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TBWA\Chiat\Day\New York classic books POC TREASURE ISLAND FRANKENSTEIN THE SECRET GARDEN Romeo JULIET TREASURE ISLAND Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Moby Dick Alice's Adventures THE SECRET GARDEN

Barnes & Noble's Diverse Editions Controversy

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Overview

Barnes & Noble's Diverse Editions Controversy refers to a line of book covers for twelve classic young adult novels released by the bookstore chain Barnes and Noble in February 2020 for Black History Month. The book covers were aimed at promoting representation but many commentators on Twitter criticized the editions for merely changing the ethnicity of the characters on the cover of white authors' books rather than promoting writers who are people of color.

Background

On February 4th, 2020, PublishersWeekly announced on Twitter[1] that "Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity" attaching an AM New York[2] article which explains that there will be new "diverse custom covers" for Alice in Wonderland, Romeo and Juliet, The Three Musketeers, Moby Dick, The Secret Garden, The Count of Monte Cristo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Emma, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Treasure Island and Frankenstein. The tweet gained over 1,800 likes and 540 retweets in a day (shown below).


RW Publishers Weekly @PublishersWkly Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity @amNewYork pwne.ws/2GU1]N2 ROBE TREASURE ISLAND FOMEO FRANKENSTEIN THE SECRET -WONDERFUL WZARDOZ GARDEN JULJET TREASURE ISLAND DAEKYL 6:00 PM · Feb 4, 2020 · Buffer HERHAN ILLE moBy Alice's Alventares Walery THE SECRET GARDEN

Spread

On February, 4th, 2020, Twitter user @BCMorrow[3] commented on the news by tweeting, "Barnes & Noble was like, well if Netflix can change the thumbnail to show the Black extra in the background of a show they want you to watch…" (shown below). The tweet garnered over 3,700 likes and 400 retweets in a day.


Bethany C. Morrow @BCMorrow Barnes & Noble was like, well if Netflix can change the thumbnail to show the Black extra in the background of a show they want you to watch... 9:28 PM · Feb 4, 2020 · Twitter Web Client

The next day, @michael_deforge[4] tweeted a screenshot of an article claiming that AI chose the book titles for these editions and captioned it "this is an underrated bit of awfulness from the Barnes and Noble book covers thing" (shown below, left). That same day, Twitter user @Filq2001[5] tweeted a Well boys, we did it meme captioned, "Barnes and Noble: *Changes the race of the characters on the covers. Barnes and Noble:" (shown below, right).


Michael DeForge @michael_deforge this is an underrated bit of awfulness from the Barnes and Noble book covers thing The covers, known as the "Diverse Editions," will be featured on the following titles: Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Emma, Frankenstein, Moby D---, Peter Pan, Romeo and Juliet, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Secret Garden, The Wizard of Oz, Three Musketeers, and Treasure Island. According to a press release, the titles were chosen with the help of AI, which scoured hundreds of classic novels to determine whether or not the protagonists were explicitly described as white. Those who weren't were given a little color on the cover. 12:25 PM · Feb 5, 2020 · Twitter Web App Filippo @Filq2001 Barnes and Noble: *Changes the race of the characters on the covers. Barnes and Noble: Well boys, we did it. Racism is no more. RW Publishers Weekly @PublishersWkly · 18h Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity @amNewYork pwne.ws/2GU1]N2 8:25 AM · Feb 5, 2020 · Twitter Web App

Various Examples


Nidhi Chanani @nidhiart No, thank you. Promote BIPOC writers. RW Publishers Weekly Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity @amNewYork pwne.ws/2GU1JN2 @PublishersWkly · 18h TREASURE ISLAND ROMEO FRANKENSTEIN THE SECRET WONDERFUL WIZARDOZ GARDEN JULJET TREASURE ISLAND moBy PAEKYIL Alice's Alventares Walct 8:51 PM · Feb 4, 2020 · Twitter Web App THE SECRET GARDEN ConStar, Hufflestunting Into #BlackWizardHistory @ConStar24 I haven't had mental time to be mad about this since my editor sent this to me earlier like "this is dumb right? just a cash grab?" JUST MAKE SOME SHINY POSTERS OR SOME T-SHIRTS AND SELL THOSE. Do not repackage white books with diverse covers and lie about what's inside them. RW Publishers Weekly Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity @amNewYork pwne.ws/2GU1]N2 @PublishersWkly · 18h TREASURE ISLAND THE FRANKENSTEIN ROMEO SECRET GARDEN ERFUL WI JULIET TREASURE ISLAND moBy Aices Aventares 8:52 PM · Feb 4, 2020 · Twitter Web App THE SECRET GARDEN KJ @KendraJames_ Promote diverse authors, and stop perpetuating the idea that these "classics" are necessary and required towards becoming well read. Giving Dorothy ruby Jordans DOES NOT CHANGE THE WORDS INSIDE THE BOOK????? 8:49 PM · Feb 4, 2020 · TweetDeck F-----' Prompts! @FuckinPrompts I think this sums up what's happening with Barnes & Noble fairly well: #BarnesAndNoble #BlackHistoryMonth2020 #BlackHistoryMonth Black Authors: [hear Barnes &Noble fis Promoting poople ofcolor for Black History Month] TREASURE ISLAND Barnes & Nobles FRANKENSTEIN DERFUL -WONRDOZ RMEO JULJET Black Authors 9:27 AM · Feb 5, 2020 · Twitter for Android Chimene Suleyman @chimenesuleyman Writers of colour waiting for recognition: Barnes and Noble: So, hear me out, let's get white stories and characters and put them in blackface. Sound good? RW Publishers Weekly Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity @amNewYork pwne.ws/2GU1]N2 @PublishersWkly · 18h TREASURE ISLAND FRANKENSTEIN FOMEO THE SECRET GARDEN -WONDERFUL WIZARD OZ JULJET TREASURE ISLAND wEA ILLE moBy Ahces Ahentares 6:51 AM · Feb 5, 2020 · Twitter for iPhone THE SECRET GARDEN అ * mina TM @minareadss Imagine if instead of performative inclusivity, barnes and noble promoted underrated classics by poc? Or retellings of classics by contemporary authors of color? 8:57 AM · Feb 5, 2020 · Twitter for iPhone

Search Interest

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External References

[1] Twitter – PublishersWkly

[2] AMNY – Barnes and Noble 5th Avenue to Launch Sales of Classic Novels With New Covers Promoting Diversity

[3] Twitter – BCMorrow

[4] Twitter – Michale_deforge

[5] Twitter – Filq2001

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Top Comments

SwirlMob
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SwirlMob

If the goal was to encourage diversity, wouldn't it make more sense to promote books with diverse characters or that were written by minorities? Now I don't think books should be given undue praise just because of the author's race, but it'd do more for minority authors than changing the race of characters from classic literature.

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HumbleWaterFilterMerchant
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HumbleWaterFilterMerchant

So one of the biggest offenders in this one showing a black frankenstein. Now I'm not here to arguing that making the books titular monster black is a bad idea, rather this sparked a debate between my friends.

Since as we all know Frankensteins monster is made up of various corpses is Frankenstein's monster trans-racial? For example if they build Frankensteins monster from a majority of African body parts but gave him a Hispanic brain is he trans-racial?

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