Earlier this year I blogged about Primary Source when they hosted a Global Read of Mitali Perkins‘ book Bamboo People.  On March 2nd Primary Source will be hosting a new Global Read, this time focusing on Christina Diaz Gonzalez‘ YA book The Red Umbrella. The online discussion forum will be followed by a live web-based session with Christina on March 9th from 3:00 – 4:00pm EST.  Anyone interested in global issues is welcome to take part in this free event but must register online here.

The Red Umbrella follows a 14-year-old Cuban girl and her brother sent by their parents to live in the United States during the tumultuous period of 1960s Cuba. Christina says the story was ” loosely based on the experiences of my parents, mother-in-law and many of the other 14,000 children who participated in Operation Pedro Pan.”

Talking about why she wrote the book, Christina says:

“Obviously, this is a personal story and part of my family history. In fact, it’s an important part of American history and yet there wasn’t much written about it, especially from the point of view of the children who experienced it. The book showcases how the U.S. has always been a haven for those seeking refuge from injustice and oppression and how average Americans have stepped up to help those in need, even if they were foreigners in our country. I also wanted to show the pride immigrants (in this case Cubans) have for their homeland, but how, in the end, family is what matters most… home is not a physical place. It’s where you feel you belong, where you are surrounded by people who love and accept you.”

The Red Umbrella has been appearing on many YA book lists since being published in May 2010, including ALA/YALSA’s 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults. You can read an interview with Christina here, and there is also an amazing book trailer made by Christina’s brother-in-law:

Having just finished reading Bamboo People,  I was excited to see this email in my inbox today from Primary Source, a non-profit organization that promotes history and humanities education by connecting educators to people and cultures throughout the world:

Global Read of Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins

You are invited to join us for a discussion of the young adult novel, Bamboo People, by Mitali Perkins — a compelling coming-of-age story about child soldiers in modern Burma. The online discussion forum will begin tomorrow – Wednesday, January 12th. Then join the author for a live chat on January 19th.

Online discussion forum: January 12th-19th, 2011
Live chat session with the author: Wednesday, January 19, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST

Register online here (registration is free but participants are responsible for obtaining their own copy of the book). All are welcome – teachers, students, parents, and anyone interested in global issues!

I’m off to register now and hope that some of our PaperTigers readers will join me!

P.S. Don’t forget to take a look at our 1,000th post, with the chance of winning a Spirit of PaperTigers 2010 book set. The deadline for entries is midnight Pacific Standard Time, on Wednesday 19 January with the draw taking placing in San Francisco on Thursday 20 January.

The American Library Association (ALA) 2011 Midwinter Meeting, starts tomorrow,  January 7th, and runs until January 11th  at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA, USA. The event draws more than 10,000 leaders in the library and information industry for some 2,500 meetings and events! The 525 exhibits feature the latest in books, videos, computers and other materials and resources available to millions of library users. Non ALA members are welcome to attend and various admission rates are offered including daily and exhibit only.

If you are able to attend tomorrow(January 7th), don’t miss the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) Membership Meeting featuring award winning author Mitali Perkins!  The session begins at 8pm with members of the  Outstanding International Children’s Books Committee discussing their selections for the 2011 list. Following this, award winning author Mitali Perkins will be speaking on “Mirrors or Windows? Five Questions to Ask About Children’s Books.”

Using her own life as a case study, Mitali will talk about how great stories serve as windows and mirrors for children of every cultural background. She’ll pose five questions to ask of books to see how well they reflect children on the margins of power. Discussion and questions are encouraged in this funny, authentic, and heartfelt presentation.

Mitali’s latest novel, Bamboo People, will be available for sale and signing following the program. For information about Mitali Perkins, visit Mitali’s Fire Escape. You do not have to be a USBBY member to attend this program. Everyone with an interest in children’s and young adult literature is welcome and encouraged to attend. Details are here.

P.S. Don’t forget to take a look at our 1,000th post, with the chance of winning a Spirit of PaperTigers 2010 book set…

(Click on event name for more information)

2011 PBBY-Salanga Prize Winner Announced~ Philippines

Dromkeen National Centre for Picture Book Art Exhibits~ Riddells Creek, Australia

December Kids Book Events~ Cairo, Egypt

Making Books Sing Presents a One-Woman Play Based on The Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos by Lucía Gonzalez~ New York, NY, USA

Doha International Children’s Book Festival~ ongoing until Dec 2, Doha, Qatar

2010 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition~ ongoing until Dec 5, Nanao, Japan

Off the Page: Original Illustrations from NZ Picture Books~ ongoing until Dec 5, Ashburton, New Zealand

Guadalajara Book Fair~ ongoing until Dec 5, Guadalajara, Mexico

2011 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Awards~ submissions accepted until Dec 17, Canada

Scholastic Asian Book Award~ submissions accepted until Dec 31, Singapore

Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award 2011~ submissions accepted until Dec 31, Singapore

An Exquisite Vision: The Art of Lisbeth Zwerger~ ongoing until Jan 9, Hannover, Germany

Monsters and Miracles: A Journey through Jewish Picture Books~ ongoing until Jan 23, Amherst, MA, USA

Drawn in Brooklyn Exhibit of Original Picture Book Art by Brooklyn Illustrators~ ongoing until Jan 23, Brooklyn, NY, USA

National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Presents From Houdini to Hugo: The Art of Brian Selznick~ ongoing until Jan 29, Abilene, TX, USA

Fins and Feathers: Original Children’s Book Illustrations from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art~ ongoing until Jan 30, Raleigh, NC, USA

Summer Reading Club: Scare Up a Good Story~ ongoing until Jan 31, Australia

2011 Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award~ submissions accepted until Feb 25, United Kingdom

International Youth Library Exhibit: The Fabulous World of John Kilaka, Pictures and Drawings by a Tanzanian Artist~ ongoing until Feb 28, Munich, Germany

Mr Gumpy and Other Outings; Celebrating 50 years of John Burningham’s at Seven Stories~ ongoing until Mar, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney~ ongoing until May 30, Stockbridge, MA, USA

International Youth Library Exhibit: The World in Miniature. The Family in Historic Picture Books and Children’s Literature~ ongoing until Aug 31, Munich, Germany

Salon du livre et de la presse jeunesse~ Dec 1 – 6, Montreuil, France

IBBY France Conference: 2nd European Encounter on Children’s Literature~ Dec 3, Paris, France

SCBWI France International Conference for Writers and Illustrators~ Dec 3 – 4, Paris, France

Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature~ Dec 3 – Jan 2, Concord, MA, USA

Look! The Art of Australian Picture Books Today~ Dec 3 – May 29, Melbourne, Australia

The Children’s Literature Centre at Frostburg State University Presents Storybook Holiday~ Dec 4, Frostburg, MD, USA

Read Out Loud! Family Literacy & Book Festival~ Dec 4, New York, NY, USA

SCBWI Tokyo Illustrators Exhibition: Every Picture Tells a Story~ Dec 7 – 12, Tokyo, Japan

Exhibition of Finalists of the 3rd CJ Picture Book Award~ Dec 8 – 28, Seoul, Korea

Carle Museum Professional Development Workshop: Picturing Stories~ Dec 10, Amherst, MA, USA

BookFest@Singapore~ Dec 10 – 19, Singapore

The Best of the Best in 2010 with Susan Bloom~ Dec 11, Amherst, MA, USA

Chapter & Verse’s (A Book Club for Adults Discussing Children’s Lit) Mock Newbery and Caldecott Discussions~ Dec 11, USA

The Art Institute of Chicago Exhibit: Real and Imaginary: Three Latin American Artists – Raúl Colón, David Diaz and Yuyi Morales~ Dec 11 – May 29, Chicago, IL, USA

Talking About Words and Pictures with Tony DiTerlizzi~ Dec 12, Amherst, MA, USA

Partners in Wonder: Selections from the Collection of Jane Yolen~ Dec 14 – May 1, Amherst, MA, USA

Coming of Age Around the World Book Discussion Group: Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins~ Dec 16, Watertown, MA, USA

Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books Exhibit: Winter Fun!~ Dec 18 – Mar 5, Toronto, ON, Canada

Kuala Lumpur Children’s Book Fair~ Dec 22 – 26, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Mitali Perkins, author of Bamboo People, Christina Gonzalez, author of The Red Umbrella, Richard Michelson, author of Busing Brewster and Lionel Vital (inspiration for Youme Landowne’s Selavi: A Haitian Story of Hope) tell the stories and struggles of children around the world. This free Boston Book Festival event is moderated by Katie Smith Milway, author of One Hen.

Following a brief introduction, each author will present individually for 10 minutes. The presentations will be followed by a discussion and question and answer period with the audience, moderated by the session host. The event will culminate with a booksigning.

The event takes place tomorrow, Saturday, October 16 from 11:30am – 12:30pm at Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury Street, Boston, MA , USA.

Following up on my post from last week, Mitali has graciously allowed us to share her blog post about the event here:

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

Our current issue of PaperTigers focuses on Refugee Children and one of the highlights in the issue is an interview with author Mitali Perkins about her latest novel, Bamboo People. The novel is about children caught up in conflict in modern-day Burma and, once again, as she has done in her previous novels, Mitali illustrates the tension of characters caught between cultures, but in Bamboo People the backdrop is war, and the stakes are higher than ever. This is Mitali’s first novel to feature male characters and has been receiving rave reviews since it was released on July 1st. Here’s an excerpt from our review of the book:

This fascinating story shines a light on the desperate situation of those affected by current Burmese policies and will help educate young readers about that situation in particular and the vagaries and confusion surrounding conflict in general.  The characters, Perkins’s first male protagonists, are very thoughtful, easy to engage with, and surprisingly similar.  In fact, as a reader, it felt as if Tu Reh and Chiko could have been the same person had circumstances not shaped their lives so differently.  This juxtaposition is absolutely brilliant and illustrates the point that war makes enemies out of people who, in a different context, would become the best of friends.

On Aug 19, from 7 – 8:30 pm, Porter Square  Books in Cambridge, MA, USA will be hosting a book launch party for Bamboo People and Mitali will be in attendance. Everyone is welcome to attend and light Burmese refreshments will be served. For more details click here.  Also be sure to check out Mitali’s blog Fire Escape and her Facebook page as she will be writing about the launch and posting some pictures too, I’m sure!

Writer of young adult books, Mitali Perkins, is an expert in life between cultures. Born in India, by the time she was 11, she’d lived in Ghana, Cameroon,  the UK and the USA. When she began to write fiction, her protagonists were often—not surprisingly—strong female characters trying to bridge different cultures. Her newest book, Bamboo People will be released on July 1st and has already received rave reviews, including one from PaperTigers.

Last month Mitali was one of the featured speakers at the Children’s Book and Author  Breakfast at Book Expo America. A podcast of the event can be found in its entirety here. To see just Mitali’s speech as well as the slideshow she presented, check out her blog Fire Escape!

The last book of the year has been read (Sahwira: An African Friendship, by Carolyn Marsden) and a whole new year of reading is about to start. Oh the joys of being an avid reader!…

If, like me, you’re likely to ring in the New Year in bed, with a good book, you might want to consider Reading Into the New Year. “It hardly sounds like a challenge,” I hear you say. Well, it isn’t. It’s more like an invitation to have fun and share your passion for books with others. However, the book(s) you choose to curl up with to welcome the new year and new decade might reveal much about your aspirations and hopes—and I guarantee the fireworks in your mind’s eyes will be just as incredible as the ones outside!

Whereas I am still planning to get caught up with titles I missed from previous years, the list of 2010 releases I just started already excites me beyond words. Perhaps one or two of these titles might inspire you to start your own brand new pile of books to look forward to?

Ling and Ting by Grace Lin
A Million Shades of Grey by Cynthia Kadohata
Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
Our Grandparents: A Global Album (A Global Fund for Children book)
Seeds of Change: Wangari’s Gift to the World by Jen Cullerton Johnson, illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler.

The always reliable CCBC is hard at work compiling the best of the 2009 crop: CCBC Choices 2010 will be available after March 6, 2010 (for information on how to have a copy sent to you, go to their website). And Fuse#8 has a great post on the best of the decade.

Happy New Year of Reading to all!