Brandon Reese is one of my favorite critique partners. He always has a kind word to say and an insightful comment to leave on our manuscripts. So without further ado, let me introduce you to Oothar the Blue by Brandon Reese! Oothar was born a fully-fledged barbarian, and he's available here. Go buy Oothar the Blue for the discerning child reader in your household, girl or boy (but especially boy!) and find out how Oothar beat the blues!

Hooray! Hooray! It's Dr. Seuss's birthday!

​That means it's also time for Vivian Kirkfield's #50preciouswords contest. Yea!

Here's my official entry -- although I could tweak and revise and smoosh words around all day if I had the time!

The Peasant and the Peacock

 
A Prince arrayed in finest silk,
 
His robe the color of buttermilk,
 
Travels the kingdom puffed with pride,
 
A thorny heart nestled inside. 
 
 
“My kingdom is yours if ever you see
 
Anyone quite so handsome as me!”
 
 
A peasant girl in a dirty frock
 
Quietly points to a dazzling peacock. 

The news about the gender pay gap in Hollywood is out. It began in 2014 when a hacker caused a security breach at Sony and the salaries of highly paid women were laid bare -- I'm talking serious movie stars like Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams, who were both paid far less than their male co-stars in American Hustle. 

It was hideous.

It was also a golden opportunity. The kind that comes along once in a lifetime.

Jennifer Lawrence stood up for every woman in every field across America with her no holds barred letter (linked above). Here are the highlights:

" ... I would be lying if I didn't say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight. I didn't want to seem 'difficult' or 'spoiled.' At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn't worry about being 'difficult' or 'spoiled.'  ... If anything, I'm sure they were commended for being fierce and tactical, while I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share."

If you are a woman, you know this was not news. We have been experiencing this type of treatment for generations. And now, four years later in 2018, these issues are being exposed  within the children's publishing industry. Did we think we were immune to the pains that plague society as a whole? If we did, we were naive. 

Now that women have found their voices and inequality has been exposed, we are seeing some tiny bursts of momentum, which is wonderful! But there is still much work to be done. And with each new revelation, stomachs churn and spirits are crushed. We need one another now more than ever before. It's never been more important to walk in solidarity and community as women.

Exposure is good. Uncovering sexual harassment and preferential treatment is important. But it hurts to hear that our beloved community needs this course correction. I want to thank Christine Taylor Butler for her extensive research on Caldecott winners. Other authors and illustrators will be shining a spotlight on gender disparities this month, too, which I think is brave considering our careers are at stake whenever we speak out, even if it's out of a love for our industry and a desire to see it healthy, stable, and strong. Stay tuned to #kidlitwomen every day in March for more posts from these extraordinary women. 

I am also grateful for the support of male authors like Josh Funk who consistently retweets our efforts (he doesn't believe men should get pats on the back for supporting feminism, however):

Other men are asking what they can do. What do we tell them? I have no ready answer. I'm still dealing with the sting of the yanked off bandaid. My wound is fresh. It's red and inflamed. Maybe others who are not quite so raw will recommend solutions, but right now all I see are obstacles. Obstacles men don't have to face.

These are the hypotheticals I'm thinking about right now:

A man negotiates a pay raise and is lauded by his peers for being honest and  straightforward. He is rewarded monetarily and applauded for being persistent. He's called a tough nut to crack (pun intended), a straight-shooter, a hard ass (in that way you know it's a compliment), and a strong negotiator. If he's an author, he is given all the marketing tools he needs to be successful. It's a strong sales partnership. His fame skyrockets.

A woman asks for a raise, and one of two scenarios invariably plays out.

The first scenario:

"It's not like her husband isn't already making great money."
​"What a hard ass!" (not in that way you know it's a compliment).
"I don't know if I can work with someone that inflexible."
"She looks like trouble."
"She's such a diva. I just don't know..."

The second scenario (after a woman settles for less than she deserves):

"What a sweetie!"
"Oh, I LOVE her, and she's just a joy to work with!"
"She's like, I dunno, my ideal human being, like Mother Teresa."
"I just love being around her. She's so nurturing. She's full of grace, even in the way she walks and how she shares such profound wisdom with everyone."
"She's such a cutie!"
"So perkie!"
"Oh, she's just adorable!"
"She lights up the room whenever she walks in."
"Wow, she's so pretty! And photogenic! And look! She loves dogs! Awwww." 

This isn't a blog post about money. We all know we're paid less than men in almost every profession, and I'm sure someone else with stats and figures to share will write THAT blog post. This post is about the importance of societal perceptions, unspoken rules, and  expectations. The sorts of expectations that allow for women to be paid less in the first place. If we change THESE, we may well see gender disparity in salaries and book sales and book tours and marketing opportunities change for the better.

But first, we need to stop telling women they have to be gentle, sweet, kind, polite, and passive in the workplace, that they must be amiable or they will be blacklisted. We need to stop telling OURSELVES that. Take a lesson from Jennifer Lawrence. Go read her letter again. Memorize it. We don't have to be weak and frail and submissive. It's feminine to be powerful, strong, intelligent, direct, resilient, and firm.

If only companies across America agreed with me.

What can be done?

Here's a short video that outlines a few ways we can "design" gender equality.

And here are a few of my ideas. 

1) Check yourselves.

Even if you have to do it ten or fifteen times a day, check constantly to make sure you are not allowing gender bias to come into play in your daily work as an author, agent, editor, publicist, art director, illustrator, or publisher. 

​2) Remain open to change.

Sometimes change is painful. We humans dislike discovering ugly things about ourselves, and this may be one of those times of adjustment that turn society as a whole in a positive direction. You may need to take a long, hard look at yourself and come to terms with the sins of the past. Have you behaved in ways that supported gender bias within this industry? Have you provided stronger marketing support for books written by men? By young authors as opposed to more seasoned ones? Have you ignored the work of marginalized groups? Of people of color or people of other sexual persuasions than your own? Ouch. It hurts to see your bad side reflected. Look anyway. Change.

3) Talk about it.

The more we discuss gender issues within children's publishing, the stronger the chance we will have of correcting the problems we find. Be willing to sit down and talk it out with a fellow author, author to agent, agent to editor, author to editor. Especially when there is a power disparity (author to editor). Like Amy Adams, we sometimes walk a fine line, waiting  for that offer to come, only to discover we were paid far less than the man next to us who is  at a similar place in his career. A frank conversation with an editor who is not in a power position over you can help, too. Especially when it's a public conversation on Twitter.

If you are an Amy Adams or Jennifer Lawrence within the children's publishing industry, you represent us all. If you are a Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, or Bradley Cooper, it's even more important that you speak up on behalf of women authors.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of talking and listening and walking this out in community. If you are guilty, don't stand your ground, calling out those who are trying to help you "see" and telling them they're just being reactionary, overly sensitive, unyielding. I've seen people do that. It's ugly and it perpetuates the inequality from generation to generation. That's enabling behavior.

Women have had enough "Bless your heart's" and "Aren't you adorable's" to last a lifetime. We have had enough judgment, criticism, gossip, back-biting, and lackluster success. It's time for us ALL to scrutinize our own scarred hearts and uproot the gender bias that's grown there for so long unfettered. 

We can do this. 

​Together.

For further information on the Science behind cognitive dissonance and how the brain adapts to societal change, read this enlightening post by children's book author Angie Isaacs.

We're celebrating Women's History month with 31 days of posts focused on improving the climate for social and gender equality in the children’s and teens' literature community.
Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter. ​​

Hooray! We have selected three winners in the Holiday Weekend ALL CREATION WAITS Giveaway! Congratulations to . . .

Lanaya Gore
Gordon Edward Ferrell
Bethany Cohen   

Don't forget to email me at [email protected] with your mailing address so I can get this beautiful book out to you right away!

Congrats!

To purchase ALL CREATION WAITS for your family's holiday celebration, click on the cover below. Happy Advent to all!

We have chosen our first three winners!

All three of you will receive an autographed copy of Hildegard's Gift. Email me at [email protected] with your mailing address, and I will pop them in the mail this weekend. Congratulations!

Angie
Chandra Osorio
Roberta ?
(You didn't include your last name, but I don't think we had two Roberta's.)

Don't forget to email me with your snail mail address!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Megan

        I had a wonderful time chatting with Cindy Rollins and Gayle Boss about our books. If you haven't read All Creation Waits and Hallelujah! you are in for a treat. 

     I just came across a sweet, lyrical book called All Creation Waits that brings nature study and Advent together!

    Every Charlotte Mason educator and everyone who loves animals and nature needs to read this beautiful book. I fell into Gayle's descriptions and found myself transported to a pond near a wood. Then suddenly it was like I was falling into The Secret Garden all over again. 

     Here's a little taste:

     Walking the northern Michigan hardwoods where I was raised, restless, I make myself stand still. Somewhere in these eight hundred acres a black bear is sunk in sleep. A month ago already, beneath some fallen tree or stump, she dug a den rounded to the curl of her body. She raked bits of bark and grass over its floor and eased herself in. I crouch, close my eyes, and imagine that ball of furred muscle lax and loose somewhere nearby.
      For weeks before she lay herself down, her whole self had been shifting, making ready for another life. Late in summer, just when most berries and nuts ripen, she grew ravenous. Seven, eight hours a day she camped in wild raspberry, blackberry, gooseberry, and huckleberry patches, pawing and licking fruit into her mouth, then, to rest, dropping to her belly and breathing in the fallen gems. Cloyed of sweet, she sniffed out savory—jewelweed, swamp thistle, cattail, and saxifrage—snacking on yellow jackets, ants, and beetle larvae along the way, finishing the day in a grove of beechnuts or hazelnuts or hickory nuts—tripling, even quadrupling her usual day’s calorie intake. Still the trustworthy voice inside her urged, Eat, eat more!

      In honor of this special book and to celebrate the greatest gift of all, I will be giving away copies of All Creation Waits and autographed copies of Hildegard's Gift during the month of November. 

     The countdown is on, so stay tuned!
       
     Now, because we are living in a time where the foundation beneath our feet feels moveable and unsafe, I leave you with this, from Emily Dickinson:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

     Best Wishes as we enter the holiday season!

Hildegard of Bingen and Viriditas

St. Hildegard of Bingen, whose feast day we celebrate with vigor every September 17, was not only a brilliant composer, artist, and visionary, she was also an herbalist. Her belief in the “greening of man,” or viriditas as she called it, led her to trust that God had given mankind herbs, spices, and foods to serve our bodies and keep us not only healthy but full of joy and peace. What a lovely idea from a truly remarkable woman, living in an age where women were seen primarily as accessories created to adorn men, creatures to woo, or saintly idols to be placed on a pedestal and thought of while on crusade... (read more)

St. Hildegard of Bingen: Doctor of the Church

Hello friends of Hildegard! Happy Feast Day! And when I say Feast Day, I don’t just mean a celebration of the life of St. Hildegard of Bingen. I also want to share some of my favorite Hildegard recipes so you can create your own feast at home today with your children... (read more)

Hildegard's Music and Light Accessible to All

The work of great composers will stand through the course of time because their music is so powerful, their talent and ability so rare, or because their unique personal lives so clearly inform their music. We love Rossini for his Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti(Humorous Duet for Two Cats). It’s a lighthearted tune based on his frustration with the mewling alley cats behind his house, who were so loud that he had trouble composing.

I love Rossini, but St. Hildegard of Bingen will always hold a special place in my heart for her haunting chants, her brilliant, incisive wit, the way she could take down a cardinal with a few choice words of conviction, her herbalism, and, of course, her glorious visions, which she insisted came directly from the Creator of the Universe Himself... (read more)

Abbey of the Arts: Transformative Living Through Contemplative and Expressive Arts

Megan Hoyt has recently published, Hildegard’s Gift, a children's book about Hildegard of Bingen (whose feast day is September 17th and is, of course, one of our dancing monks!) Here Megan offers a few reflections on the impact of Hildegard for her:

I first "met" St. Hildegard of Bingen when a friend shared her chants with me over a quiet cup of tea, during a lull in our conversation. I was a lover of all things Medieval, and my friend knew this about me. She must have known the lilting tones and haunting melody would catch me off guard. I held my breath for a moment. I tend to get emotionally involved with the composers I study, having been raised by symphony musicians and on a steady diet of classical music. But this was different. Hildegard's melodies were sad and humble and maybe even a little vulnerable. Who was this nun and mystic named Hildegard? I had to know... (read more)

Mysticism Unveiled: The Gentle Heart of Hildegard of Bingen

Our guest poster today is Megan Hoyt, a longtime Ambleside Online user and the author of Hildegard's Gift (see details below).  Hildegard of Bingen is the AO composer for this term.

When I first began reading about the early life of Hildegard of Bingen, twelfth century composer, artist, herbalist, visionary, and lover of God, I really began to identify with this mysterious, solitary child. Like other good Catholics of the Middle Ages, her parents sent her away to live as an anchoress in total isolation at an early age. As their tenth child, they considered her a “tithe to the church,” which seems like a beautiful and godly idea unless you are the frightened little girl being sent away... (read more)