Mitali Perkins's Blog, page 24

Lent Read 37: ORCHARDS by Holly Thompson

Holly Thompson masterfully offers two of my favorite distinctives in an excellent literary novel: a rich sense of place and a protagonist so real you've acquired her as a friend by the end of the story.



In ORCHARDS (Delacorte), we're transported to an orange grove in rural Japan with all five senses engaged. We explore layers of grief, anger, courage, and hope in a world shattered by suicide through the sometimes funny, sometimes heartbroken, always honest voice of half-Japanese, half-Jewish American eighth-grader Kana Goldberg.



I enjoyed the confidence Kana displayed when describing her mixed cultural heritage: "They seem to think |
I can just switch |
one half of me |
on |
and leave the other |
half of me |
off |
but I'm like |
warm water |
pouring from a faucet |
the hot |
and cold |
both flowing |
as one." Thompson isn't Japanese but has lived there for years, so the novel's take on the culture from the perspective of an outsider with insider relationships and privileges rings true.



I read through this lovely novel in verse in one setting, and so will most teen readers. I wasn't at all surprised to discover in the author's note that the novel reflects the nuanced, culturally-savvy editorial skills of Random House's Françoise Bui (who edited my own Monsoon Summer and Secret Keeper). ORCHARDS won the 2012 APALA Asian/​Pacific Award for Literature and received a starred review in School Library Journal.

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

Lent Reads 35 and 36: BEN AND THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION and GRANDMA COMES TO STAY

In BEN AND THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION (Eerdmans), Pat Sherman and Floyd Cooper transport readers straight into the days of slavery with the true story of Benjamin Holmes, a boy who teaches himself to read despite that fact that reading is a forbidden activity for slaves. When Holmes reads the words of Lincoln's proclamation to other freed slaves, hearts are bound to be stirred.





From the UK's Frances Lincoln Children's Books comes this pictorial story of a family in Ghana by Ifeoma Onyefulu. Children growing up with stereotypes about life in Africa will be pleasantly surprised by the similarities between their own homes and families and the home and family of three-year-old Stephanie, who eagerly awaits the visit of her beloved grandmother.

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

Lent Reads 33 and 34: UNDERGROUND and WALKING HOME TO ROSIE LEE

Spare, tense, and ultimately joyful, Shane W. Evans masterfully paints the vigilance and fear of travelers escaping slavery via the underground railroad.





A, LaFaye and Keith D. Shepherd continue the story of emancipation with a depiction of the desperate search for family members after freedom.

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

2012 IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award

The IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award , initiated by the International Board on Books for Young People and sponsored by the Japanese newspaper company, Asahi Shimbun, is given every two years to two groups or projects making a lasting contribution to reading promotion for children and young people. The 2012 awards were announced on March 19th at the
Bologna Children's Book Festival, and the winners are:



Abuelas Cuentacuentos (Storytelling
Grandmothers), Argentina. This program is aimed at inspiring a love of reading in the country's poorest children. Elderly people visit schools, orphanages, and hospitals to read stories aloud to children. These volunteers, mainly unemployed women between the ages of 50 and 70, delight in this new and productive way of sharing their time, affection, and talents as storytellers. 





SIPAR, Cambodia. During the regime of the Khmer Rouge all books had been destroyed and their creators killed. No publishing houses existed in the country. In 2000,
SIPAR (already working to build libraries across the country) started training workshops for publishing, writing, and illustration, mostly for children's books. Today SIPAR has a small Cambodian-run publishing department which has published 70 titles and printed 130,000 free copies for the 200 SIPAR libraries and students at teacher training colleges.






Here are all seventeen wonderful projects nominated for the 2012 IBBY-Asahi Award:



Abuelas Cuentacuentos : Grandmother Storytelling Programme, Argentina, proposed by IBBY Argentina
New Education Kids' Reading Promotion Plan, China, proposed by IBBY China
SIPAR, Cambodia, proposed by IBBY France and supported by IBBY Switzerland
Room to Read, proposed by IBBY Germany
Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation and Library, Pireaus, proposed by IBBY Greece
PaanPoee Vachanalay, Pune, proposed by IBBY India
Give us Books, Give us Wings, Iran, proposed by IBBY Iran
Nati per Leggere / Born to Read, Italy, proposed by IBBY Italy
Sod Nomun / Nomadic library, Mongolia, proposed by IBBY Mongolia
Kelompok Pencinta Bacaan Anak / Society for the Advancement of Children's Literature, Indonesia, proposed by IBBY Netherlands
Institución Educativa Parroquial Cristina Beatriz, Lima, proposed by IBBY Peru
Slovene Reading Badge: Crossing Boundaries to All Kinds of Minorities, proposed by IBBY Slovenia
Llibre Obert, Spain, proposed by IBBY Spain
White Elephant / Domrei Sor, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, proposed by IBBY Sweden
Book Aid International: Book Corners, Kenya and Tanzania, proposed by IBBY UK
Dagdag Dunong Project, Manila, Philippines. proposed by IBBY USA
Lubuto Library, Zambia, proposed by IBBY USA and supported by IBBY Zambia

The next award will be in 2014 with applications due spring 2013. If you know of a project you would like considered or would like to read more about this award, go to your national section of IBBY. For those in the United States, contact members of the USBBY Asahi Reading Promotion Award Committee. I'm on the committee, so you can contact me or better yet, send an email to Pamela Jewett, chair of this year's committee. You may also download an application from the University of Arizona School of Education's Worlds of Words website.



The 2012 jury:






Jury Chair
Mingzhou Zhang (China), Marilar Aleixandre (Spain), Hasmig Chahinian
(France), Wally de Doncker (Belgium), Jehan Helou (Palestine), and
Kiyoko Matsuoka (Japan).




The prize money of US
$10,000 for each winning project will be presented at the 33rd IBBY
Congress in London, UK, at a special festive occasion on Thursday, 23 August 2012 at Imperial College London.

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

Favorable Odds to Jumpstart your Kid/YA Writing Career!

Tired of huge conferences? Try this intimate class of ten or so at the Highlights Foundation's wonderful new retreat center, with editors Alvina Ling of Little Brown and Stacy Whitman of Tu Books/Lee and Low, authors Donna Jo Napoli, Kathy Erskine, and me. The odds are ever in your favor, people.



One-on-one critiques and guided writing workshops are included, and the drive from Boston or New York isn't bad at all. The chance of a lifetime to jumpstart your career! I know the tuition's steep, but there is financial aid, and you've got to invest in yourself somewhere, right? Here's our tentative schedule to entice you:













Creating
an Authentic Cultural Voice

April
26-29, 2012

Workshop
Leaders: Donna Jo Napoli and Mitali Perkins

Special
Guests: Alvina Ling, Stacy Whitman, and Kathy Erskine




Thursday,
April 26, 2012

5:30 PM                      Hors d'oeuvres

6:30
PM                      Dinner and
Welcome, Mitali Perkins




Friday, April 27

7:30 AM                     Breakfast        

8:30 AM                     The Pillars of Writing Culturally with
Mitali Perkins

10:00 AM                   Writing exercise with Donna Jo Napoli

12:00 PM                    Lunch 


1:00 PM                      One-on-ones

4:00 PM                      Writing exercise TBA

5:30 p.m.                     Hors d'oeurves

6:00 p.m.                     Dinner, Stacy Whitman, speaker




Saturday, April 28

7:30 AM                     Breakfast        

8:30 AM                     Who Has the Right to Write
Multiculturally with Donna Jo Napoli

10:00 AM                   Writing exercise with Alvina Ling

12:00 PM                    Lunch 


1:00 PM                      One-on-ones

4:00 PM                      Writing exercise TBA

5:30 p.m.                     Hors d'oeurves

6:00 p.m.                     Dinner, Kathy Erskine, speaker and book signing




Sunday, April 29

7:30 AM                     Breakfast        

8:30 AM                     Writing exercise with Mitali Perkins (dialog)

11:00 AM                   Final Comments from faculty

12:00 PM                    Lunch and Departures

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

Lent Read 31 and 32: YOU CAN BE A FRIEND by Tony and Lauren Dungy | YASMIN'S HAMMER by Ann Malaspina, Illustrated by Doug Chayka

An inspiring story about a Bangladeshi girl who wants to go to school but must work as a bricklayer. Thanks to hard work and a loving family, Yasmin's dream comes true. I hope with all my heart that she is representative of the children we'd see in Dhaka working from dawn
to dusk. A wonderful read; highly recommended.





Finally! A picture book featuring a suburban African-American family that has nothing to do with slavery or racism. The message about friendship is beautifully told.

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

Lent Read 29 and 30: WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND? and POLLY HOPPER'S POUCH

Last week was full of speaking and preparation for a weekend retreat, so my kind son dashed to the library, grabbed a few picture books, and kept my Lent practice alive. Here are the first two he chose:





"What in the world is this thing? Oh, now I get it."



Bird needs a nest. Bunny to the rescue!

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

Lent Read #28: LOWJI DISCOVERS AMERICA by Candace Fleming

What? A funny chapter book featuring a South Asian boy? I thought they didn't exist. And they didn't, until Candace Fleming wrote her charming LOWJI DISCOVERS AMERICA (Atheneum). Perfect for a 3rd or 4th grader, this short, quick read stars nine-year-old Lowji, a newcomer to Illinois from Mumbai, and a vivid cast of human and animal characters. My favorite thread was Lowji's relationship with Landlady Crisp, an aptly-named harassed and lonely woman who is transformed by Lowji's desire for animal companionship.

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

Lent Read #27: THE LONELY MOOSE by John Segal

THE LONELY MOOSE by John Segal is the story of a mutually enriching friendship between two very different creatures. Published by Hyperion, this delightful picture book is exactly what our boys would have loved when they were about five. There's a "scary" scene or two, filled with enough tension to make small fingers eagerly turn the page to see what happens next, and the joy-filled ending gives readers the satisfaction of closure that defines all good stories.

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

Lent Read #26: THE GRAND PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING by Uma Krishnaswami

Bubbly, colorful, and exciting, THE GRAND PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING by Uma Krishnaswami is as entertaining as the best Bollywood "fillums." A middle-grade read stuffed with romance, adventure, and mystery, this entrancing book published by Atheneum was starred by Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. Travel with Dini to Swapnagiri, India, where practicing a little "dekho, dekho" (look, look) and "shuno, shuno" (listen, listen) will lead to a happy-ever-after ending that makes everyone feel like dancing.

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!