{Guest post by Kristi Bernard of Kristi’s Book Nook}
Karin Fisher-Golton is a children’s book author, editor, and poet, with a background in education. At her website she shares her musings, poetry, books, and editing services for writers. Her book “My Amazing Day” is a 2015 BAIPA Book Award winner and was a finalist for the 2013 ForeWord Book of the Year. Karin is new to the MCBD Board of Advisors and you can learn more about her here.
MCBD: Hello Karin. Thanks so much for being a part of the MCBD Board of Advisors. We are so excited that you are here. What made you say “yes” to being a part of this event and cause?
Karin: Thank you! I’m thrilled and honored to be part of the MCBD Board of Advisors. There were so many reasons to say “yes.”
Some of the reasons MCBD means so much to me are rooted in my own childhood. I grew up in Berkeley, California, just a few years behind Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris, in the same school district with its now-famous experimental bussing program. The environment I grew up in was very conscious of how race, economic status, gender, and other factors could impact one’s experience and opportunities. I was paying attention to those things for almost as long as I can remember. My own family had a mix of Jewish, Swedish, and other heritages and traditions. I often did not see myself represented in books nor in other people’s assumptions about how one was spending holidays. I brought these perspectives with me as I became an adult, went to teaching school, and taught children of diverse backgrounds and abilities in a range of settings.
I know from these experiences as well as ones I’ve had as an author, a parent, and a friend how very important it is for people, and especially children, to see themselves and the true diversity of the world in books. I believe that representation is a crucial step in bringing peace and justice to the world.
I love the MCBD hashtag #ReadYourWorld because the “your” both means “read your own, personal world”—as in “see yourself in books” AND means “read your real, diverse world”—as in “see the reality and breadth of the world in books.” Both are important.
I love that MCBD helps move these ideas forward in the form of a celebration. I’ve been involved with MCBD for five years, and I’ve appreciated the spirit and sense of shared vision that all of you who started the event and have kept it going have brought to it.
MCBD: Do you feel that this event has changed the mindset of publishers and agents so that they will actively seek out more authors who write stories of diversity and inclusion?
Karin: Most definitely, I do. In the early 1990s, so almost thirty years ago, when I was studying in an elementary education program that focused on using literature in the classroom, I remember discussions about the lack of diversity in children’s books. In some ways it is shocking and in some ways, it is not, that this is still such an issue today.
The publishing industry is giving this issue much more attention in the past five to six years. A real wake-up event was the March 2014 twin publications of Walter Dean Myers and his son Christopher Myers’s opinion pieces in the New York Times with their perspectives on the lack of diversity in children’s books. Both pieces were prefaced with information from the University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Book Center’s study, which showed that in 2013 just 93 of the 3,200 books published that year were about Black people. MCBD was just a few years old at that time. It may have helped make the publishing industry more ready to hear those messages. MCBD has certainly been part of spreading the message. The participation in MCBD and the seriousness with which publishers and agents take its message has blossomed abundantly in these recent years.
MCBD: On your website, you share your poetry. You have written books and you’re an editor, you’ve been a graphic designer and teacher. I am sure all of this has kept you busy over the years. If you had to pick one, which would be the one you enjoyed doing the most?
Karin: That’s a tough question. When I think about it different images come to my mind: taking a walk and coming up with a line for a poem that I realize works on multiple levels; reading back a manuscript I’ve written and revised, and experiencing it evoking the feelings and thoughts that I hoped it would; hearing the excitement in editing clients’ voices when they are inspired and know what revision steps they want to take; and seeing a classroom full of energized students working on poetry projects in a variety of ways (sitting, standing, talking!). The common thread is that I love being involved in the creative process.
MCBD: What inspired you to write “My Amazing Day” which shares the wonders of everyday life?
Karin: My friend, graphic designer Elizabeth Iwamiya called me one day and told me that she and her friend photographer Lori A. Cheung (now my friend too) wanted to write a book to help babies and toddlers start lifetime habits of gratitude. She asked if I would consider joining the project as the author. I loved that idea. I already knew that gratitude had made happy times in my life more joyful and helped shift my mood in very hard times of my life. I loved the idea of sharing that with very young children and their families. It was an interesting challenge to consider how to convey that abstract concept to such a young audience. I decided to start from a place of wonder, which comes naturally to people who are new to the world and to end in an ritual of gratitude, because that is how we form habits.
MCBD: You have retold Aesop’s Fables for readers with dyslexia. One of my all-time favorites is the Tortoise and the Hare. Why take on a project like this and how does it help those readers who are dyslexic?
Karin: There are so many great Aesop’s fables! It was very fun to look into many variations of them and then come up with versions that worked for the format.
I was approached by Susan Barton of the Barton Reading and Spelling System, which is a program that tutors used to teach children and adults with dyslexia to read. Susan wanted real books that students could read at the end of each of the earlier levels of the program. For the first set of books I wrote, this meant books written almost entirely in one-syllable words with a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern and regular vowel sounds. Luckily there were a few sight words like “the” and “said.”
When I asked about the audience for the books, I learned that readers would be anywhere from third grade through adult and that some of them would be reading a book on their own for the first time—what an honor! I chose to adapt folktales because they appeal to a wide range of ages, and I liked the idea of a classic story being someone’s first book.
MCBD: When you work with writers and help them edit their book projects, what are some of the things you find are common mistakes?
Karin: When I work with writers, I’m always thinking about how I can better help them achieve their visions and connect with young readers. We start with a conversation so I can understand what that vision is. I really don’t think of what they do as mistakes, but I provide ideas for improving what they’ve done.
Even correcting what might be called “grammar errors” has a larger purpose, which is to keep writing aligned with common practice so that the text is easy to understand. And sometimes we break those rules for effect.
One area that I often find myself commenting about is the point of view—usually, young readers find it easiest to relate to a single point of view that is that of a child. Authors who get to know all of their characters can easily jump into the heads of characters other than the protagonist.
I also often look at vocabulary—I like to help authors find a balance of using interesting words without having so many that are challenging that kids will be distracted from the story.
And, of course, I definitely look at how the books represent the diversity of the world we live in.
MCBD: What three pieces of advice would you give a person who is thinking about writing for children?
Karin: 1. Read, read, read—read lots of books in your genre. Get to know your library and local independent bookstore! MCBD on January 29, 2021, is a great way to discover books.
- Write, write, write—just like anything else writing is a skill that will improve if you practice, so write drafts, journal, write character sketches, write poetry. A useful exercise for new children’s book writers is to type up the text of existing books so you can get a feel for what text looks like and how it reads in manuscript form.
- Get critique partners—not only can you benefit from their feedback, but reading others’ work and identifying and verbalizing what is working and not working is very valuable. Remember, though, that the author is the author–a critique is just one person’s input.
And I’m going to sneak in a #4 here: Join the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. It has a multitude of helpful resources for new and established children’s book writers and illustrators.
MCBD: What are you currently working on?
Karin: I’m currently working on a bilingual picture book in Yiddish and English. Yiddish is a language that was almost lost in my family because of the Holocaust and assimilation. When I started learning Yiddish, I was deeply moved to hear it spoken, not just the isolated words that are in the popular culture, and particularly Jewish culture—but as a language with a sound and rhythm. I’m writing a book so that children can experience and enjoy hearing the language. I see it as a sort of love poem from the ancestors.
MCBD: On a final note. What more do you think MCBD could do to keep the momentum of this event moving throughout the year? We would love to hear your suggestions.
Karin: As a new member of the Board of Advisors, I am just starting to think about that question. My first thoughts are that there might be ways to organize the website to make it an easier-to-use resource throughout the year and give teachers, parents, and kids each their own clear route to find books and explore what it means to “read your world.”
MCBD: Karin thank you so much for taking the time to answer all of these questions. We’ve learned so much more about you and you are amazing! You are invested in seeing more books geared towards diversity and inclusion and are creating them as well. Thank you for all that you are doing for readers and writers.
Karin Fisher-Golton is the author of the award-winning board book, My Amazing Day: A Celebration of Wonder and Gratitude, four folktales for a reading program for people with dyslexia, and poems in several anthologies. As a freelance children’s book editor, she helps authors realize their visions and reach young audiences effectively. She’s given particular attention to how children’s books reflect our world since studying children’s literature in an Elementary Education program, almost thirty years ago. Her writing life has been interspersed with teaching children in a variety of lively settings, most recently as an afterschool poetry teacher.
Karin worked with the MCBD team to change the yearly date of MCBD so that it would not conflict with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day designated by the United Nations “to instill the memory of the tragedy in future generations to prevent genocide from occurring again.” Read more about that here: https://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/tag/karin-fisher-golton/.
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area—just a few miles from Berkeley, California where she was raised—Karin feels fortunate to live in one of the most diverse areas in the world. Learn more about Karin and her work at: https://karinfisher-golton.com.
