Last month we announced that we’d be taking over Diversity in YA‘s roundups of new diverse middle grade and young adult books coming out each month, started by authors Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo. Using the DiYA definition, we define diversity for the purpose of this roundup as: (1) main characters or major secondary characters (e.g., a love interest or best friend kind of character) who are of color or are LGBT; or (2) written by a person of color or LGBT author.
Tag Archives: diversity
The Meaning of Diversity Becomes More Diverse
Since the company was founded in 1991, diversity at LEE & LOW has been defined by ethnicity. Our focus has always been on multicultural stories that explore racial and cultural diversity, from remembering the experiences of past generations to reflecting on the world in which we live today.
For the first time in twenty-five years, our mission is expanding to include themes outside the conversation of race. Here are three new books that charted new territory for us:
Irena’s Jars of Secrets (Fall 2011)
The riveting, true story of Polish social worker Irena Sendler, who lived during World War II. Using creative means, and at great personal risk, she saved thousands of Jewish children from Hitler’s Nazis by smuggling the children out of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Why we published this story: In 1997, we published a book called Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story, about a Japanese diplomat who defied his government during World War II to help thousands of Jewish refugees elude the Germans. While the themes of Irena’s Jars of Secrets and Passage to Freedom are similar, acts of extreme heroism for the sake of others are rare, timeless, and worth celebrating. Another reason Irena Sendler’s story spoke to us was the chilling fact that although nearly seventy years have passed since World War II ended, crimes of genocide continue into the twenty-first century. We felt that young readers should know about Irena Sendler as someone who stood for justice and compassion in times like these, and we discovered there were no other picture books that told her story. (Note: One season before our book was published, another book on Irena was released, so now there are two picture books about her.)
Diversity in the news, February 2012
We hope everyone had a great President’s Day! The month of February has been filled with some fascinating diversity-related stories. Here are just a few that we’ve 
been following; if you’ve got more February news stories, feel free to share them in the comments below!
In a matter of weeks, Knicks player Jeremy Lin has gone from bench-warmer to star athlete. His incredible success on the court has prompted questions about whether his ethnicity had anything to do with his slow rise to the top as well as some interesting race-related memes. Ultimately, though, the most important aspect of this story may be that tons of people now have a great new role model.
Announcing Our first DiYA Monthly Book Roundup!
Some of you may be familiar with Diversity in YA (DiYA), a lovely project started last year by authors Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo to bring more attention to diversity in children’s literature. During the year-long DiYA project, Cindy and Malinda were kind enough to do a roundup each month of new titles coming out that featured diversity, and they defined diversity in the following way: (1) main characters or major secondary characters (e.g., a love interest or best friend kind of character) who are of color or are LGBT; or (2) written by a person of color or LGBT author.
Since DiYA is on hiatus, Cindy and Malinda gave us their blessing to continue their monthly roundup. We all felt that it was important to keep the spotlight on diverse books, and we hope you’ll join us in that mission!
BIG news: We’ve acquired Children’s Book Press
We’ve got some exciting news to share: LEE & LOW BOOKS has acquired multicultural children’s book publisher Children’s Book Press.
From the press release: January 26, 2012—Continuing to expand despite a difficult economy, LEE & LOW BOOKS, an independent publisher of high quality books for children that focuses on diversity, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Children’s Book Press. Founded in 1975, Children’s Book Press, based in San Francisco, was the first specialty publisher of multicultural children’s books in the United States. With this addition LEE & LOW BOOKS becomes one of the largest independent multicultural children’s publishers in the country with over 650-titles in print. “This is a tremendous honor for us to keep the prestigious collection of Children’s Book Press alive, and have the opportunity to build on its 36-year history,” said Jason Low, Publisher of LEE & LOW BOOKS.
Diversity in 2011: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
In our December e-news, we took a look at how 2011 has played out in terms of diversity with a few events of note:
Good: We started Tu Books! Which means more diversity in science fiction, fantasy, and mystery.
Authors Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo organized the Diversity in YA tour and website to highlight diverse books and authors, and got a terrific response from readers.
When Racism Comes Home
This past weekend some guy called me a gook. What was surprising is it happened right in my hometown. I have lived in my town for five years now and have never had any problems with racism. This came out of the blue and was totally unprovoked. I was on my way to pick up Indian takeout for my family’s dinner.
There were so many things out of the ordinary about this incident. The man who called me a gook was with his girlfriend and didn’t appear to be drunk. In the past, racist insults usually have come from groups of young men, late at night, after consuming 6+ beers each. It wasn’t late; it was around seven o’clock in the evening. And the part about the guy being with his girlfriend is significant because usually a person tries to conceal the less than desirable parts of his or her personality, like being racist, at least until after the third date.
Halloween: A culture, not a costume
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Some of you may have seen this new anti-racism poster campaign coming out of Ohio State University, put together by one of their student organizations:
I Wear My Sunglasses . . . All the Time
A couple months ago I made a discovery. It all started when I noticed the lenses on my sunglasses were badly scratched and beyond repair. I have worn Oakley sunglasses for years. While browsing the Oakley website I stumbled upon Asian Fit Sunglasses. I was surprised and wary since I had never seen a product so specific in targeting an ethnic group. The product description was very brief. It looked like Oakley copywriters went for the “less is more” approach because they did not want to accidentally commit anything to print that might be construed as offensive. I decided to order a pair. The risk was minimal since I had never been dissatisfied with Oakley sunglasses before. Besides, I was curious to see if I was missing out on something.
Coming Soon: Tu Books!
We are THRILLED, thrilled I say, to unveil the covers of our first three Tu Books! Tu Books is our newest imprint and will be publishing multicultural middle grade and young adult science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. We now introduce our Fall 2011 launch list—drumroll, please:
Tankborn, by Karen Sandler
Best friends Kayla and Mishalla know they will be separated when the time comes for their Assignments. They are GENs, Genetically Engineered Non-humans, and in their strict caste system, GENs are at the bottom rung of society. High-status trueborns and working-class lowborns, born naturally of a mother, are free to choose their own lives. But GENs are gestated in a tank, sequestered in slums, and sent to work as slaves as soon as they reach age fifteen.
When Kayla is Assigned to care for Zul Manel, the patriarch of a trueborn family, she finds a host of secrets and surprises—not least of which is her unexpected friendship with Zul’s great-grandson. Meanwhile, the children that Mishalla is Assigned to care for are being stolen in the middle of the night. With the help of an intriguing lowborn boy, Mishalla begins to suspect that something horrible is happening to them.