February
05
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TACKLING DIVERSITY: ONE WRITER’S STORY by James Preller
Lately we’ve seen an increased call for diversity in children’s literature. And of course, that’s terrific. Who could possibly be against it?
However, saying so — posting a slogan, sharing a meme — is the easy part. But meaningful diversity goes deeper than the books themselves. Diversity in children’s literature applies to teachers, librarians, reviewers, bookstore owners, editors, sales directors, and, of course, readers. What books are we championing? What books are we ignoring? And, of course, who are “we” in the first place. Take a critical look at any large group shot of bloggers and do the math. This isn’t to fault the bloggers, but to point out that diversity is a challenge that takes place on many fronts. Moreover, we can’t forget that publishers are in the business to make money. Economic factors go into every book that’s published. Before a title goes to an editorial board for approval, somebody crunches numbers.
As an author, I’ve grappled with this issue since the 1980’s, back when “multiculturalism” was a trendy issue in publishing. I wrote catalogs during that time when we labeled any book “multicultural” if it included non-white characters. It was a sales strategy, a way of highlighting a certain kind of book for the consumer. You can view that as well-intentioned, or cynical, or an intractable combination of the two.
I’m an author and a white guy in his 50s. How can I meaningfully contribute beyond, you know, chatting it up on Facebook. “More diversity!” In my work, I’ve tried to address it. In the Jigsaw Jones series (40 books), for example, I introduced dozens of characters over the years, always guided by a general notion of cultural inclusiveness as a reflection of the faces I see on school visits around the country. I’ve always strived to do that in my books, while trying to avoid the prescribe, possibly well-meaning, but sometimes phony approach of, say: one African-American, one Hispanic, and, oh yeah, let’s include a kid in a wheelchair! You know exactly what I mean; it can come off as obvious pandering, completely false. It might achieve a superficial diversity, but it falls short of the mark.
Let’s be realistic. In early chapter books, secondary characters are rarely explored in depth. I’ve tried to make them come alive, quickly and vividly, because often they are walking out of the room by the following page. My solution — what has worked for me — has been to largely treat these characters as human beings. When it presents itself organically, I might delve deeper into a character’s background. Geetha Nair talks about how her family celebrates “the festival of lights” in a Jigsaw Jones book. I’ll admit that it’s a limited approach, but I hope that it’s something: the idea that a child can pick up the books and maybe, perchance, see something of herself reflected there. But it could be that a character’s appeal is not at all about his or her cultural background. A reader might admire Mila Yeh’s loyalty, or Ralphie Jordan’s sense of humor, or Jigsaw Jones’s dogged determination. Of course, in a longer book with more words, more time to dig deeper, a writer can and should (when appropriate to the story) go further into any character’s family life, interior thoughts, and experiences. In my YA novel, BEFORE YOU GO, Jude’s best friend, Corey, is black. Not because I felt it was politically correct to add a person of color to the story, but because 1) he was inspired by a friend of mine; and 2) the friendship told us something about the main character. Corey’s race is not a big issue in the story; it’s only addressed quietly, from the side. For instance: we first meet Corey when he visits Jude’s house. Together they climb up on his roof, a favorite vantage point and hanging-out spot.
Corey Masterson was a misfit in town. He was black in an overwhelmingly white community, and though it rarely ever came up in conversation — why talk about it? — Corey’s outsider status was a fact that could not be denied. Jude’s sense of alienation was different, harder for him to pinpoint, some inner feeling that he didn’t belong to this or any other tribe. Maybe that’s what bonded the two boys; they both watched from the fringes with a shared sense of unbelonging.
When it comes to these ever-increasing calls for diversity, I realize I’m limited by my experiences. Yet we all should be responsible, be thoughtful, and attempt to be at least a small part of the solution. I believe the core answer to diversity in children’s books goes back to the publishing industry. They must hire a cross-section of employees, not just in the mailroom, but in every facet of the company. The editors need to be open to new voices from different backgrounds, and that will occur most naturally if those same editors are as diverse as the books we hope to see them publish. And publishers must commit to taking a risk in the marketplace; though, again, it’s easy to sit back and tell businesses that they should lose money for the greater good. A more diverse readership will demand more diverse books.
Ezra Jack Keats did a great thing when he wrote The Snowy Day, and featured a black character in an urban setting. At the time, it was a groundbreaking event — a black kid in a children’s book! — as bizarre as that sounds today. But Keats’ story was not about that boy’s “blackness,” it was about a young soul’s joyful encounter with a snowy day, those cold flakes melting on the tongue. It was about being a kid and romping around, mittens wet, fingers freezing, exploring the frozen world. By highlighting the universality of that experience, Keats did us all a service. He connected us within the same world, regardless of skin color.
For the purpose of this piece, I quickly reviewed the characters in my six-book “Scary Tales” series, which I wrote over the past two years. I include “ethnic” — read: non-white — characters in every title, often as main protagonists. There’s Mitali Dristi, Marco Torres, Rosalee Serena Ruiz, Tiana and Malik Rice, Arnold Chang, Samantha Carver, and more. To date, I haven’t heard a single person comment about it one way or the other. Maybe nobody noticed. And maybe that’s a good thing; maybe it’s the best result possible. I don’t know.
I keep coming back to Martin Luther King’s advice to Nichelle Nichols, the actress who portrayed Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on “Star Trek” in a role that was widely recognized as a television breakthrough. Here was an African American woman in a position of authority. The story goes that Nichols was unhappy with the show, and had contemplated quitting after the first season. Then she met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
According to Nichols, King told her: “Don’t you realize how important your presence, your character is? This is not a black role or a female role. You have the first non-stereotypical role on television. You have broken ground… Here we are marching, and there you are projecting where we’re going. You cannot leave. Don’t you understand what you mean?”
In “Star Trek,” Lieutenant Uhura’s color wasn’t an issue. And yet it sent a powerful message. She belonged –- and, hey, she could speak Klingon, too.
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James Preller published his first book in 1986. He might be best known for the Jigsaw Jones mystery series. The central character in James Preller’s just completed novel, DEAD BUT CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC, is a black male in 7th grade named Adrian. Look for it in Fall, 2016, published by Feiwel & Friends, Macmillan. He has never once in his life been considered a “nerd,” though he remains an avid reader. He blogs at Jamespreller.com and, for kicks, keeps a baseball-centric blog, 2 Guys Talking Mets Baseball.
I truly think authors should try to include diverse casts of characters. I know that you think having a black, latino, Asian, and special needs secondary chracter comes across as superficial, but not to the reader of color. We crave that inclusion. You know who does the diversity cast very well but really doesn’t get notices for it? Rick Riordan! His Percy Jackson two series has a diverse cast of secondary characters that are robust, interesting and well developed characters. He’s not a person of color either.
It’s easy to say that I’m white and I can’t understand that point of view so don’t expect me to, but I think that is where publishers, authors and illustrators fall short. Make it your business to develop rich secondary characters that are authentic. Explore that world. Let it reflect the world in which you live.
Or even primary characters… I am always interested in how many (or how few) TV shows include ethnic actors who are there to play a person, just a person, as opposed to ‘they are there because the plot calls for an ethnic character’.
As the mother of two (adopted) black children in what is still largely a “white world”, I’ve found you article sums up admirably my worries, hopes, attempts for balancing quite a few things, and the fact that this “is” an issue; a few years ago I was at a supermarket with my elder son, and the salesman asked me; ‘is he bothering you’?. The look of embarrassment on his face when I explained the situation was somehow comforting but also rather worrying. Would it have been different, had he not been my son? And this wasn’t the first or last episode either. It’s a thorny issue but we have to keep in mind it ‘is’ an issue, whether we like it or not. And yet I think you’re right, the best way is probably to learn to “see” others as we reflect ourselves in aspects of their character, having nothing to do with their colour and, at the same time, without denying that we may be troubled by “differences” (almost everyone, I think, is troubled by some kind of difference, although it may be… different for each of us), but that there’s much that unites us as human beings.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. You’ve put into words some things I’ve been struggling to reconcile, including the big questions – “how can I help?” My biggest fear is that I might offend those I’m trying to include. Your idea about putting the story first, and not just sprinkling on a superficial cast, is appreciated.
Great column. This is a complicated issue. Diversity is a lot more than including characters of different races, although that is important, as the comments above attest. But it’s also differences of experiences and socioeconomic level, which is much more difficult to convey convincingly as an author if you have not experienced it yourself.
Just this morning I was waiting in line for the Post Office to open. The people around me were all talking about prison – one was sending a valentine to her godson who, she said, will be locked up for 50 years. The man behind her said he got out 2 years ago and was so glad to be working again for his own money, proud to have somewhere to go in the morning. Then they talked about how the federal system moves you around, but never near your family, how the system is becoming privatized (the woman marveled at the fact that you can now buy stock in a major private prison contractor), and who prisoners are building things for in their jailhouse factories. It was a fascinating discussion, and I was thinking how completely different these families’ experiences are from mine even though they live just a few blocks away from me. Then I thought, these families include lots of kids that have trouble finding books about their lives. But how to get authentic books about their experience out there?
And there is also a need for inclusive books that aren’t issue books, as you point out. The Snowy Day was my absolute favorite book for years. I grew up in a largely white, suburban community, and I didn’t even realize the characters were black and urban until years later. This is akin to accolades people give for books that are popular with boys even though the main character is a girl. It takes a great author to weave these characteristics in without the reader really noticing until later.
I’m currently in school as an English Education major with the goal of teaching middle and high school students some day. They’re actually requiring us to take a diversity class as part of the curriculum now. In every education class I have had, it’s just constant reiteration of how important it is for us to push for a multicultural classroom and curriculum. I had no idea that even in the 80’s it was something being pushed as well.
One of our projects in the diversity class was to create lesson plans based on a multicultural piece we would use in our class. I chose the graphic novel American Born Chinese, one of my favorites. Thanks for the post, great read.
Reblogged this on song 2 book and commented:
Nice take on secondary characters. To often they are just cast aside as page filler.
Here is another white writer’s perspective. In my debut YA novel Nowhere to Run, ALL of my characters are black, except the woman in the Coach store in Chapter 15 who falsely accuses the protagonist of shoplifting.
Why would a middle-aged white woman choose to write an inner-city novel about African American males? The thing is, when I started this book, I was teaching remedial writing at a community college in the suburbs of D.C. There was no majority race in my classroom. Almost half of my students were socio-economically disadvantaged, and most of these were young people of color. In one-to-one, after class conversations, I was privileged to learned details of lives that were challenging, often chaotic. But these kids were in college! No matter what they were up against, they were still trying to get it right. And that’s what I put into my novel. I wanted to write a book about my students, where they would recognize themselves on every page.
No one has ever challenged my decision to write this book. In fact, in the first few minutes of an Author Visit, when the kids are looking at me and digesting the fact that I am white, I usually say something about it myself, so they will know I am aware of some of the things they might be thinking. And then I ask them,”Is this something you want to talk about?” Their response has always been something like, “No! We want to talk about Calvin and Junior and Deej. We want to talk about the story.”
No great thoughts here. Just wanted you to know I really enjoyed reading your post. I think you nailed it!
“sometimes phony approach of, say: one African-American, one Hispanic, and, oh yeah, let’s include a kid in a wheelchair”. That’s “multi-cultural” advertising in a nutshell.
Well written article.
I agree mostly, but I do get a bit irritated by the ‘interchangeable’ approach, which is when the only thing that marks the character as non-white is that the author told you so. Nothing that happens to them, nothing that they say or do reflects their diversity. At that point it is just tokenism rather than real diversity.
I also get frustrated by the best friend syndrome, where the non straight/white character only ever gets to be a bit part in the main narrative. As soon as the main character is not straight or white, we assume the text is a minority interest story.
You’re a really good writer. I look forward to your next piece.
Many years ago, I introduced a fifth grade teacher to “Along Came Spider.” She read the book to her class that year, and the kids enjoyed it. The next year, however, she came to me and said, “You won’t believe this, but I have a student in my class who reminds me of the main character in ‘Along Came Spider.'” She again read it to the class but with a new lens. The student made all sorts of connections and had never really seen himself in books before. The fifth grade teacher continues to read this book every year because it inspires discussion about differences and how all different types of kids come together to form a community. Loved this post!