Controversy

I go to this website a lot, put together by Dr. Debbie Reese.  It is a wonderful resource, especially for someone like me who doesn't know a lot, but tries to do the right thing.  When I read about Race to the Sun, a part of the Rick Riodran Presents imprint, I thought I would not read RTTS, because I really respect Dr. Reese and recommendations.   But after I dug a little deeper, I found that there might be more to RTTS than what Dr. Reese recommends.  I still deeply value her insight.  I do.  But I wanted to read this first.  That is because I had posed the question of what to do about it to the women with whom I work. 
I am posting an email I got from one of my brilliant co-workers.  She is also a published author, but I won't include her name until I okay it with her.  I think what she says makes a lot of sense.

And then I read RTTS and I really, really enjoyed it.  And I also thought that the author's note at the end was heartfelt, informed and important. 

Huh, I hadn't seen all of this, I guess it was buried under all of the American Dirt controversy on my timeline --

We do own this book (standing order probably) but I see that CLP and branches have chosen to to purchase it.

Oh, no I ordered it back in October; I've been ordering all of the Rick Riordan Presents titles.

What do you think?  Withdraw?  Or keep?

Personally I think we keep it?

I mean, it does get tricky with fiction, and fiction for children makes it more complicated. But...

There are a ton of books on our shelves that have iffy representation or outright racist depictions. We keep Little House ("the only good Indian is a dead Indian," the father participating in minstrel shows), Scott O'Dell books (award-winning historical fiction that has since been called out for a ton of cultural appropriation and misrepresentation of indigenous cultures), Harry Potter books (Jewish stereotypes, bad Asian representation, fat shaming of villains, and JKR is saying transphobic things all over twitter).To name just a few -- but the above are all white authors. (Wonder has also been called out for bad disability representation and using a disabled character's story to inspire able-bodied people)

So it doesn't sit right with me that the only one we're looking at pulling from our shelves is by a black & Pueblo author. And one who, while she did recently hit the NYT list, is not famous enough to cause much notice or complaint if we didn't carry her books. It's the "easy" pull, basically.

(I also see this as a bit different to the issue of, say, Thanksgiving books -- which are pretending to give facts about the past but sweep aside actual genocide for a fake happy story and inaccurate caricatures that inspire teachers to dress children up in appropriative costumes)

And things I read while looking this up:

Debbie Reese commenting: https://twitter.com/debreese/status/1217966469960687617

Rebecca Roanhorse commenting (part of her comments are about how there's a lot of anti-blackness in the NDN communities, which I don't know enough to comment on -- but I used to know someone who is half Cherokee and was cut off from the Cherokee side of the family because their mom is white and they and their sibling both looked too white; it's a complicated problem, so while I don't want to dismiss people's critiques, I also don't want to dismiss people's experiences of racism among their communities): https://twitter.com/RoanhorseBex/status/1220751798711046144

https://www.tor.com/2018/07/20/rebecca-roanhorse-reddit-ama-trail-of-lightning-dine-culture/

Tall Tales and Ghosties

Ozark Tall Tales, The Scariest Stories Ever, Wonder Tales from Around the World, There's No Such Thing as Ghosts:  Ghost Stories from the Southeast, Ozark Ghost Stories, Cajun Ghost Stories, Twenty-two Splendid Stories to Tell From Around the World, and Ghost Stories from the American Southwest are all published by August House and are part of the American Storytelling series.  I was to do some storytelling at a community event, which was later changed because of the weather and I needed some new material so I really did my research.  Even though I didn't

get to do that particular program, I have picked up so great stories to tell to classrooms and groups.  All very well done and very well read.  Some aren't for kids though, but adults love stories, too! 

So Glad

I am not a huge fan of the books of Rebecca Stead.  I know she is a good writer, she just is not my kind of writer.  And I have enjoyed books by Wendy Mass, but they have all been on the just-a-wee-bit-too-long side for me.   And so I was not even going to read Bob, but man, I am so glad that I did.  I ended up loving this very sweet story.  Magical, indeed.  I loved it.  I don't know if it is Newbery stuff, but I really did love it.

Learning!

Some people don't like to read fiction because they feel like they want to "learn something" from a book so they just read nonfiction.  Okay.  Maybe it's just my aunt who feels this way.  But when she says it, I want to tell her about all of the things that I have learned from reading fiction books!  I mean, I love reading nonfiction, too!  But I do learn from fiction as well.

Which was one of things I didn't like about Why We Broke Up with it's completely fictional movie star.  I mean, what was the point.  When one could have learned something from it!

I learned about Ireland's Wishing Trees from Wishtree.  I did like Wishtree a lot!  I just didn't find it to be 5 star, but maybe 4.75 star.  I think because it was too short (I know, so weird for me, but I really did like the characters and wanted to know more!)  But I think it was realistic, the way that it ended, even though there is much up in the air.  I loved the ending, I did.  The "STAY" part.  Which isn't a spoiler, I don't, think, the way that I am writing about it and won't say anymore. 
By the way, I LOVED Tree's jokes!  LOVED THEM!  I don't know if this is good enough to be THE Newbery, but I wouldn't be mad if it is THE Newbery, but it seems more like an honor book, which is awesome enough and for sure deserved!