It’s not too late to join this year’s Reading the World Challenge if you haven’t already – just take a look at this post for details.

In our family we have all joined together and read picture books set in Mongolia, which is our current focus on PaperTigers. I had to hunt around a bit but we came up with a good selection. I’m not going to go into a great deal of detail here as they are all gathered up in my Personal View, Taking a step into children’s books about Mongolia. We have really enjoyed delving into the culture and heritage of Mongolia and these picture books have been read all together and individually.

One bedtime Older Brother read Horse Song: the Naadam of Mongolia by Ted and Betsy Lewin (Lee and Low, 2008) to Little Brother – quite a long read and they were both engrossed. Watching them from the outside, as it were, I came to an added appreciation of the dynamics of Ted and Betsy’s collaboration, both in the energy of their shared enthusiasm and participation in the events surrounding the famous horse-race, and also of being struck by a busy, crowded scene one page and then giggling at the turn of expression on an individual study’s face the next.

And I’ll just share with you Little Brother’s reaction to Suho’s White Horse, which you can read about in a bit more detail in my Books at Bedtime post earlier this week:

It was a moving story. The governor made me angry because he broke his word and was cruel to Suho and his horse.
[Listening to the musical version played on the Mongolian horsehead fiddle, the morin khuur] Once you know the story, you can tell which part of the music is telling which part of the story. How do they make that music with just two strings? It fills me with awe.

I also read The Horse Boy: A Father’s Miraculous Journey to Heal His Son by Rupert Isaacson (Viking, 2009), an amazing story of a family’s journey to Mongolia in search of horses and shamans to seek healing for the torments that were gripping their five-year-old autistic son’s life: as Isaacson puts it with great dignity, his “emotional and physical incontinence”. If you have already read this humbling, inspiring book (and even if you haven’t), take a look at this recent interview three years on from their adventurous journey. Now I need to see the film!

And talking of films (which we don’t very often on PaperTigers, but I can’t resist mentioning this one), The Story of the Weeping Camel is a beautiful, gentle film that takes you right to the heart of Mongolian life on the steppe. Who would have thought a documentary film about a camel could be so like watching a fairy tale? Don’t be put off by the subtitles – our boys love this film. Take a look at the trailer -

But now it’s time to leave Mongolia and find out what everyone else has been reading… (more…)

The National Book Development Board (NBDB) and the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) presented the first ever National Children’s Book Awards last July 24 at the Mandarin Oriental in Makati City, Philippines.

Of the 131 children’s books nominated, the board of judges chose 6 books as this year’s winners. Of these 6 books, 3 were published by Adarna House. The 1st National Children’s Book Awards are special for many reasons including, as Adarna House states on their blog,:

We are so happy with the NCBA, which gives the awards on an even playing field — without ranking and categories — along with written citations that highlight each book’s strength and charm.

To learn more about the 1st National Children’s Book Awards and the 27th National Children’s Book Day celebrations check out Zarah Gagatiga’s blog School Librarian in Action as well as Tarie Sabido’s blog Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind. Tarie was one of the judges for the awards and if you click here she shares the judges’ comments on the 6 winning books.

Thanks to Zarah Gagatiga, Chair of the Philippines Board on Books for Young People (PBBY), for sending me details on this year’s  27th National Children’s Book Day (NCBD) in the Philippines to be held on 20th July.

This year’s theme is “A Book Reader is a Winner” and PBBY will be commencing their celebrations at the Museo Pambata in Manila for the handing out of their annual awards. This year’s Salanga (Writers’ Prize) goes to Raymond G. Falgui for his poetry collection Green Leaf and Other Poems (the first time the award has been awarded for poetry); and the Alcala (Illustrators’ Prize) has been awarded to Aldy Aguirre for his “dreamy and whimsical illustrations” of Falgui’s poems in the same book.

Filipino author Candy Gourlay will be delivering the day’s keynote address, fresh from the successful publication of her Young Adult novel, Tall Story, in the UK. The day will also be marked by the opening of a Retrospective of Albert Gamos, an award-winning Filipino illustrator who died last year. An esteemed honorary member of Ang Illustrador Ng Kabataan (InK), he was well-known for his classical and intricate style of illustrating for children.

As part of the NCBD celebrations PBBY and the National Book Development Board (NBDB) will announce the Best Reads of 2008 and 2009.

Schools, learning communities, libraries and families are all encouraged to get involved. For ideas on what type of activities could be organized, check out Zarah’s Top Ten Suggestions.

And even if you are not in the Philippines, why not join in the celebrations by reading a Filipino children’s book or YA novel? The summer edition of the National Geographic Kids magazine has picked Candy Gourlay’s Tall Story as one of its Brilliant Summer Books. You can get plenty of ideas from our recent issue of PaperTigers focusing on the Philippines; and more Filipino book suggestions can always be found on Zarah’s and Tarie Sabido’s blogs.

As Zarah says “The NCBD celebration is not exclusive to PBBY. Bring it to your schools and families. After all, we are all here to celebrate reading, books and the Filipino young reader.”

With our current focus on the Philippines, I have been exploring Filipino blogs – and indeed, this post would have gone live a couple of hours ago if my attention hadn’t been caught by this or that blog post!

I already know and follow Into the Wardrobe – and indeed Tarie has been a major contributor to this issue of PaperTigers: read her interviews with authors Carla Pacis, Dorina Lazo Gilmore (reprint) and Edna Cabcabin Moran (reprint). Tarie is also one of this year’s Cybils judges, in the Science Fiction and Fantasy category, so she definitely has her finger on the pulse of what’s out there!

Also Zarah at School Librarian in Action – Zarah opens up the world of Filippino children’s literature and is always happy to share events with us here at PaperTigers. As current president of PBBY, the Philippines chapter of IBBY, she’s another person who seems to know everything that’s going on – definitely another blog to follow!

Of the other blogs I’ve come across, I’ve found plenty of interest at Masayang Mgbasa!, publisher Adarna House’s blog; and I love illustrator and all-round artist Mark Salvatus’ blog – his current art projects are very different to his illustrations for Papa’s House, Mama’s House, which I blogged about recently! I’ve also enjoyed reading Nitoy’s Homeschool Journal and Children, Books and Life Lessons, writer Jean Lee C. Patindol’s blog.

And I’ve read some very moving posts too – writer and illustrator May Tobias Papa describing the devastation to her family’s home during the recent flooding in the Philippines, alongside delightful musings on her small son’s discovery of reading; and writer Dean Alfar’s up-to-the-minute detailings of lack of running water and power-cuts in the wake of Typhoon Ondoy and, most recently, his beautiful eulogy to an old friend, all at his blog Notes from the Peanut Gallery.

So go ahead and dip into these blogs – and if you have any other recommendations do let us know!

You can read more about the devastation caused by Typhoon Onday at TyphoonOnday.org and its sister-site OndayRelief.org, where you can also make a donation to the relief fund.

About a month ago now, we were thrilled to be chosen by Just One More Book for the Butterfly Award. Thank you! And now it’s definitely high time the butterfly winged on its way through cyberspace…

So, we are passing this award on to these great blogs:

All at Create Readers
All of the Blue Rose Girls
Annie at Here and There Japan
Cynthia Leitich Smith at Cynsations
Debbie Reese at American Indians in Children’s Literature
Jen at Jen Robinson’s Book Page
Margriet at Margriet’s Blog
Mitali Perkins at Mitali’s Fire Escape
Uma Krishnaswami at Writing With a Broken Tusk
Zarah Grace C. Gagatiga at School Librarian in Action

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