Established in 1992 by Nancy Traversy and Tessa Strickland, Barefoot Books is a children’s book publisher based in Bath, UK and Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. It publishes multicultural books that, in addition to providing high-quality content, pay great attention to art and design. One of the company’s core values is to use art and stories “to create deep and lasting connections—whether it’s a child and parent connecting over a book; a child connecting to the universal wisdom of other cultures; or a broad network of people connecting through shared values and the desire to help children become happy, engaged members of a global community.”

Tessa Strickland, Barefoot Books’ co-founder and editor-in-chief, answered our questions about Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing, one of the seven books selected for inclusion in our Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set Donation Project, and about other topics related to the company and to multicultural children’s literature.

Q&A

PT: How did Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing come about as a project for Barefoot Books?

TS: This project came about in quite a circuitous way. First, I was contacted by Clare Farrow, who wanted to know if I was interested in having her retell any traditional Chinese tales. In the course of our conversation, I learnt that she and her husband, Guo Yue, had just completed a manuscript about his life, Music, Food and Love. It so happened that this telephone conversation came about just as I was starting to cast around for stories for older readers, and I was fascinated by what Clare told me about Yue’s childhood in Beijing. So, I asked to read a copy of the manuscript.

PT: When you acquired the manuscript, did you know from the get go that you would publish it as an illustrated middle grade book, or was the decision regarding full plate illustrations made later in the process?

TS: When I read Music, Food and Love (Piatkus, 2006), I thought that the best way to tell Yue’s story to children would be to focus on the summer of 1966. The manuscript went through about four drafts and was a close collaboration between Yue and Clare, me, and an excellent editor, Anne Finnis. The decision to make full-plate illustrations was made once we had a manuscript that everyone was happy with.

PT: What can you tell us about the pairing of Guo Yue and Clare Farrow’s text with Helen Cann’s art?

TS: We have done a number of books with Helen Cann; I knew that she would be a delight to work with. Not only is she very talented, she is also extremely interested in developing her own style and in working
collaboratively. She had some very fruitful meetings and discussions with Clare and Yue, who were both extremely happy with her illustrations.

PT: How do you think the public’s attitude toward multicultural books for children has changed since Barefoot Books was founded, in 1992? Are there any major differences between the US and the UK markets in that regard?

TS: As Barefoot has always focused on multicultural books, it is hard to say with very much claim to objectivity how (more…)

As we approach the end of one year and the beginning of the next, we tend to face two directions, reflecting on events past and looking forward to the future. The Roman god Janus comes to mind! In the past few months discussion about ethnic diversity in books has come to the fore, with a certain amount of scrutiny of the publishing world and what could be done to ensure that more books are made available by writers of color. If you haven’t already done so, take some time to read Laura Atkins’ paper on “white privilege in children’s publishing” from this summer’s IRSCL conference, as well as the many in-depth comments attached to it. It may have been written three months ago but these are issues that are not going to go away – yet!

Some writers have blogged about it more recently – Zetta Elliott (who also followed up on her post with an insightful interview of Laura, entitled From the Other Side: An Editor Speaks Out!) and Neesha Meminger have both contributed to what will no doubt be an on-going discussion. Uma Krishnaswami also commented on this (since withdrawn…) blogpost and these words really resonated with me:

there are some of us now who are trying to write beyond the boxes, beyond the simple classifications or the books that are *about* culture or race. In this time of economic stress it’s even more important to make sure we don’t slide back to old insularities!

I think we all need to make a New Year’s resolution that we won’t allow these issues to be conveniently side-tracked. On a recent visit to San Francisco I came away laden from several independent and second-hand bookshops with books that I have got to know through PaperTigers – but I found it very unsettling to say the least that in the large children’s section of an enormous chain bookshop I also visited, I could only find two books – two books!!! So there are not just issues of publishing to be contended with, but also marketing and distribution. And in these times of “economic stress” , we take our hats off to those publishers who are producing a consistently wonderful array of multicultural titles. We do need to keep the voices for diversity heard, written by a diversity of voices, which includes more writers of colour; and we need to ensure that readers from all backgrounds have access to a diverse range of reading material – because that is the only way that kids will be able to fit their own stitches into the vast multicultural tapestry of life.

The official launch party of all the new fall titles from Gumboot Books takes place on Sunday, November 8th at Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush book store in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Both Gumboot Books and Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush are unique in the children’s and young adult literature world. Gumboot Books is an eco-friendly publishing house that specializes in “Books with a Conscience”. Besides encouraging people of all ages to read and write, they aim to foster a sense of social responsibility and respect for our planet; and guarantee that all the books they publish are responsibly produced. They are printed in North America, inks are child-safe, and the paper is old-growth-fibre free.

Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush is a special, independent book store, which aims to:

nurture the world through storytelling, reintroducing myths that will promote a strong sense of local community and global involvement. This company endeavors to promote tolerance, love and compassion. Dedicated to young readers in the hopes of cultivating a lifelong love for books, Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush [...] offers many special events and activities, including regular story time, organized book clubs to help develop reading skills and interests, and contests to cultivate kids’ imaginations and storytelling abilities.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend this Fall Book Launch as I will be out of town. But for those of you in Vancouver, drop on by the book store! Book readings will be held throughout the day and the line-up includes:

Fly Catcher Boy by Rebecca Kool, illustrated by David Namisato;

When Chickens Fly by Kari-Lynn Winters and Izabela Bzymek;

aRYTHMetique by Tiffany Stone, Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming, illustrated by Scot Ritchie – this book has two versions: English and French; the launch will be conducted in French.

Ready for R by Marian MacDougall and Silvana Bevilacqua – a special book written by experienced speech language pathologists and designed to spark speech, language and literacy development; inspire story-telling; and encourage ESL students.

It’s All Greek to Me, Jack by Dan Bar-el;

The Midnight Blue Marble by Melanie Jackson.

“Kids’ character builds cultural bridges. Trevor Lai working to bring Ralphy the Rhino to children on both sides of the Pacific” by reporter Joanne Lee-Young. Trevor’s books and his storybook character Ralphy have proven to be real hit especially amongst Asian ESL students. To visit Trevor’s website click here.

The San Francisco Foundation Community Leadership Awards annually recognize organizations and individuals who have made a significant impact in Bay Area communities. This year, one of the organizations being honored is Children’s Book Press, the first independednt, non-profit publisher of bilingual, multicultural literature for children, established in 1976. PaperTigers congratulates Children’s Book Press on this wonderful and well-deserved honor!

Here is the judges’ statement about the impact CBP has had in its community—and no doubt beyond it, too:

For the past 33 years Children’s Book Press has served as a vehicle for civil rights, human rights, and social justice, with a profound impact on the children, youth, and adults who better understand their own lives and histories as a result of its bilingual, multicultural books. Children’s Book Press builds the connection between literacy and success, preserves traditions, and helps build a stronger future for our children.

For those in the Bay Area, the award ceremony will take place tomorrow, Sep 22, at the San Francisco Herbst Theater. To attend the event, you can rsvp using this page.

Perhaps it’s because she shares her name with the title character that my daughter just loves the “Emma” picture books by award-winning author Margriet Ruurs. Emma, the book version that is, is a hen with personality, persistence and pluck. Her barnyard adventures are hysterical to both young and old readers and as one reviewer says “Emma is a hapless heroine who always seems to triumph in the end – a true role model for the underdog.”

I love the Emma books too: however, my favorite book by Margriet is My Librarian is a Camel. Inspired by a newspaper article, this book describes unusual mobile libraries found in thirteen countries, from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe. Besides bookmobiles, this book shows librarians using animals (camels, horses, donkeys, elephants), bicycles, and even a wheelbarrow, to bring books to children in hard-to-reach areas. Complete with world map and text boxes with country information, this book received the International Reading Association’s Notable Book for Global Awareness recognition and has led to schools adopting mobile libraries projects around the world.

Following a similar photo-essay format, Margriet’s newest book My School in the Rain Forest: How Children Attend School Around the World is now available! Several years in the making, this book shares stories and information about many countries around the world and how children attend school. Readers get to know students — from the arid plains of southern Afghanistan to the rain forests of Guatemala — who are pursuing their dreams of a brighter future. At a school that sits on the edge of the Sahara, students are learning to speak English from a teacher who stands in front of a Webcam in North America. In another part of the world, kids aren’t waiting to ride the bus to school — they are waiting to hop in a boat that will take them to a school that floats on a river. And some kids don’t mind heights, especially those who attend a school on the slope of a mountain in the Himalayas, in one of the most remote corners of the earth.

Margriet often does school visits and will be doing slideshow presentations about her travels and the making of this book. Keep an eye on her blog and hopefully she will share some of the details with us.

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