This past week, our bedtime read has been of a local author, M. A. Appleby‘s recently published book, Winnie the Bear (Dominion Street Publishing, 2011).  Many of you are probably  familiar with the Winnie the Pooh books by A. A. Milne, but did you know that the original inspiration behind Milne’s creation was an actual bear called Winnie who lived in the London Zoo?  Winnie, moreover, was named after the city of Winnipeg, home of the Canadian veterinary officer Harry Colebourn, who bought the bear cub from a trapper at a train station in White River, Ontario in 1914.

In Winnie the Bear, Appleby recounts the story of Colebourn’s encounter with the bear and how he came to bring this cub over to England at the advent of the first world war.  Eventually, Winnie was donated to the London Zoo where she became the inspiration for A.A. Milne and E.H. Shephard’s Winnie the Pooh stories.  Meticulously researched and illustrated with vintage style drawings by P.R. Hayes, Winnie the Bear is a wonderful book.  Appleby has worked on this book for over six years but the germ of the story goes back even further in Appleby’s own life; her father was a good friend of Harry Colebourn’s son, Fred.   My daughter and I are enjoying this book very much and we hope this wonderfully local story (for us!) might find readers all over the world as Milne’s books certainly have.

Allen Say,
Drawing from Memory
Scholastic Press, 2011.

Ages 10+

Before even opening Allen Say’s latest book, the play on words of the title, Drawing from Memory, gives the reader a frisson of anticipation, enhanced by the simple cover illustration, a self-portrait of a young Allen Say floating, perhaps, in contemporary consideration of what has now become past. By the time we meet the illustration again in its context of an elated twelve-year-old Say having moved into his own one-room apartment, we are well and truly engrossed. Both before and after that defining moment in Say’s life, drawing is central to his existence. His childhood was not straightforward but Say recounts it with a lightness of touch in both words and pictures that is perfectly attuned to his readership. My favourite is perhaps the juxtaposition of a very small Allen drawing, drawing, drawing. Next along, a small boy walks away from his latest work, as his parents look in anger (father) and horror (mother) at the wall that has been turned into an artist’s canvas. The accompanying text, meanwhile, gives his father’s veto of art as a career for his son. This balance of humor and underlying tensions continues through the book, which ends with Say’s departure for America at the age of fifteen, “ready to start a new life with what I could carry on my back.”

Devotees of Say’s work will find vignettes linking to his previous books: however, the greatest parallels can be drawn with Say’s autobiographical novel The Ink Keeper’s Apprentice, for which Drawing from Memory is an absolutely must-have companion. For here at last is a full portrait of the real Sensei Noro Shinpei, the famous cartoonist to whom Say rather precociously and wholly pivotally apprenticed himself. Included in the narrative are photographs, nuggets of wisdom, and absorbing examples of Shinpei’s work. These include two cartoon characters that were Say and his fellow-apprentice Tokida, getting out of all sorts of scrapes. How wonderful is that! Further background about his later contact with Shinpei, who died in 2002, is given in Say’s moving Afterword.

Throughout the book, Say provides many vivid portraits: as well as his family, Sensei and Tokida, there is his art teacher Miss Goldfish, and her former pupil Orito-san, who taught Say karate as well as drawing from classical sculpture. And through it all is the self-portrait of a young man: his determination to be an artist no matter what, set against a complex family background and the cultural context of post-war Japan.

The story of Say’s childhood is a compelling one. It is fitting that, as an artist, he should tell it through pictures as well as words: and indeed, Say’s skilful combination of illustration and writing renders this account a masterpiece of graphic storytelling.

Marjorie Coughlan
December 2011

Last week was Anti-Bullying Week in Canada and in the UK, where there is currently a move to make the focus on this important issue last for the whole of November.   But of course, the issues highlighted don’t disappear when you’re not looking at them – in fact, bullies are usually very clever at keeping their actions hidden.  The message still needs to be got across at all times that bullying is not acceptable.  We adults have a responibility for teaching respect for others and ourselves, both through formal education and in the example we set in our own behavior.

I have recently been reading two books in which young people tell of their experiences of bullying in their own words, accompanied with photographs and names in most cases.

The first, We Want You to Know: Kids Talk About Bullying is by Deborah Ellis (Coteau Books, 2010), who is well-known for drawing attention to the plight of children around the world caught up in mess caused by adults, both in her fiction (The Breadwinner Trilogy, set in Afghanistan; and the Cocalero novels, set in Bolivia), and in her non-fiction (Off To War: Voices of Soldiers’ Children; Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees).  We Want You to Know brings together the stories of young people aged 9-19 who have been bullied, who have bullied others, and who “have found strength within themselves to rise above their situations and to endure.”  They are all from Ellis’ “little corner of Southern Ontario” in Canada, following her involvement in a local Name It 2 Change It Community Campaign Against Bullying (and, indeed, royalties from the sale of this book go to the organization).  At the same time, interspersed with the longer accounts from the Canadian children are shorter highlighted statements from children across the world – Angola, Japan, Madagascar, South Korea, Uganda, the US.  Yes, bullying happens everywhere.

The book is divided into five main sections, You’re Not Good Enough, You’re Too Different, You’re It—Just Because, We Want to Crush You, and Redemption.  Each account has a couple of follow-up questions, asking “What Do You Think?”, and then there are discussion questions at the end of the sections.

The other book is Bullying and Me: Schoolyard Stories by Ouisie Shapiro with photographs by Steven Vote (Albert Whitman, 2010).  Again, it features first-hand accounts of young people who the introduction reminds us, “had a hard time reliving their experiences”, while recognising the importance of not remaining silent, to remind others who are bullied that “you’re not alone.  And it’s not your fault.”  Each account is followed by useful summarising statements from Dr Dorothy Espelage, a psychologist specializing in adolescent bullying.

Both these titles are aimed at young readers – but make no mistake, they are hard-hitting books that deliver a punch at any adult complacent enough to think that bullying is not a relevant issue in their community.  Where it’s not happening, it’s because an effective anti-bullying policy is in place AND adhered to.  What comes through time and time again in these accounts is the ineffectiveness of schools to put a stop to bullying – either the problems are trivialized or too much onus is put back on the victims to work through the situation, rather than dealing with the bullying that is the actual source of any problems.  Ellis says in her introduction:

Many kids talked about how teachers in their school seem to do nothing to stop their tormentors.  I know that teachers do a lot, but rules of confidentiality prevent them from sharing information about all their efforts.  But somehow we must find a way to show the victims of bullying that they are being heard.

As an adult reading these books, here are a few of the quotations from We Want You to Know that made my blood run cold:

Sometimes the teachers tell me, “If you don’t want to get beat up, stay inside for recess. [..] My mom tries to help.  She calls the school and she calls the principal, but the principal doesn’t believe her, even!  The principal will say, “You can’t prove Adam was hurt on school property, so there’s nothing we can do about it.”

They started calling me names again.  I told the teacher and the principal, and the teacher said, “Well, if you stop bugging them, they’ll stop bugging you,” but I’m not the one who is bothering anyone.

The principal said she’s not going to do anything more because I’ve had so many problems with this before, she’s starting to think it’s me that’s the problem.  She says I’m old enough now [12] to walk away and ignore it.

My mom and dad went to the school a few times to talk to the vice principal and the principal.  They were sort of supportive, but they never called it bullying.  They have a zero tolerance for bullying, but it happens.  And when it happens, they don’t call it bullying so they can say that bullying doesn’t happen.

Of course, the main focus of these accounts is what actually happened to the children, how they coped, and how it has affected them and their aspirations for the future.  For children who find themselves the victims of bullying, these books will be an invaluable tool – reading about someone’s similar experience will help them not to feel so alone, and they will hopefully also pick up some useful pointers for how to deal with their own situations.  In schools and youth groups, individual stories can be used as the focal point of a forum/assembly on bullying in general or in response to a specific incident.  (And I also recommend Suzanne Gervay’s I Am Jack as a class fiction readaloud – as well as every teacher’s and parent’s bedtime reading).

Bullying and its effects must be taken seriously.  It’s not about putting out the fire when an incident occurs.  The whole ethos of a school and the way it deals with the unhappiness, fears and inadequacies of bullies and bystanders as well as victims needs to be a high priority across the board.  Schools aim for excellence in learning, but if the safety and welfare of their students are not taken seriously, not only do those students fail to thrive, but effective learning is impossible.  Bullying is a whole-school issue: every adult who works in a school should be signed up to and implementing a school’s anti-bullying policy – and so should the children.  Anti-bullying week is a start, but the work doesn’t finish there…

Our Book of the Month for November is Children of the World (Art in All of Us / Universe Publishing, 2011), a superbly presented tour of the world through the eyes of children from each of the 192 countries featured. The book’s compilers, photographers Anthony Asael and Stéphanie Rabemiafara, visited schools as a project within their Art in All of Us non-profit organisation, and this resulting book features their own stunning photographs and a breath-taking array of children’s artwork and poetry.

All the poems are shown in their original, often hand-written presentation, with a typed English translation/transcription. They offer insight into the culture and major landmarks etc. of each country, and the children’s love for and pride in their homelands shines through. As I said in my recent review, “The poems especially offer amazing potential for empathy and peace – particularly when comparing the children’s voices with political concerns and conflict around the globe.” You can read the whole review here – I just want to highlight a few quotations from the poetry for this week’s Poetry Friday, turning to pages pretty much at random, because it’s so hard to choose…:

Bagirova Nilufar, aged 10, writing about Azerbaijan:

Our motherland is like a mother to us
Our mother is like motherland to us
Both are venerable
For the love of Azerbaijan

When there are no battles
The people is happy
When there are no battles
everyone is delighted [...]

Pierrre Bréchel Chéry, aged 10, writing about Haiti:

[...] I shall always return to your feet
Even when I go very far away
To come and praise
The sweetness of your plains.

Dear Haiti I love you
Your fresh mountains
Sweetening our nights [...]

Shi Yong, aged 9, about Malaysia:

[...]Food in Malaysia is very delicious,
Some food is nutritious.
Satay, nasi lemak, curry noodles, and curry fishes,
These are the most popular dishes. [...]

Marie Williams, 13, writing about Vanuatu:

Vanuatu, the Untouched Paradise

Vanuatu is one of the countries in the Pacific Islands
The islands are green as a frog
There is no war and starvation
People live peacefully,
you can hear laughter of children
And a friendly smile from people
Everywhere you go.
We claim ourselves to be Ni-Vans with black skin
And have strong and healthy bodies
That’s why we keep our tradition and culture alive.
Vanuatu, we will never give up on you
Like in our motto it says, “In God we stand.”

Children of the World is a joyous tribute to the world’s children and makes inspring reading, both for children and indeed adults.

This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Laura Salas at Writing the World for Kids – head on over…

Anthony Asael and Stéphanie Rabemiafara,
Children of the World: How We Live, Learn, and Play in Poems, Drawings and Photographs
Art in All of Us / Universe Publishing, 2011.

Non-fiction

Ages: 8+

Brussels-born Anthony Asael and Madagascar-born Stéphanie Rabemiafara spent 1,464 days travelling some 385,000 miles around the globe between 2005 and 2009 to capture the photographs for this superbly presented book of children from all 192 United Nations member countries. Supported by UNICEF, they took their project Art in All of Us into primary schools – and here, in Children of the World, we are offered a glimpse of each country through the eyes of its children, as well as the stunning and varied photographic portraits.

Arranged in alphabetical order, each double-page entry features a banner proclaiming the country’s name, with a map highlighting its location in its relevant continent. Underneath, three unobtrusive sentences provide young readers with an encapsulated overview: “We speak…”, “We eat…” “We play…”. The main features of that left-hand page are the striking picture and poem by children offering insight into their homeland. With the poem shown in both its original presentation, often complete with embellishments, and with an English translation/transcript, comparison of the many different scripts and hand-writing makes absorbing reading.

Meanwhile, a full-bleed photograph fills the right-hand page. Some of these are simply breath-taking; all of them are striking. Children engage with the camera smiling frankly or are oblivious of it, caught up in their own activities. They are shown alone or with friends. Two Malaysian boys play exuberantly in the crystal-clear water under houses on stilts (and I defy readers not to wish they were there too); a little further on, a small Moroccan girl grins at the camera with just a touch of shyness.

The book’s template allows both similarities and differences to shine through. The similarities are to be found in the open, smiling faces of the children, and in the love of and pride in their countries that emerge in their words and drawings; and the differences are exactly there too. What a wonderful celebration of the diversity of color and life to be found on our planet. The poems especially offer amazing potential for empathy and peace – particularly when comparing the children’s voices with political concerns and conflict around the globe.

Despite the formula of the Art in All of Us project being repeated in each country, there is nothing formulaic about its results. Children of the World is a superlative book that has the potential to provoke curiosity and a deepened awareness of our shared humanity, among children everywhere. As a powerful learning tool and as a book that exudes sheer joy, it begs to be shared at home, and it should certainly have a prominent place in every school library.

Marjorie Coughlan
October 2011

Today we pay tribute to Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Wangari Maathai, scientist, activist and environmentalist, who died yesterday.

Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 following her return to her native Kenya, after pursuing university studies in the US: she was concerned not only about the detrimental changes in the landscape caused by deforestation, but also about how these were affecting women’s lives especially. Through the Green Belt Movement, more than 47 million trees have been planted, and with them, many families have been able to take active control of their own food production and become involved in promoting sustainable development.

Three inspirational children’s books that relate this aspect of Wangari Maathai’s life are Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) and Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter (Harcourt Books, 2008) and Seeds of Change: Wangari’s Gift to the World by Jen Cullerton Johnson, illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler (Lee & Low Books, 2010). Wangari’s story helps children to recognise that small actions can lead to big actions, and that through putting many people’s small actions together, they can be the instrument for momentous change.

You can read more about Wangari Maathai’s incredible life on the Green Belt Movement’s website, including her advocacy for freedom and peace; and her own words about some of the issues close to her heart. Our thoughts and prayers are with Wangari’s family: may the knowledge that Wangari’s name and influence will live on be of consolation to them in their time of grief. An online condolence book is available on Wangari’s Facebook page.

One Arm Point Remote Community School,
Our World: Bardi Jaawi, Life at Ardiyooloon
Magabala Books, 2010.

Ages 8-11

Our World: Bardi Jaawi Life at Ardiyooloon is a stunning, encyclopaedic book that welcomes readers into the remote indigenous Australian community of Bardi Jaawi people at Ardiyooloon a.k.a One Arm Point, at the top of the Dampier Peninsula in the north-west of Western Australia. One hundred and fifteen children from the One Arm Point Remote Community School, along with their School Culture Team, School Staff, and Community Elders, as well as others from the local community, all came together to create this unique document of their culture and environment.

Colourful photographs show the children engaged in the many outdoor activities that form part of their curriculum, including camping and bushcraft. The book is filled with eye-catching artwork by the children, from illustrations for the traditional stories scattered throughout, to an identity parade of local “Saltwater Creatures”. The community’s connection with the sea is very strong. Many of the activities revolve around fishing, from catching to eating the fish. The variety of activities covered is reflected in the headings for each double-page spread, ranging from “Our History” to “Fish Poisoning and Spearing” to “Bardi Jaawi Seasons” (there are six seasons in the Bardi Jaawi calendar). And along the way, there’s “How to Dress a Snake Bite” with the check box “If you survive, you have done this right” – let’s hope so, then!

At the beginning, a colourful series of maps gradually hones in on Ardiyooloon, right down to One Arm Point Remote Community School itself. The Bardi pronunciation guide is useful since relevant Bardi words and their English translations are to be found encircling most pages, with a complementary English-Bardi wordlist at the end. The “Bardi Family Ties” section also teaches the Bardi words for all the different family relationships. Interestingly, birrii means both mother and aunt on the mother’s side; and gooloo means both father and uncle on the father’s side.

The obvious effort and enthusiasm that have gone into the project of putting Our World together have certainly paid off. As well as enjoying their visit to Ardiyooloon, readers will perhaps feel inspired both to try out some of the activities, adapted to their own surroundings, and to create a parallel record of their own communities and school lives. Congratulations to all involved, children and adults alike, in producing such a captivating book.

Marjorie Coughlan
August 2011

Youme,
Mali Under the Night Sky: A Lao Story of Home
Cinco Puntos Press, 2010.

Age 6-9

In Mali Under the Night Sky, Youme beautifully renders the true story of Malichansouk Kouanchao, who, the flyleaf tells us, “walked from Laos to Thailand when she was five years old.” Bordered watercolor paintings capture the simple beauty of her early life in Laos—napping with her family, catching tiny fish in the rice paddies, making spicy traditional foods with her aunts—with key words translated into Romanized Lao as well as the original Lao script.

“But something was changing where Mali lived…Fighting in neighboring countries was bringing danger to the land and the people. Even the birds were disappearing.” Youme pictures a child at the edge of her house, the wide space beyond empty to the horizon. It’s not safe to stay any longer. After a leave-taking that includes the traditional tying of strings around the wrists of each departing family member, Mali, her parents and siblings cross the broad Mekong, offering ritual flowers and rice with prayers for safety. They are met the next day by soldiers and are imprisoned with other refugees. Things look dark, but the strings on her wrists remind Mali of her home, and when she tells the others her happy memories, “their hearts were safe…soag sai—blessings.”

The real Mali, now a beautiful young woman, is pictured on the front flyleaf along with an introduction to her present work as an artist and anti-war advocate. At the back of the book, one of her paintings is reproduced beside her message to young readers: “…when we share about where we have come from, we all find that our homes are safe in our hearts…” A further statement by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Thavisouk Phrasavath describes the effects of war on children and how books like Youme’s about Mali are a balm to heal those traumas.

Cinco Puntos Press has made a significant contribution in publishing Mali Under the Night Sky. Its tender images and heartfelt words will touch children everywhere. While it ends with Mali in prison, young readers also learn of her subsequent success in life and dedication to healing the wounds of war. The book’s value to Laotian families in diaspora is of course incalculable.

Charlotte Richardson
June 2011

He Zhihong and Guillaume Olive,
My First Book of Chinese Calligraphy
Tuttle Publishing, 2010.

Ages 9-12

Chinese calligraphy has always held a mysterious allure—at least to me and many others who grew up without this remarkable language in our lives. The fact that more than a billion of the earth’s inhabitants communicate using a language with such a complex writing system amazes me. My First Book of Chinese Calligraphy is an effective means of cutting through the mystery of this unique and ancient system while still preserving the mystique of Chinese calligraphy.

This attractive how-to book is a great introduction to this ancient Chinese art, though it should be stressed that it is very much an introduction and one that focuses on the technique and artistry of calligraphy more than on the practical aspects of learning written Chinese. The book gives an overview of Chinese writing and its evolution, introduces the concept of radicals, illustrates the eight basic strokes and how to write them, and discusses practical matters such as proper posture and tools.

Created by the husband-and-wife team of expert sinologist Guillaume Olive and illustrator He Zhihong, the book is both lively and informative. Actual photographs of a little girl, Mimi, using the “four treasures” of calligraphy (paper, ink, ink stone, and brush) depict proper posture and technique for the several characters introduced in the text. Readers are left to figure out for themselves how to write or paint the different characters based on what they have learned in the book about brush technique, character size and spacing, and stroke order.

Games and illustrations, both in the book and on the accompanying CD ROM, help reinforce the learning, and kids who enjoy this introduction will be eager to expand their knowledge of Chinese so that they might begin writing sentences and eventually written communication. My First Book of Chinese Calligraphy is approachable and entertaining for the budding scholar of Chinese as well as the more experienced student who may be interested in calligraphic principles or in the writing system’s history.

Abigail Sawyer
June 2011

Baba Wagué Diakité,
A Gift from Childhood: Memories of an African Boyhood
Groundwood Books, 2010.

Ages 9-12 and up

Award-winning artist, author, musician and storyteller Baba Wagué Diakité, along with his artist wife Ronna Neuenschwander and their two daughters, now divides his time between his native Mali and Portland, Oregon. He’s a long, long way from the village life that his memoir A Gift from Childhood recounts, and yet there is this similarity: Diakité still moves between worlds, just as he did in boyhood when he was sent to the country for a traditional education under the guidance of his paternal grandparents.

Told in a rambling, folk-story style, Diakité’s narrative is generously illustrated with full page, four-color reproductions of his paintings and with his black-and-white designs in the bògòlanfini, Malian mud cloth tradition. His memoir traces the changes he undergoes, beginning as a naïve city schoolboy fresh from his widowed mother’s arms and emerging as a confident adolescent who can catch fish with his bare hands.

During his years in the village, Diakité survives malaria, learns the healing properties of local herbs from his Grandmother Sabou, and sadly watches her fail to save her own little granddaughter from an unnamed malady. Grandmother Sabou’s own fables and the family history are reported in full, italicized passages, along with such wisdom as that it’s “impossible to live through Tuesday when it’s only Monday.” When the time comes, Diakité, with other boys his age, undergoes ritual circumcision, a month-long rite of passage into manhood in the Malian culture that is described in some detail.

While this memoir’s lively writing and art will capture the imagination of middle grade readers, slightly older children will appreciate Diakité’s quirky storytelling more and will likely be less daunted by the account of his coming-of-age ritual. All children will be drawn to the wisdom of the Mali elders and their gentle ways of transmitting their culture to the next generation.

The inclusion of a map of Mali and a glossary of Mali terms, along with descriptions of Diakité’s art techniques, would have added further interest, but this beautifully illustrated glimpse into traditional Mali society, where children don’t go to school until after they are “educated,” will be a fascinating revelation to youthful readers.

Charlotte Richardson
March 2011