Talking Books, and Some Unhappy News

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I’m going to put the post I was going to write before I heard this news first, mostly out of hope that the bad news will turn out okay.

The good news is that I did my first booktalk today. I did it on two books, Artemis Fowl and Mister Monday, presenting them to my YA Literature class. It took six or seven minutes, and went very well, which is good considering that I rehearsed it for literally hours over the past three days, and now my housemates probably think I not only talk to myself, but do so very repetitively, and about fairies.

As I say, the presentation went splendidly. Two classmates told me afterwards that they “don’t usually read fantasy” but thought they might pick these up based on my booktalk. This is heartening, especially considering that my ideal booktalk audience would contain some people who actually do read fantasy, and are perhaps even the ages for which these books were, strictly speaking, written.

While I don’t know anything about what the audience might be, I may have a chance to do a booktalk at the open house of the new library in my hometown. (You know, the one that’s AMAZING.) I’ll have to pick out a set of books, maybe eight or so, of which the library has at least one copy. (Artemis Fowl stays, and I might be able to convince them to get a copy or two of Mister Monday – or donate one myself.) Since booktalking is a skill I’d love to practice, I’m thrilled about this opportunity.

Speaking of practice, I learned two important things from my ridiculous amount of rehearsal for this booktalk:

1. Practice from different angles. I started out giving my booktalk to a mirror, but then when I tried it without the mirror, I realized I’d been taking visual cues from my own reflection, if that makes any sense. I’d also gotten used to fixing my eyes on what is possibly the least likely thing for me to see during the real presentation, i.e. me. Similarly, when I practiced the presentation while pacing in my room, I found myself cuing off my footsteps. Doing different kinds of practice kept any of these from becoming crutches I couldn’t work without.

2. You know how they always tell you that if you mess up during a performance, you should just keep going? This is good advice, but it can be hard given that generally, if you’re like me, you don’t do this during rehearsal. If I mess up while practicing, I tend to start the line over. This is fine when you’re still in the memorization stage, but once you know the lines, it can be helpful to work on delivery the way you’ll actually do it. This includes actually practicing the ability to gloss over any little slips.

Even though today’s presentation was a success, I hope to get to a point of a little more spontaneity. Apparently my booktalk today came off as smooth and natural – at least, according to a friend in the class – but I definitely had a script in my head. I knew how to deal with little slips, but I felt like a bit of a recording. Funnily enough, the words were a lot like my original, spontaneous descriptions of the books, just a little more eloquent and polished – and then practiced like crazy to keep them that way, and to make sure that I didn’t freeze in front of the class. I wouldn’t want to try a totally off-the-cuff booktalk, because it would likely include, “Oops, and I forgot to tell you . . .” and “Oh yeah, but before that . . .” Well, I’ll keep working.

***

And the unfortunate news. Apparently, Diana Wynne Jones has cancer. She’s doing chemo and radiotherapy. Join me in willing good health to my favorite author in the world.

New Life Skill!

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Making book trailers is absolutely a life skill! I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Yes, I have created my first book trailer! It is not for any book of mine, but part of a presentation for my Young Adult Litearture and Related Materials class. Because we were encouraged to do our presentations on books we had not read, I ended up with Flyy Girl, which is urban literature. This is not, as my friends might guess, My Cup of Tea. Strictly speaking, I don’t even like tea, but prefer a nice foamy cocoa, while “street lit” is, mood-wise, somewhat more akin to a mug of blood-spattered gravel.

(I’m not even talking quality here so much as grittiness. Although if you’re looking for quality writing, there are still – cough – a few – books I would recommend before Flyy Girl.)

But I’m not here to bash anyone’s writing, and I had a great time making the book trailer. Here it is!

That was Fast!

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If you read my last post, good news! Bloomsbury is reissuing Magic Under Glass with a new cover.

Hopefully, they’ve got the message now, and this will be the last time they’ll have to withdraw a cover due to whitewashing. (Which, incidentally, is not the only unfortunate can’t-really-be-an-accident misrepresentation publishers have slapped onto this and other books. Several people have noted the covers of Ask Me No Questions and Secrets of Truth and Beauty, both of which center around overweight young women yet have covers portraying conventionally pretty girls without so much as a chubby cheek in sight.)

Still, this is definitely a step. Yay progress!

Two Topics Related by One Book

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Today’s two writing-related topics are steampunk (yay!) and cover whitewashing (boo!).

How do these things relate? Well, Jaclyn Dolamore’s debut novel, Magic Under Glass, is YA steampunk. (I have heard some arguments for calling it “Victorian fantasy” instead. Haven’t yet read it, so I’m going by what the various categorizing entities say.) It’s also one of that sadly rare species, the fantasy novel with a protagonist who isn’t white. Unfortunately, its publisher, Bloomsbury, saw fit to give it a cover featuring a white girl. Even more unfortunately, this is the second time Bloomsbury has done this in less than a year.

When Justine Larbalestier’s YA novel Liar came out from Bloomsbury in 2009, fans raged at the original cover, featuring an obviously-white girl with straight hair in place of the book’s “nappy-haired” mixed-race protagonist. The author joined the outcry, and Bloomsbury ended up giving Liar a new cover.

At the time the Liar incident started appearing on some of the blogs I read, I shook my head, disappointed but not too surprised. But this is ridiculous. I know that the cover of Magic Under Glass was probably decided already when people let Bloomsbury have it over Liar, but what? Did they think no one would notice? They didn’t issue an apology or an assurance that they will fix things in the paperback. What’s up with that?

The range of literature published in this country featuring non-white protagonists is disproportionate to the population, to say the least. Things get even worse if you’d love to read about people of varied ethnic backgrounds, but don’t care for “gritty” books, books that make you cry your eyes out, or books that are largely about racism. Yes, racism exists, and it’s important that it be recognized. But why shouldn’t a person of any race be able to just pick up a freaking fantasy novel and read a freaking fantasy story (or mystery or romance or whatever floats that person’s literary boat) featuring someone whose skin falls outside of the cream-to-khaki color range? By making one of a few such books look like it is about a white person, Bloomsbury implies that people of color don’t belong in this genre, or that this genre isn’t for them. I’ll say it again: what’s up with that?

Naturally, one doesn’t want to punish the author by boycotting her book. She’s not the one being racist here, and is probably distressed by the misrepresentation of her protagonist. Some bloggers suggest that concerned readers contact Bloomsbury. Probably a good idea, but I also think it’s important just to make noise about this whitewashing business and let Bloomsbury know readers have noticed and We Are Not Amused. Hence my commentary here.

If you want to see what some other people have to say about this issue, check out this Open Letter to Bloomsbury Kids USA, and the posts here and here and here. There are also these suggestions on how white bloggers should not take this news.

To end on a happier note, steampunk! As part of my YA Lit class, I’ve joined the listserv for the Young Adult Library Services Association. It is neato. At one member’s request, the listserv’s contributors have volunteered titles of YA steampunk, which were then compiled into a snazzy list. Check it out!