11-Year-Old 'Sick of Reading About White Boys and Dogs' Launches #1000BlackGirlBooks

[KamaAina]

http://jezebel.com/11-year-old-sick-of-reading-about-white-boys-and-dogs-l-1755021888

Marley Dias is an 11-year-old New Jersey resident who’s spent more time giving back to her community in her brief time on this planet than most of us will spend in a lifetime. She’s received a grant from Disney, traveled to Ghana to help feed orphans, and now—in her latest act of altruism—she’s rounding up children’s books that feature black female leads so that she and her peers have more fictional characters to look up to.

The project, titled #1000BlackGirlBooks, started when Marley complained to her mother about reading too many books about white male protagonists in school.

From the Philly Voice:
“I told her I was sick of reading about white boys and dogs,” Dias said, pointing specifically to “Where the Red Fern Grows” and the “Shiloh” series. “‘What are you going to do about it?’ [my mom] asked. And I told her I was going to start a book drive, and a specific book drive, where black girls are the main characters in the book and not background characters or minor characters.”

Marley is looking to collect 1000 books featuring black female protagonists by February 1. She is nearly halfway to her goal.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

1. Very good.

I noticed that the texts in my granddaughter's classroom were heavily skewed towards males or monsters.

[Blue_Tires]

2. What's wrong with dogs?

[KamaAina]

3. They're not cats.

[joeybee12]

12. +1

[TipTok]

18. That's a good thing...

[KamaAina]

19. Hissssssssss!

[Arugula Latte]

26. Purrs beat barks every time!

And, yeah, there is way too much dog stuff and not nearly enough cat stuff, especially in kid movies. More Aristocats, fewer Air Buds sez I!

[HuckleB]

4. A Partial List:

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia
Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia
A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park

There are some others, but more are needed. Please add to the list! Thanks.

[randome]

6. You are stupid and uninteresting. Bye.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]

[cleanhippie]

7. I hope you enjoyed your stay. Unfortunately, we don't allow your kind here.

Perhaps the conservative cave or storm front would be a better place for you.

[cleanhippie]

10. Don't come back now, ya hear?

Mirt will be along shortly to escort you out.

[randome]

11. The kind of person who has such a meager life of his own...

...that he resorts to joining discussion forums just to stir the shit. You clearly are a boring man with no self-esteem. Democrats and progressives will always have more fun than you.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]

[LanternWaste]

13. Never confuse honesty and accuracy... it reveals that you are unable to think rationally.

Never confuse honesty and accuracy... it reveals that you are unable to think rationally.

(I felt the need to tell the half-wits some things they may not want to hear...)

[HuckleB]

14. "Honesty" does not mean "bigoted."

Get a dictionary.

[HuckleB]

8. Racist troll is obvious.

Superderp.

[cali]

15. Fuck off with your disgusting racism.

You were clearly raised to hate and be a vile bigot.

[aikoaiko]

16. Someone alerted on you and tried to make it look like you were commenting on the OP.

Hopefully the jury will see through the lame attempt to get you another hide via misdirection. Or if it was a mistake, maybe they could apologize now in this thread where he jurors might see it.

Step 2 of 4: Review these comments provided by the person who sent the alert and then cast your vote:

The person who sent the alert wrote: Clearly personal attack, way out of line. It's a perfectly fine article.

[randome]

17. Times like this, the owners should step up and rescind the alert.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

20. Jury results

I was #1.

On Wed Jan 27, 2016, 12:42 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

Fuck off with your disgusting racism.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7566489

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

Clearly personal attack, way out of line. It's a perfectly fine article.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Wed Jan 27, 2016, 12:47 PM, and the Jury voted 2-5 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I'd normally hide but in response to a troll who's been banned, I say pass/leave.
Juror #2 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Original message was removed. This one can be too.
Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: It's clearly a misdirected personal attack that was meant for 'Name removed'. Unfortunately I have to vote to hide.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: The post alerted on wasn't to the OP, it was to a racist troll who was later dealt with by MIRT. Normally I would vote to hide a post like this but, in this case, it was entirely appropriate therefore the post doesn't meet the criteria for hiding it.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Poster was responding to someone other than the OP. Looks like others felt the same way.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I'm voting to leave it alone as I don't know what post this person was responding as it was already hidden. So, I can't see if it's inappropriate or not.
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Cali's response was directed at someone who was nuked. I'm with Cali on this one.

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[randome]

21. It wasn't misdirected at all, Juror #3!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

22. Misdirected... no I don't see misdirected

Somewhat ill considered maybe at most. Racism does kind of provoke harsh responses.

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. kick

[malaise]

24. Lovely

Rec

[Odin2005]

25. Awww!

[HassleCat]

27. The problem with kids' books

To sell large numbers, they have to appeal to kids, and the easiest way to do that is to make the protagonists as much like the target audience as possible. Failing that, the protagonist follows the prototype that allows the broadest identification and empathy. That's a shame, because it perpetuates the old "boy and his dog" story, where the boy is blond, blue eyed, and all-American. We do owe it to ourselves to move children's literature out of the Tom Swift era.

[demmiblue]

28. Go, Marley!

Here are two good resources:

A Mighty Girl (Multicultural Fiction: African American): http://www.amightygirl.com/books/fiction/multicultural-fiction?cat=45

Coretta Scott King Book Awards: http://www.ala.org/emiert/cskbookawards

[Number23]

29. Work it, Marley!

[myrna minx]

30. Love her! K&R