Thank you for your support! In about 3 weeks, we raised over $11,000! That is amazing and we should be super proud of ourselves! During those three weeks, I’d done more research and had been updating and revising the Bookstore Kickstarter but could not keep up with the feedback. I’d also been in touch with two mentors who have experience with the Kickstarter platform. It was suggested that I cancel the kickstarter, and work with one of the mentors on revising it with a stronger, more cohesive message.
The research shows that successful crowdfunding campaigns have usually raised 1/3 of what they need within the first 15 days. Since the funding is all or nothing - I would hate to continue and then we don’t fund the project. This will give me time to do more research, reach out to more people in my community, and find a potential space.
All of your pledges will be returned. But don’t spend the money just yet! I plan on opening a new kickstarter in a few months. As backers, we can still communicate through this platform. I will keep you informed every step of the way. As soon as the new Brain Lair Bookstore Kickstarter is open - you will receive a link.
Again, I thank all of you for your tweets, posts, blogs, and just loving encouragement. The “crowd” part of this crowdfunding has just been phenomenal. My heart is full.
For the first time in forever, I watched the entire Tony Awards show on June 12, 2016. The next morning, after spending several hours trying and failing to get tickets to Hamilton, I ran to Barnes and Noble and bought the book. Not the Ron Chernow Alexander Hamilton biography but the Lin-Manual Miranda Hamilton: The Revolution hardcover of awesome. And, of course, the soundtrack.
On my way to the register, I saw a table of High School Summer Reading List selections and A Raisin in the Sun caught my eye. I've always loved the poem*, A Dream Deferred, and had seen snippets of the televised version of the play.
I didn't think anything of it, just put the books on my ever-expanding TBR pilehillmountain, mountain range...
A week and 1/2 later, I go to ALA Orlando (pics coming soon) and finally get a copy of The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon, which I rave about here. And guess what play consumes the mc's father? Yep! He loves the character of Walter Lee Younger, whose life mimics what he sees as his own circumstances. Serendipity?
Lorraine Hansberry was the youngest person (only 29), first female, and first African-American to have a play produced on Broadway. This story of how poverty eats at your will and limits your ability to rise up still resonates today.
I woke up in the middle of the night to find yet another African American killed by police officers and I am afraid that the last line is what we have coming. We cannot deny that #BlackLivesMatter but we also need to show it. #AltonSterling - Here's a great article about the pushing down that is sure to come to no good end, called Heavy Load, that also references A Dream Deferred and A Raisin in the Sun!
Hello, everyone. Thought I'd take a study break and type this up quickly. You'll notice I posted a couple of reviews since declaring my break. I'm going to do any blog tours or reviews I've already committed to in order to honor my commitments! I'll also try to do the Contest Mondays.
1. Winners - Karen won The Veil by Diane Noble Cecelia won Tomorrow's Treasure by Linda Chaikin Tashi won Eyes Like Stars ARC by Lisa Mantchev with bracelet/postcard
2. Bibliography - We had to do a programming bibliography for class and I was reminded of some great books I have: The Guy-Friendly YA Library by Rollie James Welch Center Stage: Library Programs That Inspire Middle School Patrons by Wilson and Leslie Teen-Centered Book Club: Readers Into Leaders by Kunzel and Hardesty Serving Young Teens and 'Tweens edited by Sheila B. Anderson
I don't do much programming outside of book clubs but I might try some other things this year.
3. Fire by Kristin Cashore- This was much better than Graceling. Cashore was a little preachy about sex and abortion so that changes the audience for this one. Kinda like Meyer with Breaking Dawn.
4. Teen Bookstore - this my ultimate dream and I've been thinking about it lot more lately. I'd always looked at being a librarian as a stepping stone to owning a bookstore - now I can't actually see how I will get there. Why has my vision dimmed?
5. Diversity and Controversy - the twitterverse has been all abuzz with the controversy over the cover of Liar by Justine Larbalestier. Justine wrote a great article on Why My Protagonist's Arent White. Check out some of her other blog posts on this issue.
Even before this, Mitali Perkins had written an article for School Library Journal, Straight Talk on Race: Challenging the Stereotype in kid's books, that discussed what we see and what we read and how it affects us or how we think. She included 5 questions you should ask about any book.
Color Online also challenged us to actively make multicultural reading and reviewing a part of what we do, not a special activity. In her Color Me Brown post she says "I want teens of color to reject invisibility as a norm".
It's not just teens of color who do that. I do that. In my effort not to appear racist, I self-censor. I try NOT to promote books for and/or about people of color so that I don't offend anyone. What? What? I know, right. I narrow my reading which prolly makes me more narrow-minded. And if it makes me narrow-minded, what does it do to my students?
Jennifer Cervantes wrote Why Multicultural Literature Matters and really made me re-think the way I do things. I need to be more deliberate. Does this mean I'm only going to promote books by/about people of color. No. But I will more closely watch what I read.
I use the ALA Book Awards for some of my selection decisions. Take a look at the Newbery and Printz award winners, the Margaret Edwards award? There are very few multicultural titles and those we see are written by the same handful of authors. I also use SLJ, Booklist, and other review magazines - where are the starred reviews for multicultural literature?
I will say I'm excited about YALSA's 2010 Young Adult Literature Symposium - Beyond Good Intentions: Diversity, Literature and Teens. Although it's in NM so I won't be going. But maybe I could submit a paper. Or maybe you could.
One thing is clear - just because we don't talk about it, doesn't mean it's ok. It's as if people were waiting for someone like Larbalestier to step up so that our voices could finally be heard. I'm not sure of the first blogger who noticed the cover issue, but I'm glad she spoke up. Maybe we can all start working on this and hopefully have at least one positive thing to say at the symposium.
As I'm new to librarianship and reading for selection - this may sound rambling. It is - but it's how I think things through. I'm making a decision to not be silent to be deliberate and seek out good writing by and for people of color. Maybe we need a Multicultural Review magazine? Not just once a year from the other lists - every month, major focus...hmmmm....
I know the first step for me will be to participate in the Diversity Roll Call.
I just stumbled across this challenge here, thanks to Justina Chen Headley. I find myself in a quandary. I am an African American female who hasn't read many books by African American writers. I've avoided them so as not to get singled out by my peers. I didn't want to be accused of having a bias. I know, it sounds crazy, but it's true. I didn't realize it until today. I was reading this blog, about the diversity of your book shelves. I read widely. YA, MG, Adult, sports fiction, romance, suspense, etc. I've read Mitali Perkins, Justina Chen Headley, Sherman Alexie, Lisa Yee, Paula Yoo, etc. I've read 3 of Sharon Draper's books plus The Skin I'm In, some Bluford High books and Tyrell sometime since I became a middle school librarian. But of the 100 books I read last year? Sunrise over Fallujah and The Autobiography of Malcolm X - that's all I can recall.
I'm appalled at myself. So I've decided I need to read at least ONE book by an African American author each month for the rest of the year. I don't know what I'll be reading, but I know it will be enriching. How diverse is YOUR bookshelf?
Update: I scoured my bookshelf and found the following books:
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Day of Tears by Julius Lester
The Bishop's Daughter by Tiffany Warren
New Boy by Julian Houston
After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
Kendra by Coe Booth
Indigo Summer by Monica McKayhan
So I have a good start. Not a great one, but a good one.
