I was therefore delighted to see how much my daughter enjoyed her visit to the Globe Theatre in London to see Romeo and Juliet.  And I was equally delighted by our family’s recent visit to a local home-schooling association’s production of The Tempest.  Both these experiences of Shakespeare were enhanced by the reading of Lois Burdett’s books on Shakespeare’s plays.  Burdett, a teacher in Stratford, Ontario — home of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival — adapted the plays for elementary age school children.  The books are a result of a process of working through the plays in fun and creative ways with children.  Before seeing Romeo and Juliet, I read the Burdett book of the play to my daughter which familiarized her with the story.  And the home school association production I saw used Burdett’s version of The Tempest to work with for their play.

In Burdett’s Tempest, Shakespeare’s blank verse is converted into lines of rhyming couplets.  This form of the text retains much of the poetic quality of the original and is easier for children to memorize.  The text is then accompanied by student generated illustrations and short pieces of interpretation written by students themselves.  Burdett’s books allows readers to literally see the process of children working through the play’s characters and plot through images and words they have come up with themselves.  Indeed, as Burdett’s book states on the cover, Shakespeare Can Be Fun!

This week’s Poetry Friday host is Becky’s Book Reviews.

2009 Salanga Prize winners:
* Raymund Garlitos, Ang Higante sa Loob ng Aming Bahay (The Giant Inside Our House) (grand prize);
* Perry Mangilaya, Di Ko Man Kamukha sina Inay at Itay (honorable mention);
* Victoria Bravo, Lola-Lola (honorable mention).

Raymund Garlitos’ story, Ang Higante sa Loob ng Aming Bahay revolves around a young child’s feelings and reactions to his OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) father’s homecoming. Garlitos is a teacher of English as a Second Language, as well as a freelance journalist, and has three children’s books to his name. One of these, Chenelyn! Chenelyn!, won an honorable mention in the same contest, back in 1997.

2009 Alcala Prize winners:

* Ferdinand Guevara (grand prize),
* Jomar G. Rivera (honorable mention),
* Maurice Oliver B. Risulmi (honorable mention),
* Christian Oliver Ang Cruz (honorable mention).

Ferdinand Guevara is awarded the 2009 Alcala Prize for his digital-3D interpretation of Ang Higante Sa Loob ng Aming Bahay (see photo, right). Currently working as a 3D animator Guevarra gave a contemporary edge to his illustrations by rendering them in 3D. With his use of applications such as Maya and Zbrush, he merged the digital world with the printed word.

Ferdinand Guevara is no newcomer to the PBBY-Alcala Prize nor indeed to children’s book illustration. In 1996, he won the award for his illustrations for Ang Itim na Kuting, by Natasha Vizcarra. He also illustrated Ang Makapangyarihang Kyutiks ni Mama by Rene Villanueva in 2002.

Check out incoming PBBY chairman Zarah Gagatiga’s blog to read about the National Children’s Day celebrations. You can also read about PBBY’s recent luncheon for South African storyteller Gcina Mhlope-Becker.

This therefore seemed to be the right time to read together Wolf Erlbruch’s extraordinary picture-book Duck, Death and the Tulip (Gecko Press, 2008) - and the book’s translator, Catherine Chidgey, deserves a special mention too! It might seem strange to describe a book about death as beautiful but then, as I have just said, this is an extraordinary book. As Death slips Duck’s lifeless body into “the great river” at the end, the reader is filled with a deep sense of peace, as well as a rueful recognition of the truth of Death’s final thought: “But that’s life” - and perhaps what this story gets across particularly poignantly, but totally matter-of-factly, is that where there is life, death is inevitable. Duck is definitely horrified (and frightened) to discover at the beginning that Death is stalking her. Who wouldn’t be? Then a surprising thing happens - Duck starts to make friends with Death. What follows includes some exquisite moments, such as where Death gets cold when Duck takes him off to the pond for a swim -

‘Are you cold?’ Duck asked. ‘Shall I warm you a little?’
Nobody had ever offered to do that for Death.

Duck’s musings offer much food for thought: all the time she is preparing herself for the fact that sometime soon, she’s not sure exactly when, she will die. Erlbruch’s writing is deft in expressing the tension between loving life and preparing to let go of it. His artwork is haunting too and Duck, Death and the Tulip is a worthy follow-up to Erlbruch’s 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Award for illustration.

A caveat, though: straightforward as it appears, Duck, Death and the Tulip raises complex ideas, which need to be given discussion space. This, however, may be as much to reassure adults that the book has indeed conveyed its life-affirming core, as to clarify any misunderstandings on the part of children. It would be a good choice of story to talk about the death from old age of a loved one - though not when grief is raw. Our context was Everyman. Erlbruch’s cultural heritage includes Schubert’s Death and the Maiden. What stories do you have in your culture which link Life and Death?

In honor of the award’s anniversary, TeachingBooks.net is making available more than 250 audio interviews and book readings by authors and artists, as part of the Coretta Scott King Book Award Curriculum Resource Center. The free, online resource aimed at educators and families also includes lesson plans and other supplemental materials. Searches can be executed by author, illustrator, title, grade level, and curriculum area, as well as by the year or specific Coretta Scott King Book Award citation. “Students can now learn the personal story behind each book directly from the creator, including how and why it was made,” said TeachingBooks.net founder Nick Glass, as quoted in the press release.

To learn “Fun Facts” about the award, check here.

In the meantime, here are our “Grounds for Nomination” statements for artist and author, Allen Say, and author and promoter of education in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Greg Mortenson.

Often drawing on his own background, Allen Say captivates his readers through beautifully honed prose and luminous watercolors. He embraces a striving for happiness with a blend of gentle humor and realism, and touches on many aspects of being human, such as race, migration, disability and age. Even young children can empathize with and find echoes in many of his stories. Say opens young hearts and minds both to new cultures and to their own potential; and his portrayal of the human condition provides a forum for children to recognize their own value and to dream.

Allen Say is featured in a Gallery in our current issue of PaperTigers, and offers some fascinating insight into his latest book, Erika-San. You can also read an interview with him, in which he talks about his semi-autobiographical book for young adults, The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice, as well as some of his other picture-books. Sally recently chose his Music for Alice for a Books at Bedtime post.

Greg Mortenson is a humanitarian whose motto is “Books, not Bombs.” Since 1993 he has been committed to promoting and supporting education and literacy (with an emphasis on girls’ education) in rural, underserved regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Through his work as co-founder/Executive Director of the Central Asia Institute, as of May 2009, he has established over 78 schools, supported the training of 600+ teachers and offered scholarships to hundreds of disadvantaged students, thus providing education to over 28,000 children (including 18,000 girls) who would otherwise have no opportunities.

Greg Mortenson is also founder of the Pennies For Peace program and author of the Kiriyama Prize-winning book Three Cups of Tea, which has been translated into 29 languages. It has been adapted into a version for young adults and a beautiful picture-book, Listen to the Wind, illustrated with wonderful collages by Susan L. Roth.

Please do share with us your thoughts and comments about our two nominations - we’d love to hear from you.

Stories at the Door (illus. by Francis Blake) is Jan Andrew’s most recent offering.  Published in 2007, it is a collection of six stories loosely based on various traditional sources.  Andrews has adapted these older tales to wonderful effect, infusing them with humor and wit.  My daughter and I enjoyed “Jacinthe Wins Words” which is a funny retelling of a Palestinian Arab folktale called “The Rich Man and the Poor Man.”  Two sisters deal with the rather embarrassing situation of breaking wind differently, each with surprising results.  This was the first ever story I ever read where a fart was personified (and richly so, may I add, with Francis Blake’s illustrations!).

Another fun tale in the collection is “Jane Saves the Day.”  A clever servant girl named Jane helps the miserly rich man she serves by solving the problem of a genie who haunts the man by offering him endless labor for free.  If the man runs out of chores for the genie to do, the genie will kill the master.  Of course, after the master’s selfish ambitions are served, he has no more work for the genie and must resort to having it improve the lives of his servants (on Jane’s suggestion) before Jane gives the genie the one unsolvable task that will be its undoing.  I’ll leave you to find out what that task might be!

Storytelling is truly an art — whether done orally or through the written word.  Do you have any storytellers where you live?  What kind of stories do they tell?

The poem I’ve chosen today is about food too - but it’s an elephant doing the eating and I’m not sure that I would exactly want to join in with his feast… Elephants are, however, my absolute favorite animal and I can’t resist sharing this one with you today:

Little Elephant Swaying

Little elephant swaying.
Growing up breathing fresh air
And eating fresh branches.
Little elephant,
Swaying this way and that,
Eating the heart of the kia plant.

It’s a nursery rhyme from India, translated from Hindi, and is included in Floella Benjamin’s lovely anthology Skip Across the Ocean: Nursery Rhymes from Across the World, richly illustrated by Sheila Moxley (Frances Lincoln, 2007/8). The rhymes really do come from all over the world - and many of them are given in their original langauge too, which makes this a particularly intriguing book for young children, especially as, being nursery rhymes, there’s plenty of onomatopoeia to play with. The rhymes are divided into four sections: Lullabies, Action Rhymes, Nature and Lucky Dip. In her introduction, Floella says:

“Rhymes are children’s first introduction to rhythm, poetry, music and the world around them. [...] They explore feelings and help children to develop important social skills while passing on cultural values and traditions to the next generation.”

By dipping into so many different cultures, this great book broadens the horizons of young children, and gives them the opportunity to have great fun with sounds and rhythms in other languages. What a feast!

Co-hosted by librarian Barbara Genco and poet/writer Marilyn Singer, this unique program will celebrate the wonder and excitement of contemporary North American poetry for children. Ten to twelve poets, some new, some well-established, will read from their works. Information about current and forthcoming books of poetry will be available.

This event is designed to be a ‘drop-in’ reading at the close of the ALA Annual Conference and attendees are guaranteed to find the time spent in these readings both enlightening and energizing. Poets include: Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, David Harrison, Bobbi Katz, Laura Purdie Salas, Jon Scieszka, Joyce Sidman, Marilyn Singer, Hope Anita Smith, Susan Marie Swanson, Joyce Carol Thomas. Publishers will also offer a display of books and promotional materials featuring the participants.

As I know you are always on the hunt for new authors and books with a South Asia theme, I immediately thought of you recently when I had the chance to meet with author and illustrator, Anne Sibley O’Brien. Anne came to Korea recently when she was invited to visit an international school at which she is an alumnus. Our SCBWI chapter had the pleasure of taking her to dinner where she opened up to us about her life, her writing journey and her experience growing up in Korea. Because Anne lived in Korea for 20 years during her childhood, she was raised bi-cultural and bi-lingual. She has a beautiful insight into the Korean way of life, especially as a foreigner being raised here.

During dinner we listened as she told us about her childhood, her missionary parents, her travels throughout Korea and the development of her writing career. She talked to us about her watercolor illustration technique and described her process. She told us about her Korean folk tale, The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea, and how it developed into a story. She talked a bit about how challenging it can be to sell a folk tale because many publishers are reluctant to take the risk on them. They’re not always top sellers. At a school presentation she asked the children how many of them would go to the “folk tales of the world” section in their school library as their first choice to find an interesting book. Only one or two hands were raised. It’s just not their first choice for an interesting book, she told us. This means finding a publisher can be more difficult even though many of these stories are fascinating.

We also talked about what kind of language to use when re-telling a foreign tale. Anne confirmed that using some authentic language is important because it gives readers a flavor of the culture and that it was important to find a balance between capturing the feeling of the original words and yet still making the story accessible and understandable to readers. She also prefers to use the true foreign word when naming certain objects and people. These techniques enrich the storytelling by opening up windows of cultural enlightenment to readers.

As the night wound to an end we hugged, said thanks, and promised to keep in touch. I haven’t stopped feeling like I’m walking on clouds after having the most delightful visit with Anne Sibley O’Brien and getting to know the compassionate, dedicated, generous and down-to-earth author she is.

Click here to read Anne’s blog and see photos of her trip to Korea.