tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9160636034192691079.post9057958951384750809..comments2024-01-13T21:31:23.388-05:00Comments on Reading While White: A Conversation on A Birthday Cake for George WashingtonReading While Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07807138877345669931noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9160636034192691079.post-26750297981886749272016-02-03T15:45:16.377-05:002016-02-03T15:45:16.377-05:00You raise a good question, Erica. I wondered the s...You raise a good question, Erica. I wondered the same thing about "Sewing Stories," which is very similar in style and tone. I think it was probably all in the timing. "A Birthday Cake for George Washington" came out right after all the discussion of "A Fine Dessert," so people were very attuned to the issues. Had the publication dates been reversed, with "Birthday Cake" being published first and "Sewing Stories" coming out after "A Fine Dessert," would "Sewing Stories" have received more attention? It's hard to say. <br /><br />K T Horninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04505891463218329510noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9160636034192691079.post-43540610565234298412016-01-29T01:59:15.306-05:002016-01-29T01:59:15.306-05:00KT wrote, "I like Vanessa Brantley-Newton'...KT wrote, "I like Vanessa Brantley-Newton's illustrations for contemporary stories such as My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay and The Hula-Hooping Queen. Her characters always have bright eyes and big grins -- that's her style. They work in contemporary stories. But who thought she would be a good match for a book set in slavery times?"<br /><br />Was it perhaps Andrea Davis Pinkney who chose the artist? Isn't that usually what the editor does? In any case, her statement supported the choice of illustrator as well as the final illustrations. <br /><br />I presume it was a different editor over at Knopf who chose the same illustrator to do Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers' Journey from Slave to Artist, which also depicts universally happy slaves, but did not get slammed for that when it first came out in February, 2015. <br /><br />Maybe the team of people (author, illustrator, editor) at Scholastic saw the positive reviews for Sewing Stories and felt their gut instincts for Birthday Cake were correct. Not only were there positive reviews, but apparently no social media outcry, either. Is the book that much better? Erica Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02964342515267325230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9160636034192691079.post-71520768331983222862016-01-28T14:47:27.178-05:002016-01-28T14:47:27.178-05:00I believe Scholastic pulled the book because of cr...I believe Scholastic pulled the book because of criticism from black readers like this article by Demetria Lucan D'Oyley at The Root-- -http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/01/children_s_book_showing_slaves_happily_baking_a_cake_is_just_another_attempt.html?utm_content=buffer75253&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=bufferMoyridhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09109060979165835871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9160636034192691079.post-86027360305375719862016-01-28T13:18:31.124-05:002016-01-28T13:18:31.124-05:00The people I know most outraged about this book ar...The people I know most outraged about this book are black, not white.<br /><br />--VeronicaUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18255579796886276754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9160636034192691079.post-23410532094896776942016-01-27T13:32:05.513-05:002016-01-27T13:32:05.513-05:00I didn't know White Crane, and I'll defini...I didn't know White Crane, and I'll definitely check it out! Thanks!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9160636034192691079.post-1780164573904578902016-01-27T13:03:39.850-05:002016-01-27T13:03:39.850-05:00Great discussion here. This was really nicely put ...Great discussion here. This was really nicely put together and there is lots of food for thought here. Allie for historical fiction with diverse characters my son and I loved White Crane by Sandy Fussell https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3020180-white-crane <br />Moyridhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09109060979165835871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9160636034192691079.post-54052192418289405792016-01-26T16:09:09.704-05:002016-01-26T16:09:09.704-05:00Has it ever occurred to the white people doing all...Has it ever occurred to the white people doing all the hand-wringing about "white guilt" and "white privilege" that black people are tired of hearing about it? I can't speak for the entire black community but, good grief, give it a rest already. Where was the outrage about the lack of diversity 30 years ago? 20? 10? Three accomplished WOC put out a well-researched picture book about slaves and white people have the gall to tell them how they should've told the story? That it wasn't the right kind of diversity? Would all those taking issue with the alleged whitewashing of history in this book sit their preschoolers down to watch "12 Years a Slave"? It doesn't get much more real than that. I'm going to guess they wouldn't because smart people understand that there is a limit to what children can comprehend and process. So essentially critics are saying there should be no picture books dealing with themes like slavery because to show anything other than the abject horrors is a gross and offensive injustice. Most kids' books about black people do show the depressing, tragic reality of being black in America. There's only so much of that a reader can take. Everyone, no matter their race or walk of life, expresses at some point the breadth of the human experience, even slaves. Black people are not one dimensional no matter how bleak their lives may be. Their stories, the full range of them, deserve to be told just as it is for white people. You can support the diversity or you can not. What you don't get to do as white people is tell or decide for people of color how we tell our story. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9160636034192691079.post-2003405098586515412016-01-26T10:55:52.514-05:002016-01-26T10:55:52.514-05:00Sarah, you name something really important above: ...Sarah, you name something really important above: The need to de-center white experiences here. I sometimes feel a push/pull there: I feel the need to step up and do the work to take responsibility for my Whiteness, as it is my job (and not the job of people of color and First/Native nations people) to do that; and I feel the responsibility to step back and listen and learn and do my part to not center Whiteness in that regard. I sometimes can't tell when it's appropriate to do which. Like Nina said above--White person problems!!<br /><br />The fact that we made this post a conversation is an attempt to show that we are first and foremost trying to listen and learn here. We also deliberately took it slowly, and did not rush to get a post out immediately after the announcement last week.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9160636034192691079.post-31578995726674452542016-01-26T09:43:37.214-05:002016-01-26T09:43:37.214-05:00Thanks for this conversation. Just wanted to add t...Thanks for this conversation. Just wanted to add to your ending thought, Allie, about focusing (as white people) on our own accountability. Would say, as always, that it's important to find ways to do this that de-center white feelings and experiences. For example, in thinking about this moment as an uncomfortable one, or as a difficult time for book creators-- I'd ask: uncomfortable for whom, and difficult for which creators in what ways? Who is bearing which burdens in the midst of this? Where was the discomfort *before* these more public and far-reaching conversations, and who bore it how? If there's concern about precarity in publishing in this moment more generally, who feels the most weight of that concern? <br /><br />(Thinking about the racial disparities in access, marketing, and maintaining careers-- and also the difference in the fallout for the creative/editorial teams behind these two books. And, the disparity in concern about future ability to sell books. I know there's a lot of discussion about white people pulling back on writing across race, but let's face it: there is a market for those books. As mentioned in the post, those books are set up to sell. I'd like to think the structures undergirding that will change, but we're definitely not there yet. And if white creators are anxious that those structures will change, well... The concern that publishers will acquire even less books *by* people of color is a different one-- though as Ebony has mentioned, publishers holding that up as a threat doesn't have so much weight given the current dismal stats.)<br /><br />I'm wondering, too, in the focus on our own accountability, if it's possible to think of ways to help move the conversation towards structural racism in publishing and, again, away from white feelings. (Have been trying to think about best ways to help in this myself, and would love others' thoughts.) The Diversity Baseline Survey out from Lee & Low today seems like a good place to start.<br /><br />And wanted to share this link here, too, for anyone who hasn't seen it: http://linkis.com/fergusonresponse.org/n7nuf<br /><br />-- Sarah H.srhF92https://www.blogger.com/profile/10890678666911554580noreply@blogger.com