Month: June 2016
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Children’s Book Authors Share Their Love of Summer Reading
Tips include making frequent trips to the library; providing plenty of options that spark your child’s unique interests; and reading to, with, and in front of kids at home. The …
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ALA Seeks Nation’s Favorite Librarians For 2016 I Love My Librarian Award
CHICAGO, IL – The American Library Association (ALA) invites the public to nominate their favorite librarians for its prestigious 2016 I Love My Librarian Award. The award recognizes the public …
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39 Gubernatorial Spouses, 3 Governors and 1 Lieutenant Governor Join the 2016 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge to Get Kids Reading
43 “Reading Ambassadors” promote summer reading in their states; Scholastic donates books on their behalf NEW YORK – June 20, 2016 – Government officials across America are making a commitment to …
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Stopping the Summer Slide
Tips include: Tailoring summer reading programs for different age groups Providing activities in addition to reading and browsing Creating original programming Encouraging kids to write book reviews Visit SLJ.com for …
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First Book’s Community of Educators Tops 275,000, Provides Growing Insights, Market Power to Further Educational Equity
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A second grade teacher in Atlanta, the executive director of a literacy program in Nashville, and a school librarian in Lyman, Wyo. These are just a few of …
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Remembering Lois Duncan
By the time she was 13 year old, Duncan had published her first story. After winning the grand prize in a literary contest, Duncan published her first novel, Debutante Hill (1958). She …
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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Kicks Off “Curious World” Summer Tour, Inspiring Playful Learning Nationwide
BOSTON, MA – Global learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) 17announced today the launch of a new immersive and playful learning experience, Curious World Tour. Kicking off at Brooklyn Bridge Park on …
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Turns a Page. Touch a Mind.® Celebrates School Readiness
June 9, 2016 – Lenexa, KS – The popular statewide early literacy program, Turn a Page. Touch a Mind.® (TAP-TAM) is promoting school readiness this month in the 83 participating practices …
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Carrying On After Orlando
Contributed by Ashley Woodfolk, Marketing Manager, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
Weeks ago, when I signed up for a guest post in June, I had planned it to be a celebration of Pride month. I had planned to do a round-up of all my favorite YA novels that feature LGBTIA plus characters, like Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, I’ll Give You the Sun, Carry On, and Ask the Passengers. But I can’t write light-heartedly about how I love Simon Vs. The Homosapien Agenda almost as much as I love Oreos, or how Boy Meets Boy was the first book that made me really think about the things I’d been raised to believe, because 49 people senselessly died this month just because of where they were and who they love, and writing about books feels embarrassingly insignificant, if not completely impossible.
But when I sat down to write this post, I started thinking that maybe writing isn’t as insignificant as it feels. Maybe if stories like Two Boys Kissing weren’t being banned by schools or challenged by parents, more people would read them and understand that two boys kissing isn’t so bad. That two boys feeling safe enough to kiss is kind of beautiful.
Maybe if books like The Miseducation of Cameron Post were used to reeducate, the world would be a little bit better for girls who love other girls. For girls who have been told that loving another girl is wrong or bad or evil, and who believe it.
If more people were reading magical novels like Ash and The Raven Cycle, they’d realize that for most gay and lesbian people, finding love can sometimes feel like magic, just as it does for everyone else.
And maybe, if there were more stories out there like Not Otherwise Specified, None of the Above, If I Was Your Girl, and A + E 4ever, there wouldn’t be so much hate towards people we can’t fit into the neat little boxes we’ve created.
Stories like these need to be told, because people like the characters in these stories are real. They shouldn’t still be made to feel other—they shouldn’t have to hide or feel ashamed. And they certainly shouldn’t be killed during the one month of the year when they’re allowed to openly and proudly be their truest selves.
I wanted to write this post because too many people aren’t reading these stories. And we’ve all seen the explicit and physical danger of only having a single, flawed narrative with what happened in Orlando.
To everyone feeling the impact of this tragedy: You are loved. You are wanted. You are brave. My hope is that one day soon, you will be safe.
Embrace diverse books. Read a diverse story that may be a window into a world you know nothing about. It’s one small step we can all take, and it’s one of the few ways we, as individuals, can hope to change the world.
Ashley Woodfolk graduated from Rutgers University with a BA in English and her life-long love of books led her straight to the publishing industry. She’s a member of the CBC Diversity Committee and markets books for children and teens at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and pit bull puppy, Winnie. Her debut young adult novel, Unraveling Lovely, is due out in Fall 2017 from Delacorte/Random House Children’s Books.
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Candlewick Press Titles Win Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and Honors
BOSTON, MA — Candlewick Press books received the Boston Globe–Horn Book Picture Book Award, as well as Honors in the Nonfiction and Fiction Award categories, as Roger Sutton, editor in …
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All Aboard for Curious George’s Latest Digital Adventure
NEW YORK, NY — Global learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), announced today the availability of Curious George Train Adventures, an educational game for iPad and iPhone that helps kids …
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LitWorld and Scholastic Reinvent Summer School as LitCamp™ to Help Kids Avoid the Summer Slide
The innovative summer reading program LitCamp is launching in more than 1,000 U.S. classroomsNEW YORK – June 15, 2016 – LitCampTM, a groundbreaking summer reading program created by the literacy-focused …
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The New York Public Library Challenges Kids and Parents To Read 20 Minutes A Day This Summer
New York, NY – In an effort to combat “summer slide” and keep kids and teens thinking over break, The New York Public Library has issued a challenge to all …
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A House Built By Many
Contributed by Alyssa Mito Pusey, Senior Editor, Charlesbridge
“Every single day,” Michelle Obama told the graduating class at the City College in New York, “I wake up in a house that was built by slaves.”
She’s right; the White House was built in large part by slaves, along with freed black men and immigrants from Scotland and Ireland. So why did I edit a book called The House That George Built? As Allie Jane Bruce points out in a recent blog post on Reading While White, the book privileges white perspective and glosses over the contributions of slaves.
When I first read Allie’s review, my stomach sank. I was horrified. Of course she was right. Why hadn’t I seen it before?
The House That George Built is a play on the old rhyme “The House That Jack Built.” At the time, it seemed like a clever and appropriate twist for a book about how George Washington conceived of a President’s House and then oversaw its construction. I set about editing the text with two primary goals: (1) to keep the text tightly focused on George and (2) to explain the building process as clearly as possible. As a nonfiction editor, I’ve always been concerned with structure, focus, and technical accuracy in picture books.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t as aware of issues of inclusion and representation. The focus on George meant that the contributions of the people who literally built the White House were minimized. The focus on the what of construction meant that the who ended up as short mentions in the main text and author’s note. Looking back, the author and I regret these decisions.
I edited The House That George Built back in 2009. Fast-forward to 2016. The publishing climate has dramatically changed—for the better in terms of awareness of diversity issues.
For me, it’s a nerve-racking time, in some ways. Authors and editors are being held to more rigorous standards, and I really don’t want to mess up. I certainly don’t want to incur the wrath of the blogosphere. More importantly, I don’t want to produce books that perpetuate racial stereotypes and white privilege, however unintentionally.
My fears aside, this is also an exciting and empowering time. I feel like my eyes are being opened, like I’m learning and growing with every article and blog post—Allie’s included. I’m receiving and acquiring more biographies of people of color. I’m asking experts and other readers for honest feedback on questions of representation. And I’m trying with every book to be as inclusive as possible.
I’ve got a long way to go, clearly. But I hope to keep on improving as an editor—and to do what I can to help publish nonfiction that accurately reflects our diverse world.
Alyssa Mito Pusey is a senior editor at Charlesbridge, editing picture books and middle-grade chapter books and specializing in nonfiction.
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National Ambassador Gene Luen Yang’s Reading Without Walls Podcast: Episode 4 with Hope Larson
Through his platform, “Reading Without Walls,” Yang hopes to inspire readers of all ages to pick up a book outside their comfort zone. In episode four of his podcast, Yang talks …
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#DrawingDiversity: ‘Ada’s Violin’ by Susan Hood, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport
Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hood, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, May 2016). All rights reserved. @simonandschusterbooks
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YALSA Announces its Teens Succeed With Libraries Video Contest Winners
CHICAGO, IL — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has announced the winners of its Teens Succeed with Libraries video contest. The contest was open to library staff and the …
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Scholastic to Launch ‘Horizon,’ a new Multiplatform Series Led By #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Scott Westerfeld
NEW YORK, NY (June 10, 2016)— Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, and the pioneering force behind the groundbreaking and bestselling multi-platform properties The 39 Clues® and …
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The Reading Experience of Kids and Adults
For Prose, the immersive reading experience of childhood is difficult to recapture as a mature reader, but still possible. Moser prefers to revisit favorite reads, allowing himself to turn off his …
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National 2016 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Recipients to be Celebrated at Carnegie Hall
NEW YORK, NY — More than 660 creative teens from across the country will gather at Carnegie Hall in New York City tomorrow evening to be recognized as national recipients …
