FakeDiversityForUnder16s

Ghosts | Raina Telgemeier

so-so

I‘m trying to finish up the #BBRC prompts I‘d rather avoid, so here‘s #FakeDiversityForUnder16s for #yeahbaby! I think I would have read this differently had I not been aware of the concerns about the book‘s depiction of Dia de los Muertas and the happy Spanish-speaking ghosts of the mission. https://bit.ly/3uZV5CL

The question I came away with, though, was how a young person with cystic fibrosis would find this

rockpools book. Maya, the MC‘s younger sister with CF, is portrayed as funny, always positive, sensible and coming to terms with her own mortality. The story is much more about how her older sister Cat copes with Maya‘s condition than about Maya herself. I don‘t have the answer to my question- I‘ve found both very positive reviews and a LONG (very) academic essay by an affected disability scholar that looked at 4y

rockpools my concerns in much more detail: https://bit.ly/3rooZhX

I really dislike the phrase ‘fake diversity‘ - if someone has gone in with all good intentions to write characters beyond their experience, part of me still thinks that should be applauded or encouraged. But no, I wasn‘t massively comfortable with this one. I have now a little more knowledge about CF and its (lack of) representation in literature! @LibrarianRyan @Sarahreadstoomuch (edited) 4y

Megabooks I think these are great points about this book. I definitely think it has ableist leanings. Just because there are “diverse characters” doesn‘t mean they are authentically written. 4y

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rockpools @Megabooks Thank Meg. I think that‘s maybe what I was trying to get at! 4y

LibrarianRyan @rockpools I agree with you that good research would mean something. When I wrote the challenge it was something that was really be argued by libraries and school boards. Same way people argued fake news. This wasn‘t my favorite by her either but I did like that it was something... I had a staff member with CF and my brothers girlfriends son has CF and they both act/respond to their condition in completely different ways. It changes perspective 4y

rockpools @LibrarianRyan Oh interesting- thank you! I don‘t think I‘d even heard the term before the challenge (except maybe re American Dirt). And that‘s understandable- very different perspectives and responses. It does make me want to find an ‘own voices‘ read or two alongside. 4y

LibrarianRyan @rockpools there was a big debate in libraries around picture books. You were getting more and more picture books with POC characters or LGBTQ characters written by popular cis white authors. So the debate became how Representative are these books if they are not written by own voices. 4y

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