In recent weeks, there has been a lot talk about the lack of diversity in children’s literature. Then the recent BEA BookCon nonsense in which an all-white male panel of “luminaries” in children’s literature was announced and the outrage was evident very quickly.
Yesterday, my students and I discussed the power of words and the effects our choice of words may have on others. We are reading Things Fall Apart and The Purple Hibiscus and language plays a powerful role in both books, along with gender roles and expectations. When I shared the Bookcon panel with my students they immediately realized the power given to a panel labeled as “luminaries”. We discussed how money talks and that when an all male, white panel is described as luminaries then people will buy their books. When people only buy books by white men or starring straight, white characters then that is what bookstores will…
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The CamaraIfe Maktaba 