Almost a third of school-age children are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. But they will still struggle to find characters who resemble themselvesBooks can show us the world both as it is, and as it could be – “mirrors and windows”, as the author Malorie Blackman notes. For children, they are currently falling short on both counts. In the pages of a picture or chapter book, readers have their experience affirmed or glimpse exciting new possibilities: mastering a fear of the dark, or travelling through space. Yet a young black or Asian child picking up a book today is more likely to encounter a rabbit than a protagonist who looks like them, says the expert who has led a new review of representation, Reflecting Realities. This is astonishing in an age when 32% of school-age children are from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds; and is bad news not only for them but for all young readers. Publishers are offering a dated, narrow and skewed picture of the complex, diverse, interconnected world around them.Don’t blame Beatrix Potter. This is not a historic, cumulative problem; the new research covers only books published in 2017. The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education asked publishers to submit titles with BAME characters and received fewer than 400, set against the roughly 9,000 books published for children aged three to 11. Quality and sheer variety are as important as quantity. Only 1% of titles featured a BAME lead character; in a quarter of... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2018-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Only 4% of all the children’s books published in the UK last year featured a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) character, according to “alarming” new figures from a study into ethnic representation in children’s literature. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wayland Books, part of the Hachette Children’s Group, is publishing a non-fiction title about masculinity by Jeffrey Boakye and Darren Chetty. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Lost Words (Hamish Hamilton) has become the first children’s book to be shortlisted for the £5,000 Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize for nature writing. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip Jones calls on the industry to make books part of the national conversation. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On the heels of the rapper’s deal with Random House, a look at the stars dipping their toes into publishing with imprints of their ownWith the launch of his new book imprint with publishing giant Random House, announced on Thursday via Instagram, the grime rapper Stormzy joined a growing list of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins Children's Books' executive editor Sara Sargent says she's 'combining a non-traditional way of sourcing books with traditional storytelling' with Wattpad. The post Sourcing Content: Sara Sargent of HarperCollins Children’s Books on Working With Wattpad appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After receiving praise from LGBTQ activists across the globe, the Wellington-based authors of LGBTQ children's book Promised Land have released a second book in the series, Maiden Voyage. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2018-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Laura Ingalls Wilder was on the brink of having an award named in her honour, from America's Association for Library Service to Children, when in 1952 a reader complained to the publisher of Little House on the Prairie about what the reader found to be a deeply offensive statement about Native... Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2018-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, voted on Saturday to rename the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, in response to the long-running discussion around prejudice in the author’s work. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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About 2,000 children’s and YA book authors and their supporters have signed onto a campaign to oppose President Trump's controversial family separation immigration policy under the name "Kid Lit Says No Kids in Cages." The campaign made its appearance Monday on Twitter with a statement signed by... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Geraldine McCaughrean, accepting award for Where the World Ends, warned that restricting the language children read risks creating a future underclass who are ‘easy to manipulate’Carnegie medal winner Geraldine McCaughrean has castigated the books industry for dumbing down language in children’s... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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George Gene Gustines, an editor in graphics and video at The New York Times, has been writing about comics for nearly two decades. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2018-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams has completed a hat-trick with the third volume of his short story collections, The World’s Worst Children 3 (HarperCollins Children's), scoring the UK Official Top 50 number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors, publishers, and booksellers gathered for a panel discussion on efforts to reach young readers Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For the book business, print and digital markets have found balance, CEOs say, but political instability in the culture at large remains a cause for concern. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The endorsement of a Chinese actor powers Yu Hua's 'To Live' to the top of China's April fiction charts, when fellow celebrities spread the word and young readers hear the call. The post April 2018 Bestseller Lists From China: Young Readers Cheer a Celebrity-Powered World Book Day appeared first... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins Children's Books is to bring out its first brand extension publishing for kids' favourite David Walliams, with The World of David Walliams: Book of Stuff, illustrated by Tony Ross. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bath Spa University has launched the world's first MA in children's publishing in response to the "significant growth" in international demand for UK-published books. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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ITV has revealed that the 10-strong selection of titles for "The Zoe Ball Book Club" will include six debuts and span epic love stories and life-affirming memoirs to historical crime and chilling ghost stories. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Recent controversies surrounding books by Sally Kohn and Amy Chozick have revealed a system that makes it hard to authenticate the claims of authorsRecent weeks have seen a flurry of conversation about factchecking in the publishing industry. Two high-profile authors have had their work’s... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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