Janet Wong, illustrated by Sladjana Vasic,
Once Upon A Tiger: New Beginnings for Endangered Animals
OnceUponATiger.com, 2011.

Learning has never been this interactive. Poet and author Janet Wong supplements her poems about a range of endangered animals, from the familiar whale and polar bear to the tongue-twisting axolotl and mouth-filling Sumatran rhinoceros, with nonfiction information about each particular animal’s stories. A Once Upon A Tiger website pushes interactivity, allowing readers to write and send poems of their own.

Dub Leffler,
Once There Was a Boy
Magabala Books, 2011.

Ages 3+

This exquisite, fragile picture book tells the story of a boy who lives alone on an ancient boat on a beach until one day, a girl appears. A disarmingly evocative, gentle story of friendship, separation and reconciliation propelled through breathtaking illustrations.

Andrea Cheng,
Only One Year
Lee & Low Books, 2010.

Ages 7-10

This slender, gentle chapter book introduces readers to a serious subject rarely discussed in children’s literature. After he turns two, Di Di’s parents, immigrants from China, decide to send him to China for the year to live with his grandparents, learn Chinese, and know his family. Told from the point of view of Di Di’s older sisters Sharon and Mary (ages 9 and 6), Only One Year addresses the confusion, shame, embarrassment, and sadness they feel trying to come to terms with this common immigrant family custom, and to their own fears that their American friends will not understand, and that Di Di in turn will return having forgotten America and his American sisters.  Read a full review.

Monica Brown, illustrated by Rafael Lopez,
My name is Celia / Me llamo Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz /la vida de Celia Cruz
Luna Rising, 2004.

Ages 8-12

Growing up in a large Cuban family, baby Celia loves music more than everything, even though her father wants her to be a teacher. After revolution begins in Cuba, Celia flees prejudice and violence and learns how to make her way through the world, sharing her love of music with everyone she meets. The other two titles in Monica Brown’s My Name is/Me llamo… series, My Name Is Gabito and My Name is Gabriela are also available as e-books.

Ching Yeung Russell,
Tofu Quilt
Lee & Low Books, 2010.

Ages 9+.

Yeung Ying’s mother might understand that girls are just as good as boys, but in 1960s Hong Kong, all Yeung Ying hears from everyone else is how important boys are. After her mother saves precious money to send Yeung Ying to school, she begins to imagine a dream centered around writing, relayed here in thirty-eight poignant, free-verse chapters that tell the story of a girl and a culture each finding their identities.  Read a full review.

Guadalupe Garcia McCall,
Under the Mesquite
Lee & Low Books, 2011.

Ages 12+

Mexican-American Lupita struggles to keep her seven siblings and herself together after their mother is diagnosed with cancer. Facing chaos at home and the normal struggles of social life at high school, budding actress Lupita finds refuge “under the mesquite,” where she turns to writing to make sense of an unscripted world.

Hazel Edwards and Ryan Kennedy,
f2m: the boy within
Ford Street, 2010.

Ages 14+

Authors Hazel Edwards and Ryan Kennedy take on a subject until recently virtually absent from teen fiction, transgendered identities. When all-female punk rock band guitarist Skye decides to make the change from female to male – which is how she feels on the inside – she must come to grips with not only the physical changes her body undergoes, but also the emotional challenges of making and sticking to the decision.

Looking for more? Often the easiest multicultural books to find are those that have won prestigious awards, like the Newbery, CBCA or former Smarties Award, such as Where The Mountain Meets the Moon, The Watsons Go To Birmingham, or Hitler’s Daughter.

For one of the best resources for free e-books about all cultures, check out the International Children’s Digital Library, an online resource where you can sort by title, author, country, and award-winner.

As more publishers embrace e-publishing, more multicultural e-books will become available. In turn, as the technical potential for reproducing picture books increases, we will hopefully see more picture books making the leap. Today both traditional print books and e-books still consistently neglect and under-represent those peoples who themselves historically remain neglected and underrepresented. In turn, many of those engaged in the world of multicultural children’s literature hope that the ease e-books offer, particularly with new horizons of self-publishing and viral promotion, will impact both the ability to offer more books for children that represent all children in the world, as well as give all children access to books they might not otherwise reach.

Like the publication of multicultural children’s e-books itself, this list is a beginning. As always, we welcome your thoughts and suggestions. What other multicultural e-books have you read that you would recommend?

Hazel is a 2012 Astrid Lindgren Award nominee, and Ambassador for Australia’s  2012 National Year of Reading, and writes a story each birthday for her grandkids. f2m:the boy within was a 2011 White Ravens selection. Hazel is also a director of the Australian Society of Authors and especially interested in e-books. She is perhaps best known for her There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake series, as engaging and creative as the author herself, which recently celebrated its 30^th anniversary with the release of the Pocket Bonfire short film that screened internationally at 2011 film festivals.

We first interviewed Hazel back in 2007, and since then she has been a regular guest on the PaperTigers Blog; we’re delighted to welcome her back now to tell us about her involvement with e-books.

***

What was your inspiration for writing e-books? Was that your intention from the get-go, or was there an evolution in your creative process?

I enjoy e-books, both as another innovative format for my stories and to read myself. Inclusive of print, not exclusive. Audio already exists. Maybe smellovision next?

Change should be embraced, not feared. So, although I’m format-challenged, my aim is to learn one e-skill per day and slowly add e-stories to my website. For e-skilled children who are more visual rather than verbal, I’d prefer them to exercise their imaginations reading mysteries on screen, than play violence-based computer-games.

As a 2012 National Year of Reading Ambassador, I’m keen on any aids to literacy, and reading ‘on screen’ is seen as ‘cool’ by challenged readers, whether kids or adults. That’s the reason for adding my mystery series and performance scripts as an easy way of sharing reading for a fun purpose.

‘Us mob likes your e-stories’ was a response after an outback web-chat with an indigenous literacy program.

Fan mail proves e-books work for challenged readers, whether read on laptops or other devices. Educator Robyn Floyd forwarded this fan mail. And it’s genuine responses like this that make an author’s day.

Recently, my e-mentor daughter streamlined my website to allow sales of my print books, along with a slow move to all e-books, for the ease of readers beyond bookshops and libraries. This also makes my books available for international schools or remote web chats.

Experimentally, I grouped some of my easy-to-read children’s mystery stories into an e-book series, Project Spy Kids, starring Art, a challenged reader who is a sleuth and excellent problem-solver.

My mainstream publishers have my print titles as e-books on Amazon etc.  These include the nonfiction Aussie Heroes series Sir Edward Weary Dunlop and forthcoming Dr Fred Hollows and eco-fantasy  Plato the Platypus Plumber (part-time). An early e-book series was Duckstar.

So why did I become an e-publisher?

• Some of my publisher merger ‘orphaned’ titles were requested by readers and I had no copies. Rights-reverted titles could be re-published in new formats, from my own site.
• My aim was speed of reader access (they get the e-book within 24 hours) plus extras like free finger puppet patterns or Antarctic polar ship plans.
• I write in varied fields. Writing a Non Boring Family History, my most popular e-book, helps grandparents or parents wanting to write family stories for children of their extended families internationally.
• A non-fiction title in print and e-book format is Difficult Personalities with Dr Helen Mc Grath. This has an audio Louis Braille version as well.
• International web-chats with authors are more relevant when the e-book is instantly accessible. f2m:the boy within is a significant  gender transition (and punk music) print novel easily and diplomatically available for international readers via Amazon etc.

In 2009 I was an Author Ambassador with the Nanjing International Cultural Exchange.  We did webchats in dual languages, and wrote some school-based stories about school pet turtles in Mandarin and English to exchange between the Australian and Chinese schools. Now some of my titles are in Mandarin.

So although I see my core profession as author, I’ve become an authorpreneur, unintentionally.

Children’s books, particularly picture books, present specific challenges to the e-book industry in terms of faithful reproduction of art and story. They also present exciting opportunities for new forms of interaction. What limitations or challenges, expected or unexpected, have you personally experienced creating e-books for children, and in turn, what benefits have you discovered as compared to printed books?

Picture books are a greater technical e-challenge in terms of preserving the quality via aps but Blue Quoll is innovating with selected picture book titles of mine. Certain stories are better suited to certain formats, but there is enormous potential for adding/changes languages and using the audio as a literacy aid. This is the MOST exciting area.

Plato the Platypus Plumber Part-time is available in Spanish, German and English as an e-book as well as a print picture book. The eco-water issues plus the ‘tool kit’ for fixing watery problems, but also grumpy people, is relevant for the age group, but there are still quality-formatting-conversion challenges to e-books.

However the Pocket Bonfire’ production of There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake is an excellent example of the director retaining the sentiment and childlike focus of the original book, but using the strengths of the medium to add new insights via sound, pausing, visuals etc.

I would like to see the Hippo stories in e-book apps formats. But that decision is for the publisher Penguin and when they think the timing and technology appropriate.

Particularly in English-speaking countries, a common concern is the lack of diversity in children’s books. How or do you think e-books might address such concerns, and how has your work engaged with issues of multicultural children’s books?

Stories crossing media into theatre or film and going into formats such as Braille or Auslan signing for deaf kids have always intrigued me.  My books have been translated into Indonesian, Mandarin, Finnish, French, Polish and American, where Mum became Mom and taps became faucets.

I live in a multicultural suburb of Melbourne. Our neighbours are Chinese, Vietnamese, Greek, Dutch, New Zealander, Serbo-Croatian , Somali and Italian. That’s just my street. Hence my Frequent Flyer Twins are Asian-Australian 10-year-old sleuths. Authors draw inspiration from their communities, but the best stories always have universal appeal through compassion.

Originally a popular print series, the Frequent Flyer Twins books now have new covers, e-formatting for all kinds of e-readers and merchandise such as stickers, t shirts, etc. by graphic designer/illustrator Jane Connory.  We met serendipitously in a local park when I was doing a Channel 31 “Kids in the Kitchen” program linking food and reading my picture books.  I had my grandson cooking Hippo footprints on camera (pancakes). Jane now designs all the new e-books in the “Project Spy Kids” literacy mystery series and illustrates the covers.

In the twentieth century the development of children’s rooms in public libraries marched hand-in-hand with growth in the children’s publishing industry. Do you think e-books will change roles of traditional libraries, and how do you envision e-books reaching children of all incomes and backgrounds?

Digital libraries are the key to providing e-books for readers of all incomes. But it’s also necessary to recompense the creators, without illegal copying depriving them.  Currently Australia has PLR (Public Lending Right) and ELR (Educational Lending Right) recompense for surveyed usage of creators’ books in libraries. This is a very significant part of most creators’ incomes. However audio and e-books are NOT included.

Distribution of digital books is a key issue and currently there are discussions of ways creators need to be compensated for library usage.

Stories about minorities need to be better distributed and recompensed, so readers can learn more about other worlds.

We love sneak previews! What are you working on at the moment? Do you plan for it to come out in print, as an e-book, or both?

The Parts of Speech TV Show and the L of a Difference literacy performance scripts have just been uploaded to my site.  Next is the sequel to my chapter book Sleuth Astrid the Mind Reading Chook called Lost Voice of the Grand Final.

This month, I launched a picture book A Safe Place to Live by Bic Walker, a former refugee/boat person from Vietnam and now an architect, who has written a universal story of change from a child’s viewpoint, based on her experiences. I highly recommend this self-published book, and have suggested to Bic than the e-book should be her next challenge.

This is a time of expediential change with e-books. We are all learning together. Next up, I’m going to write Authorpreneurship, a “how to” writing book, just as an e-book, not print.

If you were a fortune-teller, where would you predict the future lies for the evolution of the printed book vs. the e-book generally?

I’d predict that internationally more emphasis will be on audio stories with pictures for future literacy and ease of changing the language. What that technology will be called and in which format, is in transition now.  These are exciting times as regards technology, but the world still needs storytellers, so we can see the world from another’s viewpoint.

Titles, covers, chapter headings and blurbs are especially important for e-books. Readers expect more ‘gadgets,’ but currently print-book conversions work quite well. I predict that the game-book will be the next development, which is why I have been experimenting with my junior mysteries to encourage reader involvement.

***

Thank you, Hazel.

e-troducing the e-book

The degree to which debates about e-books can polarize begins to make sense after we consider how we often frame their presence as a question of alleged murder. “Will the e-book kill off traditional books?” It’s the perennial question at the front of the mind of cultural critics and librarians hovering at the back of any crowd rushing out for the latest Kindle, iPad, Nook or other e-reader. In turn, the question of e-books draws its roots from deeper long-standing concerns, those surrounding the question “Is the book dead?”

Despite decades of worry, the book is not, in fact, dead; nor has the e-book yet killed off traditional books.  E-books developed from work in the mid-1970s to create image- and text-based publications for computers – themselves still a fairly new and ungainly technology. Advances in technologies and software programs ricocheted the development of e-books and their subsequent e-readers forward in the 1990s. Today e-books are visual and/or aural publications readable on digital devices, which often cost a fraction of the price of traditional books, and offer the advantage of portability and accessibility to large numbers of texts at once.

That said, the e-book industry remains in its infancy, and its approach to all books, especially those for infants and children, evolves every day.  E-book readers pose considerable technical issues. Amazon and Apple, two companies historically known not to play well with others, if at all, both have proprietary restrictions, so buyers can only read book purchases on Kindles or iPads, respectively (although you can download a Kindle reader to your PC). Additionally, as evidenced by the overarching debate about e-books, “Will they kill off traditional books?”, e-books evoke enormous emotional responses from readers. “Traditional” readers argue, for example, that reading a book on a machine cannot substitute for reading a physical book, that the medium is part of the message, that a machine is a sterile substitute for the tactile experience of reading.

The emotional questions of e-books reveal themselves nowhere as strongly as they do with e-books for children, particularly picture books aimed at early readers. As this recent article from The New York Times reports, “[e-books for children] represent less than 5 percent of total annual sales of children’s books, several publishers estimated, compared with more than 25 percent in some categories of adult books.” Children’s e-books present practical arguments (teething toddlers + expensive electronics = definite disaster), practical unknowns (when do bells and whistles enhance and when do they distract?), and questions of the practices of adults themselves, particularly those of middle class income, many of whom rely on their own ability to flip through a book – or that of a librarian, teacher, or fellow parent – to select it for bedtime reading.

Over the coming weeks, PaperTigers will explore questions at the intersection of children’s books, multicultural books and e-books. We’ll interview two authors who have written e-books, survey a sampling of multicultural children’s e-books, and start to frame some of the different perspectives that go into writing, illustrating, distributing and creating e-books for children. There’s sure to be a lot of ideas and opinions about e-books – don’t keep them to yourself; please join in the discussion by leaving a comment below…

Events are being planned for all ages and while much of the activity will happen at a local level, there will be several high profile national campaigns including One Book One Country, Love2Read magazine, and Reading  Quest for Young People.

To find out more about the National Year of Reading and the events planned you can visit their website, Facebook page,Twitter account or Wiki Page.

The film is due to be screened during the upcoming Edinburgh Film Festival as part of a program devoted to Family Shorts on 26 June (see here for details). Take look at the rather whimsical trailer to the film – and tell me if it doesn’t make you laugh out loud at the end!

Tantalising, isn’t it? Especially for those of us who are going to have to wait for the chance to see it… Meanwhile, we’re delighted to welcome Hazel back to PaperTigers with an article that ponders her reaction to her book being made into a film…

‘How Do You Feel About a Film Being Made from Your Picture Book There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake?

I’ve been asked that question a few times this week, especially as the world premiere is this Saturday night at the St Kilda Film Festival. And then it goes onto the international showing at the Edinburgh Film festival.

My short answer is, ‘Thrilled that my story has gone into another creative dimension.’

…Long answer:

A book is a bit like a child. At some stage you have to let it go out on its own.

For me, as an author, the greatest creative satisfaction is the moment of capturing the abstract idea in words, just before it goes onto the page or screen. The second satisfaction is when a reader takes those word clues and uses their own imagination to re-create an approximation of the idea I was playing with. Then it becomes their story, not mine.

The third satisfaction is when a ‘fan’ contacts me to share that something special has happened as a result of my book.

And that’s what happened with the making of this film. Pocket Bonfire film-makers Jaime Snyder and Joel Sharpe contacted me, as a result of reading their favourite book as children, and being inspired to make a film.

To me that is the greatest compliment, to offer to take my book-baby into a medium in which they are skilled, but I am not.

More than three years ago they contacted me, seeking permission. But they were student film-makers then, finishing their course at Swinburne, and I wanted any film of my book to be mainstream with no legal complications about who owned what. So we waited until they could make it as independent film-makers. And they had to negotiate with Penguin publishers too and convince rights manager Peg Mc Coll that they had the persistence and skill to finish the project and that somehow they would raise support. Most film options are never made.

One of the characteristics of our relationship has been the courtesy with which they have consulted or kept me informed. Jaime is especially good at following up details and in the creative world that is rare.

One of my most thrilling moments was to be invited one Wednesday morning to the workshop of Creatures Technology to see the hippo which had been created by their people as in-kind support for the project. A massive warehouse, with gigantic models of dinosaur creatures, roof high, and a buzz of creative enjoyment in the quality of the problem they were solving in hippo parts design. I tried on the feet and needed help to get out of them. I marvelled at the mouth. And the hippo backside. And felt the skin texture. But I also felt the communal creativity of imaginative problem solving, in another dimension. Animator Leo Baker came with me, and this year he was part of Shaun Tan’s Lost Thing team who won the Oscar. Proof that those who follow their dreams and do the best work possible, do succeed artistically. I place the Pocket Bonfire team in the same category.

I was always consulted on the numerous script drafts, but really Pocket Bonfire must take the credit for all phases of the project. They inspired others skilled in the technical aspects of camera, audio, music and editing as well as utilising social media to attract funding and publicity. Their attention to detail meant organisations were more inclined to support these youthful film-makers whose procedures reassured that this film might get made. Having a well loved book was helpful and that’s why the title was important.

I saw extracts, learnt to negotiate YouTube and other online promos and helped with autographed copies for fund-raisers. Sometimes I felt ‘the oldest’’in years (turning up at the night club fund raiser) but the same age in enthusiasm.

I heard about setbacks like Portia Bradley, the girl actress, having her leg in plaster, but they filmed around that. The choice of well-known actors like Angus Sampson and Bridie Carter has attracted many followers in addition to their skills being evident in the character relationships.

Seeing the completed film was poignant for me. It was almost as if I were outside myself, watching how an author is supposed to react to their film. I think Pocket Bonfire were concerned that I would be pedantic about keeping to the book, but I was just intrigued by how they had developed the story, still keeping to the essence of the original. The girl is older and there’s implied tension between the parents but the need for an imaginary friend is still there. At first I felt the hippo was a little scary, but later versions were emotionally and symbolically more balanced.

My daughter came with me to the mainly twenty-something crew/cast showing late last year, and the ‘ownership’ and pride of the participants at all levels was a thrilling experience. There was something special about being involved in the production. It had so much in-kind support, even to the neighbour’s ladder up to the roof for the hippo on the film set. ‘Did you see that ladder?’ I was asked at the showing. ‘That’s mine! Great film.’

I would echo his comment. Thank you, Jaimie and Joel, for giving me and the audience the gift of the imagination in taking my book into the film world.

That’s my long answer.

Hazel Edwards

Together we read The Amazing Tree by John Kilaka (North-South Books, 2009). It had captured my imagination when we met John at the Bologna Book Fair and, indeed, we all enjoyed this fable, which demands a certain amount of audience participation. The story is about how the animals are hungry and there’s only one tree that has fruit on it – but the animals can’t get at the fruit. Rabbit has what they all agree is an “excellent idea”, to go and ask wise Tortoise. Only, they won’t let her go as she’s too small. A succession of delegates chosen from among the larger animals fails to return with the simple answer that wise tortoise gives them, and in the end, Rabbit herself goes and is, of course, successful. We absolutely agreed that they should have managed the task, which was to “call the tree by its name” – but we could also empathise with the animals as we had some difficulty in remembering the Kiswahili name ourselves, although we certainly had it off pat by the end of the story.

John Kilaka originally collected the story from the Fipa tribe of southwest Tanzania and translated it into Kiswahili; his son Kilaka Kenny then translated it into English, ready to be adapted by North-South books. The story is narrated with verve and a freshness about the dialogue that make it a great readaloud. However, what really had us riveted were the illustrations. John Kilaka has developed his own style that combines bright colors and traditional patterns. The animals were intriguing not just because they were dressed in clothes, but because the shapes under the clothes were distinctly anthropomorphic, so that the illustrations make you do a double-take. We enjoyed John Kilaka’s thought-provoking afterword too, where he talks about “Collecting African Stories”.

Little Brother (9½) read Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Sarah Young (HarperCollins, 2009):

When Will’s father dies, his grandmother thinks he and his mother need a holiday so they go to Indonesia for Christmas, where his mother’s family comes from. But it’s 2004, and on Boxing Day the Tsunami struck. Oona, an elephant, stampeded up the beach into the jungle away from the tsunami’s dangers into the jungle’s with Will on her back. With only Oona to help him, Will must survive in the jungle, where he saves some orangutans from hunters who also capture him, and meets other jungle animals: not all of them ones you’d like to encounter. Will Will survive?

Running Wild is an excellent book. I loved the story and I liked the idea of Will being able to communicate with Oona, as they seem to understand each other. I thought that when the odd picture turned up, the style suited the story and I liked how they were simple but detailed at the same time. Michael Morpurgo makes what living in the jungle would do to you very lifelike. There are some moments which are essential in the plot, which show why so many animals are endangered by human causes.

And Older Brother (just turned 12) read Hazel Edwards‘ Antarctica’s Frozen Chosen (which she talks about in her interview with PaperTigers):

Antarctica’s Frozen Chosen is about a man called Kyle who goes to Antarctica to research eles (elephant seals) on an Australian base. Actually, the ship gets stuck in ice so they never get there. They see some poachers who are after rare fish to sell and then some other bad things start happening – but that’s for you to find out…

I really enjoyed Antarctica’s Frozen Chosen because although I found it quite hard going at the beginning and I didn’t think I was going to like it, I soon got into it and by the end, I couldn’t put it down.

I read the book at one sitting – it’s a fast-paced and compulsive read. Of course, Finn’s decision to transition does not just impact on him. One of the strong-points of the novel is how Finn tells his family and friends (in particular his fellow members of a feminist punk band) of his decision, and how they then react. We get a fair inkling of the medical process, including counselling and psychological assessment, though Finn’s main source of information comes from internet forums and websites. I came away with a strong feeling of inevitability – as though deep down everyone around Finn knew, like he did, that this was the real person now showing on the outside – so that opposition and prejudice fall away.

This is a novel with a happy ending and very little fall-out – Finn emerges with his relationships intact and indeed, many of them stronger than before. Real life is probably a bit messier; however, f2m: The Boy Within will be a boon to any teenager with feelings of gender anguish and will help to promote tolerance of, and indeed empathy with, those who feel trapped in a body of the wrong gender.

You can read my 2007 interview with Hazel here. She was awarded the prestigious ASA (Australian Society of Authors) medal last year but this, her latest book shows that she is not resting on her laurels! This photo of Hazel and Ryan was taken at the launch of f2m: The Boy Within in Melbourne, Australia on February 14th. We couldn’t be there but we are happy to welcome Hazel and Ryan to the PaperTigers Blog to tell us a bit about the background to writing the novel. With Hazel in Melbourne and Ryan in New Zealand, this was definitely a project that exploited modern means of communication!

So over to Hazel Edwards:

Co-writing the first YA novel with an ftm (female to male) trans author on the controversial subject of transitioning gender has been a significant and satisfying collaboration. Hence “f2m” in the title, meaning the two of us, as well as ftm in texting format. Neither of us could have written this book without the other.

I’ve known Ryan, since he was presenting as an 11-year-old girl. He’s now a man of 33. We decided to co-write YA fiction, based on the sequence of medical and psychological ftm facts. Transitioning from female to male is more unusual than the reverse. Only one YA novel, Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger (Simon & Schuster, 2007), existed on this ftm transgender topic in 2008 when we started writing, but ours is the first by a trans co-writer. Another excellent YA novel, Luna by Julie Ann Peters (Little, Brown & Co, 2006) is about transitioning from male to female (mtf) – not the same, but more common.

Our novel with the working title of f2m (female to male) was intended to be more than sexual anatomy. Our aim was to show the universal theme of ‘coping successfully with being different’, via a ‘coming of age’ story, but with humour and compassion plus punk music. Our character Skye who transitions to Finn is 18; a legally significant age for driver’s licence and hassles about ID etc.

How Autobiographical is f2m: The Boy Within?

f2m: The Boy Within is fiction. At our Melbourne meeting mid 2008, we decided to collaborate on a novel, which would NOT be autobiographical. We explored novelisation via email & webcam, and used Skype keyboarding to record our novel problem-solving. Simultaneously, we also recorded our typed correspondence on Skype as a legitimate part of our collaborative plotting.

Family history mystery is a sub-theme. I constructed a fake family tree for Finn’s past, to include the fictional intersex ancestor who would have been infertile, and plotted the recessive gene which may have been carried into our character’s generation. Thus, beloved Great Uncle Al, who was also Alberta, was created to parallel the younger siblings. This accurately portrays tendencies for intersex to run recessively in families, despite no direct line via children. However, creating a fake- history to fit with the narrative of war dates and medals was a challenge.

A curious ‘naming’ coincidence occurred. I realised how many minor characters we hadn’t named and that it was important to get the consistency of surnames and birth dates right, to demonstrate inheritance and genetic possibilities. If there was to be an earlier ancestor who was intersex (and infertile/unable to have biological children, it would need to be medically accurate. At that point, I suddenly realised we hadn’t given the Gran character a named husband or a surname. Randomly, I’d chosen SMITH as the family name, since it was generic and historically there had been various kinds of smith crafts. The great grandfather’s name was William Smith and so her maiden name would be Smith. We’d called her Bev, because initially I’d called the three siblings A, B and C (and the nephews D and E).

Then it hit me.! My co-writer Ryan’s real grandmother’s surname had been Schmidt. And all through the book, we’d been stressing that it is NOT autobiographical. Had the ex-German Schmidt family chosen a generic English approximation of their name as did many migrants? I’d have to check with Ryan as his grandmother passed away some years ago… And so we changed the fictional surname to May.

Which Pronoun?

Working together, the pronouns were the first challenge for me. It’s so hard to start saying ‘he’ and ‘his’ when you are used to saying ‘she’ or ‘her’. My compromise was to use Ryan’s name more, rather than the pronoun. Now, I have no problem with ‘he’ and ‘his’ and I think of my co-writer as a thoughtful male with keen observation skills from ‘reading’ others in gender roles.

Early on, Ryan corrected my use of pronouns with the fictional female character Skye who changes to Finn: Feb 9th email – “Skye is a ‘he’! Even in early transition. Ryan.”

How Many Drafts?

During eighteen months of concentrated work there were possibly 40 drafts. By tracking only on the constantly updated master, then Skyping the manuscript for the co-writer to add, we didn’t have so many versions that updated work was lost.

A co-author in another time zone means you are fresh at different times but we worked well together. Between us, in earlier drafts, we picked up on some anomalies. We realised that the birthday cake would be stale before Dad’s 50th party, since extra chapters had intervened since the cooking! Finn suffered fatigue from injections not yet given and we had to monitor who acknowledged Finn’s male name. Getting the medical details and terminology right also required lots of checking.

And now?

We have aimed to humanise gender transitioning rather than sensationalise a taboo subject. And hope the book will move into new electronic formats easily accessible to thoughtful YA readers.

And now, we welcome Ryan Kennedy:

Being my first novel, there was a lot to learn.

Collaborating online was nothing new for me – I regularly work with people I never meet in person, but never on creative projects. It’s amazing how much can be conveyed through a few short words in a chat window. There are bonuses too: no travel time; picking up a conversation that the other person left off hours ago as if they had just spoken the words; phone with video that costs only as much as an internet connection.

Being the transgender half of the writing team, it was up to me to bring my trans perspective to the project and make the transition story real. It would take years of research for a non-transgender person to write this kind of story while accurately reflecting what we feel and experience during transition. At the same time, I didn’t want to ‘represent’ all trans people by presenting only one way to transition. This is just one possible way to transition – there’s no one correct way. It’s a fictional character’s experience based loosely on my own.

I was just as committed to presenting an accurate version of the punk scene as I was a transgender character. It’s a culture that’s often misrepresented. On the musical side there’s everything from pure noise bands to skilful musicians, and everything from those who’ve had many music lessons to self-taught artists. The fans are diverse and welcome diversity, and there’s a culture of questioning and equality. I found it a great setting to explore my identity and I am dismayed when punk is portrayed as being wild for the sake of wild. Its rebellion is usually focused towards social change. Some rebellion is healthy. Transgender people are gender rebels.

Thank you very much, Hazel and Ryan!

Watch this trailer off2m: The Boy Within and read more about it on Hazel‘s and Ryan‘s websites…

Quoting from the official press release:

Established in 2003, the ASA Medal is awarded biennially in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the Australian writing community. The medal complements the ASA’s main focus as an advocate for the rights of authors and illustrators. Previous winners include Glenda Adams, Inga Clendinnen, Tim Winton and Anita Heiss (in the under-35 category)…

Hazel Edwards is a writer for children and adults with over 200 books to her name, including the children’s classic There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake.

“Creators are our dream-makers,” said Hazel in her acceptance speech, “those who suggest new perspectives, which may influence government, politics, management, health or the arts. To influence reality, dreams must be structured and shared in a format others can understand.

“This brooch is a brand of storyteller across cultures, and I accept it, on behalf of all apprentice bards with awareness of the honour paid by the ASA and the creators of this work of art.”

Read our 2007 interview with Hazel here.

The list of writers, illustrators, oral storytellers and literacy-related organizations, working in various literary traditions and languages, represents more than 60 countries and is a treasure trove of talent and commitment to books and reading.

In addition to author Allen Say and author/promoter of literacy Greg Mortenson, proudly nominated by us, the list includes, among many others, New Zealander author Margaret Mahy; Australian Hazel Edwards; South African Niki Daly; Mongolian writer/poet/promoter of reading Dashdondog Jamba and Filipino illustrator Albert Gamos. And for organizations promoting reading and literacy, it lists IBBY International; Room to Read, in the U.S.; Filipino publishing house Adarna; La Fundación Riecken from Guatemala, and many more.

Considering all these strong candidates, it looks like the jury members have their work cut out for them. Their decision will be a hard one to reach—but reach it they will (and expertly so)! The winner or winners will be announced in Vimmerby, Sweden (the birthplace of Astrid Lindgren) on March 24, 2010, and the announcement will be broadcast live to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, in Italy (which next year will take place March 23-25).