James Rumford,
Tiger and Turtle
Roaring Brook Press, 2010.

Ages 4+

Tiger and Turtle live in the same forest and stay out of each other’s way.  They may not always agree, but they have learned there is no use arguing or fighting.  After all, “a tiger’s claws could not harm a turtle’s shell any more than a turtle’s feet could outrun a tiger’s.”  Then one day, the tiniest of flowers drifts down from the sky and changes their relationship forever.

Turtle wants to eat the flower, but Tiger has other ideas, and, while they may not be able to hurt each other (at least not very easily) they can sure fight over a flower!  For instance, Tiger can swipe at the flower and send it soaring out of Turtle’s reach.  And Turtle, once she is angry enough, learns that biting Tiger’s leg is actually pretty effective.  The two go back and forth escalating their efforts to control each other and gain the flower.  It seems as though disaster will surely befall them both, but at the last minute, we learn there was never anything to fight about as Tiger and Turtle narrowly escape a gruesome fate—together!  It is no surprise at all that after this, Tiger and Turtle move beyond mere tolerance to become the best of friends.

This gorgeous book, with a strong message about resolving conflict and the futility of fighting is, perhaps fittingly, dedicated to the author’s brother.  It is likely that the sibling relationship is the first place many children learn such lessons, and they will doubtless relate to the silliness and extremes Tiger and Turtle go to, to get their own way.  The art, inspired by Indian and Pakistan designs for shawls, rugs, and jali windows and rendered on handmade Chinese paper, is simply beautiful.  Indeed, gazing at Rumford’s warm colors, transcendent designs and the boldly drawn yet slightly dreamy Tiger and Turtle is likely to make anyone feel peaceful and at ease.  A book that can bring children to laugh, dream, calm down and think about important lessons is certainly a treasure.  Parents and children, perhaps for different reasons, will both want to reread Tiger and Turtle many times.

Abigail Sawyer
November 2011

Once Upon A Wartime is a family-friendly exhibition taking place at the Imperial War Museum London until October 30, 2011. Focusing on five well-known books written for children about war and conflict, the exhibit brings the books to life though stunning life-size sets, intricate scale models and hands-on, interactive displays. The exhibit is split into five sections – one for each of the books it explores:  War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden, The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier, The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall and Little Soldier by Bernard Ashley.

Throughout the exhibit, visitors will explore the themes of loyalty, separation, excitement, survival and identity portrayed in the books. They will go behind the scenes of each story and learn of the authors’ inspiration through interesting and sometimes unseen items such as manuscripts, early sketches, interviews and photographs. Once Upon A Wartime also offers all-important historical context through expert interpretation and genuine examples of relevant objects including evacuee labels and letters, aircraft recognition cards and a tail fin from a German incendiary bomb.

Diane Lees, Director-General of the museum, says: “War has inspired authors of children’s stories for generations and we’re delighted to draw together some of the very best examples in Once Upon A Wartime. The Imperial War Museum is the museum of everyone’s story so focusing on these extraordinary fictional accounts of conflict is an innovative, and we hope successful, way of helping children, and adults, understand the experience of war.”

Zoe Toft blogs at Playing by the Book and visited the exhibit last month. Read and see photos from her visit  here and here. Click here to watch a video of Hazel Brown, Exhibitions Researcher, talking about the exhibit and here to watch Helena Stride and Grant Rogers of the IWM Learning team explain more about the exhibition’s learning and events programs.

In August 2011, the Imperial War Museum will host a Children’s Literature Festival based on the exhibit. Authors and illustrators who will be taking part include Michael Morpurgo, Marcia Williams, Michelle Magorian, Jane Serraillier (daughter of Ian Serraillier), Martin Brown, Karin Littlewood, Bernard Ashley and Maurice Gleitzman. For those of you who live in the northern UK, you may be interested to know that the exhibit will move to the IWM North in Manchester on February 11, 2012 and run until September 2, 2012.

As a follow-up to our recent post on the International Conference “What a Story: Children’s Literature Today” held in Beirut, Lebanon, here is author Elsa Marston’s feed-back on the event:

A quick report on the international conference on children’s literature held in Beirut, June 12-14, which by all evidence came off very well indeed–especially for something that has never been done before in the Arab countries (at least on this scale). I was able to attend only the third day, when I spoke on U.S. children’s/YA literature about the Arab world. I was most impressed by the eager attendance and high energy, and was told that the first two days were the same. There were presenters from the U.K., Denmark, Germany, Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, France, Italy, as well as Lebanon; and the simultaneous translation was quite amazing.

Later I met with a couple of the women who had organized the conference, to brainstorm ideas for the next, planned for 2011. One thing will have to be different: box lunches instead of the lavish gourmet meals the hotel served, Beirut cuisine at its most elegant! (This conference was paid for by corporate, governmental, and NGO contributions, with no registration fees; but that kind of thing can hardly be counted on in the future.) Something else struck me: the need for writers to develop a certain spirit of “critical encouragement,” or “encouraging criticism,” as they work together to develop their craft professionally. Anyone who has ever been in a writers’ group, or critiqued a work in progress, knows that constructive criticism, that neither praises too much nor hurts too much, is a fine art….and it doesn’t come naturally in every culture.

The papers and presentations (the majority in English, I think, the rest in Arabic) will be published in a volume, presumably by the end of the year. I will welcome inquiries from anyone who might like to get a copy.

Born and raised in the USA, Elsa Marston is a children’s author who specializes in books, both fiction and non-fiction, about the Middle East. “A lot of my writing is about the Middle East and Arab-Americans.” says Elsa. “That’s because my late husband, Iliya Harik, was from Lebanon; family connections and his work as a political scientist (Indiana University) took us to that part of the world many times. I want to share with young readers my own interest in those lands and peoples, and equally important, help contribute to better understanding of the Arab/Muslim world. In that way I hope to continue Iliya’s life’s work, along with my own.”

From June 12 to the 14, Elsa will be attending an international conference on children’s literature in Beirut, Lebanon and told us:

I think this is the first time anything quite like this, at least with this scale and scope, has been done in the Arab countries, although there are IBBY chapters in Lebanon and Palestine and probably elsewhere. The preliminary program looks very interesting… an idea of some of the concerns that are gradually starting to take hold in the literature of that part of the world. Up till very recently, literature for children and teens consisted mostly of translations of European fairy tales and simplified western novels, and Arabian Nightsy stories. The idea that fiction for young people could reflect the lives of those young people and their societies had not quite caught on. (It must be admitted, the same thing was true here with respect to the Middle East, until about a dozen years ago! And that’s basically what I’ll be talking about.)

Elsa expects the conference to be largely in Arabic, with English and French mixed in liberally; and program highlights include: (more…)