7:31pm October 20, 2013

“Time and time again, at the bookstore and at children’s book festivals, I have observed white children picking up books with kids of color on the cover, and heard adults express surprise at the choice. “Are you sure you want that one?” they’ll ask. Or, “Wouldn’t you like this book instead?” It’s not the kids who are the problem. Kids really, really, really only care about a great story. In twenty years of connecting children with books they love, I have only seen one child—ONE!—balk at a book cover because the main character was a different race from her own. It’s the adults who underestimate a child’s ability or desire to see beyond race.”

Bookseller Elizabeth Bluemle, “True or False? Multicultural Books Don’t Sell: We Are the Problem, We Are the Solution” (Lee and Low blog)

I wonder if adults ever have a similar resistance to seeing kids pick up books that feature a character with a disability … is this one of the things we might need to overcome before seeing more disability diversity in literature? (Or TV, movies, games, etc.)

***

I once did a painting of a black woman.  So one of my relatives saw it and kind of did a double take and asked, “Is that someone you know?” And when I said no, she said “Oh.”  But it wasn’t a pleasant sort of “Oh.”  It’s the same “Oh” she says when you’ve just given the answer she really doesn’t want to hear.  And it was weird and awkward.

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