children's literature edition of linkspam, also, puppy-kicking authors

[deborah]

• children's books by and about people of color published in the United States: statistics gathered by the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education


• karenhealey made a great post about getting cultural consultants when writing about cultures other than her own -- specifically writing as Pākehā about Māori culture. She doesn't ask for a cookie, she doesn't explain to everybody why she is sure that she got it right. She just explains her process of trying to do things in a way which is honest and respectful. She acknowledges that she might have screwed up, she'd knowledges that she is worried about it. It's a fascinating post.


• Karen is also the author of one of my other open tabs, a column on Strange Horizons entitled " Where the Popular Kids Are Sitting", about the incredibly healthy young adult speculative fiction market. (This reminds me of another one of my open tabs, which I'm not going to close, and to which I will link although only those of you with Project Muse Access will be able to read the full text: The Lion and the Unicorn's review of two books exploring the phenomenon of young adult/adult crossover fiction.)

And this one isn't linkspam. Regarding some snide comments made by Richard Peck, Roger Sutton asks "What do you do when your favorite author turns out to be a puppy kicker?" it's really interesting that it was Richard Peck who provoked the question, because before I heard Richard Peck speak several years ago, I always would have said "Eh, whatever. I can distinguish the author from his or her works." But after this particular talk of Peck's, in which he revealed his immense loathing of modernity, teachers, adults, non-old-fashioned children, technology, and pretty much everything that departs from his romantic vision of early 20th century America, I discovered I could no longer read his books without seeing that loathing shaping every word. It's not that the author kicked puppies, it's that after I discovered his puppy-kicking tendencies I realized that all of his books were about how awesome it is to kick puppies.

I think that's why I can still read Orson Scott Card (at least the good stuff, which is the vast minority). Card himself is a master puppy kicker, but a fair number of his earlier books are actually about how people who kick puppies kind of suck, and puppies are going to grow to be dogs and isn't that awesome? On the other hand, I have a difficult time enjoying Spider Robinson anymore ever since I read an essay of his, realized that he idolized Robert Heinlein and Heinlein's screwed up gender politics, and then started seeing those screwed up gender politics in everything Robinson wrote.

Comments

[owlectomy]

That's very insightful about Richard Peck and Orson Scott Card. I never really understood what everyone loved about Peck, but maybe it's because I'm such a child of the 21st century that I get twitchy if I go two hours without checking my e-mail. It felt like he was laying on the nostalgia a bit too thick.

I never had a problem with Card's writing, despite my distaste for his beliefs, until I read John Kessel's article on Ender's Game which made me feel as if I'd seen a puppy being kicked and enjoyed it. I haven't been able to read Card since.

[deborah]

I love my email, but I also love canning and all of those other nostalgia issues, so Peck got me at first.

And that article makes me feel *dirty*.