Weekly Roundup: June 30 - July 6, 2013

• Multicultural Books for Children: 40+ Book Lists at Pragmatic Mom

• Whitewashing: The Disappearance of Race and Ethnicity from YA Covers  at Inside a Dog

• Sci Fi Fantasy Books for Kids That Have Disabled Characters  at Patheos

• Russian Book for Teens Tackles LGBT Prejudice, Growing Up  at The Moscow News

• Kolkata Schools Tweek Classics to Teach Gender Sensitivity  at Times of India

Double Dose: Weekly Roundup: June 16 - June 29, 2013

• Openly YA Tour Hits the Road at Publisher's Weekly

• Resources for Parents of Gender Variant Children  at Express Milwaukee

• As Demographics Shift, Kids' Books Stay Stubbornly White  at NPR's Code Switch

• Why Hasn't the Number of Multicultural Books Increased in Eighteen Years?  at Lee & Low's blog

• Shaikha Bodour Emphasises Importance of Providing More Books to Visually Impaired  at Gulf News

• How Young Adult Literature Challenges Gender Norms  at Thought Catalog

• Degrees of Difficulty: Writing the Other at Rich in Color

• When Every Culture Is a Foreign Culture: Writing on the Autism Spectrum  at Rich in Color

Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments!

Weekly Roundup: June 9 - June 15, 2013

• Beyond 'Game of Thrones': Exploring Diversity in Speculative Fiction at the L.A. Times Hero Complex

• The Grey of Gender: Intersex and Gender Variant/Non-Binary Characters in YA  at Gay YA

• Book Shares Insights of Filipino Children  at Times of Oman

• Diversity in Literature and a Giveaway!  at Go Teen Writers

•  CGI Chicago: First Books Commits to Diversity in Children's Literature at allvoices

• YA Is Too Late: Gay Characters in Middle Grade Fiction  at Vikki VanSickle

• A New Definition of Fatherhood  at Colorlines

• Once Upon a Time  at Business Standard

• YA Books About Transgender Characters  at Diversity in YA

Five Diverse Picture Books for Father's Day

This upcoming Sunday is Father's Day in the U.S. and for once I am happy to present a list of book recommendations prior to the actual day of celebration! So, here are five diverse books that celebrate fathers and explore fatherhood. All summaries in quotes from IndieBound.

When Dads Don't Grow Up
written by Marjorie Blain Parker, illustrated by R.W. Alley

"[T]his playful book follows four father-child pairs as they spend happy, silly times together, popping bubble wrap and watching cartoons and taking part in shoppingcart races. These are dads who aren't worried about looking goofy or getting their hair wet - dads who still remember what it's like to be little. Don't be fooled. They may look like grown-ups on the outside, But underneath they're just like you . . . Kids!"

A Father Like That
written by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

A great choice for children who don't have their father in their lives--or expanding the horizons of children who do--this book shows all the things the little boy protagonist knows about fathers without having his own present. Though it is clear the little boy feels a void is left by his father's absence, he has a loving, supportive mother and enjoys imagining an ideal father for himself.

Article on LGBT Characters in YA at The Atlantic Wire

In The Atlantic Wire's weekly series Y.A. for Grownups, this week's article, A New Way for Gay Characters in Y.A. examines the way in which the portrayals of LGBTQ characters has increased and diversified in recent years.

The author of the article, Jen Doll, examines recent releases featuring LGBTQ characters and celebrates the fact that they are now being portrayed as multifaceted--not defined solely by their sexual orientation. Doll quotes a number of YA authors including David Levithan, Marisa Calin, and Bill Konigsberg, sharing their thoughts on the changes in the industry and problems that still need to be addressed.

2013 Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpre, Schneider Family, and Stonewall Book Award Winners

Since we began this blog in February, and the ALA awards are announced in January, we decided not to post about the winners. However, there has been a lot of interest in the posts cataloging the Asian/Pacific Heritage Awards and The Rainbow List, so we thought we'd better go ahead and post the Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpre, Schneider Family, and Stonewall Book award winners here, even though we're a few months late!

2013 Coretta Scott King Book Awards

Illustrator

Winner:

2013 Rainbow List

We're a bit late on this, but in January the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) released the 2013 Rainbow List. The GLBTRT strives to serve "the information needs of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender professional library community, and the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender information and access needs of individuals at large" (from this website). We're only posting the Top Ten, but you can see the full list here.

Below are the Top Ten of the 2013 Rainbow List (in alphabetical order by author last name):