Among the hundreds of publishers from all over the world at the Bologna Book Fair was Kasmir Promet from Croatia. Aline and I were immediately attracted to their booth by the amazing book-sculpture furniture at the front. We liked the posters on display too and bought some postcards. I’m so glad we did as it was only at that point we realised that the artist Andrea Petrlik Huseinović was there and that one beautiful set of her artwork, all in shades of blue, black and white, was from a book which is available in English: and it really is something special.

The Blue Sky is about a little 10-year-old girl who has lost her parents. There is nobody in the world to love her so she shuts herself away in the high tower she builds around herself and looks towards the sky in search of her mother. First the birds become her friends and then, as she remembers happy times with her mother, she starts to make friends with the different sky creatures her memories conjure up. Finally, a blackbird appears. The bird, which had been rescued as a fledgling by the girl and her mother, has come to reunite them. “Nobody has ever seen her again. The birds that fly in the blue sky say that she is somewhere in the clouds, together with her mother”.

This heart-breaking story has a fairy-tale quality which means that children will find it sad, yes, but not unbearable. The fact that the girl is reunited with her mother (and it is a fact, as far as my children are concerned, for example) means that the outcome is positive. However, this is also a cautionary tale with a stern message made clear from the outset: “Had someone hugged her with care and love, had she only experienced a little warmth, the story would have been different”.

Andrea Petrlik Huseinovic has won many awards for her work, both at home in Croatia and internationally. Her illustrations for Pinocchio earned her a place on the IBBY Honour List in 2002; and in 2003 she was awarded a Biennial of Illustration Bratislava (BIB) Plaque for her illustrations for The Blue Sky and Alice in Wonderland. The original paintings for both these books were bought by the Chihiro Art Museum in Japan for its International Collection. Appropriately enough, the idea for The Blue Sky came to Andrea during a UNESCO-BIB art workshop in Bratislava in 2001. In an afterword she talks about her own background, including “the saddest thing in my life”: she lost both her parents when she was ten years old. This knowledge, of course, adds poignancy to the story but it is clear that it is not meant to be taken as autobiographical. It remains an allegory for what happens when children are alone and we do not stretch out our hands and hearts to them. It’s an extraordinary book that works on many levels, for children and adults. It’s the kind of book that needs to be read together, whether as a family or as a school group; and it offers scope for enriching and soul-searching discussion. I bought two copies: one for my boys and one for their school library.

You can read it for yourselves straight away here as it is in the International Children’s Digital Library. If it proves hard sourcing a personal copy, it can be ordered directly from the publisher…

Good literature promotes literacy. Reading to children promotes literacy. Promoting a love of books through the example of reading promotes literacy. And sharing a story together, at the end of the day especially, offers a moment of harmony and oasis in family life, which sometimes has to be safe-guarded from the encroachment of action-packed schedules. So all in all, a bedtime story is a win-win scenario, whichever way you look at it!

It can, however, be a daunting prospect for some parents, so today on Books at Bedtime I’d like to focus on two resources which offer parents some tools to help make storytelling a joy for all concerned.

The first is the Storytelling Bibliographies page on The Center for Children’s Books’ website. These booklists encompass stories from all over the world which make great readalouds, arranged by themes such as Phases of the Moon, Tales about Fools, Latino Folktales, Native American Tales… The links to Storytelling Websites offer rich scope and I especially like the process advocated here for using a book as a springboard for someone to tell a story; and for listeners then to extend that storytelling experience. Such activities will lead children to love books and to love words themselves… the next generation of storytellers and writers?

And the other resource is Australian writer Mem Fox reading extracts from her book Reading Magic – her web-page And Do It Like This offers a step-by-step guide to reading stories aloud to children. She also has her 10 Read Aloud Commandments – here’s number 10 :

Please read aloud every day, mums and dads, because you just love being with your child, not because it’s the right thing to do.

And you can hear her putting all these hints and pieces of advice into action herself, reading three of her stories, including her avowed favorite Koala Lou: and she reads them beautifully.

It’s been a while since we read any fairy tales but our local library has recently added a goodly number of fairy tale books to its collection so we thought we’d delve in. We came home with an armful… some of them are traditional, others are modern (re)tellings or parodies.

I knew that Jon Scieszka’s The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and The Frog Prince Continued would both go down well – they are funny and wittily illustrated (by Lane Smith and Steve Johnson respectively); and both depend on the kind of superior knowledge that children delight in – all the stories would be somewhat lost in the telling if you didn’t already know the originals.

The Lost Happy Endings by Carol Anne Duffy and illustrated by Jane Ray was visually irresistible. Duffy’s rich eloquence also lives up to all expectations: but a word of caution. Although this is a new story, she takes the fairy tale genre back to its grass-roots level. No wishy-washiness here. The retribution meted out to the thieving witch is absolute. It is more suitable for slightly older children: and should be cherished for that, for it sometimes seems that the older children get, the harder it is to find beautifully illustrated picture books for them. Certainly both my children relished both the pictures and the wonderful, descriptive language and each bore the book off to read independently after I’d read it to them.

There were several anthologies of traditional fairy tales to choose from and I have to admit I was slightly dubious as to how my boys would take to several nights in a row of traditional “happy-ever-after” tales: they assure me every time romance is mentioned that all that stuff is yeuch… But of course, I had fallen into the trap of equating fairy-tale with romantic and there is so much more to the traditional stories than that. Anthea Bell’s name is a talisman for me so her translation of Henriette Sauvant’s selection of Rapunzel and other Magic Fairy Tales was the obvious choice (helped by the surreal cover illustration)– and has been bourne out. We have so far enjoyed stories we know well, as well as come across some new to us all.

The news of New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary’s death on Friday has brought that first ascent of Everest in 1953 back into the headlines, along with tributes to Hillary’s subsequent humanitarian and environmental work in Nepal.

The Sherpa Tenzing Norgay is indelibly linked with Hillary and so it is really no surprise that we reached for Robert Burleigh and Ed Young’s wonderful book Tiger of the Snows: Tenzing Norgay, The Boy Whose Dream Was Everest. An inspiring prose poem of aspiration and determination, it expresses Norgay’s love and respect for the mountains which tower over his home and how he comes to climb to the very top of Everest alongside Edmund Hillary. Ed Young’s breathtaking pastel shading draws young listeners into the mountains so that they too are trudging through the snow and seeking not to awaken the power of the metaphorical but depicted sleeping cat within.

It’s a story worth telling and this is a lovely version for young children to go to sleep on.

I have to admit that when I was my boys’ age (9 and 6), I’d never heard of Beowulf and I still haven’t actually read it – but it was the first book Son Number 2 pulled out of the Christmas pile. His grandmother was very impressed! And I don’t think he knew the name because of the film which came out in November – that hasn’t reached the wilds of Yorkshire yet.

Erstwhile Children’s Laureate (UK), author Michael Morpurgo and illustrator Michael Foreman have teamed up on a goodly number of books and their vibrant retellings of legends are always more than a satisfying read. So I’m looking forward to starting on Beowulf as a bedtime story soon: as are my boys, even though they’ve both now read it. They still love hearing stories they already know, as well as new ones.

Two Graphic Novel versions of the story have been nominated for the Cybils – we’ll find out very soon if they’ve been shortlisted; in the meantime you can read a review by A Year of Reading here.

Michael Morpurgo’s retelling is aimed at a younger audience – but then, as Not Just For Kids says, it’s not just for grown-ups! Thanks too for the link to this review of the film by Michael Morpurgo – the message comes through loud and clear: read the book, read the book!

Finally, while looking around to see what anyone else has said about Beowulf, I came across this moving post from author Uma Krishnaswami – Beowulf had a role to play in the setting up of John’s Shelf, a mobile book-shelf for taking books to children at the Children’s Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico – they accept donations of books in English, Spanish and Navajo – and who knows, it sounds like an initiative that could (and should) catch on…

As we come to the end of another year (already?!?), all children’s/ya book blogging eyes will be upon the Cybils 2007 finalists lists, which are due out on January 1st and 7th… what a great way to celebrate all that’s been happening in 2007 and bridge to all we have to look forward to in 2008.

To get ready for the moment we’re waiting for, Bookbuds has issued a challenge and the chance to win a copy of the pop-up Narnia…

There’s still time to catch Pam Coughlan‘s article in the latest The Edge of the Forest, which highlights nominations just asking to be read as bedtime stories …

…and nominations which have featured on PaperTigers this year include:

Shanté Keys and the New Year’s Peas by Gail Piernas-Davenport and illustrated by Marion Eldridge;

Hiromi’s Hands by Lynne Barasch;

Cracker: The Best Dog In Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata;

Kimchi & Calamari by Rose Kent;

Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins and illustrated by Jamie Hogan;

Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children About Their Art;

The Arrival by Shaun Tan;

Twist: Yoga Poems by Janet S. Wong and illustrated by Julie Paschkis;

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – well, we’ll be featuring a review in our next update – I’ll put in the link when it’s available…

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…and not forgetting Mama’s Saris by Pooja Makhijani.

So now we wait with baited breath… We were a bit slow on the uptake with our own nominations for the Cybils this year but next year we’ll definitely be jumping on the band-wagon too – though choosing which books to nominate will likely be a struggle!

Before I sign off for this year, I just want to point you in the direction of Jen Robinson’s latest Literacy Round-Up – she highlights some wonderful initiatives in promoting literacy and reading aloud to small children, as well as providing much pause for thought, including Daphne Lee’s article about plans to label books in the UK with recommended age ranges… being based in the UK myself, I can see myself entering the fray there!

So, to all those of you who have supported us since the start of our PaperTigers blog in May this year, and to all those of you who have dropped in since (and maybe this is your first time), we wish you a Very Happy and Book-filled 2008!

My boys and I have just come across renowned illustrator Raúl Cólon’s first fully authored picture book, Orson Blasts Off! (published in 2004), which is a real flight of the imagination. It’s about a boy who can see no end to boredom when his computer breaks down… until his jack-in-the-box called Weasel points to what is going on outside: it’s snowing, even though it’s July. Then Orson embarks on his adventures with great gusto: the North Pole, a desert island and even the stars.

The story is told through the dialogue between Orson and Weasel – indeed, it would make a good interactive read-aloud, as it’s really a script: but the wonderful illustrations add in the background as well as the wit and irony, so young readers/listeners will have to engage their imaginations too. It definitely provokes lots of comments and conversation – it’s not one to choose for a quick bedtime story, until it’s well established in the family repertoire!

My children love books which blur the edges between the “real” world and imaginary adventures: two which they have wanted read to them over and over again are Jo’s Storm by Caroline Pitcher, illustrated by Jackie Morris and Cloud Nine by Norman Silver, illustrated by Jan Ormerod, which are both out of print now and need to be sought out second hand… I can see that Orson Blasts Off! will be joining them on their bit of the bookshelf.

These books all star boys; there must be picture books out there which take girls off on amazing flights of the imagination too: any suggestions, anyone?

We have just finished reading Shanti the Grass-Eating Lion by Paul Sinclair (One World, One People, 2007) – read our full review here – a delightful fable about Shanti, a lion who is a spiritual leader to the people who live in his village in India, and indeed all those whose lives he touches. He doesn’t eat meat so as not to frighten these people, and is able to speak. Far-fetched as all this sounds, it is convincing within its narrative framework and there’s enough magic emanating from the story to make my two pester me with questions as to whether it was true or not and “Does he really just eat grass?”

The quality of the illustrations adds to this too – they are pencil sketches but depicted with such a photographic eye that the appearance of Shanti amongst the people becomes unquestionable. The story is introduced as a story within a story, told by a wise old man to two children who meet him on his arrival at their village. I have to say that we became so caught up in Shanti’s and the villagers’ adventures that we forgot this, until the twist at the very end which served to add fuel to my boys’ conviction that somewhere in India there is a grass-eating lion called Shanti…

The author, Paul Sinclair told me:

“Even though the book is aimed at children aged eight plus, I’ve had parents tell me they have read it to their six-year-olds and they ask a lot of questions and a lot of explanations are necessary, but they are apparently fine with it.

One friend of mine who had read it to her children aged around six told me she had an Indian friend called Ashanti. Once Ashanti phoned and left a message on the answer phone. When the children heard Ashanti had left a message they asked their mother if that was Shanti. Not realising what the children were asking she said yes to which the children asked ‘Does he eat grass?”

So mine aren’t the only ones!

All proceeds from the sale of the book go to the Shanti Lion Children’s Trust, which is very close to Paul’s heart – and he has written a thought-provoking article about his journey to write and publish the story, which appears on the organisation’s website.

We’re starting to count the days in our family to when school will break up for all of us… we’re looking forward to indulging in some good “book sessions”, when we can all snuggle up and take turns in reading piles of books to each other – old favorites and new.

Two very different books I’m looking forward to sharing with the boys this year are The Huron Christmas Carol illustrated by Ian Wallace and Santa Knows by husband and wife team Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith.

The Huron Carol takes its text from a carol which, as the name suggests, was originally written in the old Huron language in c. 1641, probably by Father Brébeuf, a French Jesuit missionary in what is now Ontario, Canada. Sung to the tune of a traditional French carol, it was translated into English in 1921, beginning “’Twas in the moon of wintertime”. This is the version which forms the text of this lovely book, although both the Huron and French words for one verse are given at the end, along with the tune. In it, the Christmas Story is set among the Huron Indians, so that, for example, “chiefs from far before him knelt/ with gifts of fox and beaver pelt”. Ian Wallace’s illustrations emphasise the cultural setting within the intimate space of a Huron longhouse, as well as through his sweeping depictions of the Canadian landscape filled with local wildlife. This book is a really special way to share the universality of the Christmas message, made relevant to a specific group of people by being placed into their own, familiar context.

Meanwhile, you just have to see the cover of Santa Knows to know that this book is going to be a fun
treat. Just look at those pyjamas! When it came out last year, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast said

This one would make a rousing read-aloud to the elementary-aged children at which it’s aimed

– I definitely agree: especially as that is just the age when the questions about whether Santa exists are starting to emerge. Let Alfie F. Snorklepuss’ experiences (what a glorious name!) be a warning to all those doubters out there! And just to add to the excitement, run to the end of this Cynsations post from a few days ago, where Cynthia Leitich Smith gives details of how to ask her for a signed “Santa Knows” bookplate.

Take a look at – and listen to – this delightful e-card from Barefoot Books: author Amy Tan narrates the poem from the recently-published Motherbridge of Love. Once you’ve heard the poem and been given a glimpse of the lovely illustrations by Jose Masse, you’ll understand why this would be a perfect book to read as a bedtime story, especially but certainly not only if you have adopted children of your own. There’s a special story behind it too, since the author of the poem is unknown: but it highlights the questions an adopted child might have about where they come from and who they are. I was fortunate to be able to catch up with Xinran, founder of the Mothers’ Bridge of Love charity, to whom the poem was sent and to which the royalties for the book will go – you can read the interview here; and here’s a photo of Xinran with Amy Tan, taken when they met recently during Xinran’s whistle-stop tour of the States.

Another recently-published picture-book featuring adoption is Grace Lin’s gorgeous The Red Thread: An Adoption Fairy Tale. It has all the traits of an enduring fairy tale – and love as the overriding principle. It creatively incorporates the “ancient Chinese belief that an invisible, unbreakable thread connects all those who are destined to be together.” This is something that many adoptive parents of children from China become aware of during their sometimes long, emotional journey through the adoption process. Grace has indeed turned it into the stuff of fairytales. She talked about the book in her charming interview with 7-Imps back in May; and Just One More Book featured it a few weeks ago.

Both these books are valuable additions to the slowly increasing number of picture-books which focus on adoption; and each in its own way has those qualities which will keep them special for years to come.

For more books featuring adoption, check out Rose Kent’s great Personal View on the PaperTigers main website: “Three Cheers For Adoption Books – And Why We All Should Read ‘Em”, with her recommendations for children of all ages. Chicken Spaghetti has put together a list of books for National Adoption month, as has Andrea Ross in her revealing podcast Thicker than Water: True Family Ties for Swimming in Literary Soup.

…And don’t forget, the auction of Snowflakes for Robert’s Snow: For Cancer’s Cure is still going on – Auction 2 starts tomorrow! Grace Lin’s own snowflake is featured in the PaperTigers Gallery along with others by artists from around the Pacific Rim…