A thousand thanks to Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Ma and to my publisher Charlesbridge for hosting my Bamboo People book launch party. I always get nervous, so I greatly appreciated everybody who came and sent notes of encouragement from near and far. I’ve posted a few videos below, and here are some recaps from others who attended:
Charlesbridge, Walk the Ridgepole, Not Just For Kids, Britt Leigh’s Brain on Books, and The Papa Post

Arrived to find this gorgeous bamboo plant sent from Portland, Maine by Curious City‘s Kirsten Cappy, Jamie Hogan (who illustrated my book Rickshaw Girl), Annie Sibley O’ Brien (After Gandhi), and King middle school librarian Kelley McDaniel. Thank you so much, ladies, for your love and support!

I loved watching people mingle and meet.

My buddy Deb Sloan is one of the best book cheerleaders on the planet.

Authors who write for adults don’t get love like this.

Porter Square bookseller Nathan exuded hospitality. Thank you! I’m holding the bamboo bookmark giveaways I picked up a couple of weeks ago at the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar.

Introducing the book

Reading an excerpt of BAMBOO PEOPLE

Here are some children’s books about Ramadan that have been featured on PaperTigers:

A Party in Ramadan, by Asma Mobin-Uddin, illustrated by Laura Jacobsen (Boyds Mills Press)

Leena, a young girl who is fasting “part time” for the first time (children are not expected to fast every day of Ramadan until they have passed puberty), is disappointed when she finds out that her best friend’s party will be held on the afternoon of the day she had chosen to fast. How she deals with her conflicted feelings makes for a very gentle story about faith and friendship. This is “a picture book that can help bridge divides and reassure children of any faith who sometimes have to make the choice between fitting in and following their hearts.”

Many Windows: Six Kids, Five Faiths, One Community, by Rukhsana Khan, with Uma Krishnaswami and Elisa Carbone (Napoleon & Company)

Many Windows is a book of stories about six children of different faiths sharing one community. In the story about Ramadan, a young boy is suspicious of his uncle, who is visiting from Pakistan to celebrate it with his family. The book includes an information section on the religious celebrations and, through its interlinked stories, “shows a community whose members respect and value one another—a gentle and crucial message our youth would benefit from finding in other contemporary stories.”

Moon Watchers: Shirin’s Ramadan Miracle, written by Reza Jalali and illustrated by Anne Sibley O’Brien, recently published by Tilbury House, is the story of a nine year-old girl who is too young to fast like her older brother and how she comes to understand that there’s more to Ramadan than just fasting. We will be reviewing the book ourselves soon, but in the meantime, here’s a lovely review from ForeWord magazine.

For more books for children and teens about Ramadan, I suggest you head over to UmmahReads, where you will find great reading lists divided by age group.

As I know you are always on the hunt for new authors and books with a South Asia theme, I immediately thought of you recently when I had the chance to meet with author and illustrator, Anne Sibley O’Brien. Anne came to Korea recently when she was invited to visit an international school at which she is an alumnus. Our SCBWI chapter had the pleasure of taking her to dinner where she opened up to us about her life, her writing journey and her experience growing up in Korea. Because Anne lived in Korea for 20 years during her childhood, she was raised bi-cultural and bi-lingual. She has a beautiful insight into the Korean way of life, especially as a foreigner being raised here.

During dinner we listened as she told us about her childhood, her missionary parents, her travels throughout Korea and the development of her writing career. She talked to us about her watercolor illustration technique and described her process. She told us about her Korean folk tale, The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea, and how it developed into a story. She talked a bit about how challenging it can be to sell a folk tale because many publishers are reluctant to take the risk on them. They’re not always top sellers. At a school presentation she asked the children how many of them would go to the “folk tales of the world” section in their school library as their first choice to find an interesting book. Only one or two hands were raised. It’s just not their first choice for an interesting book, she told us. This means finding a publisher can be more difficult even though many of these stories are fascinating.

We also talked about what kind of language to use when re-telling a foreign tale. Anne confirmed that using some authentic language is important because it gives readers a flavor of the culture and that it was important to find a balance between capturing the feeling of the original words and yet still making the story accessible and understandable to readers. She also prefers to use the true foreign word when naming certain objects and people. These techniques enrich the storytelling by opening up windows of cultural enlightenment to readers.

As the night wound to an end we hugged, said thanks, and promised to keep in touch. I haven’t stopped feeling like I’m walking on clouds after having the most delightful visit with Anne Sibley O’Brien and getting to know the compassionate, dedicated, generous and down-to-earth author she is.

Click here to read Anne’s blog and see photos of her trip to Korea.