 June - August 2005
Voices for Children’s Literature
Ringing Loud and Clear
by Alvin C. Romer
If you’re like me, you wondered who exactly have been writing for the younger set. Part of my research took me to four distinct authors who have not only carved a unique niche for themselves, but they’ve become icons to this market that I feel may be underserved. I also cannot forget the illustrators that are also important contributors to the mix, but their story is fodder for another spotlight. Nonetheless, they make sure that children have graphic reminders through the eyes of their art in illustrating how artful images can allow words to go such a long way in portraying a picturesque view of the authors’ mindset.
In this space, the writers that have endured with time, and have elevated their craft far beyond the surface have long paid dues to belong. I’m giving readers the ‘voices’ that are loudest and have a time-honored place. Julius Lester, Walter Dean Myers, Virginia Hamilton, and Mildred Taylor come to mind most when thinking of young adult fiction, but efforts to reach each of these authors went to no avail; with the late Virginia Hamilton being missed dearly both by her legion of fans and yours truly. Enjoy their spotlight, and endeavor to know them as I do. Below you will find in their own words the very voices that are resonate in this field:
Julius Lester
 I was born in St. Louis, Missouri. When I was two my family and I moved to Kansas. As a teenager, I lived in Nashville, Tennessee, spending most of my summers at my grandmother's farm in Arkansas. Growing up, I wanted to be a musician. I was not a good writer and 1939 I never dreamed I'd become an award-winning author. In 1960 I graduated from Fisk University with a B.A. in English and became politically active in the civil rights movement. I also pursued my music interests — writing songs, singing, and playing the guitar, banjo, clarinet, and piano. I recorded many of my songs on two albums, which are no longer in print. Folksinger Pete Seeger and I wrote a book together, the 12-String Guitar as Played by Leadbelly, which was published when I was twenty-eight.
In the late 60s, I moved to New York City. I hosted and produced a radio show on WBAI-FM in New York City for eight years, and hosted a live television show on WNET in New York for two years. During this time, I also published a lot of books for adults. With the advice of my publisher, I started writing children's books. My first book for children was To Be a Slave. My interest in slavery was personal because three of my great-grandparents had been slaves. The need to know more about my individual past led me to begin studying slavery, and once I did, my interest grew and I became intrigued by the challenge of trying to imagine what it was like to have been a slave. I wanted to communicate to others that those we call slaves were really human beings, human beings pretty much like us. I suppose I write because I have some questions I need answers to, and the only way I know to find the answers is to write my way into them. My advice for someone who wants to be a writer is to read, read, and read. It is important to know what others have written. It is important to learn the possibilities of things to write about and the ways to write about them. There is no substitute for reading everything you can get your hands on.
In 1971 Julius Lester joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, where he is presently a full professor in the Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Department and adjunct professor in the English and History departments. He also serves as lay religious leader of Beth-El Synagogue in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
 Mildred D. Taylor
This author is no stranger to the annals of young adult fiction. Her seminal book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is on everyone’s must read lists and can be found in the canon of historic literature lexicon. Ms Taylor’s bibliography is filled with the likes of subjects that lends quite a bit to her beliefs in what good literature should be. In all of Mildred D. Taylor's unforgettable novels she recounts, "not only the joy of growing up in a large and supportive family, but my own feelings of being faced with segregation and bigotry."
 Her Newbery Medal-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry tells the story of one African American family, fighting to stay together and strong in the face of brutal racist attacks, illness, poverty, and betrayal in the Deep South of the 1930s. Nine-year-old Cassie Logan, growing up protected by her loving family, has never had reason to suspect that any white person could consider her inferior, or wish her harm. But during the course of one devastating year when her community begins to be ripped apart by angry night riders threatening African Americans, she and her three brothers come to understand why the land they own means so much to their Papa. "Look out there, Cassie girl. All that belongs to you. You ain't never had to live on nobody's place but your own and long as I live and the family survives, you'll never have to. That's important. You may not understand that now but one day you will. Then you'll see." These are profound words from that of an author who wrote poignantly and provocatively.
More on this remarkable author can be found at these links:
 Walter Dean Myers
When my kids were younger, I adorned the book shelves at home with books from this author. As an adult, I personally came to enjoy his extraordinary mindset to craft insightful stories not matter what age group he wrote for. His poetry in my opinion is underrated, but his penchant for consistency stands out. I’ve always felt that books of his can be read by people from all walks of life as I’ve used a lot of it has reading material for my students. Critical thinking modules for suggestive initiative for selective reading projects always went well when the subject was on of his books . Walter Dean Myers has become a giant in this field, one who has given more to his reading audience that can readily adorn the surface. In his own words though, he will readily tell you that: “I came to Harlem from West Virginia when I was three, after my mother died. My father, who was very poor, gave me up to two wonderful people, my foster parents. Thinking back to boyhood days, I remember the bright sun on Harlem streets, the easy rhythms of black and brown bodies, the sounds of children streaming in and out of red brick tenements. I remember La Marqueta, in East Harlem, where people spoke a multitude of languages. I remember playing basketball in Morningside Park until it was too dark to see the basket and then climbing over the fence to go home.
From my foster parents, the Deans, I received the love that was ultimately to strengthen me, even when I had forgotten its source. It was my foster mother, a half-Indian, half-German woman, who taught me to read, though she herself was barely literate. I remember having her read to me every day from True Romance magazine. Eventually, I was able to read magazines or newspapers to her. My father and my grandfather used to tell me stories. My father would tell scary stories. My grandfather's stories--he was a very religious man--were Old Testament, God's-gonna-get-ya kind of stories.
I read a lot of comic books and any kind of thing I could find. One day, a teacher found me. She grabbed my comic book and tore it up. I was really upset, but then she brought in a pile of books from her own library. That was the best thing that ever happened to me. Books took me, not so much to foreign lands and fanciful adventures, but to a place within myself that I have been exploring ever since. The public library was my most treasured place. I couldn't believe my luck in discovering that what I enjoyed most --reading -- was free. I was a good student in that I could read well, but I was a behavioral problem. I had this very severe speech difficulty, and I arrived in school ready to conquer the world, but no one could understand a thing I was saying. That was very frustrating for me, and I responded by being angry.
One of my teachers decided that among many of my speech problems, I couldn't pronounce certain words at all. She thought that if I wrote something, I would use words I could pronounce, so she said, "Why don't you write something yourself? Whatever you choose to write." I began writing little poems, and they helped me because of the rhythms. I began to write short stories, too. My writing was about the only thing I was praised for in school. By high school, I'd identified my own "avenue of value" as an intellectual, because I couldn't speak well and had a limited social life. But I knew my family couldn't afford college for me. So I dropped out of high school, at age 15. I was brought back to school, but I dropped out again at 16, and on my seventeenth birthday I joined the Army. When I got out of the army, I didn't have any skills, I had no confidence, and I had that speech problem. So I loaded trucks. Then I worked in the post office, and I wrote at nights.
I wrote for magazines, I wrote adventure stuff, I wrote for the National Enquirer, I wrote advertising copy for cemeteries. Then I saw that the Council on Interracial Books for Children had a contest for black writers of children's books. I won the contest and that was my first book--Where Does the Day Go? Eventually I got into writing for teenagers. Actually, I had done a short story about teenagers. An editor read the story, thought it was the first chapter of a novel, and asked how the rest of it went. That sounded like opportunity banging on my door, so I made up the novel on the spot and I got a contract. That was my first YA book, FAST SAM, COOL CLYDE, AND STUFF. It changed my life because I had no real education, and I needed something to validate myself. I needed to find value, and publishing gave me that value. I so love writing. It is not something that I am doing just for a living, this is something that I love to do. I get up early, between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m. I have a vest that I wear that weighs 20 pounds, and I walk with that about five miles a day. I'll try to get home by 7:00, shower, and start to work. I try to get ten pages done. Once I do my ten pages, that's it.
When I work, what I'll do is outline the story first. That forces me to do the thinking. I cut out pictures of all of my characters, and my wife puts them into a collage, which goes on the wall above the computer. When I walk into the room I can see the characters, and I just get very close to them. I rush through a first draft, and then I go back and rewrite, because I can usually see what the problems are going to be ahead of me. Rewriting is more fun for me than the writing is. My ideas come largely from my own background. I write a lot about basketball, and I've played basketball for years and years. I was in the army and I wrote FALLEN ANGELS. I lived in Harlem, and I write about Harlem. I'm interested in history, so I write about historical characters in nonfiction. If I accomplish what I set out to do, then I'm happy with the book. If I've compromised, then I'm unhappy. Ultimately, what I want to do with my writing is to make connections--to touch the lives of my characters and, through them, those of my readers.”
More on Mr. Myers? Check out these links:
 Virginia Hamilton
Anytime a voice in literary lore as loud as Virginia Hamilton’s is silenced you can feel the lessening of the echoes that have always defined her. In the solitude of my mind as I mourn this loss, I wonder what effect has it had on the many fans of hers that have enjoyed her work. Spotlighting her in this vignette give me honor and great pleasure in introducing her to those that have not been so enlightened (with her writing). Since 1967 she has given us distinct samples of her inner sanctum. The African-American literati are deeply saddened by the death of Virginia Hamilton. She has left behind a wonderful legacy as well as being a master of her time. She wrote fictional stories, each very different from another that made you want to make ‘page-turning delight’ status quo with every book you pick up of hers.
 When I think of Virginia Hamilton, I think linear. Her books, which combined African-American and Native American lore with contemporary stories and characters, are memorable not only for their inventiveness and rich characterizations, but also for their ability to evoke a wide variety of times, places, and historical figures. Never a loss for words, she reveled in the importance of home as a connective source of her strength. She has on occasion responded with moxie as depicted in this quote: "There were five of us children and our parents on a 12-acre truck farm... Memories of all those years, of summer days, winter nights, storms and sunshine, have given ample food to my imagination all of my life. So has living here in my hometown of Yellow Springs, Ohio. My husband and I built our house on the last few acres of my family’s farm. Across the way, other relatives live in close comfort to us. Here on the land is the best place for me to write. I love the old trees, the great old one in which brother Bill had his tree house. Being an Ohioan means that I have a long kinship with so many people here, with the landscape and the Ohio sky. For me, there is nothing quite like an Ohio sunset."
You may want to read more on Ms Hamilton by visiting these links:
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