We Need Diverse Books

The cool kids over at We Need Diverse Books are running a fundraising campaign on indiegogo. They are planning to use the money raised to fund a variety of initiatives focused on providing kids of all ages greater access to diverse books. The planned projects include developing educational kits, bringing diverse authors to schools and starting a kidlit diversity festival. All of this sounds awesome, and I cannot wait to see what starts to roll out in the coming months. They're offering a bunch of sweet perks too if you need some instant gratification.

If you believe it's important that the books our kids have access to reflect the diversity of our world (and who doesn't), please consider backing this important campaign. 

Review: Pig Park

I confess. I'm a glutton. This book had me at the cover. That image of a delicious marranito? I can imagine the moist cake-like center, the smell of molasses. I love this cover. I want to eat this cover. 

Between those yummy covers is an equally delicious book. Pig Park (Cinco Puntos Press, 2014) is Claudia Guadalupe Martinez's second novel following her 2011 debut, The Smell of Old Lady Perfume, also published by Cinco Puntos. Masi Burciaga's Chicago neighborhood has become a virtual ghost town since the American Lard Company packed up and moved its business overseas. The lard company was such a central part of the area's economy and livelihood that the neighborhood park got the name Pig Park because of it. When Jorge Peregrino, the one person in the neighborhood who seems to still be doing well for himself, comes to the people of Pig Park with what sounds like a far-out idea to keep the neighborhood alive--building a pyramid that will attract tourist--Masi and her friend jump on board to help. Masi figures even if they can't save the neighborhood she can at least spend her last summer outdoors hanging out with her friends instead of working in the stifling heat of her family's bakery. 

I admit, at first I was like huh? Wait, what's going on here? How is no one skeptical of this pyramid idea? What are you Pig Park people doing?! But everything falls into place as you read your way through Masi's story. As the plan unfolds the reader can't help asking a number of timely and relevant questions. What causes neighborhoods to decline? How can declining neighborhoods be revitalized? What happens to local economies when large companies move overseas? Early in the novel the story of "The Devil and Daniel Webster" is referenced, and the novel tackles that age-old question of how far, how much, what exactly would you do for something that matters to you? The Pig Park residents are faced with two significant issues. How far are they willing to go to save their home, and how important is it to maintain the cultural integrity of their neighborhood?

But it's not all about the struggle to revive a neighborhood. An attractive and mysterious young college student blows into town to help the residents with their revitalization plans, and Masi can't help being drawn to him. On the home front, Masi struggles to understand the growing tension in the relationship between her parents. This storyline ties in nicely with the neighborhood revitalization plot as it also addresses the importance of being able to change and evolve in order to survive.

This would be a great book to tie in with social studies units on neighborhood studies, learning about how outsourcing affects cities, and community activism. I love Claudia's use of simile and especially enjoyed the very detailed scene in which a few of the teens make capirotada. Mmm mmm. 

Thanks for Playing!

Lesson learned after this first giveaway: ask for email addresses to be left in comments. Ladies who won the posters, please claim them by the end of this coming week (Sunday, August 25). Otherwise, they'll be up for grabs again. Thank you!

I had the young man of the house pick out three names from a bowl this morning. Congratulations to Karina, Stacey and Sally! Please send your email address in a comment, and I'll be in touch. Thanks to everyone who left a comment. I wish I could send a poster to each of you!

Fwap! Pura Belpré Poster Giveaway!

Oh lookee! There's the front of the program I neglected to post an image of last time around. Isn't that a beautiful portrait of la Señora Belpré created by Yuyi Morales? This would look amazing in your library, classroom, living room, etc. I have about two, maybe three, extra program / posters to give away. If you're interested in being entered in a drawing leave a comment below. Have a favorite picture book or novel featuring a Latino protagonist? Doing some fun stuff in your classroom or library with Latino children's books? Just want to say howdy? Drop me a comment. Let's see, we'll wrap this up by Wednesday of next week. Cool? Cool.

2014 Pura Belpré Award Celebración

Dang, blogging is hard work, people! I'm so embarrassed. Posting about an event a month later is a total social media faux pas, I'm sure. By now the ALA Annual Conference and the 2014 Pura Belpré Celebración are but shiny little memories tucked away in my nostalgic heart. They say it's better late than never, right? Is that true? It's still summer though. I have that going for me.

Little tokens for the winners and attendees at the Pura Belpré Celebración. I hope you got yours!

The Celebración was in Caesars Palace! I'm sorry. Totally not professional, but the statues!

This year's program, designed by the winning illustrator, folds out into a poster. Whuuuut? The other side features the program itself and a portrait of Pura Belpré created by Yuyi Morales. 

(L-R) Happiness! Pura Belpré winners Meg Medina, Matt de la Peña, Margarita Engle and Yuyi Morales!

The fantastic José Luis Orozco leading the audience in singing "Cielito Lindo" (and later, "De Colores"). I love everything about the celebración, but singing these songs from my childhood is always so much fun. 

The legend! Oralia Garza de Cortés speaking on the significance of the Pura Belpré Award. I hope I'm not misquoting Oralia, but I love her description of the creation of these awards coming from a place of "grief." 

These ladies make it happen. From left to right: Lucia Gonzalez and Ana-Elba Pavon, Co-Chairs of CAYASC / REFORMA; Isabel Espinal, REFORMA Past President; Starr Latronica, ALSC Past President

L-to-R: Los ganadores! The winners! Meg Medina, Matt de la Peña, Margarita Engle, Yuyi Morales, Rafael Lopez, Angela Dominguez. Duncan Tonatiuh is in there between Yuyi and Rafael. He keeps a low profile. All gave wonderful, touching and inspiring speeches. You can read Meg's and Yuyi's speeches on the ALSC Book & Media Awards page. Really proud of this group of amazing writers and artists.

Dancers from Grupo Infantil del Ballet Folklorico Izel. These kids have moves.

Meg and Yuyi signing after the Belpré celebracion. 2014 Pura Belpré Award Committee member Maria X. Peterson is over on the right lending a hand. Hardest working committee in book award business, folks!

Angela Dominguez exudes a glow in the exhibit hall. Okay, maybe it was the exhibit hall lights shining on the cover of the book combined with my bad photography. Still, angelic as she signs copies of her 2014 Belpré Honor Maria Had A Little Llama / María Tenía Una Llamíta post-award ceremony.

It was an honor to be a part of this year's celebration, and now that I have put this much-delayed post to rest, I think I can move on with my life. Whew!

Selected Resources for Latino Children's and YA Books

I compiled the information below for a guest lecture I'm doing in a YA literature and resources class. This is obviously not an all-inclusive list of resources. I listed some of the articles / news stories that have come out recently that seem to have fueled the momentum in the movement for greater diversity in books for children and young adults. The great thing? There's so much discussion of the topic taking place online these days that it's almost hard to keep up!

Articles / Blogs / Websites

• "The Apartheid of Children's Literature" (Christopher Myers, The New York Times, Mar. 15, 2014)
• "Where Are the People of Color in Children's Books" (Walter Dean Myers, The New York Times, Mar. 15, 2014)
• "As Demographics Shift, Kids Books Stay Stubbornly White" (Elizabeth Blair, Code Switch / NPR, June 25, 2013)
• "Children's Books: Still an All-White World?" (K. T. Horning, School Library Journal, May 1, 2014)
• "The Publishing Perspective on Diversity" (Andrea Pinkney, School Library Journal, May 1, 2014)
• "Should White People Write About People of Color?" (Malinda Lo, Author Blog, April 24, 2014)
• A Cheat-Sheet for Selling Diversity (Grace Lin, Author Blog, May 28, 2014)
• The Open Book
• We Need Diverse Books
• REFORMA's Children and Young Adult Services*
• Diversity in YA*
• Rich in Color*
• Rich in Color Tumblr         

Publishers

• Cinco Puntos Press
• Lee & Low
• Piñata Books

Awards

• The Pura Belpré Award
• Tómas Rivera Book Award
• Américas Book Award

Conferences

• National Latino Children’s Literature Conference
• Virginia Hamilton Conference

Statistics

• Children’s Books By and About People of Color Published in the U.S. (Cooperative Children's Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
• When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics and Their View of Identity (Pew Hispanic)

One Book, One Barrio!

La Casa Azul Bookstore in NYC is hosting the first ever One Book, One Barrio reading campaign! The 2013 Pura Belpré Award honor book The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano has been selected as the first book to be read as part of the campaign.  If you are in the New York City area, there are a number of upcoming events you can attend. If you aren't, how about finding a copy of the book in your local library or independent bookstore and reading it in solidarity? Here's a good opportunity to check on how diverse these resources are in your area and to encourage them to promote and support more diverse offerings. The campaign goes through the fall, so if you're a teacher or librarian perhaps consider a unit, program or book discussion focusing on the book.

Save The Date!

This! We hope to see a big turn out to celebrate and support this years Pura Belpré winning authors and illustrators. It's going to be a lot of fun!

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

Did you hear about the #WeNeedDiverseBooks compaign happening through Saturday? Check it out over on Facebook! Why do you think we need more diverse books?

#WeNeedDiverseBooks because no one should be half way through college before they recognize their lives and experiences in a book. Also, because more diverse books means less copies of The Help to diversify your collection. Um, exactly how many copies of The Help do we need in our library?

Post script to yesterday's entry

Roger Sutton pointed out that several African-American men have won Caldecott honors. I unintentionally neglected to include these in my round-up of non-white authors and illustrators who have been awarded Caldecott or Newbery honors. 

Sure enough, a look through the list shows that in addition to the medals awarded to Jerry Pinkney and Leo Dillon who, with his wife Diane, was awarded the medal twice, Caldecott honors have gone to African-American artists nineteen times (I think that's about right). These nineteen honors were awarded to nine artists (five to Jerry Pinkney). All men. 

So here's another question. Where are all the female African-American artists?

On a different note, someone linked to my "Why Are they Always White Children" post on her(?) tumblr page. She mentioned that she is just a few years out of library school, pretty new to children's librarianship and only recently learned about the Belpré and CSK awards. Add library schools to the list of groups that need to step up. Given that the likelihood the profession will become significantly diverse in the future is a slim one, white library school students need to learn about multicultural literature and need to learn how to talk about race. 

I remember being in a multicultural children's literature class and it was the one class where discussions rarely lasted long or went anywhere. I think it's because a lot of (most?) white people are uncomfortable talking about race and ethnicity. I'm using the word "race" but mean anyone who is not white of European descent. Better to remain silent than to say the wrong thing? Or maybe there just isn't enough knowledge, experience or interest to create an environment where real conversations about this topic occur? Perhaps some folks do believe we are a "post-racial" society, and that we don't really need to talk about racial and cultural differences. It is uncomfortable to talk about race, but the alternative is to continue ignoring its importance and doing a disservice to the populations we work with.

You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

I don't know if that's the best title for this entry, but I like it. Howard Zinn said you can't be neutral on a moving train. I'm thinking about neutrality and award committees. I'll take credit for the Caldecott pun that exists in there somewhere (you know, train, Locomotive). Anyway, this past week the Horn Book Magazine posted a short online article about the Caldecott results, speculating as to why a particular book was not honored at all and inviting others to post their theories in the comments section. The people went off! The people are up in arms about Mr. Tiger's Caldecott snub. Well, I want to vent my outrage too.

The Caldecott and the Newbery each honored four books. One medalist and three honors per award. Not one of those eight books is by or about a person of color. If I'm wrong (and I've been known to be wrong), please call me out. I'm going to drag the Printz Award in here too. I'm doing this for several reasons: (1) Two of this year's Pura Belpré Award honors went to books that fall in that fuzzy age overlap area shared by ALSC and YALSA. (2) The Printz, like the Newbery and Caldecott, also gave four honors. Not one to an author of color or to a book about a protagonist of color. (3) The people (librarians) love them some Printz (just like they love them some Newbery and Caldecott).

Twelve books. None by or about people of color (sidenote: what other term can I use for us besides "poc"? Anyone?) I’m not saying there’s a deliberate conspiracy going on. I mean, obviously there isn't. Books by and about Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, American Indians and anyone else who is not white (or a zombie / dragon / paranormal hybrid of some sort) are so far off the radar of most librarians and publishers and booksellers and educators they don't even warrant conspiring against. 

What goes on in these award committee meetings is top secret. None of us will ever know what went on in the decision-making process so it's easy to speculate. Why aren't artists and writers of color recognized by the Newbery, the Caldecott or the Printz? It's the age-old question. Every year we knock our heads against the wall and bemoan this injustice only to be poo-pooed or to be pretty much ignored. Only two African-Americans (Leo Dillon and Jerry Pinkney) and one Latino (David Diaz) have ever won a Caldecott honor (all three won the medal) in its seventy-six year history. Of these three, only the work of Leo (and his wife, Diane) Dillon had a specific cultural focus. Only one Latina (Margarita Engle) has ever been honored with a Newbery (an honor for The Surrender Tree) in ninety-two years! African-American authors have been recognized about thirteen times, but this number includes both honors and medalists (three) and about half of that number went to works by two authors (Virginia Hamilton and Christopher Paul Curtis). The Printz doesn't have as long a history but is moving in a similar direction.

What does this say? This says to everyone that in the history of these awards that honor the most distinguished in books for children and young adults, only a handful of us have been worthy. When I think about all the amazing Latino illustrators and authors whose books I've read, this just makes me sad. And angry! For neither Niño Wrestles the World nor Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass to have gotten some mention by one of these three awards just seems wrong. I wonder if the Coretta Scott King folks feel as put upon.

It's a lot of pressure on the committee members who take on the responsibility of determining which books are most distinguished. But let's not kid ourselves about a neutrality that exists in this decision-making process. The members of these committees are all humans formed of biases, interests, dislikes, areas of expertise, life experiences. We drag these things around with us in everything we do. To think that we can put on glasses that make us view things in a totally neutral manner is unrealistic. The continued lack of diversity in the selections made by these committees isn't something we can or should ignore. It matters that we talk about it. It matters that white librarians, publishers, booksellers and educators know that we expect more from them.

The Caldecott, Newbery and Printz probably get the most media play of any of the youth media awards. They, along with the Margaret A. Edwards Award, were the only three mentioned in the New York Time's coverage. If you are sitting in the convention center the morning of the youth media award announcements you can hear it. The power and popularity of these three awards among the librarians that fill the room is palpable. These awards mean something to a lot of people. Yes, they're just awards, and no, they aren't just awards. 

The question often comes up in these discussions about diversity and awards about the function of awards like the Belpré and the CSK. Some would even suggest that their existence is what keeps books by and about these groups maginalized. The existence of these awards should certainly not make books that fit their criteria left out of consideration for the Newbery or the Caldecott, of course. They serve a different function--to continue to recognize and celebrate our cultures. The fact that they do it when no one else will is a bonus. Or maybe it's the other way around? It would be great if we could do an experiment where these awards aren't given for X number of years, and then see if during that period we see a difference in the number of books by or about people of color that are recognized. I have a sneaking suspicion we wouldn't.

I wonder if one of the issues is that librarians, booksellers and publishers (okay, white librarians, booksellers and publishers) can't get past the cultural element in books about Latinos (or any other non-white group) in order to find the universal message. Is it that they view the only audience for these books as being Latinos? Do they have a difficult time conceiving of a readership for these books that wouldn't see them as just books about Latinos? Does this readership not exist because these books are marketed (by bookstores and in libraries) as books about Latinos, only to be featured during Hispanic Heritage Month? Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

Head over to the Cooperative Children's Book Center listserv where there's a great conversation about multicultural literature going on this month. Also, check out Meg Medina's blog where the Pura Belpré Award winner wrote about this topic as well.

Pura Belpré Award Winners!

The announcements we've all been waiting for! 'Bout to fall out of my chair with excitement!

Niño! Niño! Niño!

Angela Dominguez's honor winning book Maria Had A Little Llama!

2014 Pura Belpré Committee Chair, Ruth Tobar, places the medal sticker on Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass while Sharon Hancock of Candlewick Press looks on.

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass shares the spotlight with another award winner. ;)

Tito!

Double honor winner, Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote by Duncan Tonatiuh!

Margarita Engle's beautiful honor winner, The Lightning Dreamer!

¡Ay caramba! I neglected to photograph Matt de la Peña's honor winning book The Living while in the exhibit hall. In its place I give you the announcement screen. Lots of hootin' and hollering' for this one!

"Why are they always white children?"

Many of you will recognize the title as the question asked by a five-year-old Black child at the beginning of Nancy Larrick's 1965 article, “The All-White World of Children’s Books.” While Larrick addressed other populations, she wrote her article primarily about the state of publishing for Black children. The term “Hispanic” hadn’t come on the scene yet, much less the word “Latino.”¹ In 1965, we were all still thought of as “Spanish.” Perhaps at times we were lumped into the categories of Puerto Rican or Mexican, depending on where in the country you lived and which cultural group non-Latinos were exposed to. The U.S. Census didn’t even recognize us, making no real concerted effort at keeping statistics on Hispanics until 1980.

According the 2012 Census Population Estimates, there are 53 million Hispanics in the United States. This is 17% of the nation’s total population. Hispanics made up almost half of the entire population growth in the U.S. between July 2011 and July 2012. As of 2009, there were 16 million Hispanic children in the United States. That’s 22%, almost a quarter, of all children in the U.S.² Last June, in light of these numbers, NPR aired a story titled “As Demographics Shift, Kids' Books Stay Stubbornly White."

I can do easy math. That’s forty-eight years between these two stories. We have to imagine that the demographics have changed significantly in the time period between these two stories, right? Yet, in forty-eight years not a whole lot has changed. It’s like deja vu all over again. Same story, different title. Do Latinos even make up 17% of the characters in children’s books? In any books published in the United States, period? How can we be millions and growing and be practically invisible in all forms of media, including books?

This past year I had the opportunity to serve on the 2014 Pura Belpré Award Committee. To say that it was the greatest honor of my professional career and up there with the most rewarding experiences of my life is an understatement. I can’t express how much the entire experience meant to me. To honor writers and illustrators who are putting our faces, our kids, into books is special. Books matter. Rudine Sims Bishop³ said it best when she compared the experience of reading to looking through a window, stepping through a sliding glass door or looking into a mirror. We look to books to take us to new places, to meet new people, to have new experiences. Yes. But we also look to books to find ourselves. To see yourself, your life experience, a face or name like yours in a book means something. I’m an adult who didn’t experience this as a child, and I still get goosebumps when I see a character that resembles me in a book. It legitimizes your place wherever you are. If you don’t understand this, if you can’t empathize with someone’s need for this sense of recognition, it’s because you have the privilege to not understand or care. 

This issue isn’t just about us and our children, it’s about you and your children too. As Professor Bishop wrote, “Children from dominant social groups have always found their mirrors in books, but they, too, have suffered from the lack of availability of books about others. They need the books as windows into reality, not just on imaginary worlds. They need books that will help them understand the multicultural nature of the world we live in, and their place as a member of just one group, as well as their connections to all other humans.”⁴ Despite the diversity of the United States there are many pockets of this country in which populations continue to be segregated with little exposure to anyone not of their own racial or cultural background. Children living in one of the most diverse countries in the world need to be exposed to people who are not like them. Otherwise they grow up to be the kind of person that freaks out when Coca Cola airs a commercial during the Super Bowl in which “America the Beautiful” is sung in languages other than English.⁵ ¡Qué horror!

Lest you think I’m exaggerating about the lack of children’s books by and about Latinos (after all, Dora the Explorer is still all over the place, right) consider this. Last year, Lee and Low, publishers of multicultural books for children and young adults, created an infographic using publishing information gathered by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the University of Wisconsin’s School of Education.⁶ In the image we see eighteen years of children’s books by and / or about people of color.⁷ Sometimes it takes a picture to really break it down for you. That’s what this image does. They might as well have created it using a cardiac monitor. It looks like the publishing of children’s books by and about Latinos has flat-lined. Dead. Ten percent of children’s books published since 1994 contain “multicultural content.” This doesn’t even tell us what percentage of that (1) contained content about Latinos, (2) contained accurate content about Latinos, or (3) if the Latino content was a significant part of a book.

So, the questions remain, how do we change this? What can we do? Obviously, it’s a problem that is multifaceted and larger than any one person or group. There are two big issues we face: (1) How do we increase the number of children’s books by and about Latinos in publication and circulation? (2) How do we give more exposure to the many wonderful books that exist? I’m going to attempt to address as many players as possible here. Come on, people! It takes a village to help Latino children’s books come to life and thrive!

Publishers: If you have a book by a Latino in your catalog and you are attending the biggest librarian conference in all the land, bring copies and come ready to sell it. Sell it like you would the next great dystopian YA novel. You know, the one you brought boxes of? Also, if you have one Latino author or illustrator (because that’s about all most publishers have) chances are good that the title will be considered for the Pura Belpré Award. If that’s the case, then come to Midwinter prepared. Have your Belpré medal stickers...just in case! Have copies of the book to display and to sell. Be ready and willing to celebrate that book if it happens to win a Belpré just as you would if you had a Newbery or Caldecott winner. The Belpré Award is just as significant an honor. Don’t let it fall off your radar! Send books that meet the criteria to the committee for consideration! Keep our award-winners in print!

On a different note, when Latino writers and illustrators submit manuscripts for publication consideration and they don’t stand up to your requirements, needs, tastes, please take the time to tell them why not. I know this is a lot to ask of a company that has a handful of editors and receives hundreds (thousands?) of manuscripts a year, but if you recognize the need for more accurate multicultural books and you care about being an ally, an occasional response would be helpful. When you do publish books that feature Latinos, please publish books that are accurate and well-written, that don't stereotype and that show the great diversity of our cultures.

Education administrators and policy makers: Please don’t kill our school libraries! Our children, all of our children, need them. For some children, the school library is their only exposure to libraries. We are not all fortunate enough to grow up in a household in which reading and books are celebrated and encouraged. We need our school librarians. Also, if we’re going to live and die by the Common Core, make it inclusive of literature by and about many different cultures and racial groups.

Librarians: Librarianship is still predominantly a white female profession. We don’t expect you to necessarily understand our experiences. However, as proponents of the freedom to read and of diverse views, we do expect you to open your mind. Push beyond your comfort zone and your scope of knowledge and experience. Seek out and promote books that recognize all of us. Analyze books for accuracy and, when needed, seek out the help of individuals who are knowledgeable of ethnic and racial groups so that you are promoting the best the publishing world has to offer. Promote books about children of all racial and ethnic groups year-round, not just on the designated celebratory “month.”⁸

Teachers of art and writing: Promote writing and illustrating for children’s books as a career possibility to your Latino students. It might not ever dawn on them that this is an option. Put it out there so that we can begin to cultivate a new generation of writers and illustrators.

Latino writers and illustrators: Write what you know, but also stay connected to the interests and needs of children today. We need more books about all kinds of topics, about Latino kids living all kinds of experiences.

The New York Times and other media: Follow up. While we appreciate the occasional story on the lack of diverse children's books, we need more than that. If you write a story about the dearth of children’s books by and about Latinos⁹ don’t then completely neglect to mention the Belpré Award winners in an article about the Newbery Award, an article in which you only mention three other ALA Youth Media Awards, none of them being those that celebrate diversity.¹⁰ This year the Pura Belpré Award committee honored seven books written by and about Latinos. That's seven books to review and promote! Seven authors and illustrators to interview and feature in your pages!

Look at any newspaper or online news Website these days and it seems that the more diverse our society becomes, the more we pedal backwards in our acceptance of differences. We cling to our uninformed beliefs about people. We view anyone we don’t have contact with or knowledge of beyond distorted media representations as not being real. Just look at the controversy over racist mascots. Is this the kind of future we want our children to grow up into? 

If the emotional appeal doesn’t work, then how about more statistics? People like statistics. Statistics offer concrete proof and support for arguments. They tell us where to put our money, how to invest, who to woo. How’s this for a statistic: The Census projects that by 2060 there will be 128.8 million Hispanics in the United States. This group will make up 31% of the total population. That’s about a third of the population. We’ll be in your schools and in your neighborhoods even more than we are now. We’ll be in parts of this country no one ever imagined Latinos would be found. And, for those who worship the almighty dollar, we’ll be a third of your consumer power.

---

^{1. ["Hispanic" was the term used in the 1980 and 1990 Census. "Latino" was introduced with the 2000 Census.]↩ 2. [Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau's Profile America Facts for Features: Hispanic Heritage Month 2013]↩ 3. [I was sitting two rows behind her at the ALA Youth Media Awards announcements, and when she stood up when the Coretta Scott King Awards Committee was recognized I almost freaked out like a big nerd.]↩ 4. [Bishop, Rudine Sims. "Multicultural Literacy: Mirrors, Window, and Sliding Glass Doors." First published in 1990.]↩ 5. ["Coca-Cola 'America the Beautiful' Super Bowl Ad Celebrate Diversity, Twitter Racists Explode."]↩ 6. ["The Diversity Gap in Children's Books, 18 years."]↩ 7. [I know, I know. Some of us don't like to be referred to as "people of color."]↩ 8. [September 15 - October 15? What is this? We don't even warrant an actual month?]↩ 9. [Rich, Motoko. "For Young Latino Readers, an Image Is Missing." The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2012.]↩ 10. [Bosman, Julie. "Take of Magical Squirrel Takes Newbery Medal." The New York Times, 27 Jan. 2014.]↩}