David’s Trip to Paraguay: The Land of Amazing Colours by Miriam Rudolph (CMU Press, 2011) is a recently published children’s book that tells the story of young David who recounts a long and arduous journey from a small southern Manitoba farm to the Chaco region of Paraguay in 1927.   A bilingual book — text is in German and in English –  the book is also colorfully illustrated with Rudolph’s vibrant images, cleverly ‘stitched’ as it were, by all the various modes of transport David takes to get to his final destination.  My daughter enjoyed connecting each illustrated page to the previous one by finding the travel image — whether railroad, or boat — unique to both.  In the front of the book, the entire set of travel images are united in a long band showing the journey.

How did David come to take this trip?  In 1927, a group of Mennonites in southern Manitoba, disheartened by the province’s ruling against the presence of German schools in certain immigrant communities like theirs, left Canada for the remote Chaco area in Paraguay.  David’s parents were of these Mennonites.  This long trip left a deep impression on a young boy, and later David would recount his memories of this trip to his grandchildren, one of them, being the author and illustrator of this book, Miriam Rudolph.

My daughter and I enjoyed reading this colorful book together, and maybe, some day she can read it with her Oma in German!

Maya Christina Gonzalez,
I Know the River Loves Me / Yo sé que el río me ama
Children’s Book Press, 2009.

Ages 5-8

A girl visits a very special best friend, the river.  How does she know that the river loves her?  “She [the river] jumps and sings when she sees me”, and “when I look into her face, she’s happy to see me.” are just two of the answers that each turn of the page provides. The girl is filled with a sense of well-being through being able to play in the river, or sit by her and think; the river will continue to be there “waiting for me, singing my name” because it is loved and respected. Gonzalez’ lyrical prose reads like a poem and offers up plenty of food for young readers’ imaginations.

While the depiction of the little girl is instantly recognisable as being in Gonzalez’ style, unusually, she emphasises the flowing and swirling of the river by allowing the white of the page to be seen behind them.  In contrast to the bright blues of the water and greens and pinks of the fish and riverside flora, the girl herself is depicted in soft monochrome.  This does not detract from the solidity of the girl’s presence in the narrative, but it does emphasise the central role of the river.  It is particularly effective when the girl is floating in the river, her long, dark hair seeming to meld into the curves of the flowing water.  At the very end, the girl is seen wearing a blue dress that flows into the river, which, in turn, has absorbed her blacks and grays among its blue.  The concluding words bring the by now familiar refrain, “I know the river loves me,” and this time we also have the counterpoint that creates the balance of harmony, as well as a powerful ending to the narrative: “and I love the river.”

The practical actions involved in reaching this spiritual affinity are not ignored either – so the girl is shown taking her rubbish home.  In a short appendix Gonzalez talks about her love of rivers and encourages her readers to explore rivers for themselves – both the ones that inspired her to create the book and, by extension, the rivers on their own doorsteps.  I Know the River Loves Me is a gentle way to introduce young children to the mutual benefits of showing love and respect to their natural environment.

Marjorie Coughlan
January 2012

Monica Brown, illustrated by Julie Paschkis,
Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People
Henry Holt, 2011.

Ages 4-8

Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People, a picture book biography by Peruvian-American scholar Monica Brown, exudes the spirit of Neruda’s poetry without quoting a single line. The work of award-winning illustrator Julie Paschkis contributes greatly to the success of the book. Beginning with his childhood love of nature and the teacher who inspired him to become a writer, Brown traces Neruda’s rich life, including the awakening of his political consciousness, his escape from Chile over the Andes, and even the houses he treasured over his lifetime. Her language has its own poetry:

“He wrote about scissors and thimbles and chairs and rings.
He wrote about buttons and feathers and shoes and hats.
He wrote about velvet cloth the color of the sea.”

Integrating streams of Spanish and English words into every illustration, Paschkis’s folk-art paintings capture Neruda’s poetic sensibility in visual form. Amidst the masks and clocks and seashells, the fruit and spectacles and pottery, that she depicts to accompany the above text, Paschkis weaves evocative and beautiful words from Neruda’s poems: alcachofa, thistle, clavos, whistle, thrum, timber, azul, apple…

To illustrate Neruda’s participation in a coal miners’ strike, Paschkis pictures people waving word-streaked banners: recoger, defend, nunca, libre, friend, corazón. “When he saw that they were cold and hungry and sick, he decided to share their story,” Brown writes. “Even when his poems made leaders angry, he would not be silenced, because he was a poet of the people.”

An author’s note at the back of the book gives a summary of Neruda’s life, including the names of some of his most famous poems. A resources page follows with a bibliography of Neruda’s poetry books and a reading list of further biographical reading.

This latest in Brown’s biographical series will be welcomed by parents and teachers eager to introduce Neruda’s magical poetry to young readers. (Brown’s earlier books for children include bilingual biographies of Gabriel García Márquez and of Neruda’s seminal teacher, Gabriela Mistral.) The sounds of the words included to illustrate the story of the beloved writer’s life capture the beauty and mystery of poetry for adults and children alike.

Charlotte Richardson
September 2011

Written and illustrated by Eleanor B. Coerr, Japanese translation by Yumi Matsunari,
Circus Day in Japan
Tuttle Publishing, 2010.

Ages 6-8

When Joji-chan and his sister Koko-chan wake, they cannot contain their excitement. They are going to the circus! They race to light the charcoal fire, dash down to the rice fields to deliver their father’s lunch, and run to catch the train that will bring them to the big city housing the big circus tent. As the brother and sister delight in unfamiliar city sights, including a man dressed like a bull to advertise a local store, and a policeman on a box, directing traffic like a graceful ballerina, readers will delight in equally unfamiliar sights of Japanese culture and childhood. The siblings’ triumphant day peaks when the elephant of Joji-chan’s dreams finally arrives and they are chosen to ride it around the ring above the smiling faces of onlookers.

Originally published in 1953, this new bilingual edition of Circus Day in Japan captures the timelessness of childhood adventures, while introducing vivid details about life in Japan in the 1950s.  Illustration and text work hand in hand to integrate the familiar and the foreign, making Circus Day in Japan a perfect read-aloud for a story time librarian or a social studies teacher. For example, after Joji-chan hurries into the kitchen, where we read that his mother “Mrs. Shima was preparing lunch,” the accompanying illustration reveals what that might be, showing her with an oversize whole fish on the cutting board and a cleaver in hand. Such attention to detail makes the warmly illustrated text a continual nostalgic remembrance of childhood and exploration of Japanese life.

Universally beloved for Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, author and illustrator Eleanor B. Coerr found inspiration for Circus Day in Japan after visiting a local circus during a one-year stay in Japan as a newspaper reporter.  While it lacks the same captivating magic of Sadako, its lengthier text, plus the addition of the Japanese translation by Yumi Matsunari, make this a valuable resource for bilingual classrooms, and in both English and Japanese speaking homes, communities and countries. In addition to subtle cultural lessons, Coerr integrates a more instructive approach in the warm-hued illustrations, sprinkling language lessons composed of images, English and Japanese words, and phonetic pronunciation throughout the text.

Sara Hudson
July 2011

 Speaking from my current abode here in Japan, I’d like to introduce a short bilingual book of haiku I discovered recently at my local picture book library.  Haiku no Ehon or A Picture Book of Haiku by Toshio Suzuki (Rin Rin Kikaku, 1993)  is a wonderful book of haiku by well known poets Basho, Buson, Issa, Kyoshi and Kyorai.  The illustrations of the poems are quite stunning — traditional images done in sumi-e ink with some very colorful embellishments.  The book was produced post-humously; Suzuki was suffering with cancer when he worked on the paintings done for this book.  Suzuki belonged to a group of painters who are referred to as ‘juvenile painters.’  Juvenile painting is a kind of illustration done for childrens’ stories and songs.  Suzuki challenged himself as a juvenile painter by trying to illustrate classically known haiku in a way that he felt would be accessible to children.  I think he succeeded admirably!  

And speaking of Japanese poets, fellow PT blog contributor Corinne, sent me this link to a post with video by Sylvia Vardell on her blog, Poetry for Children, about a recent poetry book by Tanikawa Shuntaro whose work I wrote about a while back for Poetry Friday for PaperTigers.  Check it out!

Andromeda is hosting today’s Poetry Friday at A Wrung Sponge – head on over…

When I was in Japanese school in Canada, our class did a skit of the story of the giant turnip — Ooki na Kabu (The Giant Turnip).  This story, based on a Russian folktale, is a classic, often performed by Japanese children in schools.  The story is about a giant turnip that is so big that everyone in the village tries to pull it out.  When our class did it, we used a bean bag with a white sheet covered over it and the boy playing the role of the turnip sat inside it, uttering his lines from underneath the sheet.  It was a lot of fun.  

Lately, a mother from the volunteer reading group I attend here, showed me the book of  the play we’d performed, The  Turnip (retold by Kimiko Saito, illustrated by Kaoru Ohno), alongside a number of similar bilingual Japanese picture books with CD published by a company called Labo Kyoiku Centre.  She had gotten them out from her local library.  The text was in English (all the books were translated by Sarah Ann Nishie).  Some other notable titles she showed me were A Mongolian Folktale: Sukh’s White Horse  retold by Yuzo Otsuka, illustrated by Suekichi Akaba, (published in English as Suho’s White Horse – see Marjorie’s recent Books at Bedtime post) and The Ocean Going  Orchestra by Yuzo Otsuka, illustrated by Jun Maruki.  The website pages for the books contain audio clips of the CD in which the tales are read both in English and Japanese. These are good books for bilingual education and a great resource.  I was very happy to see a number of my favorite Japanese children’s book author, Kenji Miyazawa’s books available in this bilingual CD format on the website.  Hope you can seek them out wherever you are!

Jorge Argueta, illustrations by Fernando Vilela,
Arroz con Leche: Un poema para cocinar / Rice Pudding: A Cooking Poem
Groundwood Books, 2010.

Ages 4-7

Rice is an important staple all over the planet, but each cuisine that features rice often makes it seem as if the simple grain belongs to that tradition alone. The young boy at the center of Jorge Argueta’s latest bilingual cooking poem is aware of rice’s versatility, however, and he likes “all kinds of rice”:

I like white rice,
brown rice,
fried rice,
stewed rice,
watery rice,
chicken and rice,
beans and rice.
I guess I like rice with anything.

“But what I like best and love the most” he goes on to say “is rice pudding.” And, just as his counterpart in Argueta’s 2009 poem Sopa de Frijoles/Bean Soup did, this child wastes no time showing the reader how to make this simple yet special Latin dish.

Listing utensils and ingredients as he gathers them together in the playful illustrations by award-winning Brazilian illustrator Fernando Vilela, the boy gets to work while his mother, a silhouette in the background, watches from a distance.

Each step is more joyful and poetic than the last. Filling the pot with water “makes me feel like/ there is a creek flowing through the kitchen.” “The flames heating the pot/ are rainbow hands…hugging the pot.” Boiling water makes “maraca music,” and “Foamy waves and clouds turn the pot into sea and sky.” When he pours the milk, “there is a white waterfall in the kitchen” to which the child adds “salt stars and sugar snow.” The excitement of creating is equaled only by the anticipation of the delicious arroz con leche the boy looks forward to serving his family.

Like Bean Soup, Rice Pudding celebrates traditional foods—and the values they embody: family, warmth, sharing—along with a child’s growing independence. Vilela’s illustrations contrast the cool grey-green-blue of the creative kitchen with the warm comfort of gold and orange in the rest of the home. When the whole family joins hands around the table to “slurp up” this delicious treat, readers will wish they could actually be there. This sweet, joyful poem about a sweet, comforting food will surely inspire new cooks and perhaps some new poets as well.

Abigail Sawyer
April 2011

Just before I left Canada, I had a quick browse through the bookstore at our local airport, thinking it might be a good idea to bring a book about Manitoba to show to kids in Japan.  Winston of Churchill: One Bear’s Battle Against Global Warming by Jean Davies Okimoto, illustrated by Jeremiah Trammell (Scholastic, 2007) was prominently displayed in the kids section.  I’d heard about and read the book before to my daughter based on her teacher’s recommendation, so was happy to pick up a copy. 

Winston of Churchill tells the story of a “fierce, brave bear” to whom everyone listened.  He lived in Churchill, Manitoba — a famed location for polar bear sightings. Winston had a message for all those sightseeing tourists:  If humans didn’t stop their nasty global warming habits, then a feature of the polar bears’ natural habitat — ice, to be specific — would soon disappear.  Winston rallies his polar bear community to make a protest to the tourists.  Everyone thinks this is a good idea, except for Winston’s wife.  She has a little something she would like Winston to consider before making his stand public.  Suffice it to say, the little something has to do with Winston’s own little nasty personal habit.

I thought I would read Winston of Churchill to Japanese school children in English, but lo, to my surprise, the book had already been translated into Japanese and there were three copies of the translation in my daughter’s school library here.  So much for that idea! Currently, for our night time reading, my daughter and I have been concentrating on bilingual books to keep up with her English reading skills and help orient her in basic written Japanese.  We started with the well known classic Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, pictures by Margaret Bloy Graham (Harper Collins, 1956).  The Japanese translation is titled Doronko Hari and is translated by Watanabe Shigeo (Fukinkan Shoten, 1964).   We will now  definitely be moving on to Winston of Churchill!

Kavita Singh Kale,
Avneet Aunty’s Mobile Phone
(English-Hindi version) Tulika Publishers, India, 2006.

Ages 3-8

“Miaow! I am Chikki” says the turquoise cat on the first page of Kavita Singh Kale’s Avneet Aunty’s Mobile Phone. Chikki’s pink tongue laps at a bowl of milk; a red hand tickles her tummy; her whiskers extend from two rosy round cheeks. On the following page, we meet Gagan, a boy dressed in red polka dots and lying on an orange bed, his turquoise hat the color of his cat. By the third page, when Gagan’s grandmother appears in burgundy and pink on a purple carpet, a stairway winding up the orange wall behind her, there is no doubt that we’re in India.

And we’re prepared, a little, for the mad arrival of Avneet aunty, her pink scarf and white braid flying behind her as she rushes past Gagan and Chikki, her mouth open, her teeth showing, her glasses askew almost down to her nose ring. We’re hardly surprised when her curly-toed shoe lands on poor Chikki’s tail.

Avneet aunty is a gregarious sort, a lady who is never without her mobile phone. Good luck on Gagan and Chikki getting to hear the story his grandmother had promised to tell them. Avneet aunty only stops talking when her phone rings, and then only to begin talking again. There’s a scary moment when Chikki sails over Avneet aunty in a game of tag with Gagan, and the phone goes sailing too. Crash! But all is well, of course, in the end, in this delightfully wacky picture book.

Animation film designer Kale’s exuberant illustrations will bring characters and setting vividly alive for young children, Indian or western. The spare text, 149 words in English, the equally terse Hindi below, adds to the exoticness of her remarkable little treasure.

Tulika Publishers, based in Chennai, India, specializes in bilingual books for children, with books in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, and Bangla. Avneet Aunty’s Mobile Phone is published in five bilingual editions (English with Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Bangla, and Hindi). It’s exciting to have a window into the multi-dimensional cultural world that Indian children experience through Tulika books. And who would have thought a western pre-schooler’s first bilingual English-Hindi book might be about a goofy lady’s cell phone?

Charlotte Richardson
March 2011

A couple of weeks ago Sally wrote a Books at Bedtime post about Mitsumasa Anno‘s Animals, which sent me back to my collection of his books. Among them, I have another book with a very similar title: The Animals – a book of selected poems by Michio Mado, who is perhaps Japan’s best know poet for children. The poems here have been translated by the Empress Michiko of Japan, and are beautifully presented on gold pages, Japanese on the left, English on the right, with a frieze of animals created by Anno running along the bottom.

Each poem breathes from its double-page spread, and gives the reader thinking space. The book was published by Margaret K. McElderry, who died recently – and it is a testimony to the wonderful work she did in unerringly bringing beautiful picture books into being.

My copy of The Animals was once a library book and one of its previous young readers felt passionately enough about one of the poems to draw around its title on the Contents page very carefully with a felt tip pen. So that is the poem I will share with you today.

Butterflies

Butterflies close their wings
When they go to sleep.
They are so small,
In nobody’s way.
Yet they fold themselves
In half
Modestly…

And this lovely one, “A Dog Walks”, about trying to work out how a dog moves its legs when its walking:

How about tying
On each leg a bell,
Each with a different sound?

ChiRin
KoRon
KaRan
PoRon

Then shall I know?

I wonder?

This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Sara Lewis Holmes at Read Write Believe – head on over.