The prolific and voluble Australian writer Chris Cheng has published 16 books for children. Five came out in 2007, by 5 different publishers, on topics ranging from Australian historical fiction to unusual pets. Chris writes about the forces of nature and people, in other words, and he’s also a force of nature himself, as his website indicates.

His tips for young writers is chock full of other interesting information, all in a lively kid-friendly voice. And here’s a personal views article Chris wrote for PaperTigers about the Australian environment in children’s books.

The July update of the PaperTigers website focuses on literacy, one of Chris Cheng’s passions. When Australia’s Literacy and Numeracy Week comes up in September, 2008, Chris will be an Ambassador for the fifth year. Seems like the sunburnt country couldn’t have a better bloke on the team!

I grew up in a remote corner of Alaska, without electricity or a telephone, at a time when the Internet would have been considered a maniac’s wild fantasy. Anyone entering our house at night would have found everyone in our family clustered around a couple of gas-fueled lanterns in dead silence, each of us deeply immersed in a book–except for my little brother.

Scarred by an unsuccessful introduction to reading in the first grade, my brother had soon become embarrassed by his lack of skill in a family of bibliovores and was a resolute functional illiterate. The rest of us found this appalling as well as inexplicable and discovering a book that would make my brother a passionate reader became an overriding obsession for us all.

Not too far away there was a tiny library that was our family’s idea of paradise. Even my brother loved it, since it contained picture books and illustrated encyclopedias–and as it turned out, a sizable collection of Tintin books.

We were not a family of comic book readers, but when my brother came home with his first volume of Tintin, poring over the pictures and painfully puzzling out the words, it was a big day for us all. It was the moment that my brother became a reader and Tintin became a household saint.

As a bookseller, I love to find books for the uneasy reader and Tintin is always high on my list of suggestions. A colleague of mine specializes in turning reluctant readers into bookworms and in an upcoming interview she will tell us how she does it. What about you? What titles do you suggest for the uneasy readers of your acquaintance? Let us know!

Earlier this year while searching the web for children’s literature events, I came across Zarah Gagatiga’s blog School Librarian in Action. Zarah lives in the Philippines so I immediately emailed her and asked her if there were any children’s literature events happening there that we could share with our PaperTigers readers. She quickly emailed back with a resounding YES! - the Philippines’ 25th National Children’s Book Day would be celebrated July 15. Zarah then put me in touch with Ani Almario, Secretary-General for the Philippines Board on Books for Young People, who was pleased to send me the details for the upcoming celebration:

The annual ceremonies celebrating National Children’s Book Day, in commemoration of the publication of Jose Rizal’s Monkey and the Turtle, shall once again happen at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on July 15th. The ceremonies include the announcement of new books coming out in 2008, courtesy of the country’s leading children’s book publishers; the awarding of this year’s Salanga (Writer) and Alcala (Illustrator) prizes; and the induction of new PBBY members.

From July 15 -22 an exhibit entitled the 25 Best-Loved Children’s Book Characters Exhibit will be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. After surveying hundreds of Filipino children, this is an exhibit of life-size sculptures of the 25 best-loved children’s book characters. The sculptures are done by members Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan.

During July, 25 schools will be visited by their favorite children’s book authors. The visits are a joint project between PBBY and the members of Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting (Kuting), a group of Filipino children’s book authors.

Museo Pambata, the Philippines premier children’s museum, will be celebrating the silver anniversary of National Children’s Book Day throughout July with the following activities: Pop Stories Exhibit, an opinion corner for child visitors; a book donation corner; and a special day when people can dress up at their favorite children’s book characters!

Thanks to Zarah and Ani for providing this information so that we could share it with you. When I first contacted Zarah she posted this on her blog:

This goes to show how blogs and the Internet can help people from different places bridge gaps and get information. The world is indeed becoming smaller, but all the more richer it’s been. Barriers are broken down; new meaning and world views are constructed.

How true! If you know of an event happening in your country, we would love to share it with our readers. Please leave a comment or send me an email.

Families taking off to live on other continents have a challenge preparing kids for the changes ahead, often when they’re not that prepared themselves. Books can help, and many children’s books help parents as much as kids. Today we zero in on Japan, beginning with Annie Donwerth Chikamatsu’s blog Here and There Japan. In addition to her charming and insightful posts, check out her wonderful list of children’s books about Japan, with links, in the righthand column.

In Tokyo Friends, by old Japan hand Betty Reynolds, two little girls explore the city together, taking young readers along; it’s a great introduction to Japanese culture and language. Reynolds’ Japanese Celebrations: Cherry Blossoms, Lanterns, and Stars! follows up with a tour through a year of traditional Japanese holidays. I Live in Tokyo by Mari Takabayashi zooms in closer, with a month-by-month survey of special events, including some tradtional foods of the day or season. Takabayashi also introduces some Japanese written characters and explains how pictograms evolved, so her book is a good follow-up to both of Betty Reynolds’ books.

Colors of Japan by Holly Littlefield (Helen Byers, illustrator) introduces iconic images of Japan (like the red of the flag) and provides the Japanese word for each color in phonetic spelling, Romanized letters, and kanji. Japan (A-Z) by Jeff Reynolds orients middle school children to the animals of Japan with great photographs and illustrations. Kids Around the World: We Live in Japan by Alexander Messager and Sophie Duffet introduces young children to Japan through three Japanese kids from different parts of the country. Japan for Kids: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Their Children by Diane Wiltshire and Jean Huey provides the kind of reassuring basic information that will soften at least a few harrowing moments of culture shock for travelers and new residents alike.

In The Way We Do It in Japan by Geneva Cobb Iijima, a bicultural boy leaves San Francisco for a year in his father’s native Japan. Through Gregory’s eyes, young readers get a survey of some major cultural differences between the two countries–even if few Japanese kids these days actually life as the kids in the book do!

Florence Sakade’s Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories gives middle schoolers some beloved traditional tales from the land of Wa, a very good way to intuit the culture directly rather than conceptually.

Finally, for those in for the long haul, the Asia Society’s Japan book list and background material for teachers will give parents a solid foundation for their upcoming family adventures.

Fleeing the horror that has turned her home in Cambodia into a battleground filled with death and starvation, twelve-year-old Dara and what is left of her family cross the border into neighboring Thailand and the safety of Nong Chan, a camp for Cambodian refugees. Quickly they become absorbed into the life of “a vast barren field teeming with refugees” which “had the feel of our village during the years of peace before the fighting started.”

This is a place with enough food for all, where Dara’s family joins forces with the family of Jantu, a girl who becomes Dara’s friend. Jantu has the gift of magic hands; she is able to turn clay and leftover scraps into toys and she makes Dara a clay marble that contains the magic and power that are badly needed in these troubled times.

Even more magical and powerful are the bags of rice seeds that are given to the refugees and carry the promise of future crops in their abandoned fields in Cambodia. Dara and Jantu’s families dream of feeding themselves once again in Cambodia, but even in the safety of the refugee camp, war interferes brutally with their plans.

Written by Minfong Ho, who worked as a volunteer in refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodian border in 1980, this book has become a classic since it first appeared in 1991. Dara and Jantu, with their determination and courage, are characters who reach beyond borders and age barriers to show readers what it means to become refugees and how hope can bring people back to their homes. Please join us in reading and discussing The Clay Marble in July.

Well, we did it, though time nearly ran away with us at the end. We’ve had so many extra things going on this month that apart from anything else, I wasn’t quite organised enough to go out and track down books we didn’t already have somewhere around the house… Older Brother had already set his sights a while ago on Arctic Adventures: Tales from the Lives of Inuit Artists by Raquel Rivera and illustrated by Jirina Martin (Groundwood, 2007); but we realised that our choice of books for the geographical area encompassing Southeast Asia on our PaperTigers map was somewhat limited. In the end, we revisited Asian Children’s Favorite Stories, retold by David Conger, Kay Lyons, Liana Romolo, Joan Suyenaga and Marian Davies Toth, and illustrated by Patrick Yee (Tuttle, 2006): Little Brother read the two stories from Thailand; and I read one from the Philippines and one from Indonesia as our official readaloud… of course, we did go on and read some of the others too – but it did serve as a reminder of the enjoyment you can get from just dipping into an anthology, rather than wading through the whole thing in one fell swoop, which is what I often tend to get carried away and do…

The two stories we read together, “The Mousedeer Becomes a Judge” and “The Golden Ring” both provoked quite a lot of discussion – the first because it had a strong moral which dealt efficiently with the nasty crocodile after he had tried to take a bite out of Buffalo, who had just saved his life; and the second because it is a folktale that explains why hawks and hens do not get on, and why hens scratch the ground, which we all enjoyed, even if we knew it wasn’t true. You can read a fuller review of the book here.

Of the two he read, Little Brother says:

I liked reading these folktales. The Fake Gem was about a person from Thailand called Phra who had a fake gem of glass and he was tempted to sell it to the Chinese Emperor Lao. Then Phra walked out and saw the bad thing he had almost done and in the end it turned out Lao wasn’t really a Chinese emperor anyway. “The Lucky Farmer Becomes King” was really cool because Lek was only a farmer but he managed to scare off invaders of Thailand but he didn’t have to fight them. Everyone thought he was brave but actually he was a scaredy-cat, except for when he fought a snake. The pictures are really funny, especially the snake one and the crocodile one where he’s cowering at the back of the boat.

Arctic Adventures: Tales from the Lives of Inuit Artists is a stunning book and, as Older Brother himself noticed, it is remarkable because the stories are all true and were not the experiences of adventurers but people who grew up to become artists. I’m not sure how much he took in this time round of the actual biographies of the four artists featured but I think it is the kind of book that will be read many times, and which will grow with its readers. Jirina Martin’s palette reflects the far northern setting with its glacial blues and greens and varied shades of grey and brown, and her style complements the examples provided of the actual artists’ work. I think this is a great book for boys who are themselves creative but also love adventure: it just proves you can be both. Here’s what Older Brother wrote:

My favourite story was about a boy and a girl who went out hunting and made a tent on some ice. Then in the morning there was a cracking noise and the tent and the children and all their dogs had broken away and they were stuck on an ice floe. In the end, they managed to get home but it was quite scary for me to think that this was a true story. In fact, all the stories are adventure stories and they’re all true. And I thought when I was reading it that it was amazing to think that all the stories were from artists because I want to be an artist when I grow up.

And so we come to the end of our Reading Challenge for this year. We’ve all really enjoyed it and if I had reservations at the beginning that I might have to cajole my two into keeping going, I needn’t have worried as, after each mini review, I was nagged into helping them find their next choice; and they have been quite thrilled at the possibility of their reviews spreading their wings and being read from anywhere around the world…

So if you took part, do let us know how you got on; and we look forward to you maybe joining us next year, when our challenge too will spread its wings and be even more global…

Side by Side: New Poems Inspired by Art from Around the World is a great introduction for children to both art and poetry. Award-winning writer and editor Jan Greenberg, who has published books for kids on Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, Frank Gehry, Chuck Close, Romare Bearden, Andy Warhol, and Louise Bourgeois, follows up her 2001 Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth Century American Art with this anthology of international art. Except for a Pushkin poem, all the poems, which appear in both English and their original language, were commissioned to accompany the selected works of art. (Some were written in English and then translated by the authors back into their native languages.)

Greenberg’s new book has stirred up lots of interest in the blogosphere. Elizabeth Bird’s review at Fuse #8 gives us the proper term, ekphrasis, for a poem inspired by a work of art. Here’s Kelly Herold’s review at Big A, little a, and here’s the review Jules posted at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast.