Shhhh! No Criticism

When Zinita Fowler asked to give a speech to the Texas Library Association in Houston last April, she was turned down. The crusty 72-year-oid author and librarian from Carrollton says she was snubbed because she planned to criticize the association’s prestigious annual Bluebonnet Award. Cynthia Gray, TLA past president, says Fowler wasn’t censored, only asked to speak at a different time.

“They didn’t want anybody to hear what 1 found out,” counters Fowler. Her beef is with the TLA’s awards committee, which she says slights Texas writers by putting three times as many books by New York and California authors on the master reading list distributed to Texas school kids each March. Last year, 235,000 Texas children in grades 3-6 read books on the Bluebonnet list of about 20 titles and voted for their favorite.

Only 20 Texas authors have made the list since the award’s inception in 1979, compared to 60 New Yorkers and 23 California authors. Some years, no Texans make the list at all. Fowler says “it’s a shame” that our children don’t get to read more works by Texas writers.

But Christina Woll, committee chair, says the award was never intended to honor Texans, but to encourage children to read more. Woll says homegrown books just can’t compete with books from established Eastern publishing houses. “Texas publishers are smaller. They don’t have as good illustrators or writers.”

Fowler disagrees, pointing to her own book as proof. The Last Innocent Summer, named best juvenile/young adult book two years ago by the Texas Institute of Letters, is slated to be made into a movie starring Sissy Spacek. Still, none of Fowler’s books has ever made the master list. Fowler’s grumbling may have done some good: This year’s list has four Texas authors on it.