Ever since reading in The Storyteller’s Candle that one of the stories Pura Belpré tells to the children at the library is about “a beautiful Spanish cockroach named Martina and a gallant little mouse, Ratoncito Pérez”, I have wanted to know that story! So I was delighted to get hold of it recently as one of the stories included in Señor Cat’s Romance: and Other Favorite Stories from Latin America (first published 1997, reissued by Scholastic, 2001), which I think is set to become a classic. It’s by the same author/illustrator team as The Storyteller’s Candle – Lucia Gonzalez and Lulu Delacre, so my expectations were high (The Storyteller’s Candle is one of the books in our Spirit of PaperTigers book set; read our interview with Lucia and view Lulu’s PaperTigers Gallery). I certainly wasn’t disappointed: it’s a joy… Although I have to say I didn’t get a look-in for a while because both Older Brother and Little Brother purloined it to read for themselves!

There are six stories in all, each one a delight for sharing with young children. “Martina the Little Cockroach” did not disappoint, though I was mightily relieved to realise that there was one extra page-turn to the story. “The Billy Goat and the Vegetable Garden” also has a connection with Pura Belpré since it is based on her retelling of the Puerto Rican version, included in her book The Tiger and the Rabbit and Other Tales. One of the many Latin American trickster tales about “How Uncle Rabbit Tricked Uncle Tiger” is also included. Then there’s a cheeky wee “Half-Chick” with only one wing and one leg – what a lovely story to weave around the everyday sight of a weather-vane; “Juan Bobo and the Three-Legged Pot”, one of many stories about this character, which translates as Foolish John – and maybe he’s not so foolish… And finally, at the end is the exuberant song abut the Señor Cat of the book’s title.

Lucia’s Foreward and Lulu’s Afterword both make clear the love that has gone into the creation of this vibrant book: but, in fact, that also comes through very clearly via the narration and illustrations themselves. The notes accompanying each story provide insight and connections with other story-telling traditions – and don’t miss the mouthwatering recipe for arroz con pollo Lulu has included in one of her goegeous illustrations!

Not long ago, Corinne did a post on a children’s poetry festival in El Salvador.  The post piqued my interest in one of the hosts of the event,  poet Jorge Argueta,  whose books I immediately requested from the library.  As is my usual custom, I take out several books by the same author — as many as are available — and as a result, my daughter and I enjoyed a wonderful night of Argueta’s poetry and stories.  The two poetry books of Argueta’s I was able to read were:  Trees are Hanging from the Sky (illustrated by Rafael Yockteng, published by Groundwood, 2003) and A Movie in My Pillow (illustrated by Elizabeth Gomez, Children’s Book Press, 2001).   The first book was a little hard for my daughter to understand conceptually.  How was it that trees could hang from the sky?  She queried.   And their roots be like snakes?  But once she saw the illustrations, she understood.  I liked the ideas as sheer poetic inversion — it seemed marvelous to me, the idea of trees being rooted in the sky, rather than on earth!

A Movie in My Pillow is a bilingual book and contains short poems in Spanish and English.  In this book, the poems are more straightforward contemplations of the life of an El Salvadoran boy in San Francisco.   My daughter enjoyed this book very much and in fact, wanted to read the poems in English while I read the Spanish (which unfortunately I don’t know very well, but had fun trying to read aloud!)  After the book was done, she said she liked this poetry book a lot.  It was one of the few poetry books I’ve read that she was truly engaged in.

PaperTigers has done an interview with Jorge Argueta.  You might check it out along with his books for a wonderful treat of words!  I do hope his endeavours with the first ever children’s poetry festival in El Salvador go well.

Poetry Friday this week is hosted by Susan Taylor Brown at Susan Writes.

I have been intrigued by the Red Threads in Chinese folklore that link people invisibly and irrevocably, ever since first reading about them in Grace Lin‘s beautiful picture book The Red Thread: An Adoption Fairy Tale. They then reappear in her wonderful Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Jama at Alphabet Soup quotes Grace as saying: “To me, those red threads, those connections are the stories we share.”…

So I couldn’t resist picking up Ed Young’s Red Thread (Philomel Books, 1993) when I came across it recently: and it’s a wonderful story, which grows in meaning the more you read it. Wei Gu is a young man who, having been orphaned as a boy, is keen to find a wife and be part of a family. Hearing that a matchmaker is going to be in the town of Quinge, he travels there and makes sure he is at the temple good and early – in fact, he is so early that it is still dark (and here, Young’s illustrations are particularly stunning). He meets an old man, a spirit who can tell him that the red thread connecting him to his future wife leads to a three-year-old girl, and that they will marry in fourteen years time. Not only that, but they can go together to see her right there and then. However, Wei Gu is disgusted that she is apparently the daughter of vegetable sellers; and he also finds her ugly. Horrifically, he orders his servant to murder the child – but the red thread cannot be broken so easily and when Wei Gu marries fourteen years later, he discovers that the flower seed his beautiful wife always wears between her eyebrows carries a not unfamiliar story with it…

The narrative is simple but still manages to convey psychological depth; and the complexities inherent in the story mean that the book will grow with young readers. The act of violence is shocking – but as is so often the case in fairy-tales (and I am particularly struck by parallels with the western Snow White here), young readers/listeners will probably be less affected by it than the grown-ups reading it to them. The message that you can’t outrun your destiny is clear – but all the same, Wei Gu is lucky after his wicked act to end up with a loving wife who still loves him, even when the truth comes out.

A red thread runs throughout the book, straight across the pages, separating the text from the main focus of the illustrations, which completely fill each double-page spread. There are grandiose architectural spaces, busy market scenes and energetic close-ups, all depicted in a beautiful pallette of blues and greens, with orange as a striking outline color. In fact, as far as Young’s illustrations go, this for me is right up there as one of my favorites.

Now, there’s a question: which books by Ed Young are your and your children’s favorites? I am being very kind putting it in the plural, because I would find it very hard to narrow it down to just one myself!

A young Afghan boy shares his life and dreams for the future with us in The Roses in My Carpets by Rukhsana Khan and illustrated by Ronald Himler (Holiday House, 1998), a beautiful, thought-provoking picture book set in a refugee camp in Pakistan. He doesn’t like school but loves the afternoons he spends weaving carpets from brightly colored threads that all hold special meaning for him: although “Everything in the camp is a dirty brown, so I do not use brown anywhere on my carpets.”

One day his work is interrupted by the shocking news that his sister has been badly hurt. He runs to the hospital. His mother is already there, too distraught to think rationally. Our young narrator takes charge, sending his mother home while he waits for news at the hospital. Fortunately, this being a children’s story, the news is good – which in turn allows for a breathing space that alters the nightmare of conflict he describes at the beginning of the book: that night his dreams open up to allow a tiny space out of danger for him and his beloved family.

Reading a story that includes issues of conflict and hurt needs plenty of thinking and discussion space around it, especially at bedtime – but Rukhsana Khan has written this story so deftly that they too will be comforted by the ending. This wonderful book includes a lot of incidental detail, such as the muezzin calling people to prayer and the boy’s musings about his overseas sponsor. Particularly convincing is the way the boy and his mother can hardly eat at the end of the day, after their terrible fright; and also the reality depicted of a boy who is very mature – who has had to grow up too quickly and take adult responsibilities on his shoulders. The attention to detail also carries over into the fine ilustrations – and young readers, and perhaps adults too, may be particularly struck by the mud buildings in the refugee camp.

I have included The Roses in My Carpets in my Personal View for our current issue of PaperTigers, which focuses on Refugee Children. Rukhsana also talks about the book in her interview with us last year; and do listen to her reading it here. On her blog, she has been discussing Ramadan recently – and I particularly enjoyed this post with an Afghan fable. Yesterday Aline pointed to some books for children that focus on Ramadan – including another of Rukhsana’s…

And please, please spare a thought for all those caught up in the floods in Pakistan, including Afghan refugees like the boy and his family in The Roses in my Carpets. If you’re looking for a charity who are sending relief, take a look at Sally’s post for some links.

Continuing along the lines of our current How Children Play Around the World theme, I have been re-reading two beautiful picture books I was introduced to in Bologna, thanks to Corinne’s meeting with Corinne (Australian author Corinne Fenton) at the SCWBI stand. Both of them, by Corinne, make perfect bedtime stories, though Queenie: One Elephant’s Story (Black Dog Books (Australia), 2006) may need a bit of discussion time afterwards as part of it is very sad.

Queenie tells the true story of Queenie the elephant who, towards the end of the nineteenth century, was trapped as a young calf by hunters in India and shipped to Australia, where she took up residence at Melbourne Zoo. She became one of the main attractions, giving rides tirelessly. Children would leave apples and peanuts for her aroud her circuit and wrote letters to her, telling her how much they loved her. Then, sadly, in 1945, an accident, compounded by food shortages during the Second World War, meant that she was destroyed. The book ends on a positive note, pausing to feel Queenie’s spirit among the elephants now enjoying the Trail of the Elephants at Melbourne Zoo, but a deep sadness nevertheless remains. Corinne’s narrative is unflinching and as gentle as Queenie herself – and Peter Gouldthorpe’s beautiful illustrations evoke the bygone era they depict, echoing early tinted photography.

On Corinne’s website, you can read a bit more about Queenie and see a photograph – and there are also teachers’ notes.

Flame Stands Waiting, illustrated by Sebastian Ciaffaglione (Black Dog Books, 2010) is also set in Melbourne – but this time the focus is on the carousel ride that can still be found at Melbourne Luna Park. While the illustrations have a 1930s feel about them, they are brought right up to date by a bold use of perspective that exactly suits the excitement of a carousel ride: and Corinne’s present tense narrtative does exactly the same.

Flame is one of the horses on the carousel, but he is sad because unlike the other horses, he can’t move up and down – until, that is, he discovers how to fly in his imagination, thanks to one little girl’s whisper in his ear: “We are going to fly into the clouds, over the stars and even beyond the moon! We can go anywhere we please.” I can see this lovely story becoming a firm favorite, asked for again and again before happy listeners head off into their own dreams – maybe even riding a pearly carousel horse…

PaperTigers’ current issue focuses on Canadian aboriginal literature.  I’d like to tell you about a quirkily illustrated and humorous aboriginal children’s title called  Jenneli’s Dance by Elizabeth Denny, illustrated by Chris Auchter (Theytus Books, 2008).  Jenneli is a Metis girl who’s a bit different-looking than her classmates:

She had darker hair and skin and her eyes were an unusual colour. It was as if they could not decide whether to be brown or green.

Jenneli’s one joy in life is doing the Red River Jig — something she has learned from her Grandma Lucee who lives in the small town of Lakeside, Manitoba.  One day, Grandma Lucee enters Jenneli into the jigging contest at the Lakeside fair.  Jenneli is horrified.  Will she do it?  Is she up to the challenge?

What I liked most about this book were the illustrations by Chris Auchter.  There’s something about the ‘flavor’ of the drawings and the details presented that gives the story a feeling of contemporary aboriginal life.  In the illustration of Grandma Lucee’s living room, there’s a picture of Elvis Presley hanging on the wall beside a macrame plant holder dangling from the ceiling.   There’s a magazine on the floor by Grandma’s knitting chair called “Inquiring Minds: Elvis Sightings.”  When Jenneli chokes on her bannock on hearing the news that her grandma has entered her into a jigging contest, the two are sitting outside at a picnic table with a funny looking bison observing them with a large bird (possibly an eagle?) flapping away into the distance.  It’s a Red River sort of scene, all right, done with the right symbols but with a touch of humor.

If you want to read a good aboriginal children’s title to your child at bedtime, I’d certainly recommend Jenneli’s Dance.

When Gecko complains to Raden, the jungle’s chief and a lion, about the fireflies that are keeping him awake, he sets in motion a string of complaints as each culprit of one animal’s complaint blames his actions on another’s behaviour. Eventually Raden is brought face to face with Rain:

When he reached Mount Batur’s highest peak, Chief Raden roared loudly, “Rain, why are you ruining the jungle pathways and causing so many problems for the animals?”

While waiting for Rain’s reply, Chief Raden dropped to the ground in exhaustion. Looking out over Bali, he saw sparkling rivers, blue skies filled with drifting clouds and endless hills of green. Raindrops fell, cooling his tired body. [...]

Raden then understood he was asking a very foolish question.

He returns home and delivers a few home truths to the animals about remembering all that Rain provides, and tells them to stop complaining but learn to live “in peace with one another”. By being considerate to their fellow creatures and recognising that there is much to appreciate in their own lives, they do in fact find themselves with little to complain about.

Gecko’s Complaint/ Keluhan Sang Tokek, a Balinese folktale, retold by Ann Martin Bowler and sumptuously illustrated by Balinese artist I Gusti Made Sukanada (Periplus Editions) is available both in English and, as of this year, as a bilingual book with English and Indonesian text. It is definitely a fable whose meaning has bearing on the lives of us humans. Chief Raden is a respected authority figure who listens and is decisive and fair – a role model who will also be respected by young listeners of the story. At the same time, the narrative doesn’t fall into the trap of being didactic but provides plenty of room for characterisation and humor to come through. The vibrant illustrations are full of jungle wildlife and we love the vignettes of animals, birds and flowers scattered through the text. Perhaps it’s an unreasonable quibble, but if another edition is ever planned, it would be great to have an appendix saying what they all are; it would provide a good counterbalance to the introduction, which gives an interesting overview of Indonesia and Bali in particular.

Ann talks a little about writing the book in her interview with PaperTigers – and I have to say, I’d love to know more about what she describes as the “adventure” of working with I Gusti Made Sukanada to create the book. She has also written a song, Complaining, to accompany the book – it’s available on her website.

To read a little more about how Gecko’s Complaint fits into Indonesian folklore, read this review from the Bali Advertiser. Many cultures feature animal fables in their traditional story-telling – do you have any particular favorites that you’d recommend as a bedtime story?

Each of the four stories in Arctic Adventures – Tales from the Lives of Inuit Artists, retold by Raquel Rivera and illustrated by Jirina Marton (Groundwood Books/ House of Anansi Press, 2007), makes a perfect bedtime story – but be ready to count in some extra time to look at the short biography of the artist protagonist in each one, along with an example of the art. This corelation between each story and an artist makes this a very special book. Older Brother read it on his own for the PaperTigers Reading Challenge in 2008 and you can read his reaction to it here.

All the stories describe events in the artists’ lives before their move away from the traditional Inuit way of life, through circumstances that are explained in each case. In “Pudlo and Kapik Go Hunting”, a hunting trip nearly ends in disaster when artist Pudlo Pudlat’s nephew Kapiq is stranded on an ice floe; “Kenojuak and the Goddess of the Sea”, describes Kenojuak Ashevak’s childhood encounter with Talelayu, Goddess of the Sea; in “Oonark’s Arctic Adventure” we join Jessie Oonark on her perilous journey “in off the land” in the Back River Area to Baker Lane; and Lazarusie Ishulutak shared his experiences with the author of two very different encounters with polar bears, for “Lazarusie and the Polar Bears”. Through the narrative young readers/listeners (and indeed adult readers) will absorb many details of Inuit culture – and there’s a map and a good glossary at the end too, as well as suggested further reading and an author’s note giving details of her sources for each story.

Marton’s atmospheric and expressive pastel illustrations transport readers to the Frozen North and provide a coherence between the stories – and the photograph of the artist that follows each story in a double-page spread, along with biographical details and discussion of their artwork, adds a very special dimension to the book that will intrigue young listeners/readers. And this is where sharing the book comes into its own, as the realisation that these stories happened to real, identifable people is something young people will want to talk through. And, of course, there are some interesting anecdotes too – like the following:

“When Pudlo was a child, he liked to draw on the walls of his family’s iglus, especially on the ice windows. But mothers discourage their children from doing this.

“Don’t carve up the wall, ” Pudlo’s mother would tell him.

Pudlo didn’t begin drawing on paper until the 1960s, when he was in his mid forties.”

So next time your small person gets creative on your walls…

And in the meantime, do seek out this beautiful book.

Chosen as one of the Spirit of PaperTigers 2010 Book Set, middle-reader Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beiing by Guo Yue and Clare Farrow (Barefoot Books, 2008) is an absolute gem of a book, which all of us (and our children) on the selection panel fell in love with. It also made a beautifully balanced pair with Grace Lin’s Where the Mountain Meets the Moon: one with a boy as the main character, the other with a girl; both lovely to hold and richly illustrated; both with Chinese culture at their hearts, but each also weaving allegory and metaphor into their narrative.

Based on Guo Yue’s childhood, Little Leap Forward tells the story of the young, flute-playing Leap Forward’s love for a songbird he keeps in a cage and calls Little Cloud, set against the shadows of the looming Cultural Revolution in China. You can read a full review, including a synopsis, here. Beautifully illustrated with full-page color plates by Helen Cann, it certainly offers a pleasurable read to young, independent readers – but it also makes a lovely bedtime story for older children, who enjoy a sustained read over several evenings. The writing is lyrical and so lends itself to being read aloud; and, although the story itself follows universal themes of friendship, freedom and learning to let go of those we love, the book’s cultural setting may well give rise to questions and discussion. The end-notes provide historical facts about the Cultural Revolution, filling in details of what happened to Yue and his family. An added dimension for us reading the book together was that both my boys were really keen to know everything that was written here and enjoyed making comparisons with the story – yet I know that when they each read the book on their own, they read the captions to the photographs but didn’t really look at the text.

We were also fortunate enough to see the stage adaptation of Little Leap Forward last year (you can read my post about it here) and I have recently come across this “SoundCloud” from its opening sequence – so head on over and close your eyes for a few minutes, imagining Leap Forward and his friend Little-Little on the river bank, flying their kites high into a cloudess blue sky…

Pam Allyn’s recent article in the Huffington Post, Bedtime Reading: Children’s Stories to Inspire You In Your Sleep, lists her top recommendations for bedtime reading for all ages for the year 2010. Why did she make this list?

When the sun goes down, fears come up. The blessing of a transcendent story for any age is that it helps us to escape, to relate, to connect and to understand the perils and magic of our mortal universe. [...]

In the midst of the swirling clouds of conversations on recession, terrorism threats and environmental anxieties, our great authors, honoring the mysterious yet profound world of childhood, steer us toward peace and community, and the promise of hope in the morning.

Pam’s list is comprised of 8 books and includes Planting the Trees of Kenya and One Hen: two books which we chose for our Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set! Here is what Pam has to say about these two books and why they made her list:

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maatthai by Claire Nivola. Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Prize in 2004 for her efforts to repair the environmental damage done to Kenya. She taught women and children to plant seeds and grow trees. Nivola shows the children restoring the health of a country. How this book will inspire: it’s not just Wangari who rallies us; it’s the tenderness of the children and their mothers, taking political action by planting gardens.

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes.  Kojo lives in a small Ashanti village. His life is changed when he is given a micro-loan by his village and he is able to buy a hen. His success after this impacts everyone in his community and beyond. Why we all should read this: When we try to figure out what to do to help in this year 2010, this book gives us a good model for how teaching a man to fish is more important than the fish itself.

Be sure to click here and read about the other books on Pam’s list.