Today is International Literacy Day, and this year the theme is “Literacy and Women’s Empowerment”—a reminder to us all of the need for increased commitment to literacy, especially for girls and women. This theme reinforces and adds a particular focus to the United Nation’s Literacy Decade efforts to encourage a world-wide commitment to issues of literacy.

One of the multitude of events happening around the world in celebration of the day is the award ceremony for UNESCO 2010 International Literacy Prizes, which recognize innovative approaches to literacy education and is taking place at the organization’s headquarters, in Paris. UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize, sponsored by the Republic of Korea, will be given to projects in Cape Verde and Germany, and programs in Nepal and Egypt will be receiving the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy, supported by the People’s Republic of China. You can find the complete list of winning projects and honorable mentions here.

Also happening today, following the awards ceremony, is the launch of a very welcome and potentially transformative initiative: the Knowledge and Innovations Network for Literacy (KINL). Created with support from Verizon Foundation and Microsoft, the Network, which will be operational beginning November 1, will work as a virtual workplace where literacy researchers and practitioners can share knowledge and debate literacy topics online, with the goal of generating new ideas and practices.

Let us know how you are celebrating the day at your school, library or household. And keep in mind that, in the US, one way you can show your support for the right to literacy is by signing this declaration. Before delivering it to President Obama, ProLiteracy is sending the declaration scroll around the country to gather signatures from individuals and mayors.

We all deserve a world in which children and adults have the literacy skills they need to lead happy, productive and fulfilling lives, so let’s each do our part—and every little bit counts!— to promote literacy.

You can find PaperTigers’ archived Literacy issue here. To see all our literacy-related blog posts, click on the “World Literacy” category, on the sidebar.

Hosted by Sandy Fussel, from the Australian blog Stories are Light, this month’s children’s lit carnival offers a wealth of book reviews, interviews, writing tips, and more. Take a look and I’m sure you’ll find plenty of must-read-before-Summer/Winter-is-over books and articles.

After basking in the light of the carnival’s links, make sure to check the blog’s sidebar for a list of Top 50 Australian Writing Blogs. Enjoy!

Our summer holidays are nearly over and the Reading the World Challenge is nearly running away with me in terms of posting about the books we’ve read – so without further ado, here’s the latest installment, including the long overdue catch-up with our fellow readers…

Together we have read the delightful Lulie the Iceberg by Her Royal Highness Princess Takamado and illustrated by Warabe Aska (Kodansha America, 1998), which Sally wrote about a while ago – her post prompted us to get hold of it: and we did, indeed, love it. We read the actual story one evening and then spent several evenings after that reading the factual information at the end, while hunting again and again for the various creatures mentioned in the gorgeous illustrations. Read Sally’s post for a synopsis of the story…

Meanwhile, Older Brother has read Linda Sue Park’s A Single Shard (Clarion Books, 2001):

A Single Shard is about a young boy called Tree-ear in 12th Century Korea, who loves watching a potter called Min making vases grow from the wheel. Then Tree-ear starts working for Mon (but he’s not allowed to actually make things) and goes on a long journey to the emperor with some pottery to seek a commission – but he is tricked by robbers on the way…

It’s a very exciting story. It made me feel happy and sad at different times: and the ending was probably the saddest part of all, though it did eventually turn out to be for the best.

Little Brother has also read a book set in Antarctica – but I have to confess that I have mislaid the notebook in which he wrote his mini-review, which he will be quite unimpressed about. I will try and remedy the situation asap.

In the meantime, what of everyone else in all these weeks that have elapsed since my last update?

Corinne has read Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, of which she says, “It won Honorable Mention for Adult Fiction in the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature. I loved Lisa’s previous book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and this book did not disappoint either. Highly recommend it especially for all those “historical novel” lovers like me.”

Olduvai at Olduvai Reads has completed the Challenge – Hooray! You can find links to her reviews for all the books she read here…

Tiina of A Book Blog of One’s own has read The Lovers of Algeria by Anouar Benmalek and The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge…

And I’m so glad Jama at Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup has joined in too. She’s been reading a wonderful selection of picture books about Asia and Asian Americans, focusing on Korea, China and Japan - definitely not to be missed.

And welcome, too, to Nora at Reading My Way Through The Classics, who has read Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

There are only four and a bit months left of the year but if you’re happy to squash your reading up a bit, you could still join in our Reading the World Challenge of seven books from or about each of the seven continents… And I promise it won’t be quite so long till the next write-up!

Esme Raji Codell, Monica Edinger and Pete Cowdin talk about summer reading for kids on NPR’s On Point show. You can see their book recommendations and listen to the broadcast here.

An Indian-American candidate running for South Carolina’s governor seat in the United States, was recently attacked with racial slur by a state lawmaker who called her a “raghead”. The daughter of Sikh Punjabi immigrants, she was the target of a type of verbal abuse that, sadly, is still commonly directed against ethnic groups that wear turbans or headdresses. The Sikh turban, or dastaar, an article of faith and spiritual significance, has become known all over the world as the most distinct identity of Sikhs, but most people don’t know what wearing it and what being a Sikh really means.

Explain the meaning of his turban is exactly what the young boy in the picture book A Lion’s Mane sets out—and succeeds—to do. Winner of a 2010 Skipping Stones Honor Award in the “Multicultural and International Awareness” category, A Lion’s Mane is the first title by Canadian Saffron Press, a new independent publisher whose goal is to promote awareness of our global world by publishing books that foster positive self-identity in children. Written by Navjot Kaur and illustrated by Jaspreet Sandhu, the book takes children on a journey around the world and toward better understanding by using the boy’s flowing red dastaar as the thread that connects him to others. The story begins with “I have a lion’s mane and I’m different, just like you. Do you know who I am?”, a question that is repeated throughout the book, and proceeds to reveal to readers the strength the boy derives from “having a lion’s mane” and “being a Khalsa Knight.” The journey takes us to various times and places— the Middle Ages, Ancient Iran, India, China, and more—all the while pointing to similarities between those cultures and values and the boy’s own. (To see a trailer of the book, click here.)

Educating our youth about the real meaning of the Sikh turban can help pave the way to ending haressment that stems, for the most part, from preconceived ideas and stereotypes. Kudos to Saffron Press for providing our children with this authentic and important story, and for reminding us that we all share a common, precious humanity.

The book’s press release packet lists the following websites where children can learn more about Sikhism:

www.khalsakids.org
www.sikhnextdoor.org

Nathalie Mvondo recently wrote about the book on her blog Multiculturalism Rocks!, where she said: “A Lion’s Mane will be part of something special on Multiculturalism Rocks! soon.” Hmm… I wonder what sort of special treat Nathalie has in store… I encourage you all to keep your eyes peeled!

Elizabeth Bluemle‘s article The Elephant in the Room, posted this week on ShelfTalker, a Publisher’s Weekly blog, offers a spot-on and constructive criticism of the publishing world’s shortcomings when it comes to publishing and promoting books that truly reflect our diverse world, pointing to the need on their part “to cast aside outdated assumptions of what people will or won’t read, will or won’t edit or publish or sell.”

The article offers suggestions of what those in the publishing field can do to start reverting the situation and doing right by our children, plus a list of blogs and websites (we were honored to see PaperTigers mentioned!) that promote diversity in children’s and young adult books. The elephant illustrations, by thirteen children’s book artists, combined with the words, give us much to reflect on.

image credit: © Addie Boswell

Well, we’ve finally started this year’s Reading the World Challenge in our household!

As our together-read, we’re “doing” Europe at the moment. We’re about half way through Dickens’ Oliver Twist, which I’m really enjoying, since it’s a good few years since I read it, and the boys are revelling in. I suggested it because I was getting a bit fed up with continued allusions to Oliver via the musical Oliver! and felt (poor kids, purist that I am!) that they needed to get back to grass roots here… I did wonder if we were biting off a bit more than we could chew but in fact they are completely caught up by the narrative and Dickens would be happy with his effect on their social consiousness/consciences! It’s definitely proving to be one of those books that they wouldn’t read on their own but that, with frequent, unobtrusive asides to gloss the meanings of words, they are more than able to enjoy having read to them. It’s just very long and now that term-time is back in full swing, it’s hard getting the sustained reading time all together that we would like.

We have also read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne (David Fickling Books, 2006). This is an extraordinarily powerful book about a nine-year-old German boy, Bruno, who becomes an unwitting witness of the Holocaust when his father becomes the Commandant of “Outwith” concentration camp (as Bruno mistakenly calls it), and who makes friends with a Jewish boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the perimeter fence. If you have read this breath-taking, punch-in-the-stomach book, do take a look at the discussion that Janet got underway here on PaperTigers on the Tigers Bookshelf. Although it says on the back cover that despite being a book about nine-year-olds, “this is not a book for nine-year-olds”, and I therefore, again, had some reservations of reading it with the boys, I was glad we did. Because we were reading it together (and not at bedtime – this is definitely not a book to read just before you go to sleep), we couldn’t read it in one sitting as has been recommended – but we all mulled over it deeply and all brought our own ages to it. I know that Little Brother’s nine-year-old perspective was very different to mine (as, indeed was Older Brother’s), but it was still valid; and I hope they will both read it again independently when they are older.

Little Brother’s own read was also focused on Europe with Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei by Peter Sís – this is what he says about it:

I liked The Starry Messenger because you could always recognise Galileo in the pictures because there were always (more…)

Crisscrossing the Globe: a World of International Books for Young People is an article in the 2/1/2010 issue of School Library Journal describing USBBY’s 2010 Outstanding International Books list. Written by Elizabeth Poe, the article includes annotations for all the books recognized. The outstanding lineup of titles includes My Little Round House (selected for the Spirit of PaperTigers book set donation project), Sopa de Frijoles, Wanting Mor, Hannah’s Winter, Tales from Outer Suburbia, and more.

This annual list is one of the activities of USBBY, the US chapter of IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young Readers, whose aim is to promote international understanding and good will through books for children and young adults. A goal very much in line with PaperTigers’ own.

And speaking of USBBY, the organization is currently seeking applicants for the 2011 Bridge to Understanding Award. The award recognizes a program that promotes reading as a way to expand a child’s world. Any organization (such as schools, libraries, clubs, scout troops), within the United States, that has a program for children using books and reading as a way of promoting an understanding of cultures/countries outside the United States is eligible to apply. The selection committee will consider such criteria as the number of children reached by the program and the impact on the community as demonstrated by publicity coverage or anecdotal evidence. To be considered for the 2011 award, the program must occur during 2010. Download an application, or visit the website for more information.

This month’s focus for the Social Justice Challenge is Water, a precious, life-giving resource that many of us take for granted. It is only relatively recently that awareness is growing everywhere of water being a finite resource. Many of us just have to turn on the tap for a ready supply of clean water for drinking, washing, even playing – but it is shocking indeed to think that nearly half the people living in the developing world do not have access to clean water; and that, according to UNICEF:

“Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills and sickens thousands of children every day, and leads to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands more.”

Older Brother and Little Bother cite a statistic they believe comes from WaterAid that 3 people die every 10 minutes because of a lack of clean water. In an attempt to turn this remote, hopeless-sounding figure into something they can get their heads round, we are currently reading Ryan and Jimmy: And the Well in Africa that Brought Them Together by Herb Shoveller (Kids Can Press, 2006). This is the wonderful and inspiring story of how the determination of one small boy in Canada, Ryan Hreljac, captured people’s imagination so that he was able to raise the $2,000 needed to buy a well for a community in Uganda – and then go on raising money to fund drills for more wells – so that now, the Ryan’s Well Foundation, with the now eighteen-year-old Ryan at its head, is working to bring safe drinking water and increase sanitation and hygiene awareness in 16 countries around the world.

Another engaging book and superb resource for raising young people’s awareness about water is (more…)

We have yet to start the PaperTigers Reading the World Challenge in our household – the boys are getting geared up to have their first book read by the end of this month for their individual reads, but I’ve decided to wait till April to start on our readaloud together, to take advantage as much as possible of school holidays. They both seem to have so many different evening activities during term-time that reading to both of them at the same time has become a challenge in itself!

However, it is definitely time for a round-up of those people who have been reading already – and it’s great that the Challenge has been taken up for “grown-up” reading too. Sometimes I get so immersed in children’s books that I lose sight of books written for “my age” – but there are some fantastic booklists appearing on various blogs, which means that I now have an enormous list of books I want to read!

Susan at Black-Eyed Susan, from Detroit, Michigan, US, leapt in straight away with two books – Faith by Maya Ajmera, Magda Nakassis and Cynthia Pon (a Global Fund for Children Book/Charlesbridge, 2009) – which was recently a PaperTigers Book of the Month; and 14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy, Thomas Gonzalez, Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah (Peach Tree, 2009).

PaperTigers’ own Corinne, in Vancouver, Canada, has read The Shepherd’s Granddaughter by Anne Laurel Carter (Groundwood/House of Anansi, 2008).

Eva at A Striped Armchair, who lives in the U.S. Rockies, has already chosen the countries she is going to focus on in each continent and has put together what she calls a pool of books to choose from – I would call it a sparkling lake – if you’re looking for inspiration, dive in – so far, she has read The God Who Begat a Jackal by Nega Mezlekia. And an aside – just take a look at the wonderful maps Eva produced of the books she read in 2009…

Tiina at A Book Blog of One’s Own, in Helsinki, Finland, has posted reviews of her first two reads – she covered Asia in January with Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali and Europe in February with The River by Rumer Godden.

Edi at Crazy Quilts has also ticked off a couple of continents with one of my favorite reads of 2009, Rukhsana Khan’s Wanting Mor; and a new one to me that has gone onto my to-be-read list: The Other Hand by Chris Cleave – which she points out is published as Little Bee in the US.

Olduvai at Olduvai Reads, in the Bay Area of San Francisco, has also, like Eva, produced an extensive reading list for the countries she has chosen: Antarctica remains as Antarctica, then Morocco, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Portugal, Canada and Argentina… She’s already taken a couple of books out of the library and is reading Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler.

And what about you? If you haven’t joined the Reading the World Challenge yet, don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time. Find out about how it works here, and let us know what you’re reading..