My Name Is Not Easy – Debbie is the author of the 2011 National Book Award winner My Name Is Not Easy by Marshall Cavendish/Amazon. (Click HERE to hear Debbie read the book at the National Book Awards)
One of my earliest memories is a vivid memory of standing in front of a long wall of books. I didn’t know how to read, but even then I understood that books contained codes, keys to stories and invitations to wonderful journeys. Oh how I longed to crack that code and accept those calls! As I got older, I realized that books really were passports to new worlds, and I enjoyed the experience of losing myself inside the covers of a book.
My Name Is Not Easy
The smell of the library was like a strange tonic for me. Today, when I sign books for young readers, I often write: “Read the world!”
American Indians In Children’s Literature (aicl): 10/9/11
Many times I wish I had chosen to be a librarian because libraries feel like home to me, and in fact, many of my writer friends are librarians. When I visited my daughters at Dartmouth a few years ago and walked into the Sanborn Library, with its deep lounge chairs, sheltered spaces and green views (with afternoon tea!), I must have thought I had died and gone to heaven. In my theology, heaven looks like a good library.
I guess you could say that libraries are at the metaphorical center of my world; a visual representation of where I am in the world. I live in a very remote part of the country — Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost community on the North American continent. We are far from the publishing centers of the world, but we have a good library, and I have had the opportunity to watch this library grow over the last 35 years from a book room in front of Bing. the lobby of a spacious and beautiful building overlooking the incredible tundra of the high arctic.
Tuzzi Library is now a public library serving a region the size of Minnesota. I always feel like coming home when I enter this library. And the walls of my house look like a library!
Funding for libraries, especially school libraries, is now at risk. As a writer, what do you think about that?
Pizazz By Sophy Henn
Oh God. Don’t get me started. I tend to get excited about this topic. I’ve testified at the state level on library funding, written about it and evaluated it at the district level as a school board president.
The library is the foundation of education. With commercialized reading programs turning reading into something like a medical examination involving tests, diagnoses, and medications, it should surprise none of us to discover that fewer and fewer students are reading for the joy of reading and are able to engage in critical thinking. a good book. Why don’t people understand that there is only one cure for turning children into readers and lifelong learners? It’s old, but it still works.
All it takes to turn a child into a reader is one good book. All it takes to get kids hooked on books is one good library and one good library. Every school should have this minimum because every child deserves it. That is the promise of public education, and moving away from that promise should be what the nation is calling for. If we are unwilling to invest in libraries, we will get what we pay for—or not.
I wrote about a long marginalized culture, the Inuit culture of northern Alaska. My first two novels, Blessing’s Bead and My Name is Not Easy, were historical novels set in this cultural context. I happen to believe that Native American history is taught in every school in the country. Maybe teachers don’t teach it because they’ve never learned it themselves, and it’s hard to find books that describe it in an accurate and precise way. I hope my books fill this void a little. I appeared in the libraries of Hanover, New Hampshire
Personalized Custom Kids Daughter Son Name To My Mom Not Easy To Raise
(Hatsey MacGraw, author and librarian at the Bernice A Ray School in Hanover, New Hampshire), in Ketchican, Alaska. I am forever grateful to librarians who read, write, and discuss books for the benefit of students and their teachers. . I thank those who welcomed my visit. I know it makes a big difference when students meet a “real” living author. I think it brings the books to life and validates their writing.
I’d like to give a special shout out to the Alaskan libraries that placed two of my three books on the Alaska Battle of the Books list. We Alaskan children’s authors are not a large group and I love knowing that our books are being mentioned in Alaskan schools. I always say that books are mirrors and windows. The window that opens the child’s world of reading should also be the mirror through which the child first sees his image between the covers of the book.
Marginalized cultures and societies often have few books to serve as mirrors for young readers, and reading levels reflect this. I am happy to see that my books, thanks to the help of libraries, reach these readers. And I’m happy to see that my books are opening the world a little wider for readers everywhere, and I thank the libraries once again. I recently spoke at the Pacific Northwest Library Association convention. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak about one of my passions — multicultural literature and the growing face of multiculturalism in this country. During this talk, I showed him the cover of my book, Blessing’s Bead.
Blessing’s Bead is the story of an Inupiak girl, but on the cover there is a picture of a girl who does not look like what we expect of an Inupiak girl. Some thought that the cover of this book might have been “whitewashed” by the publisher. In fact—as I told the PNLA audience—this girl is Inupiaq. She is my daughter and she is part Inupiaq and part white.
Words From The Top Of The World: The Mixed Thanksgiving Post
To me, her image reflects the new face of multiracial America. I was very pleased with all the people who came out after my talk to share the heritage of different races and cultures, a heritage that we are now beginning to see, in increasing numbers, appearing in books. I am grateful to librarians who celebrate these books.
Finally, I have an unrelated memory of the time I attended the National Book Award ceremony in New York where I was honored as a National Book Award finalist for my book My Name Is Not Easy.
What an honor to sit in Cipriani on a November evening surrounded by many of my literary heroes and mentors — people like John Ashbery, whose poetry has been one of the mirrors of my long and sometimes dark writing journey. My heart was filled with gratitude when I was invited to sit at a table with so many distinguished people, to watch a writer like Ashbery accept the Medal for Contribution to American Letters in 2011. In Ashbery’s speech, Anne Lauterbach mentioned the Occupy Wall Street protest that was being held across the street from where we were sitting. “We’re taking over Wall Street,” she announced, and everyone cheered. May libraries, books and folk books continue to occupy our hearts and minds!
Thank you, Debbie, for your wonderful interview! It was an honor to be here with you in the library of Lviv.
Ikechukwu Izuakor Quote: “it’s Easy To Preach Forgiveness When Your Name Is Not On The Manifest.”
Love libraries? Leave a comment below Note to Librarians: If you are a young librarian in a school or public library, we would like to hear from you and your library. Email Janet on the contact page of this website for an interview. My Name Is Not a Refugee and The Boy with Two Hearts by Lizzie Hall from Bishop’s Libraries, Stortford College recommended reading list on refugees
Dear reader. Almost every day we see news about refugees. And countless children live in this country who were forced to leave their homeland.
Refugee stories help develop empathy and understanding, and even inspire young readers to take action and create a safe and welcoming environment for refugees in their communities.
A boy talks about his trip to his mother. They will be leaving their hometown, she explained, and it will be sad, but also a little exciting.
Doreen Virtue Quote: “my Name Is Gabriel. Should You Ever Need To, Do Not Hesitate To Call Me. I Am Always Available To Listen, Whatever The T…”
They have to say goodbye to friends and loved ones, and it will be hard. They have to walk and walk and walk, although they will see many new and interesting things, sometimes it will be difficult for them.
A powerful and moving exploration that engages the young reader at every stage of the journey, giving the opportunity to imagine decisions.
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