Outsider perspectives in ‘diverse’ books

Citing the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, the American Library Association, and J.C. McNair; educators Tschida, Ryan, and Ticknor state that “authors and illustrators representing diverse races, classes, religions, sexualities, abilities, and other areas of marginalization” are, when they are published at all, “routinely left out of classrooms” (2014, p. 28).

Citing Dr. Debbie Reese, they add that “Furthermore, some books that include particular cultural groups may be written from outsider perspectives and therefore do not always represent a reality of those groups’ lived experiences” (ibid, p. 28-29).

This latter point was personal for me when I read a book by Leslie Connor, Anybody Here Seen Frenchie? (Parkhill, 2022). In a conversation between Connor and Roger Sutton of The Horn Book, Connor said that, for the book, she created two neurodiverse main characters but she did not label either one of them (Sutton, 2021).

The publisher, however, in its description of the book, explicitly labeled one character, but not the other, as autistic (Parkhill, 2022). The other character was merely “cued as neurodiverse” in the words of a reviewer. This was sensitive for me, because to me it really spoke to who does, and who does not, receive an official diagnosis of autism.

And in an author’s note, Connor credited parents and a sibling of people on the autism spectrum, but no autistic people themselves (ibid).

In my response to the book, I argued that the lived experiences of people on the spectrum could have provided valuable insights, since in her talk with Sutton, Connor acknowledged that she is not autistic (Sutton, 2021). As a non-autistic, Connor can only offer the “outsider perspectives” cited by Tschida, Ryan, and Tichnor.

References:
Parkhill, C.M. (2022, April 3). ‘Anybody Here Seen Frenchie?’ and explicit recognition of autism. Cynthia Parkhill. https://cynthiaparkhill.blogspot.com/2022/04/anybody-here-seen-frenchie-and-explicit.html

Sutton, R. (2021, Dec. 16). Leslie Connor talks with Roger. Notes from the Horn Book. https://www.hbook.com/story/leslie-connor-talks-with-roger-2021

Tschida, C. M., Ryan, C. L., & Ticknor, A. S. (2014). Building on windows and mirrors: Encouraging the disruption of “single stories” through children’s literature. Journal of Children’s Literature, 40(1), 28-39.