Several years ago PaperTigers arranged to have author Ann Martin Bowler conduct a school outreach session in California.  PaperTigers Outreach Coordinator Theresa Gee said of the session  “Annie was absolutely incredible presenting two of her books at a Sacramento elementary school which I attended in the 1960′s. It serves a very low income neighborhood with many South Asian immigrants, so the day we spent at the school together was a real treat for the students and teachers.”

Yesterday, Theresa alerted me to this upcoming event which features Ann. If you happen to be in the Roseville area, I’m sure it would be well worth attending!

Join us for the kick-off party of  “One World, Many Stories” Roseville Library’s Summer Reading Club.
Monday, June 13th, 5:30 p.m.
Downtown Roseville Library
225 Taylor St., Roseville, CA, USA
Call (916) 774-5221 for more information

Bring your children out for a lively, interactive telling of multicultural tales and a celebration of books and cultures and come meet author Ann Martin Bowler! Annie  will be kicking off  “One World, Many Stories” with an engaging, kid-friendly, presentation of her books, All About Korea: Stories, Songs, Crafts, and More, Gecko’s Complaint: A Balinese Folktale and Adventures of the Treasure Fleet: China Discovers the World.

Roseville Library’s summer reading program has a decidedly international flavor, with lots of fun events and activities for kids young and old. A full listing of events can be found here

To read PaperTigers’ recent review of Ann’s new book All About Korea: Stories, Songs, Crafts and More (Tuttle, 2011) click here.

If you have already read today’s earlier post, received our latest newsletter or taken a look at the latest issue on the PaperTigers website, you will know that there are exciting developments in the offing for PaperTigers, especially as regards our Outreach Programe - developments which will affect both the PaperTigers website and the blog; and you will have realised that for all of us who are involved in PaperTigers, there is also a thread of sadness running through the anticipation of what is to come, for we will very sadly be losing Aline Pereira as a member of our team. Here on the blog, we will certainly be celebrating all that Aline has achieved, before her departure for pastures new in February; in the meantime, here is her final editorial taken from the main PaperTigers website, in which she talks about “Changes Afoot in 2011″:

Who says a Tiger can’t change (or at least rearrange) its stripes?

Led by the desire to expand its outreach program and faced with financial constraints, PaperTigers is in the process of doing just that: reconfiguring its stripes. Some difficult decisions were made that will affect the way things work in the new year.

First, the not so good news…

Come February, sadly, I will be leaving PaperTigers. As a result of the economy downturn that is affecting so many in the United States and of a decision to redirect part of PaperTigers’ funds to the development of an additional outreach reality (as explained below), my Managing Editor role will cease to exist. Marjorie Coughlan, who has been PaperTigers Associate Editor on a part-time basis since 2005, and my partner in crime and good friend, will become PaperTigers only editor.

Since this is my last editorial, I’d like to take this opportunity to say goodbye and to express my gratitude to all the readers, friends, colleagues and contributors for their support, friendship, work and always helpful feedback these past six years. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to have worked/crossed paths with each one of you. Please stay in touch.

On a more positive note, let me be the one to tell you what other changes are afoot for PaperTigers in 2011. I won’t be in the picture after February (except for maybe the occasional article or book review), but the projects I’ve helped grow and, in some cases, establish, will continue to exist–even if in a slightly modified format.

As you know, over the last few years, in addition to offering rich and varied content on the website, we have also been developing our blog and outreach program. In an attempt to present these three realities more clearly, starting in mid-January, those going to papertigers.org will find a new landing page, where they can choose which of the three aspects of PaperTigers they want to read about/explore, i.e. the site, the blog or the outreach program.

On the site itself, topics will no longer be treated through bimonthly issues, as they have been until now. Themes and geographical areas will continue to be covered, but in a more flexible way that is not confined to a bimonthly rhythm. We believe that this will allow the website and blog to be integrated more fully.

We have intensified our outreach program in the course of the last twelve months. Through the Spirit of PaperTigers book donation project we have sent sets of books to schools in many parts of the world. This project will continue to exist, but in a simplified way that takes into account the suggestions made by recipients of the sets in this first experimental year.

Our outreach efforts this year have also made us vividly aware that in parts of the world where clean water and good sanitation are not available, promoting literacy and encouraging children to become “hungry readers” does not get very far. We have therefore undertaken a series of small projects to provide children in areas of need with both books and water. It is PaperTigers’ intention to push forward and further develop these two outreach aspects in the coming year: “water for living and books for reading.”

I think this covers everything about the upcoming changes, so… So long for now, and please remember: PaperTigers is counting on your continued support as it reconfigures its stripes.

May we all learn to embrace change and make the best of it in 2011.

Aline

I recently got an email from author and Room to Read Ambassador, Ann Martin Bowler, saying that the preschool she’s helped build in Vietnam is scheduled to open later this fall! Ann has been donating part of the proceeds from her school visits to Room to Read since 2007, so it’s wonderful to see how much has happened since then! To show support for Ann’s and Room to Read’s cause, in 2007 PaperTigers sponsored her all-day visit to Freeport School, in Sacramento, California.

Here’s the update she sent to all who helped her achieve her goal:

I recently visited Hoi Xuan Preschool [in the village of Hoi Tri, near Ho Chi Minh City], the Room to Read school in Vietnam that many of you helped to fundraise for. My son Jake and I toured this and other two schools and spent a good amount of time with the hard-working, dedicated Room to Read staff. I was delighted to confirm how important preschools are in the lives of Vietnamese children. You can see lots of fun pictures on my blog and learn why schools for 3-5 year-olds are vital in Vietnam.

A great big thank you to each and every person who helped fundraise for Hoi Xuan Preschool! Your efforts will truly make a difference in the lives of many Vietnamese children.

If you’d like to help me build a second school in Vietnam, I plan to continue donating a portion of every speaking engagement to Room to Read. I’d love to visit your school or community center!

Thanks for the update, Ann, and best of luck to you in your ongoing efforts to help build more schools in Vietnam!

For more details, check out Ann’s blog, World Change Starts with Educated People. She can also be reached by email.

Award winning author Mitali Perkins is starting 2009 on an exciting note! Her newest book Secret Keeper, published by Random House, is being released on January 13th. (Watch a trailer for the book here on Mitali’s blog.) To celebrate, Mitali is inviting everyone in the San Francisco area to a Chai and Samosa Reception at Not Your Mother’s Book Club at the Town & Country Village in Palo Alto between 6 – 7pm Thursday, January 15th.

From 7-8 p.m that same evening, Mitali will lead a writing workshop entitled “MAGIC CARPET: Creating a Sense of Place in Story,” a fun, hands-on, stress-free event for writers of all stages and ages. The session will start with tips and techniques, continue with prompts to inspire a time of writing, and end with personalized feedback. This event will be a great shared memory for parents and teens, and a welcome escape for stressed-out students who want to relax with an ungraded creative exercise. No experience necessary, but to sign up for the workshop, you must send an email confirmation to NYMBC (at) booksinc (dot) net, as space is limited to twenty participants.

For those in the Seattle area, Barnes and Noble (Bellevue Downtown) will host a launch party for Secret Keeper on January 18 at 2pm. Mitali will be in attendance and looks forward to discussing and signing copies of her new book. Later that day, teens are invited to join Mitali for an Indian Dinner/Teen Writers Workshop at the Bellevue Regional Library. Again, pre-registration is required.

Mitali is a regularly featured author and contributor to the PaperTigers website. In 2007 she and her mother, award winning alpana painter Madhusree Bose, took part in our first PaperTigers Outreach Program at the San Francisco Waldorf School. Mitali will be contributing an article on “The Power of Children to Make a Difference” in our upcoming issue of PaperTigers due out February 1st.

Last year, children’s book author and literacy advocate, Ann Martin Bowler announced she would donate her school speaking fees to Room to Read (a non-profit organization building schools and libraries in some of the poorest parts of Asia and Africa), with the goal of building a school in Vietnam. She has been an ambassador for Room to Read since the beginning of 2007.

Annie wrote me an email, last week, reporting on the success of her fundraising efforts. She was able to raise $17,000 and construction is due to begin in the fall for a pre-school in the village of Hoi Tri, near Ho Chi Minh City. The school will serve 180 students and its design and building process will count with the participation of the community. “The grade school in Hoi Tri is quite overcrowded–kids currently come to school in split shifts. Giving preschoolers their own school will free up classroom space, allowing more elementary students to attend school.”

In a 2007 interview for PaperTigers, she said: “After seeing little ones [in Indonesia] working or running on the streets because there is no school to attend, I had to do what I could to help Room to Read reach their goals. I believe that educating the world’s children is the best way to break the cycle of poverty, and Room to Read is striving to do just that, one school at a time.”

PaperTigers is proud to have helped Ann Martin Bowler achieve her commendable goal by sponsoring an all-day school visit to Freeport Elementary School in Sacramento, California. But Annie isn’t done yet! She just announced she will be donating her 2008/09 school year speaking fees to build another school!… We strongly encourage you to book one of her school visits this year. We can’t wait to hear about more schools being built and more needy children getting the education they deserve!

For information on school visits, check out her website and/or her Room to Read blog, “World Change Starts with Educated Children.”