What is Freedom? Exploring the concept through Picturebooks. #LibrarianFightClub

Posted on February 12, 2022 by readwithriver

What is Freedom? What’s the difference between ‘freedom’ & Privilege’?

Lately I have been asking myself “What is freedom?” an awful lot. So I started looking at my books trying to find freedom. Here’s what I found…

Growing up in Canada, we don’t’ spend a lot of time talking about the concept of ‘Freedom.’ Not in the way that seems to take over a lot of the discussion in America around what they demand from their society, what they expect of their lives. “Freedom” has never been our primary value in our Canadian society.

But lately I’ve begun to really start thinking about what it means to have freedom, and where does freedom end and privilege begin? What is a basic freedom and what is entitlement? So I turned to my books, to search for freedom and this is what I’ve found.

The freedom to dream big?

“Astronaut Training” by Aneta Cruz & Olivia Aserr from Astra Publishing House
“Baby Young Gifted and Black, With a Mirror” by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins from Quarto

On the surface level, I think a lot of people think of freedom as breaking free from the constraints of society, letting their hair down and, letting out their emotions.

Freedom is the space to run, to howl and cry.

“Howl” by Kat Patrick and Evie Barrow from Scribble
We Became Jaguars” by Dave Eggars and Woodrow White from Chronicle
“When I See Red” by Britta Teckentrup from Prestel

Being able to count on your basic needs being met is freedom, freedom to live.

But, freedom is the right to clean drinking water, safety, food security.

“Nibi’s Water Song” by Sunshine Tenasco and Chief Lady Bird from Scholastic
“Bright Star” by Yuyi Morales from Holiday House Books
“Saturday at the Food Pantry” by Diane O’Neil and Brizida Magro from Albert Whitman

Freedom from Oppression & Persecution

“When We Were Alone” by David A. Robertson and Julie Flett from Highwater Press an imprint of Portage and Maine
“Best-Loved Jewish Songs: Songs for Friends and Family” from Cottage Door Press
“When We Say Black Lives Matter” by Maxine Beneba Clarke from Candlewick
“The 1619 Project Born on the Water” by Nikole Hanna-Jones and Renée Watson and Nikkolas Smith from Penguin Random House
“Magical Beings of Haida Gwaii” Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson, Sara Florence Davidson, Alyssa Koski (Illustrator), Judy Hilgemann from Heritage House

Freedom is autonomy over your own body (not someone else’s.)

“Don’t Touch My Hair” by Sharee Miller from Little Brown Books for Young Readers
“Don’t Hug Doug (He Doesnt Like It)” by Carrie Finison and Daniel Wiseman from G.B. Putnam and Son’s Books for Young Readers
“The Bare Naked Book” by Kathy Stinson and Melissa Cho from Annick Press

Freedom is, to be in your own skin, to love yourself and take up space without apology or explanation.

Freedom to exist in your body, to love yourself and, be respected.

“What Happened To You?” by James Catchpole and Karen George from Faber
“Laxmi’s Mooch” by Shelly Annand and Nabi H. Ali from Penguin Random House
“Eyes that Kiss in the Corners” by Joanna Ho and Dung Ho from Harper Collins
“Magic Like That” by Samara Cole Doyon and Geneva Bowers from Lee & Low

Freedom is to be able to love without fear.

“Love Grows Everywhere” by Barry Timms from Quarto
“Bathe The Cat” by Alice B. McGinty and David Roberts from Chronicle Books
“Prince & Knight” by Daniel Haack and Stevie Lewis from Little Bee Books in partnership with GLAAD
“Two Grooms on a Cake” by Rob Sanders and Robbie Cathro from Simon & Schuster

Freedom is to be able to express your identity.

“Ho’Onani Hula Warrior” by Heather Gale and Mika Song from Tundra Books
“The Spectacular Suit” by Kat Patrick and Hayley Wells from Scribble Kids Books
“Téo’s Tutu” by Maryann Jacob Macias and Alea Marley from Penguin Random House
“When Aiden Became a Brother” by Kyle Lukoff and Kaylani Juanita from Lee & Low

What did they all have in common? Safety. The safety to dream, to feel, to love, to be, to live. If your idea of freedom is directly endangering any of that safety of others, then what you’re asking for isn’t freedom, it’s privilege.

#Librarian Fight Club

#LibrarianFightClub to Hug or not to Hug?

Posted on January 21, 2022January 21, 2022 by readwithriver

One of the reasons I love picturebooks is that they take all of the values and social discourse of the time they’re made in and present them in this beautiful little package to pick apart and wonder at. Looking at two books made a handful of years apart can show how society has grown and changed and there is no better example than this than these two hug books.

I love both of these books actually, “Hug Machine” by Scott Campbell 2014, and “Don’t Hug Doug (He Doesn’t Like it)” By Carrie Finison 2021. But what I find most fascinating about them, especially next to one another, is to marvel at how fast mainstream ideas are moving about issues around childhood, consent and, toxic masculinity.

When “Hug Machine” came out in 2014 it was subversive in quietly challenging toxic masculinity and traditional gender roles in this beautiful pale pink and red ode to a little boy who loves to love and show affection. Hug Machine is concerned with the emotional needs of those around him when; a baby is crying, a hedgehog feels unloved, etc. These things fundamentally challenge the emotional frigidity of toxic masculinity.

However, things have moved on, the world has moved on and become more complex, and isn’t that a wonderful thing? “Don’t Hug Doug” explores the complexities around consent, boundaries and, also the many ways that one can show their friendship. But I think what’s most poignant is the piece around expectations that children take on burden of emotional labour.

Less than a decade ago, it was seen as appropriate that the Hug Machine should be taking on the emotional labour of hugging literally everyone so that they felt better. The kid didn’t even have a name he was reduced to his performance of giving. In “Don’t Hug Doug” the onus is not on Doug to take on that burden, the children in this book are being relieved of that expectation and being given agency regarding their personal space. This is a major step forward in society’s understanding of the fundamental rights of a child, and the nature of childhood itself.

Is there space to celebrate both of these books? Are they even fundamentally in opposition? #LibrarianFightClub

Anti-Gift Guide

Just Because it’s a Good Deal Doesn’t Make it a Good Toy: More Books Less Crap 5

Posted on November 16, 2021November 24, 2021 by readwithriver

Here are 5 ‘great deals’ that have filled me with regret and five fun read alouds you should get instead!

A blinger, it’s litteraly just a contraption for applying sticker jewels. I admit when I purchased it, I thought that the jewels would stay on more firmly than a regular sticker? But no. They’re just stickers. Ridiculous.

So, one day, a few years ago, I was driving along on a cold November’s day, much like today and I saw a big sign! “GIANT TOY OUTLET SALE!” We were passing through a strange industrial complex we had never been through and I yelled “STOP THE CAR!” And my husband, reluctantly did. I jumped out and ran, into this giant warehouse, there were loads and loads of toys, they were in fact very cheap…in every sense of the word. The piano mat was not the only thing I bought from this sale, and all of it was garbage, I also bought a microphone with stand that never worked, period. But of course sales like this-all sales are final. So turns out, not such a great deal.

My older daughter asked for a pogo stick, and we were like, why in the world do you want a pogo stick? She had seen one on a tv show and became obsessed with the idea. So we searched around for her birthday and found one, it was a pretty good deal, we bought it. She used it twice. Pogo sticks, are just not fun. Add to this they’re wildly impractical and dangerous.

I was at Costco. Which is the number one place I fall for good deals that are in fact bad deals. They had this absolutely enormous packet of unicorn crystals. You grow these crystals with like a powder that then flakes off and leaves a disconcerting dust on everything. I said to my self “WOW! LOOK AT THIS GIANT PACKET! WHAT A GREAT DEAL!” Not a great deal, and now I’m going to have this enormous box in my house forever.

Whoever came up with “Baby Alive” hates parents. It’s ugly, it’s noisy, and it yells at you when you’re trying to think and you jump five feet out of your chair. Just say no.

Just Because it's a Good Deal Doesn't Make it a Good Toy: More Books Less Crap — Fun Read Alouds you should get instead! Light hearted books that pull little readers in and invite them to stay. All of the books today are from the submissions for the #bookstagang_bestof2021.

“Unicorn Night Sleep Tight” by Diana Murray and Luke Flowers from Source Books Kids

This is a weird incidence of me really preferring a sequel to the original, “Unicorn Night Sleep Tight” is the sequel to “Unicorn Day” which was fine but it never really stole our hearts to be perfectly honest. “Unicorn Night” however, has become a fast favourite in our household. My kids just love this book, it’s one of my 3 year old’s go to bedtime picks. it’s a cute rhyming read aloud, and perfect for bed.

“A Pizza with Everything on it” Kyle Scheel and Andrew J. Pizza from Chronicle Kids Books

“A Pizza with Everything on it” is completely ridiculous. A kid and his dad make a pizza, but they have to put EVERYTHING on it, and they really explore the boundaries of that. I will be honest, I really questioned the physics behind the pizza dough continuing to expand when they started adding like, cars and things on it, but I think I need to let go of that. It’s one kids will enjoy and, the illustration is really full of personality.

“My School Unicorn” by Willow Evans and Tom Knight from Simon Kids

One little girl is nervous about starting kindergarten, but as luck would have it the school uniform store also provides a handy little school unicorn to lend emotional support. This story was adorable, my kids were confused about why the girl had to return the unicorn, and honestly I kind of wish they got to stay friends forever too. Either way, very cute, very colourful, fun read aloud.

“Room for Everyone” Naaz Khan & Simon Kids

“Room for Everyone” is an instant classic in my opinion, fast paced, colourful, fun read aloud. With a structure that really is reminiscent of classic folk tales. It’s beautifully written, wonderfully illustrated, and tons of fun for readers.

“Wolfboy” is truly a delightful book, with it’s unusual plasticine illustration, that are fun and unique and a story that’s charming with a sweet twist at the end that readers will have a laugh at. Adorable.

Anti-Gift Guide

ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME YOU HATE ME? A Holiday Anti Gift Guide & 5 Books We Would Strongly Prefer

Posted on November 3, 2021November 24, 2021 by readwithriver

The expectation that when someone gives your kids something- when they were not asked to do so- you must pretend to be grateful, and then let it collect dust until it finally finds its way onto a donation pile or scrap heap is complete nonsense. And I object. So I’ve created a sample season’s greetings but no thank you letter for you all!

seasons-greetings-but-no-thank-you PDF Download

The narrative of forced gratitude for something that is actively inconvenient and wasteful is especially infuriating, to me, when the offending item was purchased for my child without considering my child as a person with preferences and feelings. (My kids are capable of talking, why doesn’t the person call them up and ask them “Hey what kinda stuff do you like?”)

Extra infuriating when it’s gigantic and noisy.

Can we please start changing the narrative that relatives and family friends need to give flashy toys to demonstrate a relationship? It’s really messed up, inconvenient, wasteful, and desperately harmful to our environment.

Before you say “well some people can only afford crappy plastic toys and they deserve to enjoy the gift giving time of the year” YES, they do, but can they ask first? Can they ask what the kid actually likes instead of deciding ‘that’s a boy-child and I’m gonna buy them a great big gun thing.’ Can they maybe get a ten dollar bill, go to the convenience store, have it broken into nickels, and give the kid a giant bag of coins? (My brother in law did that one year, and it was such a huge hit with my kid, and it cost him less than ten bucks.) Can they perhaps just buy some nice books, write a nice message in them, and sit down and read to the child? It’s not hard to make space for books, if they’re good books they get enjoyed way longer than a crappy plastic toy, and its an opportunity to build a relationship.

So here is a list of 5 love filled Grandparent Books I recommend Grandparents buy instead of getting random crap in the clearance section at Walmart.

TIME FOR BED, OLD HOUSE Janet Costa Bates, A.G. Ford @candlewickpress a boy’s first sleep over with his Grandpa, and it’s time to say goodnight to every part of the house.

CARLA AND THE CHRISTMAS CORNBREAD Carla Hall and Cherise Harris @simonkids a beautiful nostalgic story, with a delightful array of foods, and family traditions.

THE ELECTRIC SLIDE AND KAI Kelly J. Baptist and Darnell Johnson @leeandlowbooks One boy practices his dance moves in anticipation of finally seeing his grandpa again. A joyful happy family story.

THE WHOLE WORLD INSIDE NAN’S SOUP Hunter Liguore and Vikki Zhang Absolutely beautiful, would be nice to include your own recipe to pass down when writing a dedication into the end papers.

WE’LL BE TOGETHER AGAIN Lucy Menzies and Maddy Vian @quartokids this one is unusual, it flips open like two doors, and shows the little girl waiting to be reunited with the grandfather, who is on the otherside.

THE LONGER THE WAIT THE BIGGER THE HUG Eoin McLaughlin and Polly Dunbar @faberchildrens the third book in this charming classic series about love and affection.

These books were all submitted by the publishers for the #bookstagang _bestof2021 which is currently being judged!

#picturebooks

#christmasgiftsforkids

Demystifying publishing

What Happens to Banned Books?: Demystifying Publishing Part 9 with @readwithriver

Posted on September 27, 2021November 24, 2021 by readwithriver

What's the deal with banning books? What happens to the books? Who is most affected? Let's discuss! — Demystifying Publishing Part 9 with @readwithriver: What happens to Banned Books? #Bannedbooksweek

The History of Banning Books. As long as books have existed, people have tried to ban them. Banning books has always been about maintaining existing hierarchies of power, and control. Empathizing with people who are oppressed by those hierarchies is considered a threat to that power. In 1121 CE Abelard was forced to burn is hown book…he was also castrated. They didn’t play around back then. (Source Bond, S. ” Top 5 Ancient and Medieval Censored Books TO Read During Banned Book Week” Forbes, 2016.

Banned Books Today. Are banned books illegal tools of the devil? …No…Books are banned by individual school boards, libraries, schools, etc. You can still buy them, they are often harder to find.

Does banning a book make it more popular? “No Publicity is Bad Publicity”-P.T. Barnum. Books by already famous authors often see a jump in sales when they have a banned book. “Whether or not there is a benefit often hinges on how high profile an author is at the time of the challenge.” (Source King,N. “Banned Books Week: How the Blacklist can Goose a Book’s Sales” Marketplace.org, 2013.)

IF You’re Not A Famous Author… not a good time. “A lot of these authors who are challenged are not famous….Wealthy authors who sell a lot of books can hire publicists and attorneys to defend them, but your average mid-list author can’t. They’ve got to take these battles on personally.” (Source. King,N. “Banned Books Week: How the Blacklist can Goose a Book’s Sales” Marketplace.org, 2013.) “As an author of a recently challenged book, I will not trade freedom for profit. And I wouldn’t trade freedom for profit, even if the math was on my side.” (Sara Hockler, Sarahockler.com, 2010)

Who is most Impacted? Children. “THe history of children’s book publishing in America offers insight into the ways in which traditional attitudes about “appropriate” stories often end up marginalizing the lives and experiences of many young readers, rather than protecting them.” (Source, Ringle, P. “How Banning Books Marginalizes Children,” TheAtlantic.com, 2016.) “When we say ‘this book is inappropriate’ we’re telling those childrne your situation…your family…your life is inappropriate.”-Kate Messner

What kind of books get banned? “In 2019, eight out of the 10 books on the association’s list featured L.G.B.T.Q. subject matter. For 2020, however, that majority was fractured, with the addition of books that touch on racial injustice and police violence toward Black people and books by authors of color.” “In this case, we’re seeing an effort to stigmatize and vilify stories about racial injustice.”(Source, Waller, A. “Books About Racism and Police Violence Fill Out List of ‘Most Challenged Titles.” NYTIMES, 2020.)

Banned Books Week Since 1982 every year in September Banned Books Week is celebrated to fight against challenges, and support books that have been banned. A Coalition of Organizations works together for banned Books Week. Check it out to learn more.

Sources

Source 1: Bond, S. ” Top 5 Ancient and Medieval Censored Books TO Read During Banned Book Week” Forbes, 2016.

REad Source 1

Source 2: King, N. “Banned Books Week: How the Blacklist can Goose a Book’s Sales” Marketplace.org, 2013.

Read Source 2

Source 3: SaraH Ockler, SarahOckler.com, 2010

Read Source 3

Source 4: Ringle, P. “How Banning Books Marginalizes Children,” TheAtlantic.com, 2016.

Read Source 4

Source 5: Waller, A. “Books About Racism and Police Violence Fill Out List of ‘Most Challenged Titles.” NYTIMES, 2020.

Read Source 5

Demystifying publishing

4 Reasons why it’s important to Preorder Books if you want to help an Author Succeed

Posted on August 31, 2021November 24, 2021 by readwithriver

Have you ever wondered why publishers and authors are always publicizing preorder availability? There’s some very practical reasons for it!

Preordering a book that doesn’t arrive for months or years might seem unnecessary but your decision to preorder directly affects the book’s chances of commercial success.

1. Pre-release, preorders signal to publisher there will be interest, and they can adjust print runs to accurately meet demands. THe size of an initial print run announces to the world the confidence the publisher has in a book’s commercial success. The bigger the print run, the more confidence, the more buzz. Under printing can be a huge problem, because often people who cannot find a book in stock when they want it, will forget about it and not come back and buy it later.

2. Preorders then build buzz and encourage larger orders from big retailers. The buzz around the book is a great sales point that gets big retailers to make larger initial orders to prepare for consumer demand. This is of course not a good thing if after the fact nobody buys them, because they’ll be returned. But having them ordered and in stock means that they are available and a book has a chance to succeed.

3. Post-release, preorders sales count as part of first week sales. These inflated numbers allow books to launch and climb the rankings onto the bestseller lists which guarantee continued sales. Being on a bestseller list is one of the best things that can happen to a book commercially. People who have never heard of it, and might have never considered buying it, will go out and buy it because it is on this list.

4. Support independent Bookshops with guaranteed sale for their stock, helps mitigate risks. Independent bookshops help authors with creating readership and awareness. Preorders are guaranteed sales, and it allows retailers who operate on small profit margins and are risk averse to have a guaranteed sale on a book. Independent bookshops work hard to create opportunities for local authors and illustrators, to help them create buzz and get books out there. Supporting indie bookshops is supporting the culture of books.

Special thanks to the team at Walker Books for answering questions about this issue as well as UK Book Publisher, Editorial director at Andersen Press, Libby Hamilton @LibbyHamHam on Instagram

Demystifying publishing

5 Factors that Influence the Decision to Publish & How to Address Them as a Writer: If you’re a writer you need to know this

Posted on July 7, 2021November 24, 2021 by readwithriver

5 Factors that Influence the Decision to Publish and how to address them as a writer.

Suitability of Text
Author Track Record
Comparable Titles
Author Platform
Buzz

Profit Not Public Service: Publishers are surviving in a capitalist society, just like us.

Book Failure= Financial disaster, not just for publishing executives but everyone in the publishing industry chain.

Taking a chance on an author is a risk for the entire chain with very real consequences. So any reticence to taking on big risk should be seen as responsibility for employees, not just conservatism.

The 5 factors all contribute to creating a picture of risk vs. reward, profit vs. loss.

this issue before in previous parts of this Demystifying publishing series, please refer to them for more details on suitability of text.

Text must be enjoyable and suits: the intended audience, publisher’s catalogue, direction of trends and, vision for future of publisher’s list.

Author’s sales record is indicator of future success or future commercial failure.

“But what if I’ve never Published a Book?”

So, fortunately for you, this is actually a Schrodinger’s cat kind of situation and BETTER than having a bad sales record. There’s no record of failure yet, so there’s equal possibility of failure or success, the only way to know for sure is to see what happens next.

Comparable titles are used to build a case for the financial viability of your book (MSS) Mention them in any submission to either agent or editor.

So “You Matter” “All Because You Matter” and “I Believe I Can” are titles comparable to each other because they have similar themes.

Good comparable titles must be: recent, specific and, successful.

Bonus Points if it’s from the publisher or agent who you’re submitting to.

For the love of everything do not compare your story to HARRY POTTER or THE CAT IN THE HAT or, GOODNIGHT MOON, etc.

Don’t do this when querying an agent, or an editor, or an influencer reviewer, just don’t do it.

It tells everyone you don’t actually read children’s books because you don’t know the current market.

Also it kind of makes you sound like an ass.

Authority: Relevant credentials are key for Non-Fiction authors

Less important for fiction authors.

Relevancy is key here, if you have a PHD in Psychology, and you’re writing about Rocket Ship Engineering, that is not relevant. So, not really helpful.

Quantifiable visibility within target audience: aka do you have people who will buy your book?

Unlike every other luxury consumer good industry (which is exactly what book publishing is,) publishers are slow to see Social Media Influence as genuine proof of money making platform.

This attitude is changing and some big publishers are now producing books by influencers.

This shift will partly be thanks to the NYT article from March of 2021 “How Crying on Tik Tok Sells Books”

Most publishers don’t know a lot about Social Media Influencing and change will continue to move slowly. But it’s happening.

Are people actually in the industry talking about your work?

How can you get them talking about you? Twitter is actually a good place to start, a lot of publishing industry people are on Twitter. And if you follow me you know I’m abysmal at Twitter, I just don’t enjoy it, not enough pretty pictures, so this is a piece of advice I do not take for myself. I’d rather cry on Tik Tok.

Attending industry events, book launches, meeting people. Doing this in the pandemic might be harder but not impossible. Virtual events are hosted all the time and often you’ll find editors or other senior members of publishing houses showing up to them.

Having a well respected agent is also key for generating industry buzz, see my previous blog in this series on Literary Agents.

So when you put all of these things together, along with some other numbers for production, distribution, etc. They start to build a profit and loss statement, they will assess the commercial viability of your manuscript proposal, and from this statement they can decide whether or not to offer to acquire it and also, how much money they can offer you as an advance.

#Librarian Fight Club

Racism in Children’s Books is Still Racism: #LibrarianFightClub

Posted on June 29, 2021November 24, 2021 by readwithriver

Shit People Say to Keep Racism Misogyny &, Antisemitism Alive and Well in Picturebooks…

This mind bogglingly tone deaf article “The Dangers of being hyper-aware” by Claire Hennessy was released today in *The Irish Times*. Note the quotations around “problematic” and “insensitive.” The condescending & gaslighting implication that because it doesn’t bother this white author, whether or not it is a problem, is up for debate.

The author of this article, an established member of the publishing industry as both editor and author of 12 books, makes several points that we often see in defense of problematic children’s books. In fact, it makes the rounds so it’s a perfect case study! Let’s explore some of the main points shall we?

Argument 1: ‘Without Racism, books won’t be good.’ “Danger in this hyper-aware, hyper-critical culture: of literary culture becoming so anodyne and sanitised it dies out entirely”- C. Hennessy

Removing racism from children’s literature will kill of culture? …whose culture exactly are you worried won’t withstand being held accountable to any standards of common decency and respect for others?