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My thoughts on this, they can only be translated into swear words. So here are the facts of the case, and then maybe you can fill in the appropriate reaction on your own?
1. Justine Larbalestier writes a book called Liar, about an African-American girl who is an unreliable narrator.
2. Bloomsbury publishes it with this cover.
3. The author is upset about the white-washing of her book, and says so.
4. Bloomsbury Publishing explains to us why the cover is appropriate.
“The entire premise of this book is about a compulsive liar,” said Melanie Cecka, publishing director of Bloomsbury Children’s Books USA and Walker Books for Young Readers, who worked on Liar. “Of all the things you’re going to choose to believe of her, you’re going to choose to believe she was telling the truth about race?”
Well, uh, maybe? Says Larbalestier:
Liar is a book about a compulsive (possibly pathological) liar who is determined to stop lying but finds it much harder than she supposed. I worked very hard to make sure that the fundamentals of who Micah is were believable: that she’s a girl, that she’s a teenager, that she’s black, that she’s USian. One of the most upsetting impacts of the cover is that it’s led readers to question everything about Micah: If she doesn’t look anything like the girl on the cover maybe nothing she says is true. At which point the entire book, and all my hard work, crumbles.
(Hat-tip to The Willow, who does a much better job at summarizing the problem.
Yes, that's right Ms. White Lady. Never mind that the author herself says the character is mixed/black/African American. Never mind that that fact does inform some of her actions and some of her reality - no matter what the truth is. You just neatly cut out the possibility of the book being about a Person of Colour at all, by claiming 'Yo, it could easily be a white girl lying. Some white girl who wanted to count as 'exotic''.
Does this erasure count twice now?)
1. Justine Larbalestier writes a book called Liar, about an African-American girl who is an unreliable narrator.
2. Bloomsbury publishes it with this cover.
3. The author is upset about the white-washing of her book, and says so.
4. Bloomsbury Publishing explains to us why the cover is appropriate.
“The entire premise of this book is about a compulsive liar,” said Melanie Cecka, publishing director of Bloomsbury Children’s Books USA and Walker Books for Young Readers, who worked on Liar. “Of all the things you’re going to choose to believe of her, you’re going to choose to believe she was telling the truth about race?”
Well, uh, maybe? Says Larbalestier:
Liar is a book about a compulsive (possibly pathological) liar who is determined to stop lying but finds it much harder than she supposed. I worked very hard to make sure that the fundamentals of who Micah is were believable: that she’s a girl, that she’s a teenager, that she’s black, that she’s USian. One of the most upsetting impacts of the cover is that it’s led readers to question everything about Micah: If she doesn’t look anything like the girl on the cover maybe nothing she says is true. At which point the entire book, and all my hard work, crumbles.
(Hat-tip to The Willow, who does a much better job at summarizing the problem.
Yes, that's right Ms. White Lady. Never mind that the author herself says the character is mixed/black/African American. Never mind that that fact does inform some of her actions and some of her reality - no matter what the truth is. You just neatly cut out the possibility of the book being about a Person of Colour at all, by claiming 'Yo, it could easily be a white girl lying. Some white girl who wanted to count as 'exotic''.
Does this erasure count twice now?)
.