Title: Getting Diverse Books into the Hands of Teen Readers: How Do We Do It?
Abstract: One statement I've often heard in conversation about diversity in teen literature is that people don't to shove books featuring characters of color (or other marginalized characters) at young readers with idea that those books are for them. In fact, I recently presented at a conference where one librarian said that most teens come into her library not looking for books about diverse experiences. She said most teens books like Twilight, Gossip Girl, or whatever latest big hit may be, and she asked how she could get more diverse books into hands of these teens--often teens who might benefit most from such books. I mulled over her words for weeks after conference because she was right. No one wants to be told, here, read this--it's good for you, like, eat your spinach, it'll make you healthy. Reading books featuring people of color, LGBTQ protagonists, differently abled or sized main characters, or other marginalized voices should not be something anyone should be made to feel they bare to do--whether out of a sense of obligation, duty, or guilt. Books about marginalized teens are not medicine or antidotes, and I don't blame young people, or adults, for that matter, for having an aversion to books presented in this way. So I thought back to young reader that I was in my teen years. Yes, I wanted all hyped books--the ones everyone was reading (which, at time, were books such as Judy Blume's Forever and Paul Zindel's My Darling, My Hamburger). And although those books showed me a lot about culture I was then immersed in and taught me more about real life than adults around me were willing to talk about, there was more I needed to know. There were gaping chasms in information available to me and no one was coveting them. Even I did not know what was missing until it was placed in my hands. It may be tempting to take requests of young people at face value and simply them what they want. But statements like that remind me of slogans such as consumer what they want and the customer is always right--retail catchphrases that are more about making sales and moving quantity. As educators and youth advocates, I see our role as a different one than meeting demands of a market, particularly when that market is young readers. I don't mean to belittle teens today. Every single young adult I've met has been amazingly astute, aware, and savvy, and some are far wiser than many adults. Yet we, adults who serve and advocate on behalf of teens, have benefit of experience and hindsight. If all of my teachers and counselors and youth service providers when I was a teen had done what was easy and given me only what I wanted, I most likely would not be here right now. Because what I wanted then was to be with young men who were prone to violence and addiction. What I thought I wanted was to be skinny like models in magazines and films and on television. What I wanted was to find some sort of product, abrasive, or surgery that would lighten my skin so I could pass for white. My teenage years were a crossroad. They were point where I learned contradictions between what I had been told and what was. My eyes were beginning to open to various levels of power and privilege in world, and I was trying to make sense out of it all. There was a clanging rage inside that wanted expression, but there were no words to give it form, no possibilities or options created for me to choose from besides what mainstream depictions had to offer. And that was not enough. But I was lucky. I found caring teachers, librarians, and youth counselors who were able to steer me toward new paths--toward depictions of girls like me--lonely, isolated, silent--who were able to find their way, and who were able to learn to love themselves despite everything around them telling them they were not valuable or wanted. …
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-03-22
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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