MotherReader

With this year's 48 Hour Book Challenge devoted to the cause of diverse books, I started pulling together my own reading pile for this weekend. It's been more than a little sad. I haven't been requesting review books for a while, so I turned to my public library to find something current. I could only find two middle-grade titles.

Now, I know that it takes months for titles to show up at the library, and these just happened to be on the shelf. So I searched the catalog and eyeballed covers finding a total of four recent books in a large public library system that serves a broad and very diverse community. Granted, this was in no way a detailed examination of our collection, but it gives me another reason to ask for your participation in the 48 Hour Book Challenge. I need your book reviews so that I can make collection requests to my library.

You know what, you need book reviews so that you can make requests to your public library.

Many kid lit folk are working hard to promote titles, and that excites me. Our writers and illustrators can create them, and we can continue to put pressure on publishers to acquire them. But at the heart of it all, bookstores and libraries need to buy these books. We can help with that too by asking our public and school libraries to add these titles to their collections.

But we can't do that if we don't know what they are. So let's keep up the steps that created outrage at BEA and yet also featured strongly at the same setting with an excellent BookCon panel. Something that started as a hashtag and moved to an online home at WeNeedDiverseBooks. Let's show each other and anyone else who will see all the great titles that are out there. I hope you'll participate in the 48 Hour Book Challenge - even if you can't commit the weekend, or even much of it, to read and promote books. We need you and We Need Diverse Books.

Everywhere I go online I am happily seeing references to the cause of diversity in our books. Fantastic! We're going to continue that focus during our 48 Hour Book Challenge coming up on the weekend of June 6th, so please sign-up to participate. I'm hoping in the lead-up to that weekend to share some of the titles I've come across in the library, starting here with three picture books that feature African-American children in stories that have nothing to do with racial issues. I know, what a concept. Enjoy!

Here Comes Trouble!
by Corinne Demas, illustrated by Noah Z. Jones
Scholastic, 2013
Emma’s dog didn’t like cats, but it seems for good reason as the cats were never in trouble, but Toby was. The neighbor cat was especially irritating, so when she came to stay for a while, well it was a challenge. The cat does things that Toby gets blamed for, so you can see why he’s mad. But when Pandora gets herself stuck in a tree, it’s Toby’s trouble-making ways – and sudden ability to write out words with mud – that save the day. Cartoon illustrations with bright colors make it an easy choice to share in storytime, and there's bits of humor in the background for closer inspection. It's a good story that shows friendship and problem-solving, but honestly my favorite thing is that it features an African-American family for no reason related to their race. Just ’cause.

Ruby’s Sleepover
By Kathryn White and Mirian Latimer
Barefoot Books, 2012
Two girls are having a sleepover in a backyard tent, and as they hear noises in the night, one of the girls solves their worries with her “magic” items. Magic beans to grow a stalk to take a giant back home. An egg that the dragon might be seeking. And rings to wear to sleep to “keep danger at bay.” The focus on imagination and the idea of using your own thoughts to face your fears is a great lesson gently delivered. Nice rhyming couplets with a good rhythm, bright, cheerful illustrations and diverse characters make this a wonderful book to share.

Rain
by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Christian Robinson
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2013
It’s raining in the city, and two different people – an old man and a child – have entirely different outlooks on the wet weather. The Boy delights in the day with excitement, putting on his green rain gear and froggie hat. The Man frowns and complains as he too ventures outside. At the coffee shop, the two meet accidentally and a good deed by the child clears the Man’s grumpy mood, reminding him of a pleasant way to be. The cute paper illustration is perfect in combination with the subtler paint composition. Excellent diversity in the book, representing a city very well, and featuring a child of color. Simple in language, but great in the message of the power of a positive outlook.

Yup, it's the Ninth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge — that weekend readathon of legend. Last year, Ms. Yingling graciously hosted this challenge as I had multiple conflicts. Of course, now this year I've ended up busy and distracted with the remarkable adventures of two teenage girls. But then something was percolating around the Internet that inspired me and gave me a reason to engage. So in solidarity of the cause of WeNeedDiverseBooks, this year's 48 Hour Book Challenge is dedicated to reading, sharing and reviewing books that show diversity in all ways.

I'm hoping with lots of participants over the weekend, that we can saturate the blogosphere with dozens - nay, HUNDREDS - of titles that show the beautiful range of the human experience. That's our challenge. And saying that may be a good time to reminder readers that while the window of reading allows 48 hours, you could read for much less and STILL participate. Twelve hours - and not even in a row - qualifies you as an official participant who can join in reading and sharing diverse books for one wonderful weekend. So please consider coming on board. Here are the basics:

1. The weekend is June 6-8, 2014. Read and blog for any 48-hour period within the Friday-to-Monday-morning window. Start no sooner than 7:00 a.m. on Friday the sixth and end no later than 7:00 a.m. Monday the ninth. So, go from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday... or maybe 7:00 a.m. Saturday to 7:00 a.m. Monday works better for you. But once begun, the 48 hours do need to be in a row. That said, during that 48-hour period you may still have gaps of time in which you can’t read, and that’s fine.
   
2. The books should be middle-grade, young adult, or adult books. If you are generally a picture book blogger, consider this a good time to get caught up on all those wonderful books you’ve been hearing about. Graphic novels can be included in the reading. One audiobook can also be included in your time and book total — helpful if you have somewhere to drive to or need to prepare dinner, etc.
   
3. Three winners will be chosen at random from each of three levels of reading commitment - 12 to 23 hours, 24 to 35 hours, and 36 to 48 hours. Since each level will progressively have less participants, the more you read the better your chances. Top readers will still win individual prizes. International winners may be given gift cards instead of books due to mailing costs, unless a U.S. address is provided.
   
4. It’s your call as to how much you want to put into it. If you want to skip sleep and showers to do this — and some people do — go for it. If you want to be a bit more laid back, fine. But you have to put something into it or it’s not a challenge. Twelve hours is the benchmark for winning prizes.
   
5. The length of the reviews or notes written in your blog are not an issue. You can write a sentence, a paragraph, or a full-length review. Up to you. The time spent reviewing counts in your total time.
   
6. You can include some amount of time reading other participant’s blogs, commenting on participating blogs and Facebook pages, and Tweeting about your progress (remember the #48hbc tag!). For every five hours, you can add one hour of networking. This time counts in your total time.
   
7. On your blog, state when you are starting the challenge with a specific entry on that day and leave the link to that post at the Starting Line post at MotherReader on June 6th. And please link to the contest on your post.
   
8. When you finish, write a final summary that clearly indicates hours — including partial hours — you spent reading/reviewing/networking, the number of books read, and any other comments you want to make on the experience. It needs to be posted no later than noon EST on Monday, June 9th. Also, check in at the Finish Line post on MotherReader that will be posted Sunday and please link to that post from your final summary post.

I’m always looking for donations for winners’ prize packages and other “door prizes” to be awarded to participants selected at random. Past prizes have included original sketches from Mo Willems and Matthew Holm, signed and sketched books from Adam Rex, loads of signed books, t-shirts from Threadless, artistic blank journals, jewelry, gift cards, notecards, and more. Good stuff. If you’d like to contribute to the prizes this year, shoot me an email at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com.

Sign up now in the comments and block of the dates on your calendar. Questions can also go in the comments, and I will respond in the comments and add a FAQ soon. Talk this up, people! Let's have some fun!

Well, that was some kind of week. Awards and a controversy. Honestly, it was too much for me to take in, much less write about. Plus I didn’t know what to think, and in a way, I still don’t.

Everyone can agree that what Bloomsbury did with the Magic Under Glass cover was a big bowl of wrong. I mean, didn’t we just have this conversation with the same publisher? It’s maddening, if not insulting, for them to ignore the whole issue again. And it’s appropriate that they’ve at least acknowledged the error by changing the cover of the book.

Except, I don’t feel good. I guess I feel a little pleased that bloggers can affect change in the publishing industry, but mostly I don’t feel good.

In fact, I feel bad for the author who poured her heart into her first book, chose to feature a woman of color as the main character, and then found her book in the middle of a fight. And now her book’s release will be delayed as Bloomsbury tries to do the right thing by the cover. It’s not the author’s fault, but she has to suffer the consequences.

I don’t feel good that book bloggers were tossed in the mix of blame for not noticing or reporting on the cover earlier. That argument assumes that (a) lots of bloggers get early copies, (b) the bloggers actually read that book of all the books they get, (c) in reading that book they notice the cover, and (d) they feel like reviewing the book. Book bloggers — we’re all on the same team here.

I certainly don’t feel good that this is the only approach we can take to make publishers put diverse characters on the book covers. We have to catch them and make them do the right thing? That’s not a well-working strategy for any of us.

I don’t feel good that we spent the week on this issue — even if we had to spend the week on this issue — instead of getting to sit back and enjoy the ALA Youth Media Awards. This was their week. But instead of discussions, we got quick lists of winners and then we were back to the controversy.

And in that same vein, I don’t feel good that instead of talking about books that feature people of color from the Coretta Scott King and Pura Belpré awards, we spent the week talking about how we’re not talking about books that feature people of color.

Where does that leave me? Well, in the places where I disagree on methods or strategy with Susan or Doret or Ari, I am grateful for their intensity and vulnerability, which keeps us all aware and energized. I thank Colleen for following the discussion with genuine passion, but also an intelligent focus on the issues rather than the distractions. I thought Leila did a wonderful job of breaking down the discussion and giving a viable course of action — to write the publishers directly and express our concerns/dismay/outrage. And I appreciate Liz Burns’s thoughts on accountability — that by putting our voices out there as book bloggers, we aren’t just making a list of books we like, but have a greater responsibility to feature diverse books.

In the end, I want to take this week with me — the good and the bad feelings of it — to make me a better reader, blogger, and advocate. I trust that our fantastic community of bloggers can continue the dialogue, but I also hope that we won’t have to have this exact conversation again. I’m looking at you, Bloomsbury.