Prompted by my reading of exiled Argentinian children’s writer, Jorge Lujàn’s Personal View in the recent issue of PaperTigers, I went to my library to take out his books. I found three: Sky Blue Accident/ Accidente Celeste, Rooster Gallo and Colors ¡Colores! (all published by Groundwood Books).

In reading them to my daughter, I was immediately enchanted. The stories were palpably poetic. In Sky Blue Accident, for example, a boy crashes into the sky and puts the broken pieces into his pocket. In Rooster, when the rooster opens its beak, the sun comes up, opens its hand and gives birth to the day. In Colors, night has a black gown in which stars — the ‘eyes of the universe can shine more brightly.’ Some of you may recognize at once the magical realist quality of these stories for which Latin American writers are particularly renowned. Personifying colors and natural elements like the sky and the day without being stereotypical takes a special creative knack and Lujàn has that knack in spades, so to speak. And of course, such creative and perceptive views of the world are an illustrator’s delight. These books have different illustrators with their own unique style. Sky Blue Accident and Colors are illustrated by Piet Grobler whose style is captivatingly quirky as in Sky Blue Accident or breezily ephemeral as in the watercolor swathes found in Colors. Rooster is illustrated by Manuel Monroy. The bird is painted a speckled blue; it’s body is a metaphor for the sky. I liked how the speckles flew off as stars at one point in the book, and how the rooster eats a star with a star gleaming in its eye on the next page.

Lujàn’s books are bilingual in Spanish and English. Although I’m not particularly familiar with Spanish, I enjoyed reading the Spanish text aloud to my daughter. We learned Spanish words a la Lujàn in a totally new and delightful way!

For our new issue of PaperTigers, whose theme is Music in Children’s Books, Argentinian Mexican poet, Jorge Luján has written a very special Personal View, “Voices on the Air: Writing Poetry and Songs for Children“.

Here is an extract, in which he describes his relationship with poetry:

Poetry is a kind of vertigo for me. A challenge that frequently knocks me down, makes me feel trapped within my limits, and keeps me isolated from grace… but occasionally, drives me to horizons of astonishment, pleasure, and growth. I’m convinced that, if we are open to it, poetry can envelop us in a rare, subtle atmosphere. And poetry is not only to be found in poems, but is also present in the endless forms of nature or in the touching gestures, words and acts of people.

As a songwriter and a singer, I love the experience of the voice taking to the air like wings taking flight. Composing words and music together is a complex experience of joy and sorrow, but one which also implies building bridges between people.

I urge you to read the whole article. I found it very moving – and interesting too, for Jorge has introduced me to the work of some Latin American poets I’m slightly ashamed to admit I didn’t know…

This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect… Head on over!

The new issue of PaperTigers, focusing on “Music in Children’s Literature,” is now live!

Music is central to the human experience and has been bound up with poetry and storytelling since time immemorial. We have brought together an international array of writers and artists whose lives and work have been touched by music; and whose work, in turn, reaches out across geographical boundaries to touch their audience.

As the final words of the opera Naomi’s Road say, “We’ll always carry with us these three things. Gift of music. Gift of words. Gift of love.”

We hope that you’ll find inspiration for all three of these gifts among our website’s new features, which include interviews with Joy Kogawa and Matt Ottley; gallery features of Lulu Delacre and Satoshi Kitamura’s work; essays by Jorge Luján and Michelle Lord, and more. Through September, we’ll continue to explore, here on the blog, the ways in which music features in children’s and young adult literature, so read the new features and let us know what you think by leaving a comment on this or any of our upcoming music-related posts!

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

Following on from Corinne’s post about the Bologna Book Fair, I recently asked poet Jorge Luján if he would share some of his impressions with us, since I knew that his most recent book, Barca de papel, illustrated by Julia Fries was to be featured in one of the exhibitions – I should have guessed that he would have a charming adventure to tell us about, that makes me wish I’d been there!

I found the Fair very rich as always – maybe a bit calmer than other years because of the economic crisis, but anyhow with interesting new books like the award-winning Robinson Crusoe, published by Media Vaca [BolognaRagazzi Fiction Award] and El contador de cuentos, published by Ekaré [BolognaRagazzi New Horizons Award]. The strong, colorful presence of Korea was also notable as the invited country. I very much enjoyed Yanni Kim’s images for The Donkey Girl (a winner of the CJ Award for Illustration).

Talking about my personal experience, I had an unexpected and magical encounter at one art gallery down town Bologna. I was at the inauguration of an illustration exhibition when a sparkling five-year-old girl appeared out of nothing and asked me: “Tu sei… il poeta?” (Are you… the poet?) I said “Hum… yes” with a smile and began to walk out with a young couple who had just invited me to have an ice-cream with them. Immediately, the little girl (who I was soon to discover was the daughter of the young couple) started to run through the crowded rooms of the exhibition shouting over and over again: “Il poeta viene a mangiare gelati con noi!!” (The poet is coming to have an ice cream with us!!)

Later on, she confessed to me: “Io sono la Principessa dei Gelati,” (I’m the Princess of Ice Cream…). That night I composed a poem for her, and the next evening I was invited to write it in big letters next to the illustrations of Barco de papel, my last album with images by the young artist Julia Friese, which were being shown at the beautiful Sala Borsa, next to the Piazza Maggiore.

If you click on the thumbnails, you’ll be able to read the writing, including both poems on the much larger images…

Thank you so much, Jorge, both for sharing your experiences with us – especially this delightful story of La Principessa – and for the wonderful photos. For those of us who couldn’t be there, they certainly are the next best thing. Imagine being at that exhibition and walking by as the author of the books you are looking at happens to be writing out a poem he has just spontaneously composed!

Barco de papel (Paper Boat) was published last December by FCE and is due to come out soon in German as Papierschiff ahoi! We’ll certainly let you know of any English translations.

I must just also add that not one but two of Jorge’s recent books were shortlisted for a CJ Award for New Publications: Colors! ¡Colores! (also selected for the White Ravens 2009 Catalogue) and Winter Afternoon (and if you haven’t watched the animated version of this gorgeous book, watch it NOW!).

This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Anastasia Suen at Picture Book of the Day (and she’s highlighting a gorgeous-looking book I heard about recently and haven’t got my hands on yet…)

As the nights start to draw in at bedtime here in the North of England, we start to long for a bit of color – and we have two bilingual English/Spanish books to hand at the moment, both of which we recently reviewed on PaperTigers – De Colores: Bright with Colors, a traditional Spanish song illustrated brightly indeed by David Diaz, who is currently one of our featured artists (Marshall Cavendish, 2008); and Colors! ¡Colores!, by Jorge Luján, and exquisitely illustrated by Piet Grobler, (Groundwood Books, 2008).

We haven’t sung De Colores yet but I’m sure we will and meanwhile, the words and pictures are as warm and bright as the music will be.

And we have all fallen in love with Jorge Luján’s whimsical poem, which is definitely to be savoured and re-read – even at the same sitting. It makes a lovely, gentle bed-time read and sends the imagination floating away towards the land of dreams. Jorge, let us know if it is ever turned into a video like Tarde de invierno / Winter Afternoon!

An event on the first morning of the Bologna Book Fair set the tone for Aline’s and my enjoyment of the whole experience, when we heard British poet Michael Rosen and Argentine-Mexican poet Jorge Luján taking part in a packed-out seminar about “Poetry in Children’s Books”.

Michael Rosen started his presentation with an interactive recitation of his poem “This is the Hand” (here’s a link to it but “slip” in the 3rd stanza should read “slid”!), and then went on to talk about how he became a poet, almost despite the way poetry had been taught in schools when he was a boy (1950’s England: “we like poems where nothing happens and people are a little bit sad and don’t know why”!)…

As well as being a very entertaining speaker, who also charmed his audience with a poem he had written the day before about his day in Bologna, he had some very salient points to make about why it is so important to include poetry in the school curriculum. He compared reading a poem to looking at a photograph in an album: it freezes time for a moment and “you can put it up in front of you and can look at it again and again”. He pointed out that this kind of contemplation and reflection are very important for children and that in education there are not many opportunities to do this without having an answer to all the questions. Poetry provides a different way of investigating reality – through suggestion or illustration perhaps – which reverberates in people’s minds and opens the way to a different sort of dialogue. “Stories usually have to conclude; poems can end with a question.”

Jorge Luján began (more…)

Ah, Bologna!

Aline and I have much to tell about our fantastic trip to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair at the beginning of this month. There really is no better event to take the pulse of the children’s book publishing world: and what a world that is!

We’ve met so many interesting people and enjoyed putting faces to names of organisations and publishers; we’ve attended inspiring presentations; and have been dazzled by the quality and endlessly varied styles of the illustrations we’ve come across, both in the books we have browsed through and as part of the fair’s special exhibits. The overall impression was of immense industry – people in deep discussion, buying and selling rights; looking through artists’ portfolios; rushing between presentations – what a buzz!

Over the next few weeks, Aline and I will be posting on a variety of topics. In the meantime, here are some of the highlights for us, in no particular order:

Looking at the proofs for Ed Young’s new book, Wabi Sabi (written by Mark Reibstein);
Meeting librarians from all over the world at a session organised by the IFLA (International Federation of Libraries Associations and Institutions) – so lively that we were asked to be quiet…! – and hearing IBBY President and Canadian Groundwood Books publisher, Patricia Aldana’s presentation entitled “Books as Mirrors”;
Attending the launch of the International Youth Library’s White Ravens 2008 catalog;
Listening to poets Michael Rosen (UK Children’s Laureate) and Jorge Lujan’s contributions to a panel titled “Poetry Break: Poetry in Children’s Books”;
Attending the award-presentation of the Bologna Raggazzi “New Horizons” Award to Chennai-based Tara Publishing, for the hand-made book The Nightlife of Trees, and watching how the book came into being;
Hearing illustrators Robert Ingpen and Paul O. Zelinsky talk about their contributions to the book Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children About Their Art (the proceeds of which go to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.)…

Well, I could just keep going – and I will. And so will Aline: so keep coming back as the full picture unfolds…

Cloudscome at A Wrung Sponge is hosting this week’s Poetry Friday – and in her post she suggests putting poems out into the “face-to-face world” as well as through blogging… hmm, now there’s an idea…

Nights are drawing in here in the UK, as we move towards wintertime but in the southern hemisphere, the world is heading into summer: so here are two beautiful picture-books which each contain a poem – one for winter and one for summer. One thing is certain: reading time will feel warm, whichever one you read; and they are such a visual treat too, that really they have to be a face-to face encounter.

The first is Jorge Luján’s poem Tarde de Invierno, translated into English as Winter Afternoon by Elisa Amado and empathetically illustrated by Mandana Sadat. It’s a short poem about a child looking out into the winter’s evening, waiting for her mother to come home: and when she does, the hug fits perfectly into the “vidrio del portarretrato”/ “the frosty frame” – so that the focus suddenly swings round and the little girl, the observer, is now the observed. And what a beautiful picture it is too. My children like this poem because it’s full of love. I like it , yes, for that reason too: but also because it helps to assuage some of the inevitable guilt of being a working mother…

The other poem transports us to the heat of the Australian Outback. Annaliese Porter was only eight years old when she wrote the poem – so this would also be a great classroom resource for raising aspiration. Here’s a small taste:

On Uluru there are many shades
on the rocky eye –
browns and reds mingling
into a rich earthy dye.

Uluru is immediately recognisable in Bronwyn Bancroft’s glorious depiction – and indeed her illustrations sizzle all the way through the book.