Several years ago PaperTigers arranged to have author Ann Martin Bowler conduct a school outreach session in California.  PaperTigers Outreach Coordinator Theresa Gee said of the session  “Annie was absolutely incredible presenting two of her books at a Sacramento elementary school which I attended in the 1960′s. It serves a very low income neighborhood with many South Asian immigrants, so the day we spent at the school together was a real treat for the students and teachers.”

Yesterday, Theresa alerted me to this upcoming event which features Ann. If you happen to be in the Roseville area, I’m sure it would be well worth attending!

Join us for the kick-off party of  “One World, Many Stories” Roseville Library’s Summer Reading Club.
Monday, June 13th, 5:30 p.m.
Downtown Roseville Library
225 Taylor St., Roseville, CA, USA
Call (916) 774-5221 for more information

Bring your children out for a lively, interactive telling of multicultural tales and a celebration of books and cultures and come meet author Ann Martin Bowler! Annie  will be kicking off  “One World, Many Stories” with an engaging, kid-friendly, presentation of her books, All About Korea: Stories, Songs, Crafts, and More, Gecko’s Complaint: A Balinese Folktale and Adventures of the Treasure Fleet: China Discovers the World.

Roseville Library’s summer reading program has a decidedly international flavor, with lots of fun events and activities for kids young and old. A full listing of events can be found here

To read PaperTigers’ recent review of Ann’s new book All About Korea: Stories, Songs, Crafts and More (Tuttle, 2011) click here.

Ann Martin Bowler, illustrated by Soosoonam Bary,
All About Korea: Stories, Songs, Crafts and More
Tuttle, 2011.

Ages 9-12

All About Korea is a rich trove of activities and information about Korea, compiled by author Ann Martin Bowler both from her own experience as mother to two Korean-born children and from her careful research. In fifteen chapters, appealingly illustrated by Soosoonam Bary, Bowler presents history, games, folktales, some basic Korean language, songs, recipes, and information about holidays, arts and crafts, architecture, and values. A recurrent theme is the Korean emphasis on education. Korean proverbs are scattered through the book. A basic explanation of why the two Koreas are separated is presented, after which the book focuses on South Korea.

Bowler shows an educator’s appreciation of the tone that makes cultural studies attractive to middle grade children, referring to Korean children as kids, for example, while not glossing over the importance of respect for elders and table manners. Children are cautioned to ask grownups for help with certain projects, like those using a knife, but otherwise they are addressed as if they are studying and doing the activities in All About Korea on their own. That seems a less likely scenario, however, than that the book will be a helpful resource for enterprising teachers and parents interested in providing children with hands-on experiences that bring the Korean people and culture alive and augment other educational materials about the country.

Soosoonam Bary’s deft touch with a paintbrush adds tremendously to the appeal of All About Korea. She provides useful illustrations of Bowler’s instructions for making kites and masks as well as lively, stereotype-breaking depictions of modern Korean children in their turtlenecks and anoraks. Her large illustrations of the gentle tigers and disobedient frogs in Korean folk tales; the imposing mountain setting of the great city of Seoul, with its high rises and grand temple complexes; and the interiors of both traditional and contemporary Korean homes are particularly compelling. Bary’s soft lines and delicate colors provide a warm, gentle cohesion to Bowler’s potpourri of details and ideas.

In addition to use in the classroom, the many Korean-American parents and adoptive parents of Korean-born children will be gratified and assisted by Bowler and Bary’s book in instilling in their bicultural children a sense of pride and respect for the Korean people and their country.

Charlotte Richardson
May 2011

We just heard from author Ann Martin Bowler that the Chinese edition of her book Adventures of the Treasure Fleet: China Discovers the World made the Taipei City Library’s “2009 Good Book List”, and we wanted to help spread the good news! The list is created each year to highlight the most outstanding works of children’s literature published in China.

On Saturday, May 22nd, Annie will be reading Adventures of the Treasure Fleet at the Foster City Library & Community Center in Foster City, California, as part of the library’s all-day Asian Pacific American Heritage Authors Celebration. The story will also be told in Chinese by Sophie Wong. You can find more details about the event on the author’s blog.

When Gecko complains to Raden, the jungle’s chief and a lion, about the fireflies that are keeping him awake, he sets in motion a string of complaints as each culprit of one animal’s complaint blames his actions on another’s behaviour. Eventually Raden is brought face to face with Rain:

When he reached Mount Batur’s highest peak, Chief Raden roared loudly, “Rain, why are you ruining the jungle pathways and causing so many problems for the animals?”

While waiting for Rain’s reply, Chief Raden dropped to the ground in exhaustion. Looking out over Bali, he saw sparkling rivers, blue skies filled with drifting clouds and endless hills of green. Raindrops fell, cooling his tired body. [...]

Raden then understood he was asking a very foolish question.

He returns home and delivers a few home truths to the animals about remembering all that Rain provides, and tells them to stop complaining but learn to live “in peace with one another”. By being considerate to their fellow creatures and recognising that there is much to appreciate in their own lives, they do in fact find themselves with little to complain about.

Gecko’s Complaint/ Keluhan Sang Tokek, a Balinese folktale, retold by Ann Martin Bowler and sumptuously illustrated by Balinese artist I Gusti Made Sukanada (Periplus Editions) is available both in English and, as of this year, as a bilingual book with English and Indonesian text. It is definitely a fable whose meaning has bearing on the lives of us humans. Chief Raden is a respected authority figure who listens and is decisive and fair – a role model who will also be respected by young listeners of the story. At the same time, the narrative doesn’t fall into the trap of being didactic but provides plenty of room for characterisation and humor to come through. The vibrant illustrations are full of jungle wildlife and we love the vignettes of animals, birds and flowers scattered through the text. Perhaps it’s an unreasonable quibble, but if another edition is ever planned, it would be great to have an appendix saying what they all are; it would provide a good counterbalance to the introduction, which gives an interesting overview of Indonesia and Bali in particular.

Ann talks a little about writing the book in her interview with PaperTigers – and I have to say, I’d love to know more about what she describes as the “adventure” of working with I Gusti Made Sukanada to create the book. She has also written a song, Complaining, to accompany the book – it’s available on her website.

To read a little more about how Gecko’s Complaint fits into Indonesian folklore, read this review from the Bali Advertiser. Many cultures feature animal fables in their traditional story-telling – do you have any particular favorites that you’d recommend as a bedtime story?

I recently got an email from author and Room to Read Ambassador, Ann Martin Bowler, saying that the preschool she’s helped build in Vietnam is scheduled to open later this fall! Ann has been donating part of the proceeds from her school visits to Room to Read since 2007, so it’s wonderful to see how much has happened since then! To show support for Ann’s and Room to Read’s cause, in 2007 PaperTigers sponsored her all-day visit to Freeport School, in Sacramento, California.

Here’s the update she sent to all who helped her achieve her goal:

I recently visited Hoi Xuan Preschool [in the village of Hoi Tri, near Ho Chi Minh City], the Room to Read school in Vietnam that many of you helped to fundraise for. My son Jake and I toured this and other two schools and spent a good amount of time with the hard-working, dedicated Room to Read staff. I was delighted to confirm how important preschools are in the lives of Vietnamese children. You can see lots of fun pictures on my blog and learn why schools for 3-5 year-olds are vital in Vietnam.

A great big thank you to each and every person who helped fundraise for Hoi Xuan Preschool! Your efforts will truly make a difference in the lives of many Vietnamese children.

If you’d like to help me build a second school in Vietnam, I plan to continue donating a portion of every speaking engagement to Room to Read. I’d love to visit your school or community center!

Thanks for the update, Ann, and best of luck to you in your ongoing efforts to help build more schools in Vietnam!

For more details, check out Ann’s blog, World Change Starts with Educated People. She can also be reached by email.

Last year, children’s book author and literacy advocate, Ann Martin Bowler announced she would donate her school speaking fees to Room to Read (a non-profit organization building schools and libraries in some of the poorest parts of Asia and Africa), with the goal of building a school in Vietnam. She has been an ambassador for Room to Read since the beginning of 2007.

Annie wrote me an email, last week, reporting on the success of her fundraising efforts. She was able to raise $17,000 and construction is due to begin in the fall for a pre-school in the village of Hoi Tri, near Ho Chi Minh City. The school will serve 180 students and its design and building process will count with the participation of the community. “The grade school in Hoi Tri is quite overcrowded–kids currently come to school in split shifts. Giving preschoolers their own school will free up classroom space, allowing more elementary students to attend school.”

In a 2007 interview for PaperTigers, she said: “After seeing little ones [in Indonesia] working or running on the streets because there is no school to attend, I had to do what I could to help Room to Read reach their goals. I believe that educating the world’s children is the best way to break the cycle of poverty, and Room to Read is striving to do just that, one school at a time.”

PaperTigers is proud to have helped Ann Martin Bowler achieve her commendable goal by sponsoring an all-day school visit to Freeport Elementary School in Sacramento, California. But Annie isn’t done yet! She just announced she will be donating her 2008/09 school year speaking fees to build another school!… We strongly encourage you to book one of her school visits this year. We can’t wait to hear about more schools being built and more needy children getting the education they deserve!

For information on school visits, check out her website and/or her Room to Read blog, “World Change Starts with Educated Children.”