If you're in the Chicago area, please head over to the American Identity in Children's Literature Symposium on Saturday, December 13, from 9:30 am - 2:30 pm, and take good notes so you can tell the rest of us all about it.
Four scholars will discuss the development of ethnic or multicultural children's literature, which seeks to diversify the all-white world of children's literature. Following thirty-minute presentations drawn from their respective specialties of Jewish, Latino, American Indian, and African American children's books, they will form a panel to discuss with each other and with audience members such issues as authenticity, audience, self-esteem, and presentations of social conflict and cultural differences that make this field so important and so contested.
The following schedule is a guide only; speaker times may vary slightly; there will be short Q & A periods during the morning, but most disucussion with the audience and panelists will take place during the afternoon panel discussion.
9:30 am Welcome
9:40 am June Cummins-Lewis, San Diego State University, "All-of-A-Kind Americans? Becoming a Jew in Sydney Taylor's America"
10:10 am Debbie Reese, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, "Indians as Artifacts: How Images of Indians Are Used to Nationalize America's Youth"
10:40 - 11:00 am Break
11:00 - 11:30 am Michelle Martin, Clemson University, "Little Black Sambo and the Complicated History of African American Children's Books"
11:30 - 12:00 pm Phillip Serrato, San Diego State University, "Trying to Forget Pedro and Juanita: The Emergence of Chicano/a Children's Literature"
12:00 - 1:30 pm Lunch break
1:30 - 2:30 pm Panel discussion with the speakers and the audience
Admission is free. No reservations are required.
The Newberry Library
60 W. Walton Street
Chicago, IL 60610
The Symposium will be in Ruggles Hall on the first floor.