Something I’m seeing increasingly in kidlit is white authors diversifying their stories esp w As-Am friend characters/sidekicks/frenemies (cool! we live in a diverse world!) BUT I’m seeing little understanding or world building or evidence of research around that identity.🧵 You can’t just drop a last name like Han or Khan or Patel w/ a brief description about “silky black hair” & check the diversity box. And going to an immediate nickname that strips ethnicity (think Sal for Saleem, etc) isn’t cool w/o explanation b/c naming has a culture around it!

Since book bans are on our minds, here's a story about a "quiet" ban of INTERNMENT.

In a small, mostly white school district, a teacher wanted to teach INTERNMENT in her class (brave choice). My book was not on any "list" nor had it been objected to by any parent (yet)... 1/ The teacher put in the purchase order for the books, did the paperwork. The book never came in. WHY? Because the person who submits the purchase order refused. This individual, in a non-teaching position, chose to ban my book because...wait for it... 2/

So @Bibliogato asked a great question about setting yearly goals. I do that along with an end of year review of my work. I share all this & discuss with my agent.

So in case it's helpful to you, a quick thread on the major topics I include in my review/look ahead. 1/
#writetip I modeled my end of year review on my reviews when I worked in non-profit & as a classroom teacher. And they loosely follow SMART criteria: specific, measurable, assignable (all me!), realistic, time related. 2/