Separate, Not Equal

An It's Complicated! — Book Covers guest post by author Coe Booth.

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Coe Booth

Like most writers I’m always a little — okay, a lot! — nervous about what my book covers will look like. After spending so much time writing the books, the fact that the cover image is out of my control leads to a great deal of anxiety. However, I was pleasantly surprised and happy when I saw the cover of my first novel Tyrell.

I really thought the photo of a teenage boy looking out onto his neighborhood would attract the attention of the audience I had in mind when I was writing the book — teenagers, especially boys, who don’t usually find a book that speaks to them. And I’ve since heard from lots of teens who tell me that it was the cover that initially drew them to the book.

The thing I never imagined was that the cover (and the covers of my subsequent books) might create an automatic ghettoization of my work.

I can’t tell you how many libraries I’ve been to where my books are not even shelved in the mainstream YA section. They are relegated to the shelf labeled “Street Lit” where the books about black people live. The same is true in some bookstores where a black person on a book cover means it’s no longer YA; it’s “Urban Fiction”.

I’m here to tell you, when it comes to books, segregation is alive and well in America.

Changing the Conversation Around Diverse Publishing

An It's Complicated! — Book Covers guest post by Felicia Frazier, Senior Vice President & Director of Sales at Penguin Young Readers Group.

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Felicia Frazier

I would like to begin my post with a point of clarification that my opinions regarding diversity in publishing are based on my opinion and experience that may not be the perspective of my publisher. As a 20 year publishing veteran I have held many positions including Event/Exhibit Planning, Marketing, and Brand Management but my greatest and longest tenure has been as a sales strategist. I currently lead the best sales team in publishing. It is a position of strategic planning and challenging assumptions with the goal of reaching our consumers.

A side lesson...

Getting Students Reading, Keeping Them Reading

Guest post by Edith Campbell — a mother, librarian, and quilter.

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For 6 years, I worked as a librarian in a high school in Indiana that struggled to help students achieve academic success. I truly enjoyed being their librarian. Don’t let anyone tell you that “these students” don’t read. By the numbers “these students” were 96% Black and 85% low income. By my memory, they were sponges who soaked in knowledge at every opportunity. They were amazing people who were full of wonder, possibilities and potential. For each of the 6 years I worked with them, I checked out at least twice as many books as students in the 1100 student school, one year even four times as much. My students were readers and sophisticated readers at that. They knew exactly what they would enjoy reading. While they sometimes requested popular YA titles, they would most consistently ask for urban lit. I found it for them in YA form and they inhaled it.

Spotlight on Awards that Highlight Multicultural Books

Featuring a guest post by Karen Hildebrand, 2012 Chair of the NBGS Award

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Not only is it important to find stories that portray a myriad of identities to which children can relate and to cultivate these stories to execute the most authentic voice that will ring true, it is also important to send these tales out into the marketplace with their best foot forward, supported by the sales and marketing teams at houses and reviewed by critics in the industry to gain maximum exposure. One way to gain exposure for these books is with awards.

Below you'll find three awards highlighted, but there are many more awards that celebrate and "recognize children's and young adult literature titles that portray an authentic image of a racial, ethnic or religious group; or promote social justice and peace", according to the National-Louis University Library who have curated a list of just such awards. Cynthia Leitich Smith also provides a wonderful list of children's literature awards, many of which are specifically for books that focus on diversity in its many forms.