projectopf.blogg.se

I hoped that would be true for young readers and writers too. “I knew that poetry could help me feel empathy and compassion as well as joy.

Children deserve to read about all sorts of inspiring scientists, artists, and other heroes, besides white men. Until we write about the people who were left out of history (i.e., women and non-white people), they cannot become famous. Reka Simonsen changed that when she accepted the manuscript. Many editors thought she wasn’t famous enough to merit a biography. I wrote it a quarter of a century before it finally found a publisher. MARGARITA ENGLE: My first picture book biography was Summer Birds, about one of the earliest female scientists, Maria Sibylla Merian. Would you speak specifically to the role that picture book biographies can play in a young person’s life? VENKATRAMAN: You have written award-winning books in many different genres. What were they thinking? Did they actually read Drum Dream Girl, or did they merely notice that the girl is Chinese-African-Cuban, and feel compelled to ban her story based on race? I’m grateful to the students and confused by the adults.

Gender equality with respect to music does not seem like an issue that would upset any parent, teacher, or school district in modern times, so I was shocked when I received notification from York, Pennsylvania students that they had challenged their school district’s list of banned books, temporarily restoring Drum Dream Girl to library shelves. Drum Dream Girl can be read as a biographical tale, or simply a poem about perseverance.

It is a true story about a young girl who wanted to play drums in Cuba during the 1930s, when traditionally they were instruments reserved for men. MARGARITA ENGLE: Thank you! I loved writing Drum Dream Girl, and I love Rafael López’s illustrations. Any hypotheses as to why this may have occurred? It’s one of the last books I expected to see challenged. PADMA VENKATRAMAN: Drum Dream Girl is one of my favorite books of yours. We also encourage you to join PEN America and support free expression. We welcome you to read and discuss the content with your networks. This series of articles gives voice to the challenged creators of books for children and young adults through an exchange of nuanced conversations that illuminate today’s issues. PEN America’s Children’s and Young Adult Books Committee (CYAB), a Members’ coalition of award-winning writers and illustrators and dedicated readers who meet monthly, is responding to recent efforts to ban books and intimidate teachers and librarians with PEN Pals. Margarita Engle (left) and Padma Venkatraman (right)