Authenticity is the key that opens doors in multicultural children's book publishing and publishers are quick to give books multicultural labels because multicultural sells. Swamped by the deluge of "authentic" books released in the last several years, I began to wonder what the term really meant. I have been on a six month search for authenticity. My inquiries have unearthed more questions than answers. And I have seen reality muzzled, fiction harnessed and values obscured in the name of authenticity.
In August, I interviewed Dr. Charles Taylor, co-owner of the Multicultural Publishers Exchange and a pioneer in the development of African-American materials. When I asked him how to find books that are really authentic, he delivered a definition that made great sense. "There's a vast difference when someone enters the culture and tries to describe something they're not familiar with, that they only have information about, " Taylor told me, "When someone within a culture describes an experience, lifestyle, or value, books become culturally enriching." It made sense that the straightest path to authenticity would be books written by someone who has grown up within the culture they're writing about.
But soon after Taylor gave me this determiner, he undermined his definition. I mentioned my intention to review Sherley Anne Williams' Working Cotton. Working Cotton is a lyrical accounting of one African-American woman's migrant childhood. Taylor warned me strongly against "invoking old stereotypes."
I'd read Working Cotton with my children and the sensory details and powerful words opened their vision to another life style. Yet, without ever seeing the book, Taylor was quick to discount its worth. (Other experts obviously disagree. Last month Working Cotton (Ages 6-10; Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, $14.95) was named a runner-up for the Caldecott medal, given by the American Library Association to honor the finest picture books of the year.)
Taylor and many other African-Americans are upset by how few books are published by artists from within the culture. Though the number of African-American children's book authors and illustrators has grown, the inequitable representation is startling. According to statistics from the Cooperative Children's Book Center, in 1986, only 18 of 2,500 new children's books were written or illustrated by blacks. In 1991, of 4,000 new books, 70 were by black authors or illustrators.
Mainstream publishers are actively seeking out multicultural writers for the increasingly lucrative multicultural market. HarperCollins and ScottForesman, have even begun a "mentoring service for talented multicultural writers and illustrators seeking to be published in this field." To my knowledge, no publisher has ever before offered training to wannabe children's book artists or writers. Barbara Carney, owner of Durham's Baobab Source Bookstore, gladly welcomes material by African Americans. A strong advocate for authenticity and for children, Carney does voice a concern related to the publishers' quests for multicultural books. She worries about African-Americans writers jumping on the publishing bandwagon without giving it enough thought. At this point, she says, "there aren't enough good books to balance out the bad."
Indeed, there seems to be a trend towards slice of life books by authors who haven't got the literary expertise to transform life experience into art. One example is Red Dancing Shoes , a recent publication by writer Denise Patrick and illustrator James Ransome. (Ages 4-7; Tambourine, $14.00) In it a young African-American girl gets red shoes from her grandmother, falls down, gets them dirty, and gets them cleaned up. That's about it. Such slice of life stories may be authentic, but they aren't up to the standards set by solid African-American contributors like Walter Dean Meyers, Eloise Greenfield, Virginia Hamilton, and Patricia McKissack.
Not all recent releases are devoid of quality, or of the lyricism that comes out of African-American tradition. Sheron Williams' And in the Beginning was inspired by her storytelling grandmother. Clearly, Williams inherited her grandmother's gift of eloquence and intriguing images. Re-telling of the creation myth of Kwanza, a Swahili word for "the first one", she weaves together self-love, pride, and beauty with a thread of unconditional love. (Ages 5 and up; Atheneum, $13.95)
Jerry Pinkney is an award-winning illustrator whose African-American experience has also profoundly effected his work. His background has led him "to represent the dignity of a people who have survived and have rich lives." He honors them by "individualizing people in illustrations and noting differences in coloring and facial features."
He recently illustrated Back Home (Dial, $15.00), a book written by his wife Gloria. Set in Lumberton, N.C., Back Home tells the story of a city child discovering her ancestral home. Gloria Pinkney uses dialect in the book, not as a statement but because "it's important to me to write it as honestly as possible and writing the language the way it was said, the way I heard it, makes me most comfortable." Both work towards making stories universal for children and giving them the sense of a "world that has continuity and hope."
Virginia Kroll is an author whose work celebrates the same kinds of themes. Her first release, Masai and I (Ages 4-8; Four Winds, $13.95) has been highly praised. The story features a young girl who explores her ancestral heritage comparing her urban life with the way a young Masai child would experience life. Virginia Kroll is drawn multicultural expression, but her work has not always met with acclaim. Kroll recently told Publisher's Weekly, "Some editors asked me on the phone if I was African-American, and were extremely interested in a manuscript until they found out I am white. I think it is absolutely insane to believe that a white person is not able to write about what is considered 'black material'. I don't want to write about a suburban middle-class white woman's world. I want to write about what I have a burning desire to write about. I'm not going to blow out that spark."
This prompts a final question: Is authenticity so color-conscious that it won't permit a fiction writer to escape into another viewpoint? Will the strictures of multicultural authenticity rob young readers of the poignancy of Masai and I? Or the power of Steal Away, a young adult novel about a white and black child escaping Southern slavery and coming together again at the end of their lives to heal the wound of prejudice? (Orchard,$15.95) Should Steal Away be frowned on by publishers or reviewers because Jennifer Armstrong, the talented white author, writes from a black point of view?
Recently a librarian welcomed my coming to speak about multicultural books and expressed hope of my determining a list of books that she should buy. I could easily promise her lots and lots of questions, but answers are harder to come by.
Maybe the best answer comes from Jerry Pinkney whose authenticity comes from being true to himself and to his art. He believes that other artists can do the same "if they come to the subject with a sense of sensitivity, wonder, and magic." These are good standards to guide us through hype and beyond political correctness to determine a book's contribution to culture, children, and artistic creativity.
The powerful concept of multiculturalism has been reduced to a trendy buzzword. The once meaningful principal has become a glossy marketing term that is so over-used, it causes people to stop thinking and wondering...and that seems to be the primary reason the term was coined. In response here follows a review that is neither confined to a specific month or a particular culture and focuses on books that have wonder at their core.
Children wonder in a natural way and parents can inspire their thoughtful looks at the world at a very young age. It doesn't take an older child to begin these conversations. Peter Spier's nearly wordless book, People, for example, can be shared with a three year old and still become focus of discussion for a ten year old. The wealth of pictures discuss the uniqueness of people in terms of size, color, differing systems of taste and belief, and varying physical and mental abilities. This book can be a wonderful departure point for talking about all kinds of subjects from world peace to prejudice. (Bantam,$13.95, $$8.95)
When your children point and ask loud embarrassing questions in a grocery store, they are ready for Mary Beth Quinsey's Why does that man have such a Big Nose? . In addition to teaching children more appropriate means of finding answers to their questions, the book's photographs and text explain differences that children are apt to wonder about. Everything from "hairy faces", to obesity, to wheelchairs are discussed in a question-answer format all the while bring attention to the importance of the diversity in life. Ages 3-9. (Parenting Press, Inc., $14.95, $4.95)
Several children's books have a themes that unite the world and show different life view to children who query. Ellen Kandoian's Is Anybody Up? tells the story of early-rising Molly who wonders if anyone else is up. The author-illustrator shows us glimpses of people and animals from all over the Eastern Time Zone as they greet each other and the day. Ages 3-7. (Putnam, $14.95) Edith Baer gives a similar model with a focus on transportation in This Is the Way We Go to School. Ages 3-6. (Scholastic, $13.95)
Ann Morris has now published three books that give portrayals from around the world based on specific themes. The language is simple and accessible. Similarities and differences easily apparent even without the help of Ken Heyman's telling photographs in Loving (Lothrop, $13.95), Hats, Hats Hats (Lothrop, $13.95) and Bread, Bread, Bread. Ages 2-6. (Lothrop, $14.95)
Differing cultures are woven into story in Saviour Pirotta's Solomon's Secret. Urban-dwelling Solomon visits the Mr. and Mrs. Zee for tea. Magically aided by a gleaming copper kettle, Solomon and Mr. Zee gather tea from China, jalebis from India, and pumpkin pie from the Southwestern American desert. Ages 4-8. (Dial, 11.95)
Three very fine books feature children on bi-racial families, for children who might be confused about how this feels, or who feel confused in a similar situation. In Mary Hoffman's Nancy No-Size (Ages 3-6; Oxford, $9.95), Nancy is the middle-sized, middle-colored, middle child who finds her just-right place in the family. Pili Mandelbaum's You Be Me/I'll Be You (Ages 3-7; Kane/Miller, $12.95 ) spotlights a stay-at-home Dad who playfully comforts his daughter who's concerned about her blended coloring. Nigel Gray's A Balloon for Grandad won my heart because the story says nothing about his parents' different colors in the story of a small boy who imagines his balloon traveling far away to his Grandad Abdul. (Ages 3-7, Orchard, $13.95)
I have a special love of books that unite several cultures and children do question how cultures fit together. A boy who wonders is featured in Georgia to Georgia: Making Friends in the USSR a photographic essay by Laurie Dolphin . This is a true story of Joe who travels from Atlanta, Georgia to stay with a family in the Russian province of Georgia. Particularly touching was the ending when Joe is driven by his guide to plant a tree in Tbilisi with the "wish for friendship and understanding between our two countries." Ages 6-9. (Morrow, $13.95)
Two men, American-born Frank Asch and Russian-born Vladimir Vagin have become, at the least literary brothers, as testified by their recent title, Dear Brother (Scholastic, $13.95). Dear Brother, is a story within a story. Two arguing sibling mice find a series of letters belonging to a set of ancestral siblings that have had their share of disagreement. Peace is made within the inner and outer stories, just as it is being made cross-culturally in the world!
I don't think one can talk to children about multicultural experience without discussing prejudice. There are many excellent and poignant books on the subject. Many of these picture books are of such an intense quality that they require both a parental pre-reading and an older reader. Ann Turner's Nettie's Trip South features a young girl from New England visiting the South before the Civil War, becoming ill with discoveries of what slavery means. (Ages 8-12,Macmillan, $12.95) Eve Bunting's Terrible Things, an allegory of the Holocaust, questions the "it couldn't happen to me" attitude, a significant issue for a thinking, developing child to ponder. Ages 8- adult. (Jewish Publication Society, $10.95) On a more playful level, Sam Swope tells a rollicking tale in The Araboolies of Liberty Street, a wild bunch of characters ,colorful in both race and actions, who move next door to a stodgy righteous couple. This story of shocking conflict argues for the import of differences in the world. Ages 5-9. (Potter, $14.95) Mary Hoffman's Amazing Grace is a book to help younger readers relate to and understand prejudice. The story tells of a young black girl whose mother and grandmother surround her with assurances that she can do anything. She believes it too, until she's unnerved by classmates who tell her that she's the wrong color and sex to star in the class play of Peter Pan. Ages 3-8. (Dial, $13.95)
Beginning novels for young readers so very often lack depth. In truth, it's hard to put a multi-layered story into a book of fifty-four pages. Shannon Jacobs' Song of the Giraffe is a happy exception to the rule. Its multicultural heroine and themes of prejudice of sense of self make it an even more invaluable contribution to this growing genre. The heroine is Kisana, who is smaller and lighter-skinned than her Bokuru tribesmen. Because of their taunts, she is even more uncertain about her place in the world. Led by dreams and the desire to give an important treasure to her people, Kisana travels to the land of the Naba where she learns that she something even more prized than water to bestow on her drought-ridden tribe--the gift of her song and herself. Richness of characters, learnings, and culture all add up to making this small novel very big. Ages 7-10 (Little Brown, $11.95) Generally books tell of Black children in America, but the hero of Karen Lynn William's When Africa Was Home tells of Peter, a young boy of American parentage who is born and grows in a small village in Africa. Africa's poetry and music of living runs through his blood and he is miserable when his parents return with him to the dull grayness of an American city where he grieves for his African home. In the end, Peter returns "kwatu" (home), once again becoming "achimwene" (little brother) and basking of his friends, the love of his nanny, "Mayi" (mother), and the warm rains of Africa. Readers will feel the magic of the culture, not just through Peter's longing, but through the simple description of a life that seems to make so much more sense than American culture to people of any age. Ages 4-8. (Orchard, $14.95)
To me, one of the best literary definitions of multicultural comes to readers in Allen Say's El Chino because of the way it appreciates both cultural blending and finding one's individuality and specialness within the intermingling. The book was inspired by the true life story of Bong Way "Bill" Wong, the first Chinese bullfighter. Billy, born in Arizona of Chinese parentage, was raised with his father's continual reminder "in America, you can be anything you want" . Unlike his more practical siblings, Billy longs to be a basketball player. Speed and accuracy aid him in high school, but height hampers his college career. Billy puts athletic goals on hold until a vacation in Spain where he is drawn to the sport of bull fighting and dedicates himself this sport. His physical being is a fit, but Billy is the wrong race to be chosen as a matador. Success comes finally when Billy identifies with his culture of origin. He dons an Oriental costume and builds a reputation as El Chino--The Chinese. And so, it is the Spanish sport form, the American spirit and the celebration of his Chinese heritage that leads him to his final triumph. Allen Say's art is an acknowledgement of his words. The book begins with black and white paintings that spring into glorious color and movement as Billy discovers the grace and elegance of bull fighting. Ages 5-10. (Houghton Mifflin, 1990)