After a long hiatus from my blog, I am finally back to post some
updates. Stick around a bit to find out what's happening inside and
outside my world.
Since 2006, I have been making sure that I attend the country's most significant children's literature conference organised by our
National Book Development Council of Singapore (otherwise known as NBDCS or the Singapore Book Council). After 10 years of running the the Asian Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference (ACWIC), the book council, lead by Mr Rama Ramachandran on the front line and his team of committed colleagues, saw the need to enhance opportunities for the entire community of children’s content creators to meet, network and to create new business possibilities.
Besides serving as a platform to foster new relationships and better understanding between authors, illustrators, editors, publishers, media producers, literary agents, librarians, teachers, parents, book distributors, retailers, international buyers and other professionals related to children’s content from all around the world, this festival also serves as a channel to showcase existing literary canon and to promote new content with Asian flavours as well as works created by authors and illustrators in the Asian region.
With those objectives in mind, the former Asian Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference was revamped and relaunched in 2010 to include two additional programmes for those involving in education which includes parents, and multimedia content creators to reach out to a much wider group of professionals and audiences under the
Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC).
Gathering from the introduction, you may simply sum up AFCC as a not-to-be-missed literary event for anyone interested in children's books and young adult literature. So this year when I had to anticipate that I was going to miss it due to a financial crisis we were having at home around that time, I was, without shadow of the the doubt. disappointed. However, just a week or so before the event, I discovered something call '
chance'.
iLoveBooks.com was giving away passes to the festival through their contest by reviewing a favourite book. So I thought, why not give it a shot at writing one, may be lady luck will give me a hand somehow. And that's what I did.
I reviewed an amazing and emotionally charged novel entitled '
Skellig', written by one of my all time favourite children's book authors,
David Almond. This touching story had lifted me especially during difficult times so writing about it was a natural and compelling thing to do. So I wrote my heart out, edited a whole chunk out to meet the word number requirement, send it off and get on with life as we all must when we put down our tools.
Five days before the event, my phone rang. The next thing you know - is MAGIC - just like the story!
---------------
25 May 2012, Counting down to the big festival - On the night before the event, something happened at home. My little girl had a fever. Recently a good friend's daughter was hospitalised in the ICU because of fever whilst the cause of her temperature, which resulted in temporary memory lost, was still a mystery to the doctors. It's worrying when you just have no idea what kind of 'superbugs' out there that can affect your life or your love one’s. So, I kept my fingers crossed all night, hoping that it was just one of those fevers that comes and goes.
----------------
26 May 2012: Day One of AFCC - In the morning, my child’s temperature had gone back to normal but I didn't want to leave her even though I would have love to attend the session on '
How illustrations in books provide context for understanding stories' with
Marjorie van Heerden that afternoon. I rang my dad and asked if he could come and see to the kids for a couple of hours so I can pop over to The Arts House to collect the passes.
I arrived at The Arts House at around 10am, collected my passes and caught up a bit with Celine. Then, I bumped into
Diane Wolfer, an award winning author from Perth, Australia, who was here last year to give us not just one but TWO FANTASTIC talk about '
Exploring History Through Children's Literature' and '
Turning Life Experiences Into Fiction'. Currently, Diane has published 15 Young Adults (YA) and Picture Book titles, which includes '
Lighthouse Girl', '
Choices', '
Photographs in the Mud' as well as '
Granny Grommet and Me' and '
Snail Trail' which will be out in 2013 with Walker Books. (Yeah!) This time, she will be sharing and discussing about writing sensitive issues in children's literature at ACWIC, with two other brilliant authors,
Norman Jorgenson (Perth) and
Julia Lawrinson (Perth/Melbourne). I was really looking forward to that.
So, I missed Day One's programme but I was just so relieved that my daughter was back to her happy self. Much much thanks to my friend Gail, a super(big heart)mama of four, for taking the task of looking after the girls while I put on my 'book illustrator' persona for the next few days to attend the colloquium.
------------
27 May 2012: It was Day Two. I ensured to arrived early for the Asian Parent Forum to attend the keynote address '
Read Me a Story, Sing Me to Sleep: Choosing the Best Books for Your Child' from Mr
Leonard Marcus. I have to confess, unlike my previous attendance for AFCC, I showed up at this year's conference without any prior knowledge about the keynote speaker.
Nevertheless, as a parent, an adult who finds great pleasure from reading picture books and (was) a reading programme volunteer at school, I was curious about the discourse he was going to present. Suffice to say it, I was enlightened by his talk. It was indeed more than a privilege to be there on this Sunday morning, to learn from a soft-spoken gentleman, who articulated so melodiously and wisely about his passion for a genre that calls for a fine collaboration between pictures and words, or sometimes just pictures alone.
His discourse had, in some measure, inspired me to write this post. For that too, I thank him.
The first book that Mr Marcus shared was '
Goodnight Moon' written by
Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by
Clement Hurd.
As the author of '
Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon', an absorbing biography of this legendary picturebook author of well over a hundred books including '
Goodnight Moon', '
The Runaway Bunny' and '
The Little Island', Mr Marcus shared his experience reading this book with children. This classic story, which was published in 1947, is much loved by children but is more than often overlooked by grown ups as being too simple. However contrary to that - if you take a little more time to observe what happens between the child reader and the story, you may find that such perception of is far more profound than one may thought.
According to studies, young imaginative children tend to read in non-linear fashion. Therefore, they able to perceive the words and pictures from a completely different point of view from that of a rational adult reader who is likely to focus mostly on the meanings of the words or the language itself. To illustrate evident for the hypothesis, he recalled at a time when he discovered a very little child who had the story read to (most likely over and over again), reciting and (re)acting the scenes while she was "alone" in her bedroom.
It was obvious (or perhaps not so obvious to some adults) that - the child was making connection with her universe - feeling, sensing and imagining, to find comfort and reassurance of her place as well as the "others" in this big world, a key theme in the book.
From reading a couple of articles, it is interesting to know that Ms Brown, who was a pioneer for writing stories and poems for the very young, had conceived and written '
Goodnight Moon' all in one morning! She had responded in interviews that she dreamt of books. So I guess '
Goodnight Moon' could be one of them. Mr Marcus, who was at one point of his life writing a lot of poetry, described 'Goodnight Moon' as "
a work of amazingly distilled poetry - a poem that even a two year old could understand. That kind of simplicity and clarity seemed like an ultimate achievement for a writer." I couldn’t agree more.
Regarded by many as the epitome of a bedtime story, most reviews for ‘
Goodnight Moon’ at the time when it was published were positive - the New Yorker called it a "
hypnotic bedtime litany." Although some reviewers ignored it altogether and the New York Public Library dismissed it as an "
unbearably sentimental piece of work", Harper sold 6,000 copies that first fall.
Personally, it is interesting to note that the sales of '
Goodnight Moon' were not always this impressive. Typically, all product sales go through fluctuations. By 1951, sales were precariously close to falling out of print. Numbers had slipped to 1,300 copies. For a few years and until 1957, annual sales were steady at 1,500 copies. Then a sudden demand for the book began in 1955 (due to baby boom) when 4,000 copies were purchased. The book's sales skyrocketed as more parents bought the book and recommending it to their friends. Then, in 1986, sales topped 200,000 copies!
Now, a third generation of parents is reading '
Goodnight Moon' to its children and English language teachers are using the book as means to teach rhymes, sequence, pattern, vocabularies and among many other possible curriculum for pre-schoolers and kindy children.
For me, it is also intriguing to discover that Margaret Wise Brown and her work was very much based in the philosophy of the American progressive education (a pedagogical movement started in the 1930s), and that it was considered quite controversial at the time when she wrote them and had them published. Although her initial ambition was to write for adults, she somehow ended up studying to become a teacher at the Bank Street College of Education, a protégé of its founder Lucy Sprague Mitchell, who advocated that stories for very young children should be grounded in the "here and now" rather than nonsense or fantasy. For children aged two to five, Mrs Mitchell thought, real experience was magical enough without embellishments - this concept had clearly instilled a huge influence on Ms Brown's work. As Ms Brown's publishing career advanced, she enjoyed sparring with librarians who disagreed with the progressive education approach and wanted to maintain influence over what was published and available in libraries. Could that be the reason why '
Goodnight Moon' was only available for the first time in 1973, some 26 years later after its publication? Perhaps Mr Marcus has some answers to that.
I personally did not know about '
Goodnight Moon' as a little child. Two reasons: my parents don't know the English language, and there isn't a thing call bedtime routine for us. Then, when I become a mum, I learned that we needed to learn the ‘art’ of putting our kids to bed nicely and establish a 'healthy' bedtime ritual for our child, because … … (you can fill in the rest). So, if you are looking a book to lure your child to sleep, '
Goodnight Moon' may just do the job. However, don't be too surprised too if it doesn't! Mr Marcus showed us a photo of him reading to his own child who looked like he was fidgeting away. Then he laughed: "
I had spent over 9 years writing a biography of Margaret Wise Brown. So when my son was born the week the book was published, I thought, 'Now I have someone to read 'Goodnight Moon' to.' When Jacob was 6 or 9 months old, I gave it a try, and it was obvious he was bored by this book. Of all the children to have, I had one that didn't like 'Goodnight Moon.' It was a wonderful thing for someone like me, who reviews books, to realize that not every classic is for every child."
Clearly, at the end of the day, the most precious thing about reading to your child is that you and your child share a very special bonding moment together. Those nights as I cuddled my daughters in my arms, reading to them a book that they liked (not necessary what I like), always bring me great memories and joy. They are 11 and 8 now and we still do that from time to time - yes, with picture books, absolutely.
Another picture book that Mr Marcus shared goes like this:
"One Sunday morning the warm sun came up
and - pop! - out the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar."
I believe most parents these days have a copy of this famous picture book on their bookshelves. Mine was read probably at least a few hundred times since my older child turned one.
That's right, this book is none other than '
The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by
Eric Carle. It was another picture book that took the children's literature world by surprise. For a book that had sold over 30 million copies and had been translated to 47 languages by the time when the author turned 80, it is hard to imagine that '
The Very Hungry Caterpillar' was also initially turned down by some librarians because it was different from a conventional book - it has holes and irregular pages that are die cut, which make it looks like a toy.
The first time when I found the book in a bookshop, way before I became a children’s book artist, it was precisely this unusual-ness that caught my eye and captured my heart. Fun was my first thought, then it was the of exuberant colours - all that made me very happy. It’s no wonder a child just can’t get enough of this book.
Apart from the wonderful stories and illustrations that Mr Carle had created, I personally feel that it is his guts and innovation with the physical form of a picture book that pushed children’s book publishing to another dimension.
From books with holes, now let’s flip to books with flaps!
Noelle Carter is a creator of many picture books with real texture that the little ones can touch and feel. Playing peek-a-boo is something that every little child loves, so lifting the flaps and finding surprises behind them is fun for them to do. I just love the title - '
Where’s My Squishy Ball?' which Mr Marcus showed and made us all giggled. Besides the delightfully stylised illustrations, the story itself is just adorable, which made it one of Mr Marcus son’s favourites.
There are many other books as such. Like
Eric Hill’s '
Spot' series which my kids had really enjoyed. These are fun books that they had entertained themselves with when I was busy cooking in the kitchen. Again, books can be toys too!
Most little children loves vehicles, animals and nursery rhythms.
Byron Barton is an author-illustrator who happens to enjoy them a lot too. He had created a number of books with titles such as '
My Cars', '
My Trucks', '
My Boats', '
My Trains', '
My Planes', '
The Three Bears' and '
The Little Red Hen'. His pictures are always bold, lively, bright and colourful so they can easily grab the attention of kids from the age of 1 to 4. Recently, some of his books were made into apps for iPad which is pretty neat for the new generation of children. Appropriate use of technology can indeed stimulates a young child's reading experience in some ways.
I mentioned earlier about cuddles. Well, '
I touch' by
Helen Oxenbury is one of the series of board book that introduces the little ones to senses. There are also '
I can','
I see' and '
I hear'. These books are especially loved by babies and toddlers partly because the readers can relate to the stories which captured the children’s real growing up experiences. Once again, Ms Oxenbury’s works also carry that "distilled" quality that Mr Marcus was talking about in Margaret Wise Brown’s books.
Tim Wynne-Jones in the Toronto Globe wrote: "
Helen Oxenbury is the book world's foremost authority on the antics (and anatomy) of small people." Indeed she is. As a scenic designer turned mother, then turned author and illustrator, Ms Oxenbury knows babies and toddlers on the tip of her tongue. A recipient of the Kate Greenaway Medal, England’s equivalent of Caldecott Medal, her works had been widely published by many well known publishers worldwide.
Beside board books for babies, Helen Oxenbury also writes and illustrates for children of pre-school and kindergarten age. '
We Are Going On a Bear Hunt' created with the very talented poet-author
Michael Rosen is just glorious. '
There’s Going to Be a Baby' is the latest brainchild which she created with her husband,
John Burningham, who is also an equally acclaimed picture book author and illustrator.
Married for 46 years, this was their very first collaboration. She said in an interview with The Guardian UK that the book idea (initially called '
Mummy’s Going To Have a Baby') came out 10 years ago but it was shelved away because there were problems with the drafts when they started out. Then, a few of years ago, the couple decided to take the idea out again and reworked on it, together with their editor,
David Lloyd. The result is this fabulous
book for new siblings-to-be.
I think, whether you are a parent-to-be, or already a parent, there is always a book for you from Helen Oxenbury. They are honest and often light-hearted. So, in the midst of enjoying the playfulness of the little ones in her books, you may perhaps learn one thing or two about babies and motherhood.
Now let’s see - what’s a childhood without the notoriously naughty rabbit called Peter?
There I was waiting patiently in the Chamber for Mr Marcus to pull out the timeless work of
Beatrix Potter, a remarkable authoress and entrepreneurial artist during the Victorian period who had made many very significant and enduring contributions to the classic children's literature in England. My daughters received from their grandparents and aunties from the UK several versions of '
The Tales of Peter Rabbit' and his friends when they were little. From board books to novelty books to tiny little pocket books, we love them all.
Beatrix Potter has always an inspiration for me. I admire her strength to stand out as a truly independent woman of her time.
I also esteem her guts for defying the conventions of her Victorian upbringing to devote her life in nature conservation and becoming a philanthropist who left a lasting legacy for others to enjoy. Her rich understanding about being children, her witty and sometime poignant narrative style and her beautiful watercolour paintings just pull me right into her world of imagination. Who knows someday I may live in a country home in the enchanting Lake District where she had lived and created all these brilliant stories and characters. Dreams like this keep us going, isn't it?
Now we are moving into picture books for slightly older readers, say between 4 to 8 or 9.
I was delighted to see Mr Marcus recommending books from a different culture. One of which was
Kam Mak’s '
My Chinatown' - another multi-award winner, including the ALA Editor’s Choice and Notable Children’s Book Award from American Library Association.
On the cover of this book, it has a subtitle that says '
One Year in Poems'. In this book are fifteen lyrical verses that expressed the emotions of a Chinese boy as he adjusts to his new life in the Chinatown of New York. Coincidentally, I found out that Mr Mak was originally from Hong Kong and had moved to New York’s Chinatown in 1971 when he was young. Which is probably why I was able to feel, prior to this knowledge, the intimacy between the boy and author from the way the story was told and illustrated. Unlike the other books before this, 'My Chinatown' contains pages of luminous realistic illustrations that depict the way of life in Chinatown throughout four seasons.
It is refreshing to expose a child to a variety of books that have different styles of images, and of another cultural perspective too. That will enrich their views about the world.
If you have a child who dreams of the freedom to go wherever she wants, then you may like to read to her this book by
Faith Ringgold. A 1992 Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Book, '
Tar Beach' is a story about a girl named Cassie Lightfoot who spent her summer time with her family on the tar-tenement rooftop of her family's Harlem apartment building, dreaming of flying over George Washington Bridge and some buildings in the city she lives in but sadly cannot have the privilege to visit. It’s a heart warming story that gently weaved together themes of hope and freedom from slavery and oppression for an African-American family.
Dr
Myra Garces-Bascal of
Gathering Books had written an indepth review of this richly illustrated picture book. So, do check out the link to her fabulous blog about books for children at the end of the post.
Do you love history? I do. I remember reading '
And then what happened, Paul Revere?' written by
Jean Fritz to the children at the school and they enjoyed it too.
This book was recommended to introduce children to people and events of the past. Named The New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and an ALA Notable Children's Book, this title will take your child way back in time. And to be precise, it’s 1775. Paul Revere was an illustrious patriot during the American Revolutionary War. His most infamous horseback midnight ride through a tremendously perilous passage with numerous narrow escapes took centre-stage in this story. Details of the heroic trek with humorous, authentic accounts of this fearless ride through Boston, Concord and Lexington, create a great sense of adventure for the readers. Illustrator Margot Tomes, known for her superb depictions of the colonial period, makes this biography even more exciting.
For those who like a further accompanied reading to this book. may I suggest 'Paul Revere's Ride', a great poem composed by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a distinguished American writer, poet and educator from 19th century.
Are your children inspired by '
Masterchef Junior' like my daughters?
If they are, then '
Pretend Soup Recipe And Other Real Recipes' by
Mollie Katzen could be the perfect book for them.
This interesting book contains child-tested recipes for children who love or want to learn to cook. Other than that, children can learn to count, measure, mix and pick up healthy eating habits through various easy to follow culinary activities suggested by the author. As a mother, I think this book is informational yet superbly engaging, and definitely providing lots of ideas for parents and children to create something together on a plate. Isn’t that just the perfect recipe for nurturing family bonding and a hobby?
Graphic novels (or comics as I and some of you may prefer) are the last but not least type of books on Mr Marcus’ list. They are definitely not a new thing. As a matter of fact, comics was first seen in the 1930s. Despite so, it is still challenging for a lot of parents and teachers to approve such genre as part of their children’s and students’ reading agenda, partly because there was a long history of perception of comics as not good for children. In recent years, graphic novels have become more popular among junior readers and works created in such format are making their way into many children's magazines. Becoming more aware of this phenomenon, bookstores and libraries are realising the need to make space to carry more of such collection.
Indeed, this genre can serve as a gateway to readers who are slightly more resistant to pick up a 'proper' storybook. It is particularly helpful in assisting reluctant readers to becoming "wider" readers. Its format also benefits struggling readers, special-needs students and English language learners.
The book that Mr Marcus shared for this genre is '
Little Lit: Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies' by
Art Spiegelman. This book compiles the works of many well known comic book artists and children’s book illustrators, offering the young readers a myriad of classic stories as well as styles in a unique narrative and illustrative form. So, comics are really cool!
I will post a link for a downloadable guide at the bottom of this post to aid parents and teachers with choosing graphic novels for children and teens. Hopefully the genre can be better understood and be more useful for those involved in education.
There are two other titles that Mr Marcus shared which I regrettably have yet come across over here. They include '
More More More, Said The Baby' by
Vera Williams and '
The Island Boy' by
Barbara Cooney (but I have read '
Miss Rumphius', a touching story a woman who sought a way to make the world more beautiful by planting lupine in the wild). If you have read them, feel free to share your thoughts with us.
Before I sign off from this post, here are a couple of tips from Mr Marcus to take away:
1. Read to your child the books which you read as a child - it's a way to pass on good stories from generation to generation.
2. It does not matter if a young child does not finish a book in one sitting - the key objective is to invite and encourage the joy of reading and appreciation of sight and sound that picture books can bring.
And from me (primarily from the point of view of a parent and primary school storyteller):
1. Encourage conversation - most children love to talk. Let them share their stories with you.
2. Let the child pick the books - you will learn so much about them in the process.
3. Lots of cuddling (and good lighting!)
4. Animate - read aloud with a passion, in different voices, laugh, cry, whisper, scream, make noises, etc to make each storytelling session fun and memorable for your child.
5. Be kind and patient, especially with reluctant readers - one small step at a time and encourage for reaching each milestone.
6. Be a role model - read at home. Trust me on this one, children watch their parents all the time. So the more they see you read, the more they will enjoy books for pleasure.
I hope you have gained much light from this post as much as I had when writing it. Have fun with picture books and experience some magical moments when reading with your child!
That’s the end of my first installment for Day Two of AFCC. Stay tuned for my thoughts on other talks and discussions during the festival.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional resources:
• Review of '
Tar Beach' by Faith Ringgold on
Gathering Books
• 2010 Interview with Leonard Marcus on
SCBWI Bologna
• 'Paul Revere's Ride' by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Using
Graphic Novels with Children and Teens
• Recipes and cooking videos by
Mollie Katzen
(Note: Books which were presented in the actual keynote address are shared in a random order in this post. While every effort have been made to ensure its accuracy and intend, if there is any misrepresentation or error, please kindly email the author at christinelimillustrations@gmail.com so she can make necessary changes to the write up. Thanks.)
Labels: AFCC, Asian Festival of Children's Content, Book Muse, Children's Book, Literacy, Literary Event, Picture Book
I had the privilege to receive an autographed copy of 'Paris Pan Takes The Dare' for my daughter. Something quite amazing happened - she broke her reading record! She finished this 248 pages middle grade mystery novel in one sitting. Her comment afterward was, "This book gotta be made into a movie!". I emailed Cynthea to tell her about that. She 'laughed': 'Aw, I knew it! Every girl who reads Paris Pan blazes through it quickly. YES!!!! … I want them to devour the book like its a meal." And she nailed it!
