tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post6597935891866559697..comments2024-01-10T17:38:08.333-05:00Comments on Elizabeth Burns: All A-Twitter About Newbery DiversityLiz Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16671844475303001610noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-79955013551270425262009-01-07T18:35:00.000-05:002009-01-07T18:35:00.000-05:00Um, they're counting "Shadow of a Bull" as having ...Um, they're counting "Shadow of a Bull" as having the last Hispanic protagonist, but the character in that book in Spanish. Spanish and Hispanic are not the same thing. Seems to me like this study is inherently flawed in so many ways.Aliciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11924787493996339545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-14187386716304146092009-01-05T23:28:00.000-05:002009-01-05T23:28:00.000-05:00I have read Nisse's thesis and looked at his sprea...I have read Nisse's thesis and looked at his spreadsheet data and with all the omissions and errors it’s not very useful.<BR/>I do believe that the idea of analyzing the Newbery winners is a good one. Ms. Odean has already done a great job looking into Nisse's spreadsheet and making corrections for the titles from 1950-2007 and by seeking collaboration has complied a much more accurate list.<BR/>I have taken this idea a step further and created a google-docs spreadsheet with the aim of categorizing every medal and honor winning title. Right now the document only contains the author, title, year of publication and its award (medal or honor). I created columns for: original publisher, book type (ie. novel, picture book, poetry collection, short story collection), Genre, time period, as well as columns for the main character similar to what Nisse did. The document is a google spreadsheet so anyone with permission can contribute to it and the viewable document should update automatically.<BR/><BR/>Currently you can view the spreadsheet here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pJ5AyntHgOTl0Yo3zPsCgHw<BR/><BR/>If you would like to contribute information, add new columns, correct mistakes, etc, please email me at erccarp[at]gmail[dot]com<BR/>and I will add you to the list of editors. (you might need a google/gmail account to edit I’m not sure) The more editors the document has the more accurate it can potentially be.<BR/><BR/>I figured with enough minds working together, this living document could become a powerful analysis tool.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-2522329792548097172009-01-05T17:25:00.000-05:002009-01-05T17:25:00.000-05:00What if you group the protagonist not by white/bla...What if you group the protagonist not by white/black, but by culture?<BR/><BR/>For instance, you'd get Welsh for The HIgh King and Dutch for Wheel on the School and Brooklynite for It's Like This Cat, Peromyscus lucopus for Desperaux, etc...Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09492841891625994218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-91356230561596471952009-01-05T02:59:00.000-05:002009-01-05T02:59:00.000-05:00One thing on the easily-accessibleness of the titl...One thing on the easily-accessibleness of the titles: I'm a BYU grad, and the BYU Library has an amazing children's book section because the children's book writing department is so strong. So it's entirely plausible that the author of the study (note: a communications major, which isn't even in the humanities department and likely doesn't have contact with the children's literature people over in the English dept.) just went to the library, picked all the books he wanted off the shelf, and assumed they were readily available. He *might* have had to go as far as the Provo public library, which also has a pretty excellent collection.<BR/><BR/>So I wonder what his definition of "readily available" is. <BR/><BR/>Just overall, the whole thing seems an unfortunate amount of national media attention on a flawed master's thesis.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-7129289121440906562009-01-04T20:37:00.000-05:002009-01-04T20:37:00.000-05:00@ Keri: But Alexie didn't win the Printz that yea...@ Keri: But Alexie didn't win the Printz that year, either (or any of the honors).Carlie Webberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14230936425959957212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-7545434168742613782009-01-04T18:13:00.000-05:002009-01-04T18:13:00.000-05:00Liz,Kathy Odean (chair of the 2002 Newbery Committ...Liz,<BR/><BR/>Kathy Odean (chair of the 2002 Newbery Committee) is the child_lit person Suzi is referring to. She got the complete study from Nisse and is doing some serious spreadsheet work with it. I'm going to post what she comes up with in the next day or two.Monica Edingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03924540264341924291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-42255458149413169622009-01-04T17:25:00.000-05:002009-01-04T17:25:00.000-05:00I have to confess, too, that even though I agree m...I have to confess, too, that even though I agree more diversity in kidlit is a good thing, the single/ double parent thing is not really a reflection of real life here, or the authors writing. Having characters raised by aunts, wolves, or Wizards from Distinguished Schools is a pretty well-used construct in MG and YA, as it effectively shoves the main character into an independent, decision-making role that is not always possible with those pesky emotionally-rewarding parental relationships.Maggie Stiefvaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15842527558335640093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-51089489496556303672009-01-04T16:47:00.000-05:002009-01-04T16:47:00.000-05:00I corresponded a bit with the author of the study,...I corresponded a bit with the author of the study, but he didn't seem interested in responding to criticism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-43213081845191880502009-01-04T13:27:00.000-05:002009-01-04T13:27:00.000-05:00Liz, it would be great if you could get the woman ...Liz, it would be great if you could get the woman who posted to Child_Lit about Nisse's spreadsheets to comment here. I feel a little bad for the guy — I sure wouldn't want my MA thesis from 1997 subjected to this kind of scrutiny — but it's good to see where he went wrong in the counting. And speaking as a journalist, a bit defensively, there's only so much time in the day to pump out stories ... however, i think that perhaps *I* (and others who are clued into the children's lit communities) should be writing about awards etc., not someone who will sensationalize everything without understanding the complexities. (Or, um, checking with Child_Lit first.)Suzi Steffenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15376079397368218824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-38364666565112820742009-01-04T10:52:00.000-05:002009-01-04T10:52:00.000-05:00I completely agree that we need more diversity in ...I completely agree that we need more diversity in children's literature but that's not the fault of the Newbery. I do find it interesting that up until recently most of the middle grade/ya fiction with African-American characters were more literary (Walter Dean Myers, Jacqueline Woodson, Angela Johnson) and it's only now that we have the much needed Kimani Tru and things of that nature. If anything, what little fiction with diversity was published probably had a better than average shot at the literary awards.<BR/><BR/>Of course, I'd much rather have fifty books with diverse characters ranging from exceptional and literary to complete and utter trash than have one award winner, and I certainly know my teens at the library feel the same way. They avoid the award stickers like the plague.Kerihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01466651386803323573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-51557685827604984682009-01-04T09:50:00.000-05:002009-01-04T09:50:00.000-05:00My favorite quote from the article was the one tha...My favorite quote from the article was the one that named Sherman Alexie's Printz winning The Absolute True Diary of a Part-time Indian as a Newbery winner.<BR/><BR/>Way to do your research!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com