Malín Alegría: A Road Map for Bicultural Youth

Photo (c) Dulce Barona

Elementary-school-teacher-turned-writer and California native, Malín Alegría (Estrella’s Quinceañera), answers a few questions about her new teen series Border Town (Scholastic/Point), her struggles with self-image, puffy Princess dresses, and growing-up bicultural.

Can you describe your high school years? Are there echoes of Fabiola’s experiences in your past?

In high school I was a rebel — a tame, respectful, nice rebel. I was a late bloomer and utterly uncomfortable with my developing body and relationships with boys. 

In my junior and senior years, I was voted most creative and class clown. I was definitely on a mission to be different, to not suck up to the cool rich crowd, and to start my own trends. My hair color and identity changed every couple of months. I struggled with self-acceptance. There were no role models on TV or in magazines I could look up to and try to emulate. Many times I felt alone and misunderstood. 

Industry Q&A with author Valerie Hobbs

Tell us about your most recent book and how you came to write it.

My most recent book is Minnie McClary Speaks Her Mind. Like most authors, I invest a lot of myself in my characters and I've had a lot to say apparently about things that aren't right, that should be right. About how people should be treated regardless of ethnicity, gender, class, disability, sexual orientation, etc., etc. And I believe that children should be encouraged to think, not just fill in bubbles on state-mandated standardized tests. Miss Marx, Minnie's teacher, is the kind of teacher I wish I had been when I taught middle-school years ago. She encourages the students to think, to question, and to write about the things that concern them. It takes courage, especially these days, to be the kind of teacher she is.

Do you think of yourself as a diverse author?

I hadn't, I suppose because as a white woman I'm not considered "diverse", but my beliefs certainly fall into that camp.

Industry Q&A with author Tanita S. Davis

Tell us about your most recent book and how you came to write it. 

I read a newspaper account of Theresa Sparks, who was formerly a man. I was struck by what she had to say about love and family, and I wondered if my own family could have survived a transgender member intact. During this time, the hatemongers under the banner of the Westboro Baptist Church were up to some headline-grabbing stupidity, and I found myself wondering if people who claimed Christianity could ever love someone enough to accept them – thus Happy Families came out of a lot of quiet thoughts. It challenged me to explore my own hidden fears and beliefs and to make a personal resolve in favor of love.

Do you think of yourself as a diverse author?

Um... not really. In the mirror/window illustration made famous by Mitali Perkins☺, I consider myself a mirror – I'm turning my work around toward my community, and these are the people I see. I try to be inclusive of the sometimes invisible things – the differently abled or those with other challenges, multiracial blends, blended families, various faiths, etc. – because that's real-world stuff, and I really feel there's too much culture-less, colorless fiction being published.

Industry Q&A with author Shana Burg

Tell us about your most recent book and how you came to write it.

My second middle grade novel, Laugh with the Moon, was published in June, 2012 (Random House). It tells the story of a 13-year-old girl from Boston named Clare Silver who goes to Malawi, Africa for nine weeks, after the recent death of her mother. Though Clare is furious at her father for taking her away from her friends to live in the jungle, she soon discovered the reason behind her father’s motivation—it is healing to be among peers who, for better or worse, are expert at dealing with grief.

The novel is based on my own experience visiting Malawi, and I drew from the friendships I made with the people I met here.

Do you think of yourself as a diverse author?

I’d say yes and no. I’m an Ashkenazi Jew, so I look white. But growing up in Massachusetts, I always felt an outsider in a town where there were country clubs, but only token Jewish and black members were allowed to join.  I was born in Birmingham, Alabama, where my father was a civil rights lawyer and a partner in the first integrated law firm in the state since Reconstruction. So while I’m not a person of color, I probably identify with the struggles more than some other people.

Publishers Weekly Nod to the CBC Diversity Committee

CBC Diversity Committee at Kick-off

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Bluemle

Last week the CBC Diversity Committee was honored with a wonderfully detailed article in Publishers Weekly. PW writer John A. Sellers contacted the chair, Nancy Mercado; vice-chair, Alvina Ling; and the Children's Book Council to get the whole story behind the formation of the CBC Diversity Committee. Sellers' article takes the reader back to the beginning when the committee that represents CBC Diversity today was just a group of like-minded editors from varying houses trying to make a difference. Fast forward to a year later when their group was brought to the attention of the CBC by Ling and wham!, the CBC Diversity Committee was born.

Not only does the article explain the beginnings of the CBC Diversity Committee and the thought-process of the members behind the initiative, it also highlights some of the great things the Committee and its partners have been up to including the CBC Diversity Goodreads list that is constantly expanding, the school visits performed by committee members at the beginning of this month, and the "It's Complicated!" blog series that was just wrapped up last week.

If you're new to the blog or even a constant follower, check out the PW article and then come back and explore all the different offerings of this site with fresh eyes!

Inside Out & Back Again

Thanhha Lai
Photo by Sloane Bosniak

In my previous post about how I got into publishing, I mentioned a particular book that I’ve had the pleasure of working on called Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai. We often refer to this title as “our little engine that could” as it falls into the category of “off the beaten path” when one considers that it’s a middle-grade historical novel written in verse. I started at Harper right around the on-sale date of Inside Out and though it wasn’t initially reassigned to me (I later requested to take it over), I heard the buzz around the house grow as it collected starred review after starred review (FOUR total), and then whispers of awards talk started trickling in. Most of the time, we in publishing try to stay mum about awards discussions and probabilities lest we put a jinx on it (call us superstitious).  In this case, however, our highly guarded hopes were rewarded when Thanhha received the National Book Award and then a few months later a Newbery Honor. To top it off, her book then hit the New York Times bestseller list—the final feat completing what I like to call the children’s lit version of the “Triple Crown.”

Working with Thanhha has been an absolute joy. She is everything a publicist could dream of: responsive, gracious, kind, funny, and all of those other marvelous traits you’d want in any friend. Perhaps being an Asian-American myself, I felt a certain connection with Thanhha, and though my own history is a far-cry from her experiences, I can’t help but feel a sense of pride in all that Thanhha and her heroine Hà accomplished. I’ve included one of my favorite poems from the book below, because it hits so close to home. For me, even growing up in a place as diverse as Brooklyn, there was always that feeling lingering somewhere just below the surface of being “medium.”

Interview with Grace Lin

I love this interview Grace did with Primary Source for their Asian American Author Video Series. What Grace talks about here is very much related to why the CBC Diversity Committee exists. I found her story about realizing that a character from one of her favorite books might hate her because of her race especially moving.

Go here to watch other videos with Grace Lin, Mitali Perkins, Jean Kwok, and G.B. Tran.