things will never be the same after this...

That is exactly what I feel about this class. Since we started digging deeper into these multicultural books and really "questioning the text", I will never be able to pick up a book again in the same way. I find myself constantly asking why things are put into certain ways, I wonder if the book is authentic and mostly I have been trying to look at things from a perspective other than my own. The idea of this is not awful, it is actually a great quality to have but it surely makes reading anything a lot more complicated.

For example, the readings for this week by Marc Aronson and Andrea Pickney both discussed eligibility for various literature awards. Before this class, I knew of some of these awards and when they were placed on books, I held those books to a higher value than others. Naive of me, yes, but it's something that many people find themselves falling into without even thinking about it. I was one of those people. Then this past week I picked up the article by Aronson in which he questions the merit of awards such at the Coretta Scott King award that "predetermines the book's validity" based on ethnic credentials. Aronson raises several good points such as having this type of prerequisite makes it so that books are "not literature in its own terms but by extraneous standards." "Who you are, which box or boxes you check on the census form, comes first. Your community, your ethnicity, comes before your talent. And as long as the prize is essentially a community honoring and encouraging its own, it is not clear how the rest of the public is meant to react." Aronson questions the validity of these awards because they are not based strictly upon literary merit but first and foremost the ethnicity of the author. Before this article I had never thought about this point of view. To me, these awards were honoring works written by specific cultural heritages yet Aronson makes a strong argument questioning the actually literary merit of these books. Are we choosing them because they are rich books or because they have a specific author?

Pickney on the other hand rebuttals Aronson’s article with several good points as well. She argues that the basis of these awards is not to select the best literary book but instead select and honor specific writers (based on their heritage/background) and the books they write. By having these awards, we are making sure to highlight those authors which sometimes get lost in the midst of things because they are from a small represented group. These awards are not trying to say they are choosing the best book based on its literary merit, instead they are choosing the best book within their specified requirements.

While both of these articles raise some great points they leave the question remaining; how do these awards influence reader’s choices? Do the requirements for these awards enhance the number of quality books on the market or do they hinder readers by putting an award, simply because they are written by a specific ethnic writer, onto a low quality book? To me these questions remained unanswered. Before this class I would have seen awards as only a positive thing, yet now I have been opened to other opinions which have brought me to see another light on this topic. So for now I remain on the fence. Knowing that this is one debate where both sides have pros and cons and I don’t think either side will pull me over anytime soon.

Asian/Pacific American Award

History of the APAA
Founded in 1980 as the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA)
Became part of the American Library Association (ALA) in 1982
Branched off from the Asian American Librarians Caucus (AALC)
A nonprofit organization

Purpose of APALA
To provide a forum for discussing problems of APA librarians.
To provide a forum for the exchange of ideas by APA librarians with other librarians.
To support and encourage library services to APA communities.
To recruit and mentor APA librarians in the library/information science professions.
To seek funding for scholarships in library/information science masters programs for APAs.
To provide a vehicle whereby APA librarians can cooperate with other associations and organizations having similar or allied interests.


According to http://www.apalaweb.org/about/aboutapala.htm

APALA Awards
Asian Pacific American Award for Literature
Honors work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage on both literary and artistic merit
Three awards for illustrations in a picture book, youth literature and adult books


APALA Awards
Scholarship Award
Gives a student of Asian/Pacific background financial support
Must be enrolled in a master’s or doctoral degree
Must be working towards a degree in library and/or information science at a library school accredited by the ALA

APALA 2008 Award Winners
Adult Non-Fiction
Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans By: Jean Pfaelzer
Illustration in Children Literature
Surfer of the Centruy By: Ellie Crowe, Illustrated by: Richard Waldrep
Young Adult Literature
Hiroshima Dreams By: Kelly Easton


Eligibility Requirements
These are a few of the several requirements for eligibility to receive the APALA award:
Works must be related to Asian/Pacific Heritage, not necessarily written by or illustrated by an Asian/Pacific American. The individual must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
Anthologies or books containing the work of more than one author are not eligible.
Works must be originally written in English.
Works must have been published by a large publishing house, trade or small press/publisher located in the United States or one of its territories. Self-published works and exclusive internet publications are not eligible.

Who Decides?
Nominating Committee
Committee Charge: To nominate candidates for elective offices of APALA. The Nominating Committee shall consist of at least three past APALA presidents. The immediate past president shall be appointed chair.
The Literary Awards Committee
Committee Charge: To solicit nominations, review and vote for an award each for Adult Fiction, Illustration in Children's Literature, and Youth Literature.

New Perspective

Yesterday in class we had our small group discussions about the book Habibi and I was able to walk away with a new perspective on the book. This section of the course about Arab-Americans is something I struggle to personally relate to. When I read Habibi I saw a somewhat unrealistic story about a girl who was up-rooted from her "home" and moved into a completely different culture. While discussing this with my group, Mallory brought to my attention a different part of the book that I had completely overlooked. To her, this book spun a negative light on the Jewish people and yet left the Arabs in a positive light. While I am neither Jewish or Arab, I read through the part of Habibi discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without a second look. I was really grateful to see this book through someone else's eyes, especially from someone that related to this book more than I had. I'm glad that there is a purpose for our small group discussions!

On another note, during class yesterday when we were watching the two videos I began thinking about the movie Crash. For those of you that have not seen it, Crash is a movie that intertwines several different stories into one (with a diverse cast). It blatantly uses racial stereotypes in order to bring forward the type of things we assume about others. At one point in the movie an older man's store gets robbed and defaced with things about Arabs. The man then says "they think we're Arab. When did Persian become Arab?" This movie really changed my outlook on the tendency to group people together and stereotype them. This movie will definitely get you thinking about how easy and common it is to stereotype someone without knowing a lick about them. Like I said, I highly suggest watching this movie if you have never seen it. Hopefully it will give you a new outlook like it did for me.