Pat Talks about Bilingual and Multicultural Publishing

In 2009, Pat was interviewed for a planned update of the Texas Library Association (TLA) Día site. As part of the interview, Pat was asked the question: What is your hope for the growth of bilingual and multicultural books for children and teens?

"I’m a bit uncomfortable with the word “multicultural” which is usually used to mean work by non-Anglo authors. All books are cultural in that they are written by a particular person who is part of a culture, a way of seeing the world. I’ve been having the same problem with the word “mainstream.” What does that really mean? Given our national plurality, the true mainstream is diverse. So what are most of the books published and reviewed and honored? A protected stream? To change metaphors, America’s authentic chorus is diverse. Why all those voices are not fairly represented in the award system and published is a fascinating question.

I can feel mighty discouraged when I read the statistics that document the growth of diversity in the student population and the lack of growth in the diversity of the authors who are published for children and young adults. I’ve written about this topic for years and stressed the importance of diversifying the editorial and marketing staffs, particularly at major publishing houses, and the need for teachers and librarians to be vocal and effective advocates for the books their students deserve, books that reflect the students’ lives and stories. Though educators say they like and need bilingual books, publishers often say that the books don’t really sell. I begin with two assumptions. Publishing is a business. If an editor publishes books that don’t sell, that editor is in trouble. Since most people are people of good will, I’ve often suggested that conference panels with editors and librarians/teachers exploring this challenge could be helpful.

In the last year, I’ve become more aware that bilingual books can be intimidating to monolingual librarians and teachers. An interesting challenge for TLA, given its commitment to Día and family literacy, is how to assist librarians to develop strategies for using bilingual books with all students."

Read the full interview about Día, programming for teens, and reading here.

Literacy Quote of the Week

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.

~ Chinese proverb ~

Pat Celebrates Día in Galveston TX

I hope that you are enjoying all the Díapalooza posts as much as I am. Although I cherish the Santa Fe quiet to do my writing, I derive great energy from visiting exciting literacy and literature events. On April 3, I was in Galveston for the Rosenberg Library’s first Día celebration. Congratulations to Children’s Librarian Karen Stanley and to the staff and local teachers who helped create a day that included a treasure hunt in the library (to acquaint children and families with the different departments), a book give-away, flower making, and piñatas. Children had been given raffle tickets for every book they read in preparation for my visit, and those whose names were drawn joined me for a delicious catered lunch.

At the end of my morning presentation, thanks to the work of some dedicated teachers, the audience and I enjoyed hearing a Mexican children’s song and watching some girls dressed like the girls in the book about my mom, THE RAINBOW TULIP.

The children at this Día event received Summer Reading Club T-shirts too. Remember that Día is a great kick-off to Summer Reading and provides an opportunity for librarians at public libraries to work to collaborate with school librarians and teachers.

April: Together promote Día celebrations as an annual tradition at home, school, and the public library.
May: Together collaborate to encourage pleasure reading during May and to re-enforce the importance of Summer Reading Clubs.
June: Together insure that all children understand the when, what, and how of Summer Reading Clubs.

Our country needs reading families. Thanks to each of you who shares bookjoy and who is part of Día’s National Family.

Book Giveaway

Pat and Karen Stanley

Reading Magic

I’ve started a new picture book which means while I’m trying to deal with paper work, e-mails, spring trip details, and promoting April 2010 Día celebrations across the country, I’m longing, yes longing, to be playing with my new project.

I recently began A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel and am learning all kinds of wonderful details and enjoying how smoothly they are presented. The book reminded me of the obvious fact that as readers, we agree on the meaning of a set of symbols. For anyone who knows bookjoy, we know, though forget, how amazing it is that the symbols/letters we look at magically can teach us, hurt us, sadden us, make us laugh. How blessed we are to be members of the global community of readers. Little wonder that we can feel a desire to share the gift of literacy, to share bookjoy.

Cookjoy & Bookjoy

Have you seen the movie “Julie & Julia”? If you like to cook and aren’t a vegetarian, you’ll probably thoroughly enjoy it. I did. I’d just finished Julia Child’s memoir, My Life in France, which moves along happily from meal to meal. It was my reward for sending off my new manuscript tentatively titled, Zing: 7 Creativity Practices for Educators & Their Students, to the editor at Corwin last week. Whew! A book of letters to teachers and librarians, it’s due out in the spring.

In the last letter I have a quote from Julia Child that I found some years ago about her zest for what she did. I found Julia Child an amazing story — a woman who didn’t know how to cook and who, by falling in love with France and French cooking and by her optimistic persistence, shared her cookjoy with America. She worked for years experiencing many set-backs, but she’d dust her ego off and continue. Paul, her supportive husband gets a gold star too. Julia Child is a high-spirited, cheerful and hard-working example for those of us excited about sharing bookjoy.

Share Bookjoy!