defied all odds. In his 12 starts before the All-Star break, Lin averaged 22.5 points and 8.7 assists, and New York had a 9–3 record. Jeremy Lin is one of the few Asian Americans in NBA history, and the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA. 

Children's Book Week CBC Diversity Event

As a part of the amazing line-up of events occurring during Children's Book Week (May 13-19, 2013), the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country, Charlesbridge Publishing has teamed up with the CBC Diversity Committee to host a special panel featuring  editors from Charlesbridge Publishing, Candlewick Press, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; as well as the inspiring author, Mitali Perkins; and the extremely talented illustrator, London Ladd. 

This intimate panel will be held in Watertown, Massachusetts and, unlike CBC Diversity events we've held in the past, this event is open to the public. See below for all of the important details and keep in mind that space is limited so registration is required.

Diversity 101: The Transgender Perspective

Contributed to CBC Diversity by Cris Beam

I was honored when I was asked to write a Diversity 101 post about transgender identity. Honored and a little daunted. Because while I’ve written two books on the topic, I’m not transgender—and speaking about always ends up becoming speaking for. Which is part of the problem with gender representations in general: who gets to speak for whom? Especially in children’s literature where gender variance is, well, not so variant yet, I know I’m walking into hot water. The scarcity of GLBT (accent on the T) depictions yields strong opinions as to how we should talk—and write—about the few transgender characters we have. 

People used to say that transgender was an umbrella term to encompass all kinds of gender variance—from drag king to transsexual to the little boy who wears tutus to play with his trucks. While the umbrella concept’s fallen out of favor somewhat, the core idea is useful: there are a myriad of ways to express one’s sense of self.  Transgender is fundamentally an internal identity wherein one’s understanding of self is different from the body one was born with. The expression part is separate, and can range from wearing different clothing to undergoing medical procedures to doing nothing at all. The bottom line is, only transgender people can decide that they’re trans, and it’s up to the rest of us to support and celebrate that.

Diversifying the "Best of" Lists

Every year around December, various publications and organizations will post their “Best of” lists and editor’s choice round-ups. Here are a few diversity titles that we spotted among the crème de la crème.
 
Young Adult

ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE
by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

★ Publishers Weekly
★ School Library Journal

A School Library Journal Best book of the Year
A Junior Library Guild Selection

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.--From Simon & Schuster

ENDANGERED

by Eliot Schrefer

Scholastic

★ Publishers Weekly

A National Book Award Finalist
A Junior Library Guild Selection

The compelling tale of a girl who must save a group of bonobos--and herself--from a violent coup.

The Congo is a dangerous place, even for people who are trying to do good.

When one girl has to follow her mother to her sancuary for bonobos, she's not thrilled to be there. It's her mother's passion, and she'd rather have nothing to do with it. But when revolution breaks out and their sanctuary is attacked, she must rescue the bonobos and hide in the jungle. Together, they will fight to keep safe, to eat, and to survive.

Eliot Schrefer asks readers what safety means, how one sacrifices to help others, and what it means to be human in this new compelling adventure.--From Scholastic

Creating a New Narrative

An It's Complicated! — Book Covers guest post by Joseph Monti, a once bookstore buyer, editor, and now prominent literary agent at Barry Goldblatt Literary.

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I'm writing today, discussing middle grade and young adult book covers, as a former children's fiction buyer at Barnes and Noble, Inc., and thus this is not wholly my opinion, but also fact based upon sales numbers at the largest bookstore chain in the world. That said, I am not speaking for the company in any capacity, just my personal experience.

The simplified truth to the quandary about book covers is that good covers sell books, and bad covers hurt book sales. A good book with a bad cover may overcome it, but it will not reach the sales potential it could have had with a good cover. A mediocre book with a good cover will increase sales. The marriage of a good cover and a good book is what I am going to showcase.