New on our WaterBridge Outreach site (formerly known as Spirit of PaperTigers Outreach) feedback from Redwood Shores Elementary School in Redwood City, CA, USA. Grade 3  teacher Ms. Jennifer Lo and her students have participated in our Outreach program for the past two years and and recently sent us their feedback  on the  2012 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set. All the feedback from Redwood Shores School can be read by clicking here. To give you a little preview Ms. Lo wrote in part:

My students used this year’s books along with last year’s books that you sent to participate in their first round of literature circles. Before their literature circle meeting, students read the books to themselves and completed a few comprehension tasks that they would bring to their literature circle meetings to share with their group members. After their meetings, students wrote reviews about the books which can be viewed on our class blog.

These books are an invaluable resource to my class as I was able to teach the kids how to have meaningful conversations with others about what they read and learn about other cultures and places.

Here’s a video of short clips I was able to record during the literature circle meetings.

PaperTigers is an international program sponsored by PaperTigers: Books+Water, a California 501(c) (3) organization that relies on public and private support. Please help PaperTigers build a sustainable future by making a tax deductible contribution in direct support of its programs. Your gift will make a difference, and we thank you for your generous support! For donation information click here.

Concluding our focus on Laguna BelAir School and their involvement in our WaterBridge Outreach program we present the feedback of the school  librarian Ms. Vin Del Rosario.

The books donated by the PaperTigers: Books+Water presented a very suitable opportunity for me to propose a reading program for the Learning Resource Center (LRC).

I am a School Librarian who oversees the operations of the Library and Learning Resource Center of Laguna BelAir School, a K-12 private educational institution located in the City of Santa Rosa, Laguna,Philippines.

This reading program was spearheaded by the LRC in partnership with the Class Advisers and Reading Teachers of students in Grades 2 to 6. One of the aims of this reading program was for students to encourage one another to read the Spirit of PaperTigers (SPT) books in the library to reach the class reading goal. The reading goal was determined by the number of students in the class, the assigned 3 SPT titles and percentage of expected participating students. To reach the class reading goal faster, more students must participate in the reading program.

This SPT Reading Program gave me more chances to reach out to the clients of the library. While the reading program was up and running, the students would wait for me every morning during their Class Routine time for the distribution of the Mini Book Certificates. These small pieces of paper certified that the student earned points for his/her class by submitting correct answers using the Book Completion Form (BCF). (more…)

At the heart of every PaperTigers book is a message for all of humanity. The message each book conveys is relevant, timeless, and transcends the boundaries set by current economic, political, or cultural constructs that continue to impinge on the way peoples of the world interact today.

We at Laguna BelAir School have realized the affinity between our core values and those of the PaperTigers (PT) organization, as conveyed in the PT books that the organization has sent us. By sharing the PT books with our students, we are also imparting our core values in a way that is not awkward and forced. Through the books, they may realize that the things we say we value are not simply words to be memorized but are ideals that other people cherish and live out. Through their constant exposure to these wonderful books, and their continuous experiences in the school’s different advocacies, they may truly become what we wish them to be – stewards for a better world.

Thank you, Paper Tigers, for involving us in your outreach program. We share in Wangari Maathai’s (Planting the Trees of Kenya) advocacy of caring for the environment by planting trees and in her belief in women and in communities working together to bring about much-needed reforms. We are inspired by Kojo’s (One Hen) example of thrift and of making a difference one small step at a time. The way we view people with cultures or beliefs other than ours is challenged by the way friendship is forged between Abaani and Haki (First Come the Zebra), thereby promoting peaceful coexistence. And we are truly inspired by the boy (A Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope) who despite all adversity finds hope for a better future in a war-ravaged land.

Today we continue our focus on Laguna BelAir School, located in Santa Rosa City, Philippines, and their involvement in our WaterBridge Outreach Project. The first post in the series can be read here.

Our WaterBridge Outreach: Books + Water Nourishing the Mind and Body program (formerly known as Spirit of PaperTigers Outreach)  seeks to further the overall goals of the PaperTigers Program: bridging cultures and opening minds, promoting greater understanding and empathy among young people from different backgrounds, countries, and ethnicities. More specifically, WBOutreach works to advance education through books and reading, and development through clean and accessible water.

Today on the blog we are highlighting feedback from WBOutreach participant Dharma Chakkra Child Foundation Library located in the Dharma Chakkra Children’s Home in Weedagama, Sri Lanka. Established in 1998, the home provides housing and education for approximately 100 orphaned boys as well as for boys from unstable homes. In 2008 a second children’s home was opened exclusively for girls. Nia Murphy was instrumental in getting a 2011 Book Set to the Dharma Chakkra Child Foundation Library and  for providing us with this feedback:

The books were put in the children’s shared library. Dharma Chakkra has two hostels, one for the girls and then another, about 200 metres away and behind a wall, for the boys. The library is in the boys’ hostel. When I was last at the home the library was open in the evenings for the boys to use freely. Since then they’ve decided to shut it except at weekends when they have library time and English classes. I was told the books were used by the English teacher during these classes. However it was felt the books were a bit difficult for some of the children at the home, many of whom are still struggling with Sinhala, the local language. This is mostly true of the boys but the girls, who unfortunately have less access to the library, are at a higher standard. In hindsight I think a donation only for the girls’ hostel might have been a good idea. This was my mistake.

The overriding feedback was actually about the visuals: that the books showed children things they don’t normally see in ‘normal’ (read affordable) English or Sinhala books. Many of the books they have in the library are very old and extremely out of date. The affordable English books on the market in Sri Lanka are often things like The Radiant Way, which is a very dated old English sort of publication with smiling white children in high socks. Very simply, seeing children in picture books with brown skin is a rarity. So they were particularly excited about this, and the fact the children were seeing worlds not too dissimilar to their own but ones not normally presented in children’s books.

Click here to read the rest of Nia’s report.

With a loud roar we are pleased to announce the following winners in our PaperTigers’ 10th Anniversary Giveaway:

1st Prize: ALL the books from the 2012 Book Set AND the 2011 Book Set AND the 2010 Book Set PLUS the PaperTigers 10th Anniversary Poster AND some bookmarks. 1 Winner- DORIS KEMP

2nd Prize: ALL the books from the 2012 Book Set AND the 2011 Book Set PLUS the PaperTigers 10th Anniversary Poster AND some bookmarks. 2 Winners – MITALI PERKINS and JOANNA MARPLE

3rd Prize: ALL the books from the 2012 Book Set PLUS the PaperTigers 10th Anniversary Poster AND some bookmarks. 3 Winners -  STACEY LOSCALZO, RICHNA JNA, HELEN DINNEN

4th Prize: A SURPRISE book AND the PaperTigers 10th Anniversary Poster AND some bookmarks. 4 Winners – SANDHYA, TANYA LLOYD KYI, ROBERT BLACK and SHERRY YORK.

We will be contacting the winners today to congratulate them and to confirm shipping details.

It’s been a busy month here at PaperTigers with our 10th Anniversary celebrations in full swing as well as receiving lots of feedback  from  schools involved in our WaterBridge Outreach: Books + Water Nourishing the Mind and Body (formerly known as Spirit of PaperTigers Outreach). It’s always exciting to receive a package in the mail or open an email and see images of students involved with the Book Sets and to read their thoughts and comments on the books.

Today we are highlighting feedback from Talisay Elementary School. Talisay Elementary School is located in a barrio in Barangay Talisay in the Northern Mindanao Area of the Philippines. A significant number of students at this school have parents who are unemployed and the school’s mission is to provide “the best quality education to everyone who enters the gates.”  Talisay has participated in our Outreach program for the past two years and when reflecting on the 2011 Book Set, teacher Brenda Abao commented:

When my pupils saw the pictures in the books, they were so attracted with the color presentation. Some laughed at the illustrations. Most of them enjoyed best the story Biblioburro.

The books you sent me were a big help in my class especially during the “DEAR” (Drop Everything And Read) period. The students took turns reading since I had 29 pupils and there were only 15 books. They felt for the children in the countries mentioned in the stories but they couldn’t search for more about these countries since only a few of them have access to the internet.

After all of my pupils were able to read the 3 stories, I discussed each story with the whole class. One pupil commented that they were so lucky since their schools are not made of mud and that they do not need to build their school every year. That’s after we talked about the story Rain School.

To read all the feedback from Talisay School and to see more photos click here. To learn more about the 2012 Book Set, click here.

Mount View School, administered by Mr Hotoshe Sema, is a Nursery to Class 10 school located in rural Suruhuto, in Nagaland, India. This school has participated in our WaterBridge  Outreach: Books + Water project for the past two year and we recently received students’ and administrators’ reactions on the 2011 Book Set.  Here is a brief selection; click here to read all.

Selected students’ feedback:

P:  Rain School – This is the first time I have heard of students and teachers building a school and I admire they way they did it. The language is quite simple and easy to understand. The main character Thomas’s eagerness to learn and read and his aim to have a new school was very inspiring as he had many obstacles but succeeded in overcoming all these with great determination.

A: Biblioburro – Through this book I come to know that without education, even a rich man is nothing. This is a good lesson for me in life.

K: A Child’s Garden teaches us not to give up in anything, especially when it is for good.

Selected teachers’ feedback:

Mr. Mughaka:
Biblioburro - Pleasant and inspiring, with sweet, little pictures.
Rain School – Rumford’s Rain School is an encouraging story which will bring smiles to the readers and listeners. Appropriate for kids of any age.
A Child’s Garden – It is a heartening story. It reminds us that hope and determination, and even little things, can do wonders.

Mr. Abenito:
A Child’s Garden – An appreciable illustration about a never ending (undying) hope and concern for that which matures in a person’s mind and soul for a better living and freedom.
Biblioburro – An inspiring and well illustrated story that imparts the significance an individual can play through books.
Rain School – Rumford’s depictions emphasizing a teacher in inspiring and molding a child are quite amazing and interesting.

New on our Outreach site….photos from Pingliang Road No. 3 Elementary School in Shanghai, China. This school has participated in our Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set project for the past two years. Their latest feedback consists of photos of students’ work based on books in the 2011 Book Set:  A Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope, written and illustrated by Michael Foreman; Rain School, written and illustrated by James Rumford; and Biblioburro, written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter.

Here’s a sneak peek…..click here to see all the photos.

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One of the books in our recently announced 2012 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set is the gorgeous Out of the Way! Out of the Way! by the almost-same-named Uma Krishnaswami (author) and Uma Krishnaswamy (illustrator).   I interviewed Author-Uma last year about her hugely entertaining The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, so I caught up with her this last month to ask her a couple of questions about Out of the Way! Out of the Way!, originally published in India by Tulika Books and published this year by Groundwood Books.  (You can read about Illustrator-Uma’s experience creating the book in the Q&A for our Gallery feature of her work.)

Welcome back to the PaperTigers blog, Uma.  What does Out of the Way! Out of the Way! mean to you?

I never understand what a book means to me until quite some time after it’s been published.  I can’t seem to think of it in that way until I’ve gained some distance from the project. On the surface, Out of the Way! Out of the Way! is a simple story, and I am often drawn to simple stories, especially those in which a single action has far-reaching consequences. At another level I suppose it represents my Pollyanna attempt to make things right in this world. In the reality we all inhabit, let’s face it, most of the time, when development demands a road, trees generally lose out. I started out by thinking of the face-off we see so often between human sprawl and green, growing things. The story grew and changed over many revisions and especially over the editorial process at Tulika Books. In the end it became a response to that conflict, questioning it and offering another view.

If you could send it anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?

Well, I’d want to send it to communities on the edges of cities, places where green habitats are rapidly being eaten up by concrete blocks and uncontrolled roads. Places where children and the adults who care for them might feel inspired to look at their environment and begin asking questions about whether and how it’s being sustained. I’m very grateful to Groundwood Books for bringing this book to North America, and to PaperTigers for selecting this title and making it possible for such conversations to take place.

Also, because it was first published in India by the wonderful Tulika Books in English and in eight Indian languages, I’d really like to see sets of regional language editions of the book sent to schools and NGOs in India, in communities where children learn to read in languages other than English.

Thank you, Uma.  You can keep up to date with Uma at her wonderful blog Writing With a Broken Tusk, as well as her website, which currently highlights Out of the Way! Out of the Way! on its landing page.  But don’t go away just yet – the good news is that Uma also has a list of ten favorite  books to share with us for our 10th Anniversary Top 10 series.

A Top 10 of Multicultural favourites by Uma Krishnaswami

I had to think about this. It was difficult to stop at ten!  This list is in no particular order, and includes books across the age range.

~  Indian Shoes by Cynthia Leitich Smith

~  Amadi’s Snowman by Katia Novet Saint-Lot

~  Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke

~  Nabeel’s New Pants by Fawzia Gilani-Williams illustrated by Proiti Roy (originally published by Tulika Books, India as Ismat’s Eid)

~  The Wild Book by Margarita Engle

~  A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

~  Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

~  One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

~  Tiger on a Tree by Anuskha Ravishankar, illustrated by Pulak Biswas

~  Waiting for Mama by Tae-Joon Lee, illustrated by Dong-Sung Kim

I’ve spotted some of my own favorites in Uma’s list too… What about you?  And if you would like to send us a Top 10 of your favorite multicultural books from any genre or theme (we’ll also accept a Reader’s Ten – see Janet Wong’s selection for an explanation), just email me your list to marjoreATpapertigersDOTorg.