Afternoon links: Diversity and Barbie edition.

• From Cheryl Klein, editor extraordinaire: Black and White and Read All Over: Diversity and Inequity in Children’s Publishing. "I believe multiple things HAVE changed for the better since I wrote this:  The editors’ organization I mention, Diversity in Books, became the Children’s Book Council’s Diversity Committee, which (among many other things) works for the kind of editorial education and diverse recruitment efforts I suggest below. Both SCBWI and many reviewers and children’s media sites are paying increased attention to diversity and diverse books, and I’ve been seeing more diverse authors at SCBWI conferences, and more such characters in my submission pile."
• At SLJ: We Need Diverse Books Announces Publishing Internship Project. "The new WNDB Publishing Internship Project will help support internships to give greater opportunities to individuals from diverse backgrounds who wish to begin careers in publishing. Working with publishers and educational institutions, the WNDB Publishing Internship Project will be helmed by award-winning author Linda Sue Park."
• At Lee & Low: Big News in Diversity: Big Hero 6 Tops Box Office. "This isn’t just a win for Disney and Big Hero 6—it’s a win for diversity, and those who make the argument that diversity sells. Big Hero 6 takes place in a future “San Fransokyo” and features an extremely diverse cast of characters: Go Go Tomago, Tadashi, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred. And, unlike some cartoons, it doesn’t whitewash its casting: the voices behind the characters are just as diverse as the characters themselves. Hiro, Tadashi, and Go Go are all voiced by Asian American Actors (Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, and Jamie Chung, respectively) and the diverse cast is rounded out by Damon Wayans Jr. (Wasabi), Genesis Rodriguez (Honey Lemon), and Maya Rudolph (Cass)."
• At Nathan Bransford: What the cover of "About a Girl" says about today's publishing world. "And yet even with those boundaries redrawn, something as simple as two fully-clothed girls kissing on a cover is something that somehow has eluded the industry's norms."
• At InfoAdvisors: Refactoring Computer Engineer Barbie. "In this review of Barbie I Can Be…A Computer Engineer, I will point out the parts that set a lousy role model for girls and offer suggestions on how it can be refactored to make it better.  Just like in software refactoring, I’m not going to change the functionality of the book, but I’m going to improve the /code/ words to leave it better." LOVE this for not only pointing out the problematic passages, but suggesting how they could have been avoided AS WELL AS not pink-shaming. (via dot)
• At the Daily Dot: Geek girls reject sexist Barbie book's message by remixing it. "Next they talk about how easily stereotyped they are because they both love pink and like "girly" things. They agree to keep liking all of the above, because "you can like pink and be a really good programmer." Elle Woods couldn't have said it better herself."
• OMG FEMINIST HACKER BARBIE. MAKE YOUR OWN REMIX.