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Please note: this is from Pat Wallace - DENWALL@aol.com - please address
all responses to her or to LM_NET.

---from Pat Wallace:::>>>>

Dear LM_NETTERS:
     I teach multi-age 1st-3rd in a public school Montessori Magnet in Dallas
and I'm  working on an MLS at Texas Woman's
University.  Dallas has a number of magnets established under a court order
which mandates racial balance in every
classroom.  The district is also in the process of establishing
many new elementary schools and libraries.  I have been envisioning the task
of putting together an excellent and highly diverse collection of children's
books and would like to
write my professional paper on this topic.  I would like some
input from all you experienced people on a couple of issues,
and I would appreciate really honest responses:

1.  Using jobbers:  I am aware that the mainstream publishing
     industry has waxed and waned in its inclusion of books by
     authors of color and the degree of care exercised in
     ensuring availability of bias-free, culturally authentic
     children's literature.  Small presses and alternative
     publishers have expended more consistent energy toward
     this end, but they often aren't represented on jobber's lists.
     Yet the trend toward ordering through jobbers and even via
     approval plans grows because of the convenience of pre-
     coding, cost  and time savings.  This concerns me.  It seems
     to offer the potential for making it even more difficult to
     maintain ethnic diversity in the collection.  Yet, when I
     attempt to discuss this in my graduate classes, most just
     roll their eyes, aghast at the thought of bypassing the
     convenience of using jobbers.  What has your experience
     been in this regard?  Do you believe this to be a problem?
     (I'm beginning to think this is an "Emperor's New Clothes"
     phenomenon!).
2.  Exacerbating the problem is the dearth of reviews of multi-
     cultural literature by reviewers familiar with the culture
     of the ethnic group(s) depicted.  Again, this applies
     especially to mainstream reviewing sources as opposed to
     small press journals.  Probably you all know of some spec-
     tacular  chasms between how books well received in major
     reviewing venues have been panned as racist by alternative
     reviewers.  For example:  "The Indian in the Cupboard",
     "The Five Chinese Brothers", "Little Black Sambo" etc.
     I don't know the exact statistics, but the vast majority of
     school librarians are white.  What kind of support, if any,
     do you get from your District Media Office or similar
     source in accessing a variety of reviewing sources,
     actually handling advanced copies of new children's books,
     or circulating "in House" reviews?  What kind of resources
     might be useful in this regard?

     I know these are big issues, but whatever personal insights
you are willing to share, I would appreciate.  You can post to
the listserv or answer me at denwall@aol.com.  Thank you, in
advance.
                                  Pat Wallace
                                  Harry Stone Montessori Magnet
                                  Dallas, Texas


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