This year, I’m joining Doret@HappyNappyBookseller and Vasilly@1330V to host a book event for the National African American Read-In sponsored by the Black Caucus of the NCTE and the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English). We’ll be reading a book for the month of February and discussing it online. To decide the book, the three of us selected six books for participants from which the book we read will be selected.

Good Fortune by Noni Carter
Fences by August Wilson
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines
Topdog/Underdog by Suzi Lori Parks
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Pull by B.A. Binns

The poll is on Vasilly’s blog. The title selected will be announced on Monday 30 January. The Read-In will begin on 22 February and discussions will be held throughout the week on each of our three blogs.

I hope you’re able to choose just one!

The NAACP Image Award  nominees were announced today. Justin Torres is mentioned for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author. Lyah LeFlore crossed over from YA to co-write a  book in this category. Tayari Jones is nominated for Outstanding Literary Work Fiction for Silver Sparrow, which is often noted for its YA crossover appeal. Reshonda Tate Billingsley, former YA Christian fiction author also was nomimated in this category.

And then there are the Youth Teen Winners. It’s a rather disappointing list that the list throws so many middle grade fiction and nonfiction books into one category of winners. While in other categories, the NAACP is able to embrace the concept of being an organization for people of color by incorporating Latino authors, they don’t in this category. Nominees here are

Camo Girl by Kekla Magoon (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing – Aladdin)

Eliza’s Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary by Jerdine Nolan /Author, Shadra Strickland/Illustrator (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing – Paula Wiseman Books);

Jesse Owens: I Always Loved Running by Jeff Burlingame (Enslow Publishers, Inc.)

Kick by Walter Dean Myers AND ROSS WORKMAN(HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Planet Middle School by Nikki Grimes (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)

One final thought on these awards. Just a thought, mind you. In my opinion, if the NAACP wants to be seen as a player in the literary world, they have to do more than just give awards. They really ought to address the lack of diversity in the publishing industry, the need for a greater availability for books for all people of color to read and the importance of diversifying hiring throughout the industry. They, more than authors, bloggers or readers, have the clout to really make a difference.

Librarians in Arizona have stepped up to make a difference. Debbie Reese (@debreese) recently tweeted the Porgressive Libarian’s Guild’s Statement on Censorship and the Tucson Unified School District.

 Regarding the political aspects of this situation, A.R.S. §15-112 was signed into law in the spring of 2010 on the heels of the state’s anti-immigration law, considered by many to be racist and neocolonial.  The law is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.  PLG considers A.R.S. §15-112 to have arisen from a climate of racist sentiment among lawmakers in the State of Arizona.  This sentiment has been promoted by Judge Kowal in his siding with Department of Education expert witnesses against TUSD and MAS, which placed TUSD “between a rock and a hard place” – either suspend MAS or lose state funding for the entire school district.  Given the budgetary problems facing school districts across the nation, TUSD’s decision to sacrifice MAS over funding is understandable, but unacceptable.

 TUSD is aware its MAS program did not teach “racial resentment” but historical literacy. It is also is aware there is absolutely nothing in the MAS curriculum that affronts civic values or clashes with classes that teach “ethnic solidarity.”  In the face of absurd, draconian laws, the only ethical position to take is one of complete opposition.  Today’s capitulation to A.R.S. §15-112 will be tomorrow’s capitulation to the next absurd, racist law enacted by the Arizona legislature.  The law should be abolished.

 The Progressive Librarians Guild opposes the actions of all officials in the State of Arizona responsible for the passage, enforcement, and/or compliance with A.R.S. §15-112.

 OPPOSED!

Are you on Twitter? I really enjoy losing hours on Twitter. I get so much information there, way more than my blogroll these days which I avoid like crazy to limit my time online. A few of the people I love to follow:

@kishizuka Technology Editor, School Library Journal, mother, second best cook in the house http://www.slj.com

@librarycourtney academic librarian (info lit, advising, technology, diversity), ALA, military brat, social butterfly, NFL fan, shopping, the total package http://librarycourtney.blogspot.com/

 @pammoran as an educator I’m for 21st c community learning spaces for all kinds of learners, both adults and young people; comments reflect my personal point of view. http://spacesforlearning.wordpress.com/

@freduagyeman Poet. Writer. Reader. Promotes African Literature. Agricultural Economist.Accra http://freduagyeman.blogspot.com/

@tonnet  Education, Translation, Math, Physics, Technology, Social Media, Blogging. http://www.educationandtech.com/

I’m not a real fan of blog posts that list favorite tweets. Retweet it on Twitter, I think! Nonetheless I have one, just one tweet to share this week.

RT @srharris19 ALA problem with diversity… Everybody on the dais for the Executive Board/Council meeting is white. #alamw12

That says it all, my friends. Shall we keep an eye on the ALA?

For 20 years Kiva has been serving the poor in the Phillippines.

For 20 years Candlewick has been publishing books.

20 years ago I was just finishing work on my Teacher Certification. My children were 9,8, and 6 years old.  I was doing word processing on an Atari computer and knew absolutely nothing about the Internet. A lot has changed in those 20 years!

Embrace your week with tenderness.

"Another innovative work by an author constantly stretching the boundaries of what fiction can be, and a natural for readers’ theater in the classroom." ~Kirkus Review

title: Riot

author: Walter Dean Myers

date: Egmont; 2009

main character: Claire Johnson

In developing the history of this book, Myers states that the first Africans came to America as slaves in 1619. I have to correct this statement and please know that in doing so, I’m not discrediting Myers further historic details. I have not studied the New York Draft Riots and from reading the book, I believe the author did extensive research on this event.

To say the first Africans came as slaves in 1619 is a rather common misstatement. The first Africans came to the New World with the Spanish and Portuguese as explorers. They traveled with Columbus, Balboa and other explorers of the day. Free Blacks helped establish St. Augustine, FL in 1565 and were present in cities established by the Spanish throughout the Southwest. Africans were sold as indentured servants in Jamestown in 1619, just as poor Europeans were, with all expecting to buy their own freedom. It’s the racist mutation to enslaving the Africans as human chattel that changed everything and led to the events Myers describes in Riot.

In this book, written in screenplay form, Myers focuses on a mixed raced family to encapsulate the horrors of the Draft Riots. Irish were upset that they were being forced/drafted to fight in what they saw as a war that would free southern Blacks to compete with them for jobs. Wealthy Northerners could buy their way out of the war and most of the Irish were not wealthy. At the same time, conditions existed in large Northern cities that brought Irish and Blacks into close proximity, creating strong friendships and even marriages. ­­­­­­

John, a Black man, is married to Ellen, a White woman and their daughter, Claire who is light enough to be identified as White. The riots bring racism to Claire’s attention (who embodies the sentiment of society) to the forefront as never before. Why can’t she just be herself and not be Black Clair, she wonders. Myers takes us into the streets where we dwell in the fear, compassion, hatred and desperation of the characters.

I didn’t want to like the story because of it’s formatting. The book is written in screenplay form, as Monster was. These form can be quite limiting when developing a book but Myers is such a good writer! His dialogs did a wonderful job of taking me back to that era. I particularly liked when Walt Whitman appeared in the story.

I would pair this book with

A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott

Pinky