Happy Spring! Kind of. Nobody’s putting their skis away around here.
Lots of interesting tidbits in the news this week. Here’s the roundup:
- Last week, the New York Times printed op-eds by father and son authors Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers on why we all critically need to see children of color better represented in children’s literature. If you haven’t read both of these yet, read them here and here
- The Myers’ pieces responded to a study by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin that found that only 93 of 3,200 children’s books published last year featured black people. Teacher Ashley Lauren Samsa adds to the conversation: “Most of those were about slavery, the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement — all important times in our history, but almost none showed black kids having . . . daring adventures or finding the love of princes.”
- Here’s an interesting, perhaps provocative conversation starter about gendered children’s book marketing and free choice by Anna Maxted in the Telegraph: Let Children Read What They Want: What’s so wrong with boys and girls reading different books? The best stories transcend stereotypes
- In the Huffington Post, Kurt Wootten has six terrific ideas for reading aloud with kids
- And finally, congratulations to Vermont poet and CLiF presenter Leland Kinsey, in the Valley Times this week with his new book!
CLiF has also enjoyed some great coverage over the last few days. Read about us in the Burlington Free Press and watch a clip on Fox 44 News about our 2014-2015 CLiF Year of the Book partners.
Happy Friday, everyone!
