To: Barbara Parks at Random House Books for Young Readers, Author and publisher, Beverly Cleary HarperCollins, Author and publisher, and International Reading Association: Reading Teacher, professional journal
Black and Brown it up!
Hugely popular children's books like the Ramona Quimby and Junie B. Jones chapter books are wonderful finds for little girls and boys. They help teachers interest new readers in books. Wouldn't it be great if some copies of these books could be printed with illustrations of little Black and Brown girls. This does not seem like a glass mountain to climb but more a choice of will, and perhaps a job or two for a few illustrators. I know this is not an issue to lose sleep over or be enraged about but it is meaningful and important all the same. I would love to walk up to the children's section of a library or a book store, with my students or my own children, and see a rainbow of Ramona and Junie B. Jones books to choose from! If the authors of these two series are with us we cannot fail, let them know it matters. Help me work for this by signing my petition!
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Dear. Ms. Cleary,
My kindergarten students and my daughters love your books! I loved them too when I was their age, and I enjoy reading them aloud now. So I hope you will take my suggestion with the interests of some of your young, impressionable readers in mind. Please, please, please come out with copies of your books with little Black, Latino, and other ethnicities reflected in your main characters. In our modern world all eager young listeners and readers should feel the joy of identifying with your wonderful characters to the same extent as the friend/classmate sitting next to them. I know if you get behind this idea then many other authors/publishers will follow.
Thanks for the many happy hours, as a child and now as a teacher and father, reading your books!
Warm regards,
Joseph Towery
**********************
Dear Ms. Parks,
My kindergarten students and my daughters love your books! I enjoy reading them aloud at school and at home. So I hope you will take my suggestion with the interests of some of your young, impressionable readers in mind. Please, please, please come out with copies of your books with little Black, Latino, and other ethnicities reflected in your main characters. In our modern world all eager young listeners and readers should feel the joy of identifying with your wonderful characters to the same extent as the friend/classmate sitting next to them. Role models matter to all of us - you and Junie B. can do a lot to help little girls of all races have heroines of all races to look up to.
Thanks for inspiring my students and daughters to love books!
Warm regards,
Joseph Towery
*********************
Dear. Ms. Cleary,
My kindergarten students and my daughters love your books! I loved them too when I was their age, and I enjoy reading them aloud now. So I hope you will take my suggestion with the interests of some of your young, impressionable readers in mind. Please, please, please come out with copies of your books with little Black, Latino, and other ethnicities reflected in your main characters. In our modern world all eager young listeners and readers should feel the joy of identifying with your wonderful characters to the same extent as the friend/classmate sitting next to them. I know if you get behind this idea then many other authors/publishers will follow.
Thanks for the many happy hours, as a child and now as a teacher and father, reading your books!
Warm regards,
Joseph Towery
**********************
Dear Ms. Parks,
My kindergarten students and my daughters love your books! I enjoy reading them aloud at school and at home. So I hope you will take my suggestion with the interests of some of your young, impressionable readers in mind. Please, please, please come out with copies of your books with little Black, Latino, and other ethnicities reflected in your main characters. In our modern world all eager young listeners and readers should feel the joy of identifying with your wonderful characters to the same extent as the friend/classmate sitting next to them. Role models matter to all of us - you and Junie B. can do a lot to help little girls of all races have heroines of all races to look up to.
Thanks for inspiring my students and daughters to love books!
Warm regards,
Joseph Towery
Why is this important?
Hugely popular children's books like the Ramona Quimby and Junie B. Jones chapter books are wonderful finds for little girls and boys. They help teachers interest new readers in books. Wouldn't it be great if some copies of these books could be printed with illustrations of little Black and Brown girls. This does not seem like a glass mountain to climb but more a choice of will, and perhaps a job or two for a few illustrators. I know this is not an issue to lose sleep over or be enraged about but it is meaningful and important all the same. I would love to walk up to the children's section of a library or a book store, with my students or my own children, and see a rainbow of Ramona and Junie B. Jones books to choose from! If the authors of these two series are with us we cannot fail, let them know it matters. Help me work for this by signing my petition!