The Japan Times recently published an article entitled Fate’s path led Canadian to Kamakura: Heather Willson makes her mark, keeps focused on road ahead and her Cambodia school. The school referred to in the article, Butterfly School, is a free English school in the village of Popeae, near Udong, Cambodia, established by Heather Willson with Head Teacher Sovann Phon in September 2005.

Last year we were pleased to have the Butterfly School involved with our Spirit of PaperTigers Outreach Project. Holly Thompson, author and SCBWI Tokyo regional advisor, hand delivered a 2010 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set to the school.  The photo accompanying the Japan Times article (and reprinted here) shows Heather reading one of the 2010 Spirit of PaperTigers books, My Little Round House, to the Butterfly School students.

To read more about the Butterfly School’s involvement with our project and to read their feedback on the 2010 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set, please click here

Head on over to the PaperTigers webite to view our new Gallery feature of Mongolian artist Bolormaa Baasansuren. Bolormaa won the Grand Prize in the 14th Noma Councours with illustrations for her beautiful picture book My Little Round House, which we selected as part of our Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set 2010. We are delighted to welcome her back now as a post-script to our Mongolia theme from earlier this year. Actually, Bolormaa is currently studying in Japan, so it was good to hear that she and her husband, fellow-artist Ganbaatar Ichinnorov were safe and well following the trauma in Japan over recent weeks. All the work shown in this Gallery has been published in Japan and is not (yet?) available in English. Here’s a sneak preview to whet your appetite – now head on over to view the whole Gallery for yourself…

Over the last couple of months we have been gathering together a children’s literature feast from Mongolia: for, as Dashdondog Jamba, writer and founder of Mongolia’s Mobile Children’s Library puts it, “After eating candies there remains nothing. But after reading a book you will have it in your head.”

You will find:

…an interview with Dashdondog Jamba -

“I think that one of the most effective ways to ensure the availability of books translated into one’s own language is through direct contact with foreign authors. We have translated many books in this way. I translate books in the hope that children in different countries will meet each other and become close friends.”

- as well as the reprint of an article he wrote for Bookbird and a review of his recent book Mongolian Folktales;

…an interview with Dori Jones Yang, in which she talks about her recent YA novel, Daughter of Xanadu and more -

“The main message is that it’s important to get to know foreigners. In every country, in every era, it’s easy to slip into an ‘us-vs.-them’ mentality, to look on ‘them’ as sub-human so that we can wage war on them. But when you get to know someone from a faraway country as a human being with hopes and dreams, your worldview shifts. By learning how others see the world, you come to understand yourself and your own people better, and war no longer seems like a sensible option.”

…a peek at the fruits of the collaboration between award-winning artists/writers Ted and Betsy Lewin in our Gallery, including images from their book Horse Song: The Naadam of Mongolia (Lee & Low Books, 2008);

…Personal View “Taking a step into children’s books about Mongolia” by Marjorie Coughlan

…revisits to Bolormaa Baasansuren’s interview and Gallery; and to Helen Mixter’s Personal View

Our new theme for the coming weeks will be Children and their Grandparents – we have already begun our focus on books which explore this joyful, enriching relationship through our Week-end Book Reviews (a new, regular feature on our blog); in the coming weeks look out for authors and illustrators sharing some special moments with their own grandparents, as well as a Personal View from Swapna Dutta, who shares insight into Bengali writer Dakshinaranjan Mitra-Mazumdar’s story collections…

Come walk with us along the road of special stories from around the world – and maybe share some of your own memories with us along the way.

Now live over on the Kidlit4Japan site:

Auction #121: A Spirit of PaperTigers 2010 Book Set of Seven Picture books, some signed. From PaperTigers.org

Description: You are bidding for a set of seven high-quality picture books (all hardcover) which were selected as the Spirit of PaperTigers book set for 2010 to be sent to different schools and libraries around the world.

The Book Set comprises the following titles with some, as indicated, containing book plates signed by the author/illustrator:

First Come the Zebra – SIGNED
Written and illustrated by Lynne Barasch
Lee & Low, 2009. Ages 4-8

Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing – SIGNED BY THE AUTHORS
Written by Guo Yue and Clare Farrow, illustrated by Helen Cann
Barefoot Books, 2008. Ages 9-12

My Little Round House - SIGNED
Written and illustrated by Bolormaa Baasansuren
Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press, 2009. Ages 4-8

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference – SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR
Written by Katie Smith Milway, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Kids Can Press, 2008. Ages 7+

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai – SIGNED
Written and illustrated by Claire A. Nivola
Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009. Ages 5-8

The Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos – SIGNED BY THE ILLUSTRATOR
Written by Lucia Gonzalez, illustrated by Lulu Delacre
Children’s Book Press, 2008. Ages 4-8

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – SIGNED
Written and illustrated by Grace Lin
Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009. Ages 9-12

Estimated Value: $150

Bio: PaperTigers.org is a colorful website devoted to multicultural books from around the world for children and young adults, with a particular focus on the Pacific Rim and South Asia. We seek to promote the celebration and tolerance of diversity, and to nurture literacy and a love of reading. As well as highlighting the world of multicultural children’s and ya literature on our website and blog, we work to reinforce our goal of promoting cross-cultural understanding via our Spirit of PaperTigers Outreach, under the banner Books and Water: Nourishing the Mind and Body.

PaperTigers’ website: www.papertigers.org

Renowned throughout the world as the founding head of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Genghis Khan’s legacy as “the first children’s writer” is perhaps generally less well-known. But the strong oral tradition in Mongolia means that many of his stories are still told today, and some can now also be read in English, thanks to a fine anthology of Mongolian Folktales published recently.

According to the National Library of Mongolia, at one time Mongolia’s “most popular slogan was ‘Everything for children’” and in 2003 the library opened its Book Palace for Children in Ulaanbaatar, which does indeed seem to provide everything in the way of books a young visitor to the Library could possibly desire. Meanwhile, author and publisher Dashdondog Jamba has spent his whole life ensuring that children in Mongolia have access to stories and the written word, taking his mobile library out to the remotest areas of the country, first by camel and oxen, more recently by truck. You can read his account of one of his journeys here.

Many children’s stories from and about Mongolia reflect its place in world history. The cultural heritage of those times remains strongly evident today, especially when you look beyond the urban areas towards the vast grassland steppe that consitutes most of Mongolia’s geography. This means that picture books with a contemoporary setting and the retellings of traditional stories merge to offer insight into each other that is relevant to today’s young readers, wherever they come from.

The list of books given below is not long, and I’m sure there are others to be found: but in the meantime, all of these are enriching and worth seeking out.

Picture books

Bolormaa Baasansuren, adapted by Helen Mixter,
My Little Roundhouse
Groundwood Books, 2009.

A delightful picture book, which brings the nomadic life of a Mongolian community to life through the eyes of one-year-old Jilu, who shares his experiences of all the roundness in his life, from the ger that is his home to the encircling love that enfolds him. There’s plenty here for young children to contrast and compare with in their own lives. My Little Roundhouse was selected as part of the 2010 Spirit of PaperTigers book set.

Demi,
Marco Polo
Marshall Cavendish Children, 2008.

Marco Polo’s adventurous life is relayed through compact text and sumptuous illustrations bursting out of borders that reflect the rich patterns and brocades of the Silk Route. We read about his many years working under Kublai Khan and the sceptiscism of his fellow countrymen back in Venice. A beautifully depicted map shows the extent of his Travels.

Demi,
Chingis Khan/Genghis Khan
Henty Holt and Company, 1991/Marshall Cavendish 2008.

Originally published as Chingis Khan in 1991, this classic title has recently been reissued as a Marshall Cavendish Classic with the slightly differently spelled title Genghis Khan.

A picture book biography (more…)

Today we welcome James Webb to the PaperTigers blog. James works for ShelterBox, a charity based in the UK that delivers survival boxes, each containing a tent and other life-saving equipment, in the immediate aftermath of disasters around the world. The signature green box has become an iconic presence in such situations, with hundreds of thousands of people receiving crucial assistance in many different countries.

This year is ShelterBox’s 10th anniversary: to celebrate they have set up a 10-month Challenge with UK scouts. Little Brother is taking part in this with Cubs and I have got to know much more about the charity, as a Cub Leader. We are hoping to raise enough money to pay for a whole box so that we will be able to track “our” box to its destination…

When James, one of the Scout Challenge coordinators, emailed to say that he was about to leave for Haiti, I asked if he would send us a few words on his return: and I’m so glad he did as I didn’t know about their Classrooms in a Box before. Thank you, James; over to you:

When I was deployed to Haiti in mid April as a ShelterBox Response Team member, I was shocked by the level of destruction still evident over three months after the earthquake devastated the country. Rubble is still everywhere and there are still thousands of people desperately in need of shelter.

While ShelterBox specialise in emergency shelter, we also send Classrooms in a Box which help children continue their education and provide some sort of normality for people who otherwise have lost everything.

In my 12 days in the country I visited two schools which were each severely damaged by the earthquake, leaving them dangerous to use. One of these schools was operating from a large tent instead, which had very little access to basic materials such as pencils and notepads. We immediately provided the school with another large tent and are planning on giving them a number of children’s packs which will each contain a small blackboard, note pads, crayons, pens, rubbers and a number of other items.

So much has been affected in Haiti but the people’s attitude is still inspiringly positive. Having the opportunity to make a difference by providing shelter and basic materials was a huge privilege and the experience of a lifetime.

The photos show smiling children who have just received the children’s pack – and if you watch this video, you can see what an oasis these packs provide (not to mention the incredible journeys the boxes often go through to reach their destinations). “For children who have lost most, if not all, their possessions, these small gifts are treasured.”

Also, don’t miss the Young ShelterBox area of the website, which includes teacher resources. ShelterBox has expanded hugely in the last ten years and now has nine affiliates across the globe – check out their individual websites via ShelterBox UK’s homepage.

When asked about where they would like a Spirit of PaperTigers book set to go, both Bolormaa Baasansuren and Katie Smith Milway chose Haiti so it’s great to be able to announce that a set will be winging its way to the Matànwa Community Learning Center there in June.

Thank you again, James, for sharing your eye-witness account with us. Our thoughts go with you and all your colleagues at ShelterBox as you carry out your vital work.

Established in 1978, Groundwood Books is a small children’s book publisher, associated with House of Anansi Press, that specializes in Canadian authored books (with a special interest in books by First Nations authors), bilingual books in English and Spanish, translations from around the world, and a non-fiction line aimed at young adults. Their catalog features a long list of award-winning titles that reflect individual experiences and are of universal interest.

Patricia (Patsy) Aldana, founder and publisher of Groundwood Books (and president of IBBY, the International Board on Book for Young Readers, since 1997), answered our questions about My Little Round Rouse, one of the seven titles selected for inclusion in our Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set Donation Project; her commitment to publishing books by First Nations authors; the multicultural titles on their Fall list, and more.

In our series of interviews with the publishers of the books selected for our Spirit of PaperTigers project, I normally start by asking how the book in question came about as a project for the publisher. Since we already know the answer to this question in relation to My Little Round House, both from our interview with author Bolormaa Baasansuren and from translator Helen Mixter’s article, My Little Round House: The Journey of a Picture Book from Mongolia to Canada, we’ll start by asking…

PT: What in particular attracted you to My Little Round House?

PA: I thought it was a really special book about people whose lives are very different from ours. I also thought it was a very unique look at a baby’s life, a life that despite being nomadic seemed wonderfully cosy and safe.

PT: The books you publish often tell the stories of people whose voices are underrepresented. What first motivated you to start on this path and how do you manage to stay true to your mission?

PA: Being a Guatemalan, I guess that seeing the world through the eyes of the marginal has always come naturally to me. There are so many books published from and for the mainstream that, for me, focusing on underrepresented authors and illustrators was one way to justify being a publisher. As a small Canadian house, this focus has also been a way for us to distinguish ourselves from the huge multi-nationals with whom we have to compete.

PT: How did the decision to stop selling rights to the American market and to start publishing your books in the US come about?

PA: As US publishing changed from the editor-driven houses that I first came to know (Margaret K McElderry, Dorothy Briley, Susan Hirschman, Phyllis Fogelman, etc.), it became harder and harder to sell rights to our books in the US. At the same time Canada began to cut funding to school libraries and as a result (more…)

When I first read Bolormaa Baasansuren’s My Little Round House (Groundwood, 2009) to my daughter, she was captivated.  What’s not to like, after all, about the story of a baby?  But Jilu, of course, is a special baby whose first of year of life is charted through the nomadic seasonal migrations of his Mongol parents.  Jilu is born in a ger – the “little round house” of the title of the book.  The ‘ger’ is a kind of a metaphor for the world from which Jilu emerges; it is comforting and warm like the womb, and it is the one constant in his family’s life of migration.

When my daughter and I read this book together, we got a good sense of the passage of time.   And of course, one year in the life of an infant is quite amazing!  The world of their consciousness  — from being held and suckled, to their first independent movements, to their growing perception of the world outside of themselves — is all contained in this wonderful book.  By the time one year passes, little Jilu is old enough to truly enjoy the season — summer — he was born in, outside of the ger.

Baasansuren’s illustrations are lovely and rich.  My Little Round House is a picture book of the first order and this is one of the reasons why it was selected for the Spirit of PaperTigers project.   Do read the PaperTigers interview with Baasansuren.   And of course, do seek out the book itself either at your local library or bookstore!

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.

When we interviewed the authors and illustrators of the books chosen for the Spirit of PaperTigers‘ 2010 Book Set, there was one question we asked everybody: “If you were to pick a place anywhere in the world to send your book, where would it be and why?”

We thought it would be great to bring all the different answers together here on the blog, so here is the first of two parts in which we highlight each person’s response…

Bolormaa Baasansuren, author and illustrator of My Little Round House, adapted by Helen Mixter (Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press, 2009):

I would like to send it to every country in the world! But right now, I would like to send it to Haiti, most of all. Now, after the earthquake, its people, especially the children, are going through very hard times. I like to imagine the children of Haiti forgetting their current hardships even just for a moment, by immersing themselves in a picture book.

Claire A. Nivola, author and illustrator of Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008):

I would think that the most important places to send the books would be to areas most affected by deforestation. Southeast Asia and South America are areas of enormous concern. But the list of countries is long: the countries of Central America, Brazil, Madagascar, Haiti, Mexico, India, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Guinea, Ghana, Cote d’ Ivoire. Too many! And unless there are translations provided, the books are useless to children who don’t read English. So, I would choose any of the above countries where English is spoken or taught in the schools. However, any country where children are in need would have my blessings. The Wangari Maathai story is not just about deforestation, it is about any misuse of the environment, and the environment is in need of help all around this globe!

Lynne Barasch, author and illustrator of First Come the Zebra (Lee & Low, 2009):

I would send First Come the Zebra to Kenya, where the story takes place. Of course conflict exists in many parts of the world. I would say Israel and neighboring Arab countries could benefit from this story too.

Grace Lin, author and illustrator of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown & Co.,2009):

I’d like to send the book to myself when I was 10 years old. Partly because it is the kind of book that I wanted and needed and didn’t have when I was a child, and partly to tell my younger self, “Have faith, you will someday accomplish your dream.”

Hmm, all over the world is a bit tricky – but we are doing our best to find homes in some of the specific places mentioned. And what about you? If you could choose anywhere in the world to send special books like these, where would it be?