![]() ![]() I was concerned by the image of Telgemeier, a white woman, in Day of the Dead makeup in the notes section of the book, but was willing to reserve judgement. When I first read this book, and you can see this in my review on Goodreads, I was waiting to hear from voices that represented the culture depicted in the novel before I made any judgement call on accuracy. Our issue here is that the entire premise of the book is perhaps flawed, in terms of the depiction of Day of the Dead as well as in the presence and description of the ghosts haunting the mission. ![]() With GHOSTS we have a different issue all together. ![]() Some saw the flaw, but felt the merits of the book outweighed the offense. Some didn’t see the line as a flaw at all, but instead saw it as appropriate in relation to the character. ![]() There was a lot of discussion on this blog last year around THE HIRED GIRL, and in that case the focus was on a single line in the novel and whether that line was, indeed, a fatal flaw in an otherwise beloved book. This is, to me, what does throw it off the table. HOWEVER, we have the issue of cultural appropriation and historical inaccuracies. I’m not convinced it would stand up against this year’s strong competition, but I wouldn’t throw it off the table. If we think about the phrase Jonathan mentioned in his last post, coined by Nina, “We consider only the text, but the text need not stand alone,” I think it could. Does it have what it takes, in text, to be considered a contender for the Newbery? That’s a difficult question. ![]()
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