Showing posts with label Inclusive Minds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inclusive Minds. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Inclusive Minds "What About Me?" event coming to the Imagine Children's Festival, Southbank Centre, London on 21st February 2014
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| The Imagine Children's Festival. The South Bank comes alive with stories and fun! |
Our good friends over at Inclusive Minds have been commissioned to run an event at London's Southbank Centre as part of this year's Imagine Children's Festival.
The one-day event entitled "What About Me?" is focused on making children's books truly inclusive of ALL children, and giving children a real voice within children's books.
It will be a free and accessible event with activities to suit every child's needs and interests, including sensory activity and signed poetry. We will be welcoming a host of children's book creators to the event to meet children, discuss ideas, take part in workshops and work with children to 're-imagine' book covers and stories, to make sure all children really are included in books.
The full programme can be found on the Inclusive Minds website.
The event will end with a panel discussion looking at how 'normal' is presented in children's books, and what messages this gives to children about society.
The event will end with a panel discussion looking at how 'normal' is presented in children's books, and what messages this gives to children about society.
Taking place on Friday 21st February 2014 at London's Southbank Centre, it's a fabulous chance to find out more about inclusive children's books.
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
#ReadItMD13 - "Celebrating Inclusive and Diverse Children's Books" - An interview with Beth Cox and Alex Strick - #InclusiveMinds
Labels:
#ReadItMD13,
Beth Cox,
Celebrating diverse and inclusive children's books,
Child's Play,
Inclusive Minds,
letterbox library,
Write 4 Children Journal
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| Inclusive Minds - Specialists in diverse and inclusive books |
We were lucky enough to "meet" Beth Cox, of Inclusive Minds on Twitter (one of these days our hectic schedules will let us meet up for a break for coffee, promise!)
Beth - a freelance editor specialising in inclusive and diverse children's books, is now one half of Inclusive Minds. Along with Alex Strick, they provide a consultancy for publishers and individuals involved directly and indirectly with children's books and publications.
Beth (with input from Alex) at Inclusive Minds has kindly agreed to an interview with us, as part of this week's theme.
ReadItDaddy: Hi there and thanks for joining in with our #ReaditMD13 theme week celebrating diverse and inclusive children's books. Tell us a little bit about yourself and Inclusive Minds.
Beth @ Inclusive Minds: Well I'm a freelance editor and consultant specialising in diversity and inclusion. i went freelance two years ago, after nearly eight years working for the wonderful Child's Play, and earlier this year founded Inclusive Minds with fellow consultant Alexandra Strick. Although Inclusive Minds is a new project, it's been in our hearts and minds of the founders for a long time. Inclusive Minds is a collective which aims to bring together all those interested in diversity, inclusion, equality and accessibility in publishing, in the hope that, together, we can make a real difference. We're working on projects such as a special edition of Write 4 Children Journal and speaking at a number of conferences. We are also involved in the development of a groundbreaking tactile book that will be published in early 2014.
ReadItDaddy: We consider ourselves relative newcomers to the amazing world of diverse and inclusive books but we've discovered some fabulous books through your recommendation and those of others passionate about them. We're going to put you on the spot here and ask for 5 book recommendations that you think get it absolutely 'right'
Beth @ Inclusive Minds: This is tricky - we're very picky customers, and many times think we've found the perfect book only to find something that really lets it down. However, we don't want to be negative. There are a lot of fabulous books out there and publishers are really starting to do some great things.
- One, two, three… Run! by Carol Thompson and published by Child's Play (out next month) is a great example of inclusion of a disabled child. The book features two main characters, running through fields and puddles, doing things that any small child would love, but one of them happens to have Down's Syndrome.
- Lulu Loves Stories by Anna McQuinn, published by Alanna Books is another casually inclusive books that stars a black family (rarer than you might think) with the dad being the primary carer. Lulu doesn't conform to gender stereotypes and enjoys a bit of DIY as much as dressing up as a fairy.
- Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner, published by Hot Key Books, is an absolutely stunning book. Not only is the protagonist dyslexic, but it features (spoiler alert) a same-sex kiss which is so natural and right. When I asked the author about her decision to include it her response was - 'I couldn't not include it.' When the majority of arguments against LGBT representation in children's books are based on the false assumption that they teach children about gay sex (strange this, as straight representations don't teach children about straight sex) it's wonderful to have a book with a same-sex kiss that illustrates the depth of feeling behind it.
- Inclusive Minds co-founder, Alex Strick, has also co-authored a book, due out in June. Max the Champion (by Sean Stockdale and Alexandra Strick, illustrated by Ros Asquith), published by Frances Lincoln. Is a story about sport-loving Max and his wild imagination. Effortlessly inclusive, the cast of characters truly reflects the make-up of society.
- Finally, The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce, published by Walker, is a light-hearted, yet powerful look at immigration as brothers who are Mongolian refugees try to assimilate and blend in to Liverpudlian culture. This fast-paced, entrancing read will really challenge perceptions.
ReadItDaddy: What do you think are the most common misconceptions about diverse and inclusive books?
Beth @ Inclusive Minds: When we speak about inclusive and diverse books, the most common misconception is that we are talking about ‘issue books’. This is very much not the case. What we’re aiming for are mainstream books which just happen to contain a diverse range of characters, whether that's a family headed by same-sex parents, a disabled character (who isn't always a wheelchair-user), a 'sensitive' boy, an independent girl, a youthful looking granny, a black or asian protagonist... These books shouldn’t be about the fact that the characters are any of these things (and certainly these characteristics shouldn’t define them), they should just be over and above, great stories. This is where we’re delighted to have Letterbox Library as a partner. A one stop shop for absolutely fabulous books which, due to their rigorous selection process, you can be sure are naturally inclusive and diverse.
ReadItDaddy: Do you think that through the work of Inclusive Minds and other champions of diverse and inclusive books, the publishing industry in general is slowly changing its game?
Beth @ Inclusive Minds: Yes, but I think 'slowly' is the key word in that question. Publishers are beginning to see this as something they need to do, but they still see it as only necessary in a few books, very few companies understand that inclusions needs to permeate their whole publishing programme. I also think that there is a danger of tokenism and sensationalism when companies are looking to make a quick fix. To be truly inclusive, research needs to be done to ensure that all the characters are fully rounded and don't perpetuate stereotypes. This is where we hope they'll come to Inclusive Minds for advice. We'd love to offer training and consultancy for publishers.
ReadItDaddy: In the same way consumers are turning away from large multinational corporations and starting to 'shop savvy', do you think parents, teachers and librarians are becoming more knowledgable about diverse and inclusive books?
Beth @ Inclusive Minds: I think they are beginning to, teachers and librarians especially. The trouble is, finding high quality inclusive and diverse books isn't always easy, which is why companies such as Letterbox Library are vital. I think parents do recognise publishers that have ethics behind what they publish, and more and more I think that this will be the case. Child's Play have certainly found that rather than being seen as a niche publisher for being inclusive, they are just recognised as a truly child-centred company.
ReadItDaddy: My daughter (Charlotte) loves practically everything Child's Play publish, and we've also been discovering a great number of 'books in translation' (that is, books that originate in other countries and are lovingly translated into English) offer more inspiration and originality than a lot of their western counterparts. What should parents ideally be looking for and what should they be avoiding in your opinion?
Beth and Alex @ Inclusive Minds: I'd say they need to be looking for, first and foremost, books that are great stories. Diverse characters should be fully rounded, and the fact that they are in someway diverse should not be the focus of the books, and should just be one aspect of their character. Child's Play are brilliant at this, as you've discovered and, as I've mentioned, Letterbox Library is THE place to find the best inclusive books. In terms of books in translation, we have close links to the brilliant Outside In World, the UK organisation dedicated to promoting and exploring books from around the world particularly translated books. The website features a huge selection of book reviews and a great 'virtual gallery' in which children can explore illustration from around the world.
ReadItDaddy: We began the year of trying to encourage parents to read to their children more with more of a focus on dads and boys - who are often the toughest group to target if they're reluctant to engage with books. Have you found this to be the case in your current role, or do you think there's a fairly even balance?
Inclusive Minds: I think that if dads and boys are hard to target, it can be because of the gender stereotypes that are promoted in books. Reading is often portrayed as a more feminine activity and books that are specifically targeted at boys tend to reinforce this. Inclusive Minds would like to see more books that are designed for all children, as segregation emphasises difference and perpetuates inequality. It's also important to have books that show men and women in roles that challenge gender stereotypes, and books that show more sensitive boys as well as active girls; books that just show children being children, regardless of their gender.
ReadItDaddy: Last but not least, we know you've got a fairly busy and hectic year ahead of you at Inclusive Minds. Any top secret projects you're working on that you can let us in on?
Inclusive Minds: Well, the special edition of Write 4 Children Journal will be published in the next couple of weeks, and I promise you that it's full of fascinating articles. The tactile book that we are working on will be published in early 2014, and you can be sure that there will be some joint initiatives with Letterbox Library. Everything else is top secret I'm afraid, but we're hoping to be involved in some high profile events next year. Watch this space. Exciting things are happening.
They are indeed! Thanks to Beth and Alex from Inclusive Minds for sparing us some of their extremely valuable time. Please visit their website and also check out the other links in this article too.
Monday, 20 May 2013
#ReadItMD13 - "Diversity and Inclusivity in Children's Books"
Labels:
#ReadItMD13,
Diverse and Inclusive Books,
Inclusive Diverse Children's Publishing,
Inclusive Minds,
letterbox library
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| So much awesomeness, how could you possibly miss out? |
To kick off this week we're handing over the reins to The Letterbox Library, supreme superchamp booksellers who specialise in diverse and inclusive books. If you haven't heard of them before, prepare to be impressed! Over to you, LL!
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| The Letterbox Library Penguin Stand (and a gorgeous Letterbox Librarian!) |
“Letterbox Library is 25 years old, I thought it was older. I thought it had been here since the beginning of time. Maybe it’s because I can’t imagine what life would be like without it…This is the kind of organisation we can be proud of, a co-operative that is run by people motivated by nothing else but bringing joy and positive learning to our young. May you keep spreading the words for as long as we need words. By my reckoning that’s forever” (Benjamin Zephaniah, 2008).
Imagine our utter joy and giddiness at hearing these words from the great Zephaniah. Then, it was our 25th anniversary. This year marks our 30th. I wonder if the two single parents who set up Letterbox Library from their Hackney front room back in 1983 believed we would still be here now…
30 years ago Letterbox Library, a specialist children’s bookseller, launched with just 16 titles. Now we stock over 300. But some things haven’t changed one bit. Our aim remains exactly the same: to celebrate equality and diversity in the very best children’s books. And, we also remain a not-for-profit social enterprise and workers’ cooperative.
Letterbox Library really is in this for the passion and not for the profit. Like many children’s booksellers, we will tell you we love what we do. And that is true. But here’s where we’re different- our ultimate aim is to put ourselves out of business. The day you and I can walk into our high street bookstore and find a children’s book section which effortlessly reflects the diversity of our world and truly values every child is the day we will shut up shop- and we will do so with a glad heart and a skip in our step.
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| The brilliant Letterbox Library Book Tent at the recent Luton Hoo Book Festival |
Letterbox Library’s children’s books show the incredible diversity of our local and global communities: they’re multicultural; they baffle gender stereotypes; they’re multi-faith; they include disabled heroes; they relish in the rich variety of our family structures; they feature people traditionally under-represented in children’s literature such as Travellers and refugees. We are also known for our books exploring ‘difficult’ issues such as family breakdown, bullying and bereavement.
We find this heady mix of books through painstaking sourcing, researching, reviewing and selecting from a wide range of both home-grown and international publishers. Helping us with this are a completely wonderful team of 25 volunteer book reviewers from diverse backgrounds; they include teachers, librarians, carers and, of course, children and young people themselves. Thankfully, they are a horribly fussy lot. Over 75% of the samples sent in by publishers are rejected by our team. The children’s book world knows us for our super-strictness and publishers tend to see the addition of their books in our catalogue/website as a stamp of approval. By the way, we balk at tokenism- if we approve a book, then that means it has been chosen not just because it fits our ethos but also because of its excellence in storyline/artwork and its strong child-appeal. Finally, we are passionate about resisting commercial trends. We want to offer all children real choices in what they read.
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| The utterly awesome Catherine Johnson and her book 'Stella' (OUP) |
This must be the place to add that we recently became partners of the quite brilliant Inclusive Minds. They. Are. Brilliant. They’re bringing together -in one big HUG- all of those people who have a profound commitment to ensuring no child is left out of the landscape of children’s literature.
They are also contributing to this theme week so I won’t go on too much about them here. Oh- and also I should mention that Letterbox Library was very privileged this year to run the 1st ever Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for radical children’s fiction. We did this on behalf of the stupendous Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) and ReadItDaddy blogged about it here:
Celebrate Equality and Diversity at the first ever "Little Rebels Children's Book Awards", coming to the London Radical Bookfair
I promised I would suggest some Top Inclusive Books. Obviously, narrowing the choices down is a completely impossible task, so please just see these as stepping stones for bigger, brighter inclusive book collections:
For the Very Young
- Deron Goes to Nursery / Grandma Comes to Stay: smashing 1st experience photographic books which just happen to be set in modern Ghana.
- Man’s Work: a bestseller of ours; dad and son do the housework…
- Daddy, Papa and Me; Mommy, Mama, and Me: 2 boardbooks bouncing with the joys of a same-sex parent family.
- Blankies/Snug: dinky, perfectly formed boardbooks with an open door policy for all toddlers!
- Tuck Your Vest In: a comic caper about 1st day at a (multicultural) Welsh nursery.
- My Mum is a Firefighter/My Nanny Tracey: ‘real’ women role models.
- Freddie & the Fairy: a hearing-impaired fairy gets a child’s wishes a little muddled…
For Primary Aged Children
- The Silence Seeker and Azzi In Between: skillful and brilliant stories about asylum seekers
- Not All Princesses Dress in Pink: it’s all in the title!
- Donovan’s Big Day: our first lesbian wedding picture book.
- Olaudah Equiano: a Black British hero portrayed by Manchester schoolchildren.
- A Donkey Reads: a traditional Turkish tale (warning- belly deep laughs - and a ReadItDaddy recommendation too!)
- The Art of Miss Chew: a dyslexic protagonist masters her art classes.
Phew! Now for just a little plea. Letterbox Library is known for its book selection process. This book selection is entirely funded by our book selling. And, as I’ve said, a great many education professionals give up their time to support this selection by reviewing our books. We want to offer people who share our passion a good service so we want to offer you great selections enhanced by easily searchable ‘themes’ on our website and in our catalogue.
We also know that every time we put out a new theme or booklist or recommended reads, we run the risk of someone using our sourcing and selection expertise to shop elsewhere. All we would say is, please bank your money with the people who genuinely care about children’s literature and who need your custom to survive- if not us, then your favourite indie. Perhaps you already do this, in which case please forgive the plea. Thank you, ReadItDaddy for your tireless support of indie bookselling and for this opportunity to gush and waffle about lovely inclusive things.
- Well, thank YOU Letterbox Library for kicking off our Diversity and Inclusivity week with a fantastic and thought provoking post. Please do take the time to check out the Letterbox Library website and please take to heart the text in red above because it pretty much underlines why folk like Letterbox Library are so important to children's books.
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