Ethics in Nonfiction for Kids
I’m not quite sure what it says about me that whenever I need to have a go-to Children’s Literary Salon I inevitably make it about ethics in nonfiction for kids. I think, technically, I’ve done this topic three times and each time it just gets more and more interesting. Case in point, this past Saturday’s Children’s Literary Salon in beautiful Evanston, IL. I hosted Barbara Rosenstock, Sally M. Walker, Candace Fleming, and Judith Fradin. And baby, we covered everything. Faux dialogue, what happens when the illustrations are inaccurate but the text is dead on, the world of nonfiction after A BIRTHDAY CAKE FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON, the works!
Now I recorded the whole thing but I recorded it as a Google Hangout. That means the audio is a bit more digitized than I’d like. You can make it out, but it’s tricky. So, y’know. If anyone wants to make a transcript you shall earn my undying love and quite possibly a chocolate chip cookie to boot.
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In the meantime, enjoy:
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About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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Related is this fascinating Guardian article looking at how different cultures consider the divide between fiction and nonfiction (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/24/fiction-nonfiction-english-literature-culture-writers-other-languages-stories?CMP=share_btn_tw)
(Enjoyed what I could hear of this — well remember the salon you on a similar topic at NYPL:)
Huh! I was thinking of writing a similar piece on children’s literature. I’ve been getting a lot of translated nonfiction titles, but often they don’t really stand up to U.S. scrutiny (recent scrutiny, I should add). Maybe I can tie this piece in. Thanks!
Thanks so much for live streaming this. It was such an interesting conversation.