Bookshelf #15:
Finlay
Burley-in-Wharfedale, United Kingdom

Attached is a photo of one of my little boy’s bookcases. Finlay loves books. I originally had his books stored in a traditional bookcase but found he pulled them all out on the floor looking for the ‘perfect’ book. Having seen the big book bunkers at children’s libraries I realised that toddlers select books to read by looking at their covers, so I went to the supermarket and picked up a banana crate and stored his books, forward-facing, in there. I realised there was a gap in the market for an actual product that fulfilled that function, so I researched, developed and last month launched a product – bigbooklittlebookcardboardbox – which is available for sale in the UK at www.bigbooklittlebookcardboardbox.co.uk

Submitted by: Frances

For details on how to submit a photo of your child’s bookshelf, click here.

We Heart Books is hosting a virtual world tour of children’s bookshops. They say: “Here’s your chance to help compile a list of the best children’s bookshops in the world. Nominate your favourite children’s bookshops anywhere in the world… and spread the word if you know others who might like to have a say too!” All you need to do to participate is leave a comment on their blog with the name, address and website of the store, and a short paragraph about your reasons for nominating it (please note that they are looking for specialist children’s bookshops, rather than generalist ones).

So far they’ve had nominations from Australia, Canada, France, Singapore, the UK and the US. The picture of Kids Republic, in China, makes quite an impression, and Singapore’s Woods in the Books, specializing in picture books for children and adults sounds wonderful, too! Now… who is going to volunteer to create a wonderful logo for the project? It certainly deserves one!

They are using a Google Map to chart the itinerary for the “Greatest Children’s Bookshops” World Tour, so I encourage you to keep an eye on it. It should prove a lovely way of finding new reasons to travel!

This project, come to think of it, reminds me of our Around the World in 100 Bookshelves. We are still looking forward to your photos!

Bookshelf #14:

Older Brother  and Little Brother
11 years old and nearly 9 years old
Kirkbymoorside, United Kingdom

These shelves are in Little Brother’s bedroom but both boys dip into them – as do I!  There are lots of favorites there – many of which we’ve got to know through PaperTigers.  Sometimes we just grab a random handful and pile into bed for a “book session” – though as they get older, it seems to be getting harder and harder to get readaloud time together apart from bedtime.

Submitted by: Marjorie

For details on how to submit a photo of your child’s bookshelf, click here.

Earlier this week I blogged about an annual event that takes place in Concord, MA, USA: Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature.  Pooja Makhijani left a comment saying “My book – Mama’s Saris – inspired a tree in 2007. It was the best honor my book could have ever received.” She followed up by sending me two photos of the Mama’s Saris tree! Isn’t it beautiful!?

If anyone else has photos of a decorated tree from the event and would like to email them to me, I would love to share them with our readers.

And speaking of photos, don’t forget PaperTigers’ Around the World in 100 Bookshelves project. Send in a photo of your child’s bookshelf and you could win a selection of 5 age-appropriate books to add to your little one’s bookshelf! So far, we have heard from The Philippines, Canada, the UK, US, Sweden and India. We want to see bookshelves from all corners, though, and to hear about the books that inhabit them so next time you have your camera handy, snap a quick bookshelf photo and send it to me at corinne(at)papertigers(dot)org . Hopefully our combined photos will offer a glimpse of a big world made smaller through books and reading. Don’t worry about capturing the whole bookshelf/book collection in the photo. A partial image, along with a reading-related anecdote and/or a few lines describing the bookshelf’s content, should be enough to help us connect across languages and cultures.

For more details on how to submit a photo of your child’s bookshelf, click here.

The lucky winner of our September “Around the World in 100 Bookshelves” book draw is four year-old Clarke, from Los Angeles, California. Being the son of writer Candace Ryan (her debut picture book, Animal House, will be released by Walker Books for Young Readers in 2010) and of a very talented father who built him an incredible Zebra bookshelf, Clarke is no doubt a lucky boy.

Back in May Candace posted about her son’s bookshelf (built to his specification), on her blog Book, Booker, Bookets. She said: “Scrap wood, homeless books, a 4 year-old’s imagination—these were the ingredients needed to bring this bookshelf to life. The fact that one of our cats cowered at the sight of the zebra’s eye gave it just that much more credibility. For the bookshelf’s christening, all it needs is a copy of Dr. Seuss’s On Beyond Zebra. After all, this zebra’s imaginative life begins where that of other zebras ends.”

How lovely is that? And how lucky is Clarke to have such creative parents who surround him with books and whimsy?… I just hope Zebra will be keen on housing five new multicultural picture books, as they will be on their way to Clarke very soon!

Please help us spread the word on this project, so that the photos and anecdotes will keep on coming from all corners of the world! All bookshelf entries, excluding previous winners’, are entered in our bimonthly draw, regardless of when they were submitted.

Bookshelf #12:
Aiden and Heather
6 years old and 4 years old
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Our bookshelf has a mix of books. For the wanna-be paleontologist in the family, there are many many dinosaur books, with a few pirate and Scooby-Doo books thrown in for fun. For our princess, there are Dora, ballet and of course princess themed books. Their uncle in Australia often sends them Australian-themed books too.

Submitted by: Heather

For details on how to submit a photo of your child’s bookshelf, click here.

The winners of our second “Around the World in 100 Bookshelves” book draw are Morgan and Alastrin, from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Their prize—a selection of 5 multicultural books—will be on its way shortly. Thanks, Kathleen, for submitting a photo of their bookshelf. It’s wonderful to see a two- and a three-year-old already hooked on books!

All photo entries, excluding previous winners’, are entered in our bimonthly draw, regardless of when they were submitted, so we encourage you to send us a picture of your kid/kids’ home library (whatever format it may take in your household). We look forward to featuring it here and to further connecting through books and reading!

To see all bookshelf photos submitted to date, click on the “Around the World in 100 Bookshelves” logo on the sidebar, and for more details on the project and the idea behind it, check out our call-out , as well as Janet’s post “Looking at Bookshelves and Wondering“.

Bookshelf #11:
Anav and Kanva
4 year old and 2 years old
Bangalore, Karnataka, India

This used to be the place for the gods & slowly got replaced by books
as the 2 little ones took over. They have a mixture of Indian &
western books; English till now. The books area is just a foot above
the ground & it gives them a chance to squat on the floor while
reading ;o)

Submitted by: Ranjini

For details on how to submit a photo of your child’s bookshelf, click here.

Five year-old Shashank, the winner of our first “Around the World in 100 Bookshelves” book draw, received his books! The following is a note from his father:

The books have arrived, and they are so wonderful! Thank you! I have already read them several times to Shashank. His favorite one is ‘Homes,’ and the page he likes the most is the one where crying clouds make rain! Take a look at all the new books on our bookshelf!

Thanks for the feedback and photos, Prashanth! It’s great to see Shashank smiling, with his new favorite book in hand!

Readers, take note: on Jul 15th we will draw a new winner, so keep sending us photos of your children’s bookshelves. They could be the next to win a set of age-appropriate multicultural books!

Here is a list of the books we sent to Shashank:

Homes, by Yang-Huan, illustrated by Hsiao-yen Huang

Speak Chinese, Fang Fang! written and illustrated by Sally Rippin

No English by Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Amy Huntington

Colors, Colores! by Jorge Luján

Loongie, The Greedy Crocodile by Lucy and Kiefer Dann, illustrated by Bronwyn Houston