Jenny Desmond-Walters, Regional Advisor for SCBWI – Korea, recently emailed me the following to share with our readers:

I just recently uncovered information about an international award festival for newly published (within the last three years) picture books and unpublished picture book illustrations. The CJ Culture Foundation in Korea has set up the international CJ Picture Book Awards. Five newly published, original picture books released within the last three years will be awarded recognition. Additionally, five awards will be given for illustrations in unpublished picture books.

Their website says, “The CJ Culture Foundation aims to support illustrated books as they fully deserve to be, and lay the groundwork for the enrichment of both those who make them, and those who enjoy the fruits of their labor. Recognition of the fact that picture books by their very nature, transcend the boundaries of language and have no trouble making themselves understood, has led to the inauguration of the CJ Picture Book Festival, where generations and countries can freely come together in celebration of the art.

The award festival and exhibition takes place this year from Nov. 23 to Dec. 24. in Seoul, Korea. The submission window for this year has recently ended, however, next year’s submissions can be sent beginning in March 2010. For more information, visit this link.

With Korea being a focus for PaperTigers, I’ve chosen a book called In the Moonlight Mist retold by Daniel San Souci (illus. Eujin Kim Neilan)  published in 1999.  This delightfully illustrated picture book is a retelling of a folktale about a virtuous woodcutter who saves the life of a deer from hunters.  The deer rewards him with the knowledge of how to attain a wife.  There is a pond in which heavenly maidens bathe; if the woodcutter hides the clothes of one of the maiden’s, he will have her as his wife.  Troubled by having to commit such trickery, the woodcutter consults his ageing mother about what to do.  She advises her son to do as the deer instructs.  Luckily for the woodcutter, the heavenly maiden whom he selects falls in love with him.  But such a union, of course, cannot last and soon, the maiden begins to pine for home.  What will the woodcutter do?

Folktales like this one often illustrate culturally-related family dilemmas –  in this case, the woodcutter is faced with what he feels he must do for his wife and what he must also do for his aged mother.  What is the right decision?  What is the virtuous action?  Who does Heaven reward?  These are the many questions this simple folktale poses.  Folktales are rich cultural repositories of narrative wisdom from which the modern day reader can glean much knowledge.   Their retelling, therefore, is an important contribution to cultural understanding world-wide, especially for children.

Are there folktales you were fond of reading when you were a child?  Where did you find them?  What folktales have you read to your children?

Moving house can be an unsettling, not to say traumatic experience for children – especially when the move involves a move to a new country with a different culture and language. Usually children have had no say in family decisions and they can feel swept along by the adults in their lives. Stories about other children moving to a new home are certainly a good way to help ease feelings of isolation and, as in so many other situations, provide an opening for children to talk about their own worries. Even children who appear to be positive and excited about imminent changes in their lives need an outlet to express niggling concerns before these whisperings become overpowering spectres.

Goodbye, 382 Shin Dang Dong (National Geographic, 2002) by sisters Frances and Ginger Park and illustrated by Yangsook Choi (who all feature in interviews in our current focus on Korea) is a perfect story to reassure and reflect on: and its ending on a note of optimism means that it’s also a good story to go to sleep on.

Jangmi is very sad that her family is about to move from Korea to America. She has to say good-bye to everything and everyone she knows – the market, her best friend Kisuni, the beloved willow tree in her garden. Jangmi’s parents have done a good job preparing her – she knows a lot about what will be the same, similar, different: but even so, she doesn’t want to go. However, once actually in America, Jangmi starts to feel a bit more optimistic. There is a beautiful maple tree in her new garden and she makes a new friend – and she realises that, despite the distance, Kisuni is still her best friend.

However, this is not only a story for children who have immigrated into a new country: it is also a story that will comfort children left behind by friends moving away. And it reminds all children (and adults) of the importance of making new neighbours feel welcome, wherever they have come from.

For more book recommendations for children and young adults, read New to America – Living the Immigrant Life from The Miss Rumphius Effect; and Ann Lazim’s Personal View for PaperTigers: The Immigrant and Second Generation Experience in British Children’s Books.

Gracefully floating like a leaf on top of Cheongpyung Lake, 63 kilometers north of the Han River, is the tiny Korean Island of Nami. With a circumference of only 6 kilometers, you can cross the half-moon shaped island in a matter of minutes and, in fact, no cars are permitted on the island. Nami is a popular destination for Korean families on a peaceful day trip or for a weekend retreat. It also offers stunning scenery, flora and fauna: so what better place to host a book festival? The 4th annual Nami Island International Children’s Book Festival – NAMBOOK 008 runs from May 1st to June 30th and this year’s theme is “The Echoes of Picture Books”.

Organized by the Korean Board on Books for Young People (KBBY), NAMBOOK began as an event to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen, one of the world’s greatest storytellers. The festival continues to grow in size and popularity, with visitors from around the world; and this year’s festival promises to be the best yet! An amazing program of events for all those interested in children’s literature is well underway. Over 75 countries are represented in the World Picture Book Exhibition, the Hans Christian Andersen Award Winners are exhibited, and workshops feature renowned children’s authors and illustrators. KBBY has organized “Guest of Honor Days”, which offer festival goers a fantastic opportunity to taste diverse cultures of the world via their books and artistic performances. Countries featured in 2008 include: Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Serbia, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam.

KBBY promotes NAMBOOK 008 as one of the most extraordinary places in the world for children, as well as adults, to encounter books:

“It is a celebration of children’s literature with not just a fantastic array of children’s books on display, but plenty of places – both indoors and out – for people to experience the joy of reading, storytelling, book making and other events.”

The festival is a very prominent event to promote IBBY’s missions. In March this year, IBBY president Patsy Aldana announced that Nami Island Inc. of South Korea has generously agreed to sponsor the Hans Christian Andersen Awards (perhaps the most prestigious awards in the world of children’s books). In a press release, MS. Aldana said

“The annual NAMBOOK festival that attracts children’s books, performers, and artists from around the world; the Centre for Environmental Studies; the Artists’ Centre and residential cottages where artisans and artists can come to work and live with nature; the UNICEF pavilion; the outdoor sculpture garden; and most especially, the numerous little nature libraries scattered throughout the island, make this one of the most extraordinary places in the world for children, as well as adults, to encounter books”.

Have you attended NAMBOOK? If so, we would love to hear from you!