E D U C AT I O N A N D L I B RA RY
Childrens’ Book Week From 21–27 October 2013, the Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin in cooperation with kulturkind e. V. will host readings, workshops, a podium discussion, and an open house day for the public under the rubric of “Multifaceted. A book week on diversity in children’s and young adult literature.” We have invited authors, illustrators, translators, and publishers to come and present their books. Over the past months, staff members from various Museum departments read, discussed, and selected a large number of books on the theme of diversity. These books propose that diversity in German society is not limited to ethnic and cultural origins or religious affiliation, but extends today and in the forseeable future to family constellations, sexual orientation, age, and gender. In contrast to the discussions currently being held on racism in the classics of children’s and young adult literature, we deliberately chose not to focus on the problematic aspects of well-known books. Instead, we sought new books that deal with the subjects of migration, homosexuality, and multilingual environments. Finding books on these subjects which can be recommended without reserve was not easy. A lot of stories have a complicated structure and lifeless characters because their authors gave priority to pedagogical goals at the cost of narrative cohesion. The result is often a book which might be labelled “non-discriminatory education,” but which is not compelling, and so fails to inspire young people to read. Many books, while well intentioned, nevertheless reinforce clichés and prejudices, rather than dispel, question, or
Illustration von Renate Habinger aus dem Buch „Gaggalagu“ von Michael Stavaricˇ Illustration by Renate Habinger, taken from the book Gaggalagu by Michael Stavariˇc
contradict them. Some books of this kind are even expressly recommended for teaching in school, despite depicting Romany as lazy beggars and referring to them as “gypsies.” Other stories reflect unquestioningly the typically European cliché of Africa as a land of village schools swamped by mud, of war-painted dancers, and overflowing buses, without taking into consideration that Africa is a huge continent with many different languages, countries, and ways of life. We looked instead for books that present new perspectives and do not explicitly explain the “foreign,” but simply treat it as a perfectly natural part of the world we live in. We looked for texts that do not speak about “others,” but rather let them speak for themselves. And we found quite a lot of books that reflect the diversity of people living in Germany today in a very entertaining and original way. They tell of patchwork and rainbow families, of asylum-seekers in Germany, of animal and human language confusion, of street children, of religious diversity in everyday life, of soccer and friendship. And these books describe the lives of people whose experiences have seldom been seen at centerstage in a story—like those of East European immigrant workers or supposedly invisible “illegal immigrants.” After making our selection, we put together a brochure that presents altogether 30 picture books, books for children and young adults, and
graphic novels, each with a short descriptive text, and recommends 20 more books. Several books have already been reviewed in our blog on the JMB website. Within the framework of our book week in October, Diana Dressel and Nina Wilkens will hold a discussion with the children’s and young adults’ book author Mirjam Pressler, with Maisha-Maureen Eggers, Professor of Childhood and Difference, and with Felix Giesa, from the Center for Children’s and Young-Adult Media Research from the Cologne University, on the questions of what makes for a successful literary representation of diversity, what benefits can be expected from presenting diversity in children’s and young adults’ literature, and what problems arise in this context. In a continuing education course for teachers and other interested persons, we will present and discuss our criteria for books on diversity, as well as discuss the broader question of what makes a good book. At the heart of our book week are the many readings and workshops for schoolchildren and students of all ages that will take place in the Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin. For this series, we have invited the authors Aygen-Sibel Çelik, Mirjam Pressler, Nasrin Siege, and Michael Stavariˇc ; translator Gesine Strempel; illustrators Barbara Nascimbeni and Barbara Steinitz; and publishers Myriam Halberstam and Stephan Trudewind. Mariette Franz, Nina Wilkens