But of course, hope alone is never enough. In my experience, smart choices and hard work are essential as well, and my stories reflect that. It’s up to young readers to decide whether those values become important to them too. Hope, smart choices, hard work—that’s a pretty good formula in my opinion.

The most common reaction from young readers is that they want to meet Salva. I’m always sorry to have to disappoint them—Salva is now living in South Sudan, and working so hard that he doesn’t have much time to visit the U.S. At the same time, I find this response from readers truly moving. So often the people they dream of meeting are movie stars or professional athletes or rock musicians, and it’s terrific that Salva is right up there on that list!

When Water for South Sudan puts in a well, the knock-on effect is staggering. [...] Most important of all, nearly every village that has received a well has started a school for the local children, who no longer have to spend their days fetching water. Clean water directly linked to education—that was a real eye-opener for me!

What festival foods did you and your family consume over the holidays?  Are there kids books about those foods?  Do drop us a line and let us know the title.  Reading is a kind of feasting, after all!

Poetry Friday this week is hosted by Tara at A Teaching Life.

As well as Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, which I blogged about last week, we have read Cornelia Funke’s The Thief Lord together, an exciting read from beginning to end. It’s the story of two German boys Prosper and Bo, who, after the death of their mother, run away from the aunt who wants to give a home only to the younger Bo. They go to Venice, because their mother filled them with stories of the city’s magic, and there they end up living in an abandoned cinema with some other stray children, under the protection of Scipio aka the Thief Lord, who is not much older than them. They find plenty of adventure and magic of their own, not to mention a certain amount of disaster and worry, before the story reaches its ultimately satisfying conclusion.

Bedtimes stretched out as we found it harder and harder to put the book down, and it was just as well we reached the school holidays about 80 pages before the end, because we were then able to swallow the last eleven chapters whole in one wonderful morning!

Little Brother (10) has read his non-fiction selection: three of the books in Fifth House Publishers/Fitzhenry and Whiteside’s wonderful The Land is Our Storybook series. Here’s what he says about them:

We Feel Good Out Here by Julie-Ann André and Mindy Willett, Photographs by Tessa Macintosh (2008):

I liked the story about how Atachuunkaii, the man in the canoe tricked a giant called Ch’ii Choo.

The Delta is My Home by Tom McLeod and Mindy Willett, photographs by Tessa Macintosh (2008):

I enjoyed the bit about the muskrat push ups – it was really interesting and I liked the pictures because they were funny – and impressive because Tom McLeod drew them himself.

Come and Learn With Me by Sheyenne Jumbo and Mandy Willett, photographs by Tessa MacIntosh (2010):

I liked the “Clean Socks” story about Ashley and Selena, who was her mum. Sheyenne wrote it – I haven’t read Robert Munsch’s book called Smelly Socks, which is actually what inspired her – but her story is about new socks – also because she can’t get socks where she lives.

All in all:

These are amazing books. They help me to see what is going on in other children’s lives in the far north of Canada, beyond the Arctic Circle and I think it’s amazing that nearly all the books are written by children. I enjoyed finding out some of the stories they have, like the trickster ravens. I’d like to make bannocks and go kayaking but I wouldn’t like to have to prepare muskrat skins or have to get on a plane to go to town. I’m glad there are no Residential Schools anymore.

Meanwhile Older Brother (12) has been doing some catching up and has read Thunder Over Kandahar by Sharon E. McKay (Annick Press, 2010), which is about two girls caught up in the “terror and chaos of present-day Afghanistan”:

In Thunder Over Kandahar there is reality and evil. There were some parts that really, really moved me. It’s about Yasmine, who’s from England but her parents came from Afghanistan and they’ve all moved back there, and her friend Tamanna. The Taliban are after them. At one point there’s a suicide bomber. The book really brings to life the utter horror of war and also how love and friendship are greater than that.

I can vouch for how gripped he was by the book, since from the moment he started reading it, we hardly saw him until he emerged from his room at the end of it. I think first off he was attracted by the three choppers on the cover and wasn’t really expecting the realistic depiction of life for two girls under the Taliban that accompanied what was obviously a very exciting read. The book has made a deep impression and he has persuaded me that I must read it. I will certainly do so; in the meantime, I just think it’s great that he has been so affected by a story about girls – all kudos to Sharon E. McKay.

He has also read Linda Sue Park’s The Kite Fighters (Clarion Books, 2000/Yearling, 2002):

I loved this book! Set in Korea in 1473, it’s about a younger brother, Young-sup, who wasn’t allowed to speak his own mind. He meets the king and shows him his kite-flying skills. The king asks Kee-sup, the older brother, to make a kite for him. I loved this story because it’s about brothers who stand together and help each other. It’s a very happy story.

And what about news about the Challenge from around the world?

Sandhya over at My Handful of the Sky has posted about her own read, or rather reads – Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind and two follow-up novels, Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley and Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig; and also the book she has shared with her daughter – Ramayana: Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel (Chronicle Books, 2010). Sandhya makes some astute observations about the particular value of the book as an introduction to the Ramayana for children not brought up with Indian folklore – do read her review.

Those amazing bloggers over at Gathering Books have completed the Challenge. Myra’s posts are an absolute treat – if you missed either of them when they first went live, take the time to explore them now: Suzy Lee’s wordless picture books, and “Dual Tastes of Morocco and Sydney: Mirror by Jeannie Baker”. And for their non-fiction and local book, Mary introduces us to Filipino historian Ambeth Ocampo, and most specifically his book Dirty Dancing: Looking Back 2. Mary’s post has made me realise what a bonus it is for everyone else that one of this year’s Challenge books has to be a local book – a little bit of insider knowledge certainly opens up possibilities for the rest of us!

For my own books in the Challenge, I’ve read Torn Apart by Derek Flory (Mainstream, 2008), a moving, true story with its roots in Burma at the outbreak of the Second World War, about two sisters reunited after 65 years of separation; and A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal (Profile Books, 2009), a stunning, humbling, inspirational book that wrung me inside out.

It’s certainly not too late to take up our PaperTigers Reading the World Challenge 2011 – in fact, with long summer vacations around the corner for many children, and even short, winter holidays for others, now could be the ideal time to start! And don’t forget to let us know about the books you’ve read.

Together we have read the delightful Lulie the Iceberg by Her Royal Highness Princess Takamado and illustrated by Warabe Aska (Kodansha America, 1998), which Sally wrote about a while ago – her post prompted us to get hold of it: and we did, indeed, love it. We read the actual story one evening and then spent several evenings after that reading the factual information at the end, while hunting again and again for the various creatures mentioned in the gorgeous illustrations. Read Sally’s post for a synopsis of the story…

Meanwhile, Older Brother has read Linda Sue Park’s A Single Shard (Clarion Books, 2001):

A Single Shard is about a young boy called Tree-ear in 12th Century Korea, who loves watching a potter called Min making vases grow from the wheel. Then Tree-ear starts working for Mon (but he’s not allowed to actually make things) and goes on a long journey to the emperor with some pottery to seek a commission – but he is tricked by robbers on the way…

It’s a very exciting story. It made me feel happy and sad at different times: and the ending was probably the saddest part of all, though it did eventually turn out to be for the best.

Little Brother has also read a book set in Antarctica – but I have to confess that I have mislaid the notebook in which he wrote his mini-review, which he will be quite unimpressed about. I will try and remedy the situation asap.

In the meantime, what of everyone else in all these weeks that have elapsed since my last update?

Corinne has read Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, of which she says, “It won Honorable Mention for Adult Fiction in the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature. I loved Lisa’s previous book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and this book did not disappoint either. Highly recommend it especially for all those “historical novel” lovers like me.”

Olduvai at Olduvai Reads has completed the Challenge – Hooray! You can find links to her reviews for all the books she read here…

Tiina of A Book Blog of One’s own has read The Lovers of Algeria by Anouar Benmalek and The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge…

And I’m so glad Jama at Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup has joined in too. She’s been reading a wonderful selection of picture books about Asia and Asian Americans, focusing on Korea, China and Japan - definitely not to be missed.

And welcome, too, to Nora at Reading My Way Through The Classics, who has read Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

There are only four and a bit months left of the year but if you’re happy to squash your reading up a bit, you could still join in our Reading the World Challenge of seven books from or about each of the seven continents… And I promise it won’t be quite so long till the next write-up!

Breakfast Serials, founded by children’s book author Avi, have, since 1996, been taking novel-length pieces of original fiction and syndicating them for publication in newspapers, one chapter a week, in the U.S. and abroad. “A simpler, more popular literature that appeals to new audience sets”, these serials were originally aimed at young people “who know how to read but choose not to,” but their popularity soon captured the attention of adults as well. Their goal, as stated on their website, is “to refresh the reading experience in a new and convenient context and to forward the process of human attachment by way of an unfolding story.” A very nice concept that has people talking and trying to figure out “what happens next.”

Every Breakfast Serial installment is accompanied by full-color or b/w illustrations—something that sets them apart from novels published in book format, which usually aren’t illustrated. You can see two sample chapters of A Long Walk to Water, illustrated by Jim Averbeck, here. In addition to Park’s story about Salva, there are many others available in English and Spanish, such as The Monkey King by Ji-li Jiang, with illustrations by Hui Hui Su-Kennedy; Avi’s The Secret School, illustrated by Brian Floca; Katherine Paterson‘s Long Road Home, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully, and more.

Their “serials” menu includes something for every taste, and many of the stories about children’s courage, ingenuity, fortitude and resourcefulness are in the same spirit of those we currently highlight on the PaperTigers website.

Linda Sue Park says on her What I’m Reading blog: “If [A Long Walk to Water] hasn’t shown up in your local paper, it might be because they have decided to run it at a later date. Or they might not be running it at all. Either way, you can give them a call or send an e-mail and ask about it: I would appreciate it greatly, because I want as many folks as possible to learn about Salva’s story!”

In a moment when many are turning to online and wireless reading, how refreshing it is to know that great children’s stories are being printed and read in the pages of newspapers!

For more information, visit the Breakfast Serials website—and keep your eyes peeled for the next paper delivery!

I found interesting words by authors Linda Sue Park and Laurence Yep pointing to an intersection, so to speak, between fantasy/science fiction and multicultural literature. And the idea that the themes and scenarios explored in some science fiction books might resonate with immigrant and biracial children is an intriguing one…

In a video interview to Reading rockets, Laurence Yep speaks of “adapting to different realities” in a time when books reflecting his own experiences didn’t exist:

I lived in an Afro-American neighborhood and went to school in Chinatown. So the books that I really found true to my own life were fantasy and science-fiction, because in those books you have children from an ordinary world or ordinary place taken to another world, where they have to learn strange, new customs and a strange, new language. Those books talked about adapting, and that was something I did every time I got on and off the bus.

And Linda Sue Park says, in her answer to a question from Cynthia Leitich Smith about the lack of non-white protagonists in fantasy and science fiction:

Fantasy and science fiction generally posit the protagonist as an “other,” amid races and species that are not of this world. Some writers whose lives are lived as part of the majority might feel that they have to leave the real world, as it were, in order to place their characters in environs of alienation. But writers of color don’t need to do that–we’ve got plenty of alienation right here (…). As we continue to get more comfortable in the mainstream of both life and literature, I think we’ll start to see more characters of color in other genres. These things take time.

From a time when fantasy and science fiction about “alien worlds” were closer to home for a young Chinese American boy than the rest of the available stories, to a time when all genres, including fantasy and science fiction, feature characters of color… Now that’s something to think about and root for.

First of all, in honor of Poetry Month in the US, we chose Linda Sue Park’s Tap Dancing on the Roof as our reading-together book. We’ve all had great fun dipping into it and taking it in turns to choose and read the poems to each other. There were some gem moments like Older Brother discovering the sijo about how annoying it is to be summoned out of bed to go and clean your teeth – minutes after being subjected to the same treatment himself! The more we explored the poems, the more I marvelled at Linda Sue’s knack for getting the words just right – whether she’s describing a very ordinary, every day event or taking off on a flight of whimsy and metaphor. I’ve already blogged about Tap Dancing on the Roof so I won’t say any more here, but pass on to…

… Older Brother’s choice, which was Grandpa Chatterji by Jamila Gavin, illustrated by Peter Bailey. Here’s what he (aged 9 1/2) has to say:

I really enjoyed Grandpa Chatterji and I thought it was very funny sometimes, especially the part at the fair when Grandpa and Sanjay went on the rockets and they flew up into the air – when they came off they were green! Then in the evening Sanjay said, “Shall we have another go next time?” and Grandpa replied, “Maybe.”

I learned that in India some people pray standing on one foot and then when they pray they say, “Om” and the O is like the shape of the sun. People think of God as the sun because he is bright and the light of the world.

I would recommend reading it because I think people would enjoy it. Now I want to read the other two Grandpa Chatterji books.

In the meantime, Little Brother has enjoyed dipping into and absorbing the Australian Creatures of the Rainforest:Two artists explore Djabugay country by Warren Brim and Anna Eglitis:

I love books, especially encyclopaedia books about animals. This book has some animals in that I love, like echidnas and kookaburras and bandicoots. I learned that some ants are edible (the green ants) and I learned some words in Djabugay like gurrina, which means echidna, and badil, which is a zamia palm tree. Luckily at the end there is a guide to how you say their letters.

The book is by two artists – first there are lino cuts then there are original aboriginal pictures. It is very good.

So, as you can see, we are very much enjoying the PaperTigers Reading Challenge and I know my boys are finding the books they’ve chosen to be fun and enriching. Do let us know how you are getting on – only a couple more months to go!

A sijo is typically divided into three lines of fourteen to sixteen syllables each – though apparently in English they are sometimes divided up into six lines. Unlike their sister genre, the haiku, they can be about anything and they usually have a twist/ joke at the end. It is amazing how much can be conveyed in those few, succinct sound bites! With poems like these, there’s no excuse for missing out on that bedtime story. A beginning, a middle and an end are conjured up in less than a minute.

I would love to quote some of these sijo here at length but obviously that is not possible for copyright reasons. I will content myself with this tantalising beginning of the last gem in the book entitled “Wish”:

For someone to read a poem
again, and again, and then,

Now you must all rush out and buy/ pester your libraries to get hold of a copy so you can find out the rest of it – and read the others – both for yourselves and with the young people in your lives.

I know I’m slightly behind the times on this – several blogs have already waved the flag, including A Year of Reading, PACL Kids and Three Silly Chicks – I do like their conclusion that

It’s the book equivalent of a hot fudge sundae with a cherry on top.

Hmm. I’m sure there’s a sijo in there somewhere! Anyway, it’s definitely one of those books worth making a noise about – with or without the dancing shoes.

We are including Tap Dancing on the Roof in our choices for the PaperTigers Reading Challenge (have you made your mind up yet?). I can’t wait to see if my boys will start writing some sijo of their own. And if you do, please do add them on here so we can all read them.

Mentor Texts, Read Alouds and More is the gathering place for this week’s Poetry Friday… see you there!

Lights have shined on Kashmira Sheth‘s Keeping Corner, which got a starred review from Kirkus, and Linda Sue Park’s Tap Dancing on The Roof: Sijo Poems, which made the Hornbook Fanfare list in the Poetry category. In this year’s Fanfare we find Tap Dancing on the Roof in the very good company of the likes of National Book Award winner The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (YA fiction) and The Arrival (Picture Book), to mention just two of the many great books that made the prestigious list.

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On a “coming up soon” note, Mitali Perkin’s First Daughter: White House Rules, the follow-up novel to First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover is coming out in Jan 24 from Dutton/Penguin. Hurray for Sameera! It will be nice to catch up with her, as she continues to learn to march to the beat of her own drum. A review will be posted to the PaperTigers website soon (and, no, Mitali, the fact that we haven’t reviewed it yet is not a matter of sequel review syndrome, but most likely of “end of the year chaos” syndrome!)

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And last but not least on today’s set of “sparklers”… Happy second anniversary to Jen Robinson’s Book Page! May her blog continue to inform and enlighten us all for many years to come!

The fact that I recently found fried grasshoppers and Mexican maguey worms on the shelves of a food shop in San Francisco might be a sign that the western aversion to insects as food may be movig away from the usual ick! yuck! ugh!, though. But whether or not bug-eating becomes popular here and whether or not I’ll ever try insect cookery myself, I am getting the message: “respect the preferences of “others’ palates.”

Check out this list of insect snacks from around the world. And to teach young ones how ‘yum!’ and ‘yuck!’ sound in other languages, Linda Sue Park, Sue Rama and Julia Durango‘s Yum! Yuck! A Book of People Sounds is recommended.