Amanda Gorman
Amanda Gorman recites “The Hill We Climb” during the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Take note, young writers–she is 22 years old. Start practicing now–this could be you!
Read MoreHighlights Stands Up for ALL Kids
Proud to have three of my books published by these fine folks! The CEO of Highlights Magazine says, “Our company’s core belief…is that ‘Children are the world’s most important people.’ This includes ALL children.”
More Thoughts
I continue musing about the face of Blood Heir and A Place for Wolves, two YA novels on the verge of publication cancelled after online outrage. I offered up a few thoughts about this last week, but want to add some more.
In her discussion of morality clauses (also a hot button topic in publishing lately), Judith Shulevitz points out that writers of color and women and LBGTQ writers are most vulnerable to online outrage, most easily targeted and most viciously attacked. The same issue is at play here. It’s ironic and I don’t think it’s coincidental that the two most high-profile cases of books being withdrawn pre-publication involve two writers of color, one of them an immigrant, one of them gay. When we use the level of outrage to judge whether books should be released, I predict that women and minorities will see their books cancelled first. Supression always hits the most vulnerable the hardest.
You may ask, what about own voices–authors, especially those from marginalized communities, writing directly about their own experiences? Important. Vital. I am all for it. We need black people writing about the African American experience, we need gay people writing about growing up LBGTQ, we need immigrants writing about immigration. Please do so. I am so eager to read what you write. But please use own voices to open up the marketplace of ideas, not to shut it down.
And finally, as writers and as human being, we will blow it sometimes. I’m sorry about that, but we’re flawed and it’s inevitable. Blowing it does not necessarily mean that a book should be cancelled, because that negates the possibility of such a book being flawed but valuable. Can The Merchant of Venice be, perhaps, a work that is disturbing for its anti-Semitism and still interesting for its cry of universal humanity? Does Dorothy L. Sayer’s casual racism mean I can’t remain fascinated by her intimate, heartfelt longing for a companionate marriage of equals between a man and a woman? Isn’t Huckleberry Finn both a sharp, satiric look at the American experience and a tender examination of a cross-racial friendship and an uncomfortable expression of bone-deep racism? Can’t we are as readers be trusted–or even allowed–to see all the sides?
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Let Readers Judge
Two YA books have been cancelled recently because of an online storm that accused them and their authors of bias. Amelie Wen Zhao’s Blood Heir was pulled from shelves because some readers of the pre-release materials felt she depicted slavery insensitively–and because she is an Asian American immigrant writing about slavery. Kosoko Jackson asked that his novel, A Place for Wolves, be pulled from publication after some online accusations of insensitivity to Muslims–and because he is a gay American black man writing a novel set during the Kosovan civil war.
I know of at least one other book which was cancelled before publication because the race of the writer did not coincide with the race of the main character. There are probably others.
I have not read any of these books. I cannot say with conviction whether the writers are guilty of bias, insensitivity, or just plain bad writing.
Here’s the thing–most of the people attacking these writers online have not read the books either. Because they have not been released. And now they never will be.
Not every book that makes it past an editorial acquisition committee and reviewers’ eagle eyes is a good book. Some are poorly written, some traffic in stereotypes, some reveal biased judgment or a lack of empathy. You know what should happen to those book? They should fail.
They should go unsold and go out of print because they have not connected with readers. But they should not be yanked off the shelves because a pre-publication online mob has judged them impure or has decided that X writer cannot write about Y characters or Z setting.
Books are not finished until they connect with their readers. A reader takes in a book, characters and plot and setting and tone and vision and emotional impact. The book as a whole collides with and absorbs the reader’s mindset and feelings and memories and preferences and then, only once that has happened, do you have a book. A complete book. A book that can actually be judged as good, bad, interesting but flawed, or a waste of paper or pixels.
Pulling books off the shelves before they get released short-circuits this process. It means books will forever be judged on an anonymous tweet or a scrap of quotation. It means books are being condemned while they are still half finished.
This is not the way to go about publishing, reviewing, or writing books. We can’t publish by tweet. (We can’t govern that way either.)
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Readers will treasure the blossoming friendship between opposites in this whimsically illustrated tale. Short chapters and plenty of action make for an accessible and appealing reading experience. . . . Touching and inspiring.”
—Kirkus Reviews