Pssst.
The Hunger Mountain Journal is a print and online journal of the arts produced by the Vermont College of Fine Arts — in which T. has just been published. Check it out online.
Her piece for Flipside is part of an ongoing discussion in young adult literature circles — at issue: *teens of color on book covers. Should there be more representation of teens of color? Should book covers for appearance-conscious teens be ethnicity neutral? Does everyone always judge a book by its cover –? What does seeing a nonwhite person on a book say to a teen from the dominant culture? What does it say to nonwhite teens?
T. looked at the issue from one angle, while young adult author Mitali Perkins looked at it from another angle. Who’s right? Or is this really an issue of right vs. wrong? Even if you’ve never even thought about this before — and admittedly, not a whole lot of people do — please read both sides and join the discussion! (ALSO: bonus T.-created book cover, using the top of her niece’s head will also entertain!)
*FYI: this question came up in the publishing world recently over something called in Twitter circles “#coverfail.” The publisher, Bloomsbury USA put a Caucasian model on the cover of a book written by a Caucasian Australian woman… about an African American girl. Color everyone confused, there. Readers quietly rioted — and then rioted LOUDLY. The UK Guardian actually published a piece about it, as the furor was so focused and intent that it was heard ’round the world. After some truly appalling excuses and faux apologies, the publishing company quietly reissued the book with a new cover. This made some people feel powerful, because they made a giant company listen, and part with money. And now more people writers are talking about the issue than ever before.
Happy Thursday.
Rockin’ piece! I don’t have time right now to read the other side, but I’m definitely with you on the cover debate–it’s ludicrous how it’s even a debate in 2010…
…and yet, it still IS a debate. Some believe eventually it’ll all be a moot point — with things like Kindle and other electronic readers on the rise. Perhaps, but I don’t think we’re moving that direction as fast as some might believe. I’ll be interested to see where this takes us in the future.
Glad you liked it!
I’m more than embarrassed that I’ve had my head in the sand for a year and hadn’t heard of the cover riot, so thanks for pointing it out. Having spent huge amounts of time with adolescents in classrooms, I can recall hearty discussions about this very topic as we worked together to help them understand what made them pick up a book — any book –to consider reading it. Cover illustrations were always a hot topic because most often, they felt that as much as one might pique their curiosity, they were quickly annoyed to find not only did it have little relation to the contents, but actually interfered with their thinking about it. This lead to even better discussion about marketers…oh, my. ;
I truly enjoyed “Reflected Faces,” T., and having worked with an overwhelming majority of children with varying shades of brown skin from a variety of cultures for the first 10 years of my career, I can say that your writing would have been the start of yet another rousing discussion in the extended debate about who they were, and how their learning related to them — or didn’t. Although what students have access to in classrooms today can be refreshingly different than what comprised required reading even 10 years ago, they are still so much dependent upon their teachers, and a system which more often than not decides what they should and should not read.
Sorry about the soap box, but thanks for the Saturday morning brain food.
Kellypea, I’m really glad you enjoyed the article! That IS a huge pet peeve with me, too — could the cover have SOMETHING to do with the book? Please???
Authors have little or no control of what they end up with, but many times it seems the design people doesn’t actually read the specs they’re given and only try to make the book stick to the current trend — so many of them end up looking entirely too alike. Too often we only do things the way we’ve always done them…
Time for a change.