Tu Books

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runwithskizzers

Diversifying the Publishing Industry

runwithskizzers

I have a lot of projects going on concurrently to help diversify the book publishing industry, so I wanted to put them in once place where they’re easily accessible. So, to begin: 

FOR AUTHORS WHO IDENTIFY AS BEING FROM A MARGINALIZED COMMUNITY WITH BOOKS COMING OUT: 

I’ve created a few forms for you to fill out if you have a book coming out in the next year. I then take these lists and I send them out to a list of about 100-120 book media professionals, librarians, book sellers, and book bloggers. Click the following links to add your book, depending on its release. 

SUMMER/FALL 2017

WINTER/SPRING 2018

If your book is releasing after Spring 2018, keep an eye out either here or on my twitter (@runwithskizzers) because I’ll be posting a link to that form in the next few months. 

LIBRARIANS/BOOK SELLERS/PUBLISHERS/BOOK BLOGGERS:

If you want to receive the above lists in order to plan book orders, blogs, or see what the landscape looks like, click here

BOOK MEDIA (print & digital): 

If you want to get the above lists in order to help diversify your book coverage, click here

EDITORS/AGENTS LOOKING FOR DIVERSE AUTHORS: 

I’m also building an ever-growing list of writers (both agented and un-agented) who have self-identified as being part of a marginalized community and are open to writing IP. If you’re interested in accessing this list, click here

publishing diversity editors authors doing the work

Anonymous asked:

Your website says you publish MG and YA books but the Writers Guidelines say only ages 6-12. I'm curious, do you publish YA for for teens in the usual YA range of 14-18?

I think you might be looking at the Lee & Low picture book/nonfiction guidelines, rather than the Tu Books guidelines. We’ve updated our submission guidelines to reduce confusion, however, so hopefully this (belatedly) answers your question: https://www.leeandlow.com/writers-illustrators/writing-guidelines. A quick answer, though, is YES, definitely—we do publish YA (which is ages 12-18).

young adult submissions guidelines
shannonhale

Book drive for school of robotics team champs!

shannonhale

Hey friends! Like me, many of you were horrified by this news report:

image

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2017/03/17/robotics-competition-racism/99301384/?hootPostID=55f1203864224e186b5ee6d36938c0a1

We want to show love for this school and their outstanding robotics team in the form of a book drive. This is a Title 1 school with a very diverse population. Authors, you can sign books to Pleasant Run. Anyone else who can donate is much appreciated! Picture books, early readers, chapter books, and middle grade books most welcome, especially those written by and featuring people of color. Also early readers in Spanish would be a bonus as they have dual immersion language program for some kindergarten classes. Mail books to:

Pleasant Run Elementary

1800 N Franklin Rd

Indianapolis, IN 46219

If you have books more appropriate for middle or high school, this diverse district would love those too! Mail to :

Metro School District of Warren Township
975 N. Post Road
Indianapolis, IN 46219
ATTN: Kathy Disney

Thank you! And congrats to the robotics team at Pleasant Run. You inspire us!

tubooks

Where can I find great diverse children’s and YA books?

tubooks

Recently The New York Times paired articles by Walter Dean Myers and his son Christopher Myers, discussing the lack of representation of people of color in children’s literature. Those excellent articles—which pointed out that in the long history of children’s literature we haven’t made much progress—caught the attention of best-selling author Jennifer Weiner, who started the #colormyshelf hashtag on Twitter asking for suggestions of diverse books that she could go purchase for her daughter. What a wonderful way to bring attention to what parents can do!

Just because diverse books don’t always show up front and center in bookstores doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Here’s a list of places to find great diverse books for young readers. Buy them, read them, recommend them. Showing demand for diverse books is one of the best ways to encourage the publication of more of them!

1. PublishersSeveral small publishers (us included) focus on diverse books. They’re a great place to start, and you can usually buy books from them directly, order them through an online retailer like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or ask your local bookstore to order them (which also displays a demand for diverse titles):

Lee & Low Books (diverse books for young readers featuring a range of cultures)
Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low (diverse middle grade and young adult speculative fiction)
Children’s Book Press, an imprint of Lee & Low (bilingual English/Spanish picture books)

Cinco Puntos Press (adult and children’s literature, and multicultural and bilingual books from Texas, the Mexican-American border, and Mexico)

Just Us Books (black interest and multicultural books for children and young adults)

Roadrunner Press (fiction and nonfiction for young readers focusing on the American West and America’s Native Nations)

Piñata Books, an imprint of Arte Público (juvenile and young adult books focused on Hispanic culture and by U.S. Hispanic authors)

Groundwood Books (Canadian publisher of books for young readers with a focus on diverse voices)

2. Blogs That Recommend Diverse BooksThere are some great bloggers out there who do the hard work of seeking out, reading, and recommending diverse children’s books, so you don’t have to! Just hop over to their blogs to find great new books to add to your collection:

The Brown Bookshelf (African American books)

American Indians in Children’s Literature (Native American books)

Latinos in KidLit (Latino books )

BookDragon (all diverse books, with a special focus on Asian/Pacific Islanders cultures)

Diversity in YA (diverse young adult books)

Rich in Color (diverse books for all young readers)

Crazy QuiltEdi (diverse books for all young readers)

Lee & Low Pinterest Board (diverse books searchable by genre and age)

playground image from Marisol McDonald and the Clash Bash

3. AwardsIf you’re simply looking for the best of the best that’s been published each year, awards are the place. Books that win these awards have been vetted by experts (mostly librarians) so you can expect them to be top quality, beautiful, and culturally accurate.

Coretta Scott King Award (African American books)

Pura Belpré Award (Latino books)

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature

Middle East Book Award

American Indian Youth Literature Award

South Asia Book Award

Américas Book Award (Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino books)

Tomás Rivera Book Award (Mexican American books)

Notable Books for a Global Society (outstanding trade books that help promote understanding across lines of culture, race, sexual orientation, values, and ethnicity)

4. Bookstores: If you prefer to purchase your books through good old-fashioned browsing, there are several great independent bookstores that make it a point to stock diverse books. Below are a few we’ve been to, or that have been recommended to us by readers. If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by to support them!

Avid Bookshop, Athens, GA

Calamus Bookstore, Boston, MAGirl Reading, from Destiny's Gift

La Casa Azul New York, NY

Quimby’s, Chicago, IL

Women and Children First, Chicago, IL

The Book Stall, Winnetka, IL

Politics and Prose, Washington DC

Busboys and Poets, Washington DC

The Flying Pig Bookstore, Shelburne, VT

Birchbark Books, Minneapolis, MN

Ancestry Books, Minneapolis, MN (coming soon)

Antigone Books, Tucson, AZ

Wellesley Books, Wellesley, MA

Librería Martinez, Santa Ana, CA

What did we miss? Let us know in the comments!

tubooks

Reblogging because this is just as relevant as ever. Sadly, La Casa Azul isn’t in business anymore, but there are many other independent bookstores on the list and elsewhere that would be glad to help you find diverse books!

diverse books discoverability
richinvarietytours-blog

YA books about POC by POC #ownvoices

bookavid

 for the people who keep telling me they cant find diverse #ownvoices books by people of color or that there are none. 

contemporary + romance

- asian authors -

  • born confused - tanuja desai hidier
  • girl in between - pintip dunn
  • i believe in a thing called love - maurene goo
  • enter title here - rahul kanakia
  • if you could be mine - sara farizan
  • its not like its a secret - misa sugiura
  • my so-called bollywood life - nisha sharma
  • none of the above - i.w. gregorio
  • since you asked - maurene goo
  • starfish - akemi dawn bowman
  • tell me again how a crush should feel - sara farizan
  • this promise i will keep - aisha saeed
  • to all the boys ive loved before - jenny han
  • qala academy - tanaz bhatena
  • when dimple met rishi - sandhya menon
  • written in the stars - aisha saeed
  • tiny pretty things - sona charaipotra & dhonielle clayton

- black and african authors -

  • all american boys - jason reynolds & brendan kiely
  • allegedly - tiffany d. jackson
  • american street - ibi zoboi
  • the boy in the black suit - jason reynolds
  • dear martin - nic stone
  • the hate u give - angie thomas
  • little & lion - brandy colbert
  • peas and carrots - tanita s. davis
  • the sun is also a star - nicola yoon
  • this side of home - renée watson
  • tiny pretty things - sona charaipotra & dhonielle clayton
  • pointe - brandy colbert
  • when i was the greatest - jason reynolds
  • you dont know me but i know you - rebecca barrow

- latinx authors -

  • the education of margot sanchez - lilliam rivera
  • the inexplicable logic of my life - benjamin alire sáenz
  • juliet takes a breath - gabbi rivera
  • north of happy - adi alsaid
  • we were here - matt de la pena
  • when reason breaks - cindy l. rodriguez
  • yaqui delgado wants to kick your ass - meg medina

high fantasy + urban fantasy

- asian authors -

  • the bone witch - rin chupeco 
  • the forbidden wish - jessica khoury
  • forest of a thousand lantern by julie c. dao
  • huntress - malinda lo
  • not your sidekick - c.b. lee
  • prophecy - ellen oh
  • the reader - traci chee
  • serpentine - cindy pon
  • silver phoenix - cindy pon
  • soulmated - shaila patel
  • the star-touched queen - roshani chokshi

- black and african authors -

  • akata witch - nnedi okorafor
  • promise of shadows - justina ireland
  • shadowsharper - daniel josé older

- latinx authors -

  • labyrinth lost - zoraida córdova
  • shadowsharper - daniel josé older

historical + historical fantasy

- asian authors -

  • an ember in the ashes - sabaa tahir
  • everything i never told you - celeste ng
  • outrun the moon - stacey lee
  • under a painted sky - stacey lee

- latinx authors -

  • burn baby burn - meg medina
  • iron cast - destiny soria
  • shame the stars - guadalupe garcia mccall

magical realism

- black and african authors -

  • into white - randi pink

- latinx authors -

  • the girl who could silence the wind - meg medina
  • summer of the mariposas - guadalupe garcia mccall
  • the weight of feathers - anna-marie mclemore
  • wild beauty - anna-marie mclemore
  • when the moon was ours - anna-marie mclemore

sci-fi

- asian authors - 

  • forget tomorrow - pintip dunn
  • the amaterasu project - axie oh
  • the girl from everywhere - heidi heilig
  • want - cindy pon

- black and african authors -

  • binti - nnedi okorafor
  • the blazing star - imani josey
  • the fifth season - n.k. jemisin
  • love is the drug - alaya dawn johnson
  • orleans - sherri l. smith

is that enough? they’re out there. you just have to be willing to look.

All Book Recommendations | My Book Blog 

book lists diversity we need diverse books own voices
talinthas

Diversity in gaming, but with a happy ending

talinthas

With all the talk of diversity and representation in games I need to share an awesome story, because there are more than enough negative stories to go around.

So the former punter of the Minnesota Vikings is a gent named Chris Kluwe. We became acquainted at PAX this year over a shared love of magic, and have spoken about a game he was creating, which involved deities from different pantheons fighting. Now, that set off some alarms for me, because it has historically not gone well, you might say, as it always ends up being a bunch of dead or highly marginalized pantheons and Hinduism, because something about having many gods and lots of colorful representations makes folks think they have the right to use the tradition like a public domain comic book or something.

(This is a pretty long post, more below the cut)

Keep reading

tubooks

A really great example of how publishers should respond to cultural expert/sensitivity reader feedback.

cultural experts sensitivity reader games publishing
latinxinpublishing-blog

How NYC’s First Puerto Rican Librarian Brought Spanish To The Shelves

latinosinpublishing

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via NPR…

11:00 a.m. is bilingual story hour at the Aguilar branch of the New York Public Library. Dozens of kids — mostly children of immigrants from China, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico — have settled down to hear Perez y Martina, a story based on a Puerto Rican folktale.

Keep reading

mmusinitiative-blog

Who Needs Social Justice Education?

mmusinitiative

by Robyne Walker Murphy 

I am very passionate about the power of social justice art education and I have had the privilege of sharing my work with audiences across the country.  Often, the majority of my audiences consists of white educators. Inevitably after my workshops during the Q&A, I will get some version of the following :

“I am so inspired by what you shared, but I don’t teach in the inner city….”

or

“I agree with a lot of what you are saying, but most of my students are white and from affluent communities so this work doesn’t apply to my context”

I am always struck by the question and the assumption it reveals.  The assumption being: Social justice education is only for marginalized communities of color.  

I try to keep my answer simple:

There can be no oppressed without oppressors.

How can we ever have an equitable society when only the oppressed are being taught to recognize and name the forces that are oppressing them? When will those young people who are “at risk” of becoming the next generation of oppressors be introduced to liberatory education and made aware of the ways in which racism has compromised their humanity?  

Studies have shown that white people have a difficult time feeling empathy for people of color. Research conducted by social neuroscientists at the University of Toronto Scarborough explored,

“… the sensitivity of the “mirror-neuron-system” to race and ethnicity. The researchers had study participants view a series of videos while hooked up to electroencephalogram (EEG) machines. The participants – all white – watched simple videos in which men of different races picked up a glass and took a sip of water. They watched white, black, South Asian and East Asian men perform the task…..Observing someone of a different race produced significantly less motor-cortex activity than observing a person of one’s own race. In other words, people were less likely to mentally simulate the actions of other-race than same-race people.”

The implications of this are staggering and continue to make a strong case for why educators working with white students must embrace social justice education and implement the principles into their teaching practice. White students need to understand how racism has impacted their lives and be given tools to dismantle the racism that exist within them in order to reclaim their humanity and be allies in the struggle for racial justice.  If not, the cycle will continue.

In the next section, I share part of an inquiry-based framework that can be used by educators to explore social justice principles with their students.

A Framework for Liberatory Education

During my time as the first director of the DreamYard Art Center in the Bronx, a social justice arts organization, I had the luxury of working with teaching artists who are all passionate educators and believe that arts have the power to make the world more just.

In 2009, we realized that we needed to develop our own philosophy around social justice and art making.  We wanted to capture our commitment to developing young people who are critical thinkers, possess a rigorous artistic practice and are committed to social justice.  So, in 2010, we worked with Dr. Susan Willcox, non-profit consultant and expert in youth development practices and critical pedagogy, to create the DreamYard Art Center Framework. The framework, anchored by our core values: empower, create, connect, guides the  curriculum design process at the art center.  

Below I have shared the space where the social justice work lives: Empower.  

* Empower

●            Who am I? → Personal Stories/Histories/Culture

               When do I feel powerful/powerless?

               What is my superpower/kryptonite?

               Who are my ancestors?

●            Where am I? → Liberating/Oppressive Forces in Life

              1.  What do I see? (Naming)

              2.  How does it make me feel?

              3.  How am I affected?

●            What can I Do?→ Awareness of Personal Power to Transform

              1. What are the root causes?

              2. What are the solutions?

              3. What skills/knowledge do I have/need to change it?

These are questions that can be used in any classroom regardless of the background of the students. They invite the learning community to examine themselves; their world and their role as agents of change.

I’ll end with a quote by Paulo Freire where he shares philosophy on the function of education:

Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.

Who needs social justice education?  We all do. This work requires that all hands be on deck–

dismantling,

rebuilding and

reflecting….repeat….


Robyne Walker Murphy is a social justice arts educator and the Culture Access Program Director at Cool Culture (Brooklyn, NY) . She recently has delivered keynote addresses at the University of Chicago (Amplify Arts Summit) and the Seattle Art Museum (CreativeAdvantage Institute) on liberatory education practices.

literarychicanas

Bridging Culture and Experience to YA Readers

literarychicanas

mMcCall’s writing has a number characteristics that make her books attractive to young adults, especially within the Latino community, all while keeping in tow with the genre.  They include:

  • Authenticity

  • Strong, identifiable protagonists

  • Inner struggle for independence

  • Family and sibling relations

  • Mexican culture, tradition, religion and folklore

We see the majority of these characteristics play out through McCall’s central characters (Lupita in Under The Mesquite the eldest daughter who is dealing with mother’s Cancer and Odilia in Summer Of The Mariposas, also the eldest daughter and responsible for looking after her sisters as they embark on their Mexican Odyssey).  As a result these characters (as well as many of the supporting ones) have a raw, sensitive and resilient nature.  Their voices range from honest to virtuous to humorous.  These central characters, mainly female, are paramount to keeping the family together, yet they have an independent spirit that is wild as the wind.  However, there is a balancing act to these characters; they are trying to be the good responsible daughter, yet yearn to break off from the family to create their own destinies.  It’s this tug and pull that many young adults could identify with.  

The other quality that makes her books a great contribution to libraries, the Latino community and to young adult literature, is how McCall embraces the Mexican cultural experience through her free style poetry or fantastical prose.  With a growing Latino population, incorporating stories that embrace Mexican culture is an important feature for librarians to consider.  It also plays a significant aspect for young adult readership.  According to a 2011 article entitled, Libraries Bridging the Borderlands Reaching Latino Tweens and Teens with Targeted Programming and Collections:

approximately 8.1 million Latino tweens and teens (ages 10-19) reside in the United States. …Many of these youth feel as if they are living in the borderlands of society – not quite fitting into the overall U.S. culture; yet not entirely comfortable with the culture of their parents, grandparents, or relatives who may have immigrated from one of over twenty different countries throughout Latin America” (13)

…Boarderland experiences are present throughout Latino young adult literature and should be addressed within targeted library programming for Latino tweens and teens (Naidoo and Vargas 13-14).
McCall embraces this borderland experience in her writing.  In Under The Mesquite, Lupita, the main character, wants to be an actress.  Her drama coach, Mr. Cortes, tells her “if she is serious about acting…then you need to loose your accent” (67).   Her identity is enveloped by her Mexican culture, so this statement by Mr. Cortes challenges her identity and becomes the catalyst to tension between her and her classmates.  In “to be or not to be mexican” one of Lupita’s school friends accuses her of wanting to be “white.”
image
Sarita glances at me sideways,

holds up a taco, and says,

“how about a tay-co?

Anyone want a tay-co?


Again the table erupts in laughter.

I look around. As usual,

the freshman table is quiet.

And the sophomores, who sit behind us,

always look lost.

But not us.  No — we’re juniors,

and we’re loud.  

Every day, the cafeteria

walls shake with our laughter.


“Why are you talking like that?” I ask.


“Like what? Like you” Sarita smirks.

She licks her index finger and strikes

the air as if she’s just scored

a point against me.


“I don’t talk like that,” I protest.


“Yes you do, ” Mireya jumps in.

“You talk like you’re one of them.”

She spits out the word in disgust

and looks down at her lunch tray,

like she can’t stand the sight of me.


“One of them?” I ask.


“let me translate for you,”

Sarita sneers. “You talk like

you wanna be white.”

(79-80)

Through this experience McCall reinforces the struggles and stereotypes that comes along with straddling American and Mexican culture.  Lupita’s sister Victoria comes to soothe her, but Lupita knows who she is and where she comes from.  She declares   "What – because I’m Mexican I’m supposed to speak with an accent? …Being Mexican means more than that.  It means being their for each other. It’s togetherness, like a familia" (82-83).  Lupita reinforces the connected concept that is prevalent within the culture and puts it out their unapologetically.  She challenges her friends idea of what it means to be Mexican and puts her own individual stamp on it.

Through Lupita’s voice, McCall also reinforces a nostalgia for Mexico and reminisces about her original home:

uprooted

When I peeked out the windows

in out new house across the Rio Grande,

the lawns looked well behaved

and boring.  The grass grew obediently

besides the clean sidewalks

along the paved streets,

each green glad standing upright

like a tiny soldier.


At first what I missed most

were  los girasoles,

my tall, unruly friends

with their bright yellow petals

and dark brown faces

always looking up

at the wide blue sky.

When Mami cam looking for me

in the afternoons,

I used to suppress my giggles

as I hid behind

those wild sunflowers.

(35-36)

Within both of these passages McCall pays homage to her homeland Mexico and reinforces a cultural connection between Latino young adults and their heritage.  She also brings to light the identity struggles of keeping one foot in Mexico and one in America.
     
McCall is incredibly good at drawing out idiosyncratic characteristics associated within Mexican culture, in a way that is perhaps familiar for other cultures to empathize with (honoring of the family, sibling rivalry and family responsibility).  One distinguishing feature that McCall uses is her first language, Spanish.  Similar to the writings of other Chicana writers like Cisneros and Castillo, McCall writes in Espanglish, sprinkling Spanish words throughout the story.  In her interview with Blythe Woolston she explains:

“The words that are in Spanish are often words that have special connotations, special meanings, that I cannot fully express in English when I write poetry. They are words close to my childhood, words that live and breathe en mi corazón. To write them in any other language would feel unnatural.”

This incorporation of language helps to keep her writing true to her culture, the story and her readership.  A key factor in McCall’s stories is that they speak to young Latino/Latina reader.  This is significant to the ever expanding pool of Latino literature, because without Latino readers there wouldn’t be Latino literature. In Under The Mesquite, Lupita takes the responsibility of watching over her sisters and brothers as her father takes their mother out of state for cancer treatment.  This is a stressful time for her as she juggles the responsibilities of school, taking care of her siblings and the uncertainty of her mother’s condition. These experiences (including caring for larger families or taking on additional adult responsibilities) are a reality for some children of immigrant and hispanic families.  The story is difficult and bittersweet, but in the end moving and inspiring.  From the perspective of a librarian serving the Latino community, having empowering stories of survival within their collection can “provide models of courage” for other Latino readers (Dempsey).  Between McCall’s incorporation of the Spanish language (and culture), her fierce protagonists and empowering storylines, her books will strongly resonate with Latina readers.
guadalupe garcia mccall under the mesquite texas young adult literature
literarychicanas

Mexican Folklore with a Feminist Twist…qué?

literarychicanas

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McCall’s newest novel Summer Of The Mariposas incorporates Mexican folklore, mythology and religion, with a feminist twist.  While these elements are predominate throughout the story, the subplot supports the characters staying connected and together, which is indicative of Latino culture.  McCall leads the reader on an adventure that begins with Odilia (the eldest) and her four sisters discovering a dead man while swimming in Eagle Pass, Texas (the same town where McCall grew up).  The discovery leads the sisters on a journey into Mexico as they try to reunite the body with it’s family.  Along this journey they meet face to face with Mexican folklore (chupacabras – creatures that sucked the blood of goats and farm animals) mythological (lechuzas - hybrid creatures that have the body of a bird and the face of a witch) religious (Our Lady of Guadalupe) and ghostly (La Llorona, aka “Weeping Woman” a spirit who searches for her drown children for eternity) figures.   Many of them are of the female persuasion.  In addition, the eldest sister is the matriarch of the family and watches over her sisters, while their mother – who was left by her husband to raise the children alone – works full time. All of the central characters have tremendously strong personalities that simultaneously crash and flow into one another.  These factors are important within the context of the story and from a Latina feminist perspective. “Traditionally the role of the Mexican woman is one of subordination. She is expected to be submissive, faithful, devoted, and respectful to her husband and to take the major responsibility for rearing the children” (Okparanta).  Other social constructions of Chicanas “have been tortilla-makers, baby-producers, to be touched but not heard” (Okparanta).  But McCall’s characters in Summer Of The Mariposas, challenge the traditional role through their fearlessness and adventurous nature.  In a recent interview regarding the book, McCall talks about how much she loved The Odyssey and Bullfinch’s Mythology, but “ I always had the same reaction and questions my female students have when we now read The Children’s Homer in my class: “Why do men get to have all the fun? Why do they get to go on adventures? Why aren’t there any women defeating mythological creatures and embarking on heroic journeys of their own?” So for many years now, I’d actually been toying with the idea of an all-female quest story. I wanted to see if I could take one of the greatest stories ever told—a male-oriented story—and turn it upside down to make it all about the power of being female. It was a challenge, and I love a good challenge” (Dominguez).


As a result McCall flips magical realism on it’s head by instilling these fierce characters, alongside Mexican culture; all the while keeping in mind her young adult audience.  She explains how she wanted to incorporate the aforementioned cultural and mystical characteristics to create “something that would interest my own students here in South Texas.  …It was an opportunity to speak to gender roles, about the Hispanic culture, and the importance of family values as it applies not just to my students and me, but also to all young women in general" (Dominguez).

This quote by McCall directly answers the question, “Which teen would read this book and why?” Just like in Under The Mesquite, this book is geared towards the Latino teen population, and the characters give the reader an identifiable, authentic face.  Odilia, Juanita, Velia, Delia and Pita have vibrant, varied personalities that expand and contract with the story.  While they bicker with each other a lot through the story, they come together when they need to; one example is when the nagual – a warlock – traps them in a cave and they defeat him by singing an ancient Aztec song.  McCall taps into her Latino readership  through mythology and folklore, and brings to life these iconic figures.  In doing so, she has created a subgenre of fantasy for the young adult Latino community, which speaks exclusively to them.  This is something for librarians to take notice of and scrutinize for their users.  Adding McCall’s work to a young adult library collection, would satisfy the interests of Latino readers, while evoking a postmodern take on ancient customs and beliefs.

While the book encompasses a legacy of iconic religious (La Virgen de la Cueva) and Aztec figures (Tonantzin), there are several other characteristics and themes that McCall explores and draws out through the adventures and characters in the book.  They include, the construction of the family (Odilia being the eldest is left to take care of her sisters while their mother works to support the family), sibling rivalry (the girls are constantly fighting with one another and it’s only when they work together do they succeed in their adventure) and divorce.  In the story Odilia’s parents are separated – the father left the wife and children – and while the girls yearn for their father to come back, the reality is he has made a new life for himself.

 

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While these topics are sometimes difficult, they are in keeping with the themes of young adult literature.  McCall allows the characters to arch and develop through these difficulties, which helps make them three-dimensional and identifiable with readers.  We sympathize with the girls disappointment towards their father, the affection they have for their abuelita (grandmother) and Mama (mother) and lastly, the bond they have to for each other throughout the journey.  These emotions are translatable beyond the scope of culture and language, which makes this specific tale all the more appealing to young adult readers.  McCall says, “At its core, Summer of the Mariposas is about the significance of family and home. Separation and divorce are difficult things for young people to understand, especially when the adults in their lives don’t quite understand them themselves. Sometimes, children of divorced parents have to go on a journey of their own in order to make peace with their parents’ decision to end their marriage. Young people have to delve into unknown territory on an emotional, often troubling “odyssey” of sorts, a time filled with tears and sorrow” (Dominguez).  

 
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And look for SHAME THE STARS by Guadalupe Garcia McCall on Sept. 15. (Preorder today!)

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