Trees are so much a part of our daily lives, whether we take them for granted or find ourselves fighting for their survival: so it is perhaps unsurprising that there are many stories from all over the world that feature trees, woods or forests as a central theme or ‘character’… … Continue reading ...
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By: Zoe,
on 5/14/2014
It’s a familiar scenario from childhood; the thrill of setting off with pocket money to spend: What to choose with the coins in your pocket? Where to spend it? And yet, in To Market! To Market! by Anushka Ravishankar, illustrated by Emanuele Scanziani, a joyous, richly illustrated rhyme, what one little girl discovers is that the real fun’s not in the spending and buying at all.
Great fun to read aloud, especially if you let your voice mirror the playful typesetting, To Market! To Market! is also beautiful and exciting to look at. Vibrant, intensely coloured illustrations of various market stalls overflowing with goods evoke childhood fantasies of hoards of treasure.
Eye-catching and exuberant, To Market! To Market! will brighten anyone’s bookshelves, as well as giving a window onto another culture – the market stalls in question happen to be in India, but the fun and beauty in this book are universal.
Likewise, whilst the specifics of Off to Market by Elizabeth Dale, illustrated by Erika Pal may seem a world way to many readers – following the problems one boy has on the bus to a market, this time in Africa – kids the world over will delight in seeing how kids just like them can be the ones to solve problems adults can’t seem to get their head around.
The market bus, overloaded with people, goods and livestock, has ground to a halt. The adults all complain, but no-one makes a move until young Keb shows them what they need to do. Where would adults be without kids, heh?
Click to see more illustrations from ‘Off to Market’
With lively, rhyming text and bright illustrations mixing watercolour, print making techniques and blocks of bold flat colour Off to Market is delightful. My kids immediately remembered The No. 1 Car Spotter by Atinuke (my review here), a super early chapter book, which also features an African market.
Hoping our bus journey to the big markets in town wouldn’t turn out to be nearly as eventful as that in Off to Market we set off for a day out exploring the sights and sounds of all sorts of (Birmingham) market stalls.
As we were out and about we didn’t listen to any music, but if you’re looking for a market-themed, kid-friendly set of songs you could start with these:
Apart from visiting your own local market, you could enjoy these activities alongside reading the books I’ve recommended today:
Have you a good market near to you? I’ve always wanted to go to a flower market or a spice market, but what about you?
Disclosure: Both books reviewed today were sent to me for review consideration by their respective publishers.
By: Aline Pereira,
on 11/3/2012
Aline Pereira is an independent writer, editor and editorial consultant specializing in multicultural children’s books and was Managing Editor of PaperTigers from 2004 until January 2011. In honor of PaperTigers’ 10th anniversary Aline wrote an article entitled Celebrating PaperTigers 10th Anniversary: What a Smilestone! which you can read here, and now offers up her Top 10 Tiger Themed Books.
One tiger, two tigers… ten tigers! More tigers! by Aline Pereira
Children love to ask each other about their favorite animals, and their answers usually reveal much about themselves: what they fear, what they love, and what they need and want from the world.
In celebration of PaperTigers’ 10th anniversary, I put together a list of ten (plus one to grow on) multicultural books featuring tigers, a graceful, alluring and majestic animal– often mentioned as a “favorite” of children–which is a symbol of all that is splendid and powerful in nature. I thought PaperTigers’ 10th’ anniversary would be a good occasion to celebrate tigers and remind children and adults that, without the proper protective measures, tigers in the wild may disappear by 2022–within a decade!–the next Year of the Tiger.
Tigers are an important part of the reality and mythology of many countries, including Bangladesh, China, India, Korea and Thailand. Throughout history, tigers have been regarded as auspicious animals, as guardians and protectors. Indian mythology, for instance, has several stories where the tiger is believed to have powers to do everything from fighting dragons to creating rain to keeping children safe from nightmares. According to a 2010 statement by the Global Tiger Initiative, “The loss of tigers and degradation of their ecosystems would inevitably result in a historic, cultural, spiritual, and environmental catastrophe for the tiger-range countries [Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia].”
It’s my hope that this book list will help children learn more about tigers and the ways in which they feature, literally and metaphorically, in stories from far and near.
The tigers are ROARING!… Can you hear them?
Ying Chang Compestine, illustrated by Yan Nascimbene
Crouching Tiger
Candlewick, 2011
Age: 6+In Crouching Tiger, an American boy learns to appreciate his Chinese heritage with the help of his grandfather, who is visiting from China.
Little Vinson is intrigued by grandpa’s Tai Chi routine: “He crouched like a tiger; he drew an invisible bow; he lifted a foot like a rooster and stood still,” but when grandpa tries to teach him how to do it, he thinks tai chi isn’t as interesting as kung fu, which he already knows. When grandpa calls him by his Chinese name, which happens all the time, Vinson finds it annoying, but little by little, he begins to understand and feel pride in his heritage.
Nascimbene’s gorgeous illustrations capture the excitement of the parade and convey the boy’s emotional shift from annoyance to curiosity to pride very well. An author’s note at the end adds depth to the story by explaining Chinese martial arts and Chinese New Year traditions.
Tiger and Turtle
Roaring Brook Press/ A Neal Porter Book, 2010
Age: 4 – 8A 2011 Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, Tiger and Turtle is the retelling of an Afghani folktale.
Tiger and Turtle are not friends but have learned to live peacefully (“A tiger’s claws could not harm a turtle’s shell any more than a turtle’s feet could outrun a tiger’s.”). However, when a beautiful flower floats down from the sky and lands by their feet, the two animals start arguing about who should have it, who saw it first, and so on, and end up getting into a terrible fight… And it’s not until they accidently fall into a flower-covered field that they realize their foolishness and learn to be friends.
An author’s note explains how he discovered the folktale and talks about the cultural inspirations for the beautiful background patterns used throughout the book. Tiger and Turtle conveys an important message and makes for a perfect read-aloud for the younger crowd.
Riding the Tiger
Clarion Books, 2001
Age: 9+Set in the streets of a big city and illustrated with gorgeous woodcuts by David Frampton, Riding the Tiger is Eve Bunting’s powerful story about a ten year-old boy new to town who can’t resist the invitation of an alluring tiger to go for a ride. Cruising the city on the tiger’s back gives Danny a sense power, of being respected by children and adults alike—he no longer feels powerless and out of place. Soon, however, he realizes that what he thought was respect is actually fear, and that getting off the tiger’s back isn’t easy.
A wonderful metaphor for the power of gangs, drugs (or whatever harmful attraction children may find hard to resist at one point or another in their lives), this beautifully told story offers much food for thought. It should be a must-read in schools everywhere, where children may be feeling tempted to give up their freedom and inner strength in the name of acceptance and (pseudo) respect.
Tiger, Tiger
Laurel Leaf, 2007
Age: 12+Two tiger brothers are taken from the jungle to Rome. One, Brute, is raised to kill slaves, criminals and Christians at the Colosseum; Boots, the other, becomes a pet to Emperor Julius Ceasar’s 12 year-old daughter, Aurelia.
While Boots is treated like royalty, Brute spends most of his time locked in a dark cage. When after a game gone wrong Julius, the slave who cares for Boots and harbor feelings for Aurelia, is sent to the arena to face the killer Brute, accused of letting Boots escape, things get very intense, and Aurelia must make difficult decisions whose consequences are beyond her years to fully grasp. The great mixture of adventure, romance and historical fiction in Tiger, Tiger will appeal to older kids and have them on the edge of their seats, rooting for a happy ending for Julius, Aurelia and Boots.
The Boy and the Tigers
Golden Books, 2004
Age: 4+In this retelling of Helen Bannerman’s controversial Little Black Sambo, little Rajani ventures into the jungle and runs into several tigers who, one by one, convince him to give them his belongings: a new red coat, a pair of blue trousers, purple shoes, and even his green umbrella! But resourceful Rajani devises a way to outsmart the tigers and get his things back. The lovely new illustrations by Valeria Petroni combined with non-offensive names and non-stereotypical character depictions make this story a treasure again.
Tyger! Tyger!
Enchanted Lion Books, 2007
Age: 8+Elizabeth Stanley’s Tyger! Tyger! is based on the true story of a sanctuary for endangered Indo-Chinese tigers in northwest Thailand.
For centuries Buddhist monks in their jungle monastery lived in harmony with neighboring animals, so when poachers begin killing the tigers, the monks protect these beautiful animals, beginning with two tiny cubs found hiding near the temple gate. Over time, more tigers are brought to or show up at the monastery. But poaching continues… One young monk’s vision offers a solution: a moat can be dug around the temple, creating a large island hermitage for the tigers. It is a formidable mission. “The moat must be deep, impassable. The monks’ tools were primitive and many of the men were old and weak. Only a miracle could create such a sanctuary.”
The monks in the story accomplish their goal, and see the moat filled during the next monsoon…[This is an excerpt from Charlotte’s review.]
Escaping the Tiger
HarperCollins, 2010
Age: 12+Twelve year-old Vonlai must try to escape communist Laos with his sister and desperate parents by crossing the Mekong River, “where soldiers shoot at anything that moves.” Their only hope is Na Pho, a refugee camp in Thailand, on the other side of the river.
When they finally get there, after a dangerous journey, life in Na Pho feels far from safe–their living quarters is cramped, dirty, and the guards who keep watch on them are all unfriendly. Vonlai tries to carry on as best as he can, eating his meager portion of rationed food, attending a makeshift school, and playing with other kids to pass the time. But things take a turn for the worse when someone inside the camp threatens his family and Vonlai must call on a forbidden skill to protect them until they can be resettled, hopefully in a safer place.
This powerful novel about escaping communist Laos in 1982 is based on the author’s husband’s experience as a child. Focusing on a chapter of history not often seen in children’s literature, Escaping the Tiger offers a realistic portrayal of the plight of Laotians who fled the country to escape the communist regime. It shows the plight of refugees living in limbo, as well as the resilience of the human spirit in the face of difficult situations.
Tiger on a Tree
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004 (originally published in India by Tara Books, in 1997)
Age: 4-8The tiger in Anushka Ravishankar’s whimsical picture book means no harm. But his wanderings lead to a run-in with an angry goat, so he takes refuge in a tree. There, he is cornered by a group of excitable men who are quickly confounded by what to do. (“Send him to the zoo? Stick him up with glue? Paint him electric blue?”) Their solution brings this comical story rich with word and sound-play full circle, and will leave many young listeners requesting repeated readings.
The superb design of this singular book features dynamic text layout integrated into the striking two-color prints in black and orange created by Pulak Biswas. Even with stylized printmaking techniques, the illustrator has managed to create a cast of visually distinctive characters whose expressions (the tiger’s included) are a wonderful complement to the text. [This is an excerpt from the CCBC review.]
The Man-eating Tigers of Sundarbans
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2001
Age: 8+The Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, situated in the Indian state of West Bengal, is home to more tigers than anywhere else on earth. There are said to be some five hundred tigers there—more than anywhere else in the world. Nowhere else do tigers live in a mangrove swamp. And nowhere else do healthy tigers routinely hunt people. No one knows why. The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans is a mystery story, but it is also a story about science and myth, about people and tigers, and about different ways of seeing the natural world.
Sy Montgomery traveled to Sundarbans searching for answers to the mysteries surrounding these tigers. She listened to what scientists had to say about the unusual tiger behavior and to the stories of the villagers who revere the very animals who hunt them because they believe the tigers protect the forest they all depend on. Tradition has it that Daskin Ray, the tiger god, and Bonobibi, the forest goddess, rule Sundarbans. Every February there is a festival to celebrate their protection of the forest, and the reserve holds many rustic tiger shrines. As Montgomery argues, “Sometimes what is true is hidden, as in a riddle. Even dangerous man-eating tigers may do us more good than harm.”
This fascinating book includes beautiful photographs by Eleanor Briggs, fast facts, a glossary of Bengali phrases, and a list of organizations doing work to protect tigers.
The Year of the Tiger
Holiday House, 2010
Age: 10+In ancient China, the Great Wall is crumbling on the edge of the Han Empire. In the wall’s shadow, twelve-year-old Hu is starving. On the other side of the wall, China’s enemies are gathering strength. When an imperial battalion comes to town, Hu meets Ren, the son of the commander, and the two boys combine forces to train secretly for an archery tournament. For Hu, the contest offers escape from poverty and for Ren, the respect of his father. But the capture of a barbarian spy changes everything. With their trust at its lowest point, Ren and Hu must work together to evade the barbarians and save the empire. This exciting adventure story came out in 2010, the Year of the Tiger.
Tiger Moon
Amulet Books, 2008 (originally published in Germany, in 2006)
Age: 14+A princess in trouble, a thief with a heart of gold, and a sacred talking tiger with an unnatural fear of water are at the heart of this “story within a story” set in India in the early 1900s.
In order to better endure her condition, Raka, the young bride of a violent merchant, tells a servant boy the story of Farhad, a thief and unlikely hero who is sent by Krishna on a mission to retrieve a famous jewel in order to save a kidnapped princess from a demon king. Farhad is accompanied on his journey by his friend Nitish, a white tiger who helps and advises him along the way.
The story gives an excellent overview of Hindu religious beliefs and of the conflicts India faced at the time of British occupation. Due to some implied sexual content, this novel is more suitable for young adults.
Once I Was a Comic… But Now I’m A Book about Tigers!
Hammond, 2010
Age: 4+With this fantastic earth-friendly book, kids get two unforgettable stories at the same time—one about tigers and one about recycling! Fun facts, quirky illustrations, and cute photographs give kids a close-up look at the tiger, one of the world’s most beloved endangered species. Kids will learn everything from how tigers hunt and how long their tails are to where they live and what they eat in this exciting, informative, and earth-friendly book.
A side panel on each page tells the story of how this book was made from the recycled paper of a comic book, teaching kids the process of recycling and showing them what they can do to help save the planet—and the tigers!
By: Aline Pereira,
on 11/18/2011
If you want something for young children that’s full of zing and just a little bit different on the poetry front, then Anything But A Grabooberry is exactly what you’re looking for! First published by the wonderful Tara Books in 1998, it still feels as innovative as it was then.
Anushka Ravishankar’s nonsense poem that fills the book is based on the premise that I’d rather be anything else apart from a Grabooberry… The examples that make up that “anything else” will have young readers laughing aloud, as well as letting imaginations fly with what the dreadful grabooberry might be. And Rathna Ramanathan has incorporated the words into the book’s design, creating a visual treat in red and green through her exuberant combination of the words’ meanings and physical appearance.
As you read, you find yourself having to slow down over each page to savour the design. This in turn encourages deeper pondering of the meaning – thereby intensifying the enjoyment of reading nonsense! Choosing favorite bits is difficult, but here goes:
i want to be an elephant or a packing trunk
- I love the juxtaposition of elephant and trunk, and you can see these pages on this post from a Japanese blog, which also reproduces the book’s blurb in English;
i think i’d like to be sneeze
flying through the sky
- where “sneeze” and “flying” fizz across the pages and some of the letters are spun at angles – the “i” in “flying” becoming, appropriately enough, an exclamation mark; and
the sun, the moon or sixteen stars
any planet, even ours
Anything But A Grabooberry is perfect for getting children chuckling aloud, and both they and the adults they share it with will appreciate the book’s visual wit and sophistication. Do read this article by Rathna Ramanathan for some fascinating insight into the book’s creation – I especially liked what she said about children’s feedback on early drafts, and Gita Wolf’s comments:
I tested the pages out on several friends’ kids – their reading aloud of the typographic text on the page was an invaluable input. It gave the bee many more ‘e’s, and the grabooberry more ‘ooo’s… [...] As Gita Wolf, publisher at Tara Books explains, ‘We found that children enjoy figuring out words like puzzles, since they have no pre-conceptions about this. Adults are not necessarily faster at comprehending it.’
This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Tabitha Yeatts: The Opposite of Indifference – head on over…
By: Aline Pereira,
on 7/6/2011
Aline Pereira is an independent writer, editor and media consultant specializing in multicultural children’s books, and until January this year, she was Managing Editor of PaperTigers, a post she had held since 2004. So we are very happy to welcome her back with a Personal View she wrote following her attendance of the Asian Festival of Asian Content in Singapore in May.
Aline had a special part to play in the Festival as she was one of the judges for the inaugural Scholastic Asian Book Award, along with “Chief Judge Nury Vittachi, journalist and Hong Kong’s best-selling English language author; Anushka Ravishankar, award-winning children’s poet and author (India); John McKenzie, principal lecturer at the School of Literacies and Arts in Education at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand); and literary agent Kelly Sonnack (Kelly grew up in Singapore), from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency (US).”
In her article, Aline shares with us her impressions of the Festival as a whole, and gives us a peek behind the scenes of the award. You can read the whole article here - and here are a couple of extracts to whet your appetite.
The big picture
A consistent thread seemed to run through a good number of the panels and sessions, as well as through informal conversations: “There are plenty of valid ways to produce and deliver a book”. This naturally led to discussions about the enormous changes the publishing world has gone through in the last decade or so, and all the things that have played a part in these changes. And to think that there was a time, not long ago, when people believed the Internet was a passing fad… Now one can only ignore the internet, social media and digital platforms at one’s peril. Without a doubt, these new technologies have affected the way children’s books are acquired, published and marketed, but one of the many things I came away with from those sessions and conversations was that having these new tools, platforms and processes is simply a means, not the end goal. Without losing sight of readers’ needs, the end goal continues to be finding ways to foster the creation, reception, and dissemination of a diverse children’s literature in all genres, mediums and platforms. When it comes to bringing children and books together, it should never be an either/or scenario, but a “the more, the better” one. After all, why get territorial and deaf to voices (platforms, devices) that are not our own? With regards to Asian content, AFCC was a call to join forces in that effort.
One of my favorite sessions was presented by US publisher Neal Porter (Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press) on which types of books travel well to other countries, which don’t, and why. He calls himself an “intuitive publisher”, meaning he publishes what he loves, without worrying too much about the marketability of a project – a privilege most publishers these days don’t have, and one he’s earned after decades of hard work and a successful track record. I have always admired Neal’s imprint, so it was wonderful to learn about which of his books have traveled successfully to/from other countries, even if the majority of the examples given were of books that have traveled between the US and
0 Comments on The 2011 Asian Festival of Children’s Content and its Bounties by Aline Pereira as of 1/1/1900Add a Comment
My son is loves buses and we had great fun with Off to Market when we find it at our library. He played market bus for weeks afterward!
That’s lovely to hear Amy!
We have just come back from living in India and that market book was one of the things we used to explain to our daughter where we were going. We referenced it throughout our travels and now that we are home it’s a happy memory. Maybe we should have a little holiday there soon to keep those memories alive! We also love the sari book and a fair few more! Great post and we shall get hold of the African book too!