At our October meeting, we had a lively exchange about writing books about groups or cultures that are not our own:

Bob Lipsyte spoke about his groundbreaking novel, THE CONTENDER. Ellen Levine talked about her picture book, I HATE ENGLISH which deals with a Chinese child. Helen Benedict spoke about her novel, THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE, about a biracial teenager; and Catherine Stine mentioned her novel, REFUGEE,  about an Afghan boy seeking asylum from war. Each of these writers described the extensive research they did as well as the depth of their commitment to doing justice to the themes and characters they depicted.

We also talked about the complex issue of who should illustrate picture books about minority groups: Ezra Jack Keats's groundbreaking picture book, THE SNOWY DAY, appeared before African-American artists were given extensive opportunities; and today many editors prefer that books about African-Americans be illustrated by African- American artists. Cheryl Hudson, who is both a writer and the publisher of Just Us Books, gave a quick overview of changes in the field since THE SNOWY DAY. We also looked at picture books written and illustrated by people across cultural boundaries, including, THE FUNNY LITTLE WOMAN by Arlene Mosel and Blair Lent, and THE THREE SAMURAI CATS by Eric A. Kimmell, illustrated by Mordecai Gerstein. OurSpring panel, chaired by Helen Benedict, will go into these issues more deeply.

This discussion led us to wondering whether some books published years ago could still be published today, and, conversely, which books  published now could not have been published in the past. Examples of the latter include    Marcus Zuzak's novel, THE BOOK THIEF, about a German family's experiences in World War II, and Ed Young's picture book SADAKO, which gives us a Japanese point of view of Hiroshima. For November's meeting, we'd like our members to bring in examples of current children's books in various genres that shed a different light on the past.

Are there other examples of historical revisionism (either positive or negative) that you'd like to discuss? Do you feel that any recently published books may be misguided or in error? Are some books and writers guilty of cultural misappropriation? As always, we'd like to hear your thoughts, and if you cannot come to the meeting, please e-mail us and we'll bring yourcomments to the meeting.

As PEN grows, we are also seeking ways to reach out to newer writers as well as members of minorities, who are underrepresented in PEN. It would be helpful if when you speak to groups of writers, librarians, or teachers that you mention your  PEN membership and the important work that PEN does to support the fredom to read and write.