{"id":48629,"date":"2017-09-11T16:06:22","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T23:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=48629"},"modified":"2017-09-28T09:02:03","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T16:02:03","slug":"monica-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/monica-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading the way: NAU professor honored for emphasis on multicultural characters in children’s books"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Heidi Toth<\/strong>
\nNAU Communications<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

M<\/strong>onica Brown<\/strong> remembers the day she was at a family wedding and an outside guest asked her why she and her cousin\u2019s names didn\u2019t match. The guest then speculated on her ethnicity and started referring to the \u201cdark\u201d cousins and the \u201clight\u201d cousins. Where did she fit in, the guest saw fit to wonder.<\/p>\n

It stung.<\/p>\n

But the children\u2019s author<\/a> and literature professor is nothing if not resourceful. She used that experience to create Marisol McDonald, the mixed-race heroine of \u201cMarisol McDonald Doesn\u2019t Match\/Marisol McDonald no combina<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a little girl who got teased for being different,\u201d said Brown, a professor of English at Northern Arizona University. \u201cShe has olive skin and red hair and she is also nonconformist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lola Levine, a fierce soccer-playing girl of Peruvian Catholic and Eastern Europe Jewish descent, was the next mixed-race character that followed Marisol out of Brown\u2019s experiences and onto a page. Both characters became series, joining biographies of Pablo Neruda, Frida Kahlo and Pele on Brown\u2019s expanding list of children\u2019s picture books and chapter books. She writes these characters, both true and fictional, because she wants children of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds to find themselves and their heroes in the pages of her books.<\/p>\n

Judging by their popularity, children have. So have their parents, and so have members of the Latino community in Arizona, who last week honored Brown and 11 others for their leadership.<\/p>\n

Brown was recognized at an awards ceremony in Phoenix Friday at Valle del Sol\u2019s Profiles of Success Hispanic Leadership Awards<\/a> for not only her contribution to the arts but also her commitment to strengthening and standing up for the Latino community. It was a proud moment for the daughter of a Peruvian immigrant and mother of two multi-ethnic daughters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to hear these stories because here in Arizona, we often have negative rhetoric around immigration, borders and Latinos, and I reject that,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope the work I put out in the world challenges racism and fear. I want my work to share brilliant contributions of Latinos to this region that was once Mexico and is now, and always, Native American.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Monica<\/a>
Monica Brown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The early years<\/strong><\/h3>\n

At 18, Brown walked onto the campus of the University of California-Santa Barbara a declared English major. She\u2019d always known she was going to be a writer. Her first job out of college was as a newspaper reporter in Guadalajara, Mexico.<\/p>\n

But she realized something in Guadalajara: she wasn\u2019t cut out to be a journalist. The writing about violence, local business and disasters wasn\u2019t right for her. She loved writing about culture and the arts. While considering her next steps, Brown remembered a conversation she\u2019d had at UCSB. During her senior year, professor Carl Gutierrez-Jones invited her into his office after a senior seminar and asked if she\u2019d thought about grad school.<\/p>\n

She hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018you can write,\u2019\u201d Brown remembered. \u201cSo I had that idea in my head, and it was thanks to this Chicano professor that I applied to graduate school. He told me I had a voice and something to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

She returned to the United States, earning a master\u2019s degree from Boston College and a doctorate from Ohio State University and authoring her first book, \u201cGang Nation: Delinquent Citizens in Puerto Rican, Chicano, and Chicana Narratives.\u201d It was during a Rockefeller Fellowship on Chicano\/a Cultural Literacies she began writing children\u2019s books. Her two daughters were young, and she found a void where characters of Latino, multicultural and mixed-race families would be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have new generations of writers that are changing that, but still, our children\u2019s literature doesn\u2019t really reflect our social make-up,\u201d Brown said. \u201cFor me, writing about multiracial and multicultural experiences was especially important. That\u2019s the fastest-growing demographic group in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wrote biographies of Latino figures she loved and wanted to share\u2014Dolores Huerta, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Picasso and Celia Cruz. Bringing Marquez to life for children inspired her to create her own story of magical realism in \u201cChavela and the Magic Bubble,\u201d the story of a girl who takes a chicle ride to a magical rainforest.<\/p>\n

She drew on her daughters to create Lola Levine, a fierce, competitive, soccer-playing girl, and Lola\u2019s eventual best friend,\u00a0Bella, a graceful ballerina. The two girls don\u2019t like each other at first, but soon they discover how much they have in common.<\/p>\n

\"Monica<\/a>
Monica Brown after receiving her Profiles of Success award<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is a theme running through Brown\u2019s books: strong, smart girls who are fun and competitive and want to be who they are. And her audience has taken to that. Children of all races relate to Marisol because a lot of them don\u2019t feel like they fit into one place, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had so many little kids come up to me with their parents, and they\u2019re not always Latino, and they say, \u2018I\u2019m Marisol McDonald!\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe they like to be mismatched dressing or they\u2019re nonconforming or they really embrace the idea of being yourself. I write for all children, and of course I want all my work to be a gift, especially to those who haven\u2019t seen themselves in children\u2019s books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marisol, who now is in a three-part series, also recently was optioned by Amazon Digital, Brown said. It\u2019s still early in the process, but a potential series and pilot episode are in development. She\u2019s hopeful her little mismatched heroine will soon get to speak to more children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say, and others have too, diversity isn\u2019t a trend, it\u2019s a demographic fact,\u201d she said. \u201cFor all writers, the basis has to \"Monica<\/a>be a good story to connect with your audience, but I like to think my stories represent a world that is my reality and more inclusive of others. I\u2019m very lucky they\u2019ve appealed to all sorts of kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spreading the word<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Brown has spent about as many years on book tours and going to book festivals as she has writing books, so she\u2019s had many opportunities to be an ambassador for her characters and her beliefs. She celebrates that her characters are bilingual. She highlights obstacles they\u2019ve overcome, telling readers that Pele, the greatest soccer player in the world, started on the \u201cbarefoot team\u201d and used grapefruits or newspapers stuffed in socks instead of a ball because he was so poor.<\/p>\n

She has gone to U.S. embassies in Chile, Panama and Peru as a visiting specialist and represented the United States, Arizona and NAU at national and international book festivals. While in Chile she did an interview for a radio show at the Chilean embassy (in Spanish, which is her second language). It was awkward, she said with a laugh, admitting she never listened to it. But she\u2019s proud of her multiracial, bilingual heritage.<\/p>\n

These days most of Brown\u2019s writing is in her books, but she\u2019s also writing op-eds or speaking out about the ways people see her community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we all have responsibilities as global citizens, and if I can contribute to the Latino community and all of Arizona, I want to, and the best way I can is through connecting with children and also speaking about education, literacy, bilingualism and social justice in school curriculum,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Brown also gets to share her love of Chicano literature closer to home, teaching U.S.-Latino and African-American literature in her classes. In May, she was the keynote speaker at NAU\u2019s Hispanic convocation, giving her speech both in English and Spanish. She said as she looked at that room of bright, accomplished students, she was filled with pride.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how I know we\u2019re doing good things at NAU\u2014as teachers, as writers, as artists\u2014because they\u2019re graduating and every student that I saw graduate at the Hispanic convocation is going to make a positive impact,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThe students that graduate from NAU are part of the future of our state, and as teachers, we are lucky to be part of their journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The award<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Brown\u2019s books have attracted significant attention through the years, with various books having won the Am\u00e9ricas Award for Children\u2019s Literature, Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Nonfiction, a Christopher Award, the Tejas Star Book Award and the International Latino Book Award. \u201c Lola Levine, Drama Queen\u201d is currently a Texas Bluebonnet Finalist.<\/p>\n

\"Monica<\/a>
Monica Brown and her daughter Juliana Berglund-Brown\u00a0<\/span>at Valle del Sol’s Profile of Success awards in Phoenix, Sept. 8, 2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But this award is special.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means so much coming from the Latino community here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Brown won the Latino Excellence in Arts, Culture and Literature Award<\/a>. She was on the stage with Dr. Javier C\u00e1rdenas, a neurosurgeon studying concussions, Ra\u00fal Grijalva, the longtime representative for Arizona\u2019s 3rd<\/sup> Congressional District, state Sen. Catherine Miranda and Ernie Lara, president of Estrella Mountain Community College, a majority-minority institution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people I was on stage with are my superstars and inspirations and heroes, so it\u2019s a huge honor to be among people like Dr. Javier C\u00e1rdenas,\u201d she said. \u201cThat I even got to meet him is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funnily, Brown was nominated by someone who heard her speak. She didn\u2019t recognize the nominator\u2019s name or know what speech inspired the mystery nominator. That was one of the most persuasive factors in Brown’s selection, said Angela Florez, chief development officer for Valle del Sol.<\/p>\n

“What we’re looking for is somebody who has spent their entire career in service specifically to the Latino community. Monica’s art does just that,” Florez said. “It helps start kids on a path of understanding all of the nuances and the beauty that exist within the Latino community.”<\/p>\n

In the news<\/h3>\n

Hear Monica on All Things Considered<\/a> and NBC Latino<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read about Monica\u2019s works on NBC News<\/a>, The New York Times<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0publisher Little, Brown\u2019s author essay.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Heidi Toth NAU Communications Monica Brown remembers the day she was at a family wedding and an outside guest asked her why she and her cousin\u2019s names didn\u2019t match. The guest then speculated on her ethnicity and started referring to the \u201cdark\u201d cousins and the \u201clight\u201d cousins. Where did she fit in, the guest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":48631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}