If you were trying to support and encourage a young environmentalist, feminist or …anarchist (!) what books would you suggest for them?
I might give the newly re-issued Barbapapa’s Ark, or the simple but very effective What are you playing at?
Or if you were simply looking for a great read for your kids about making the world more peaceful and fairer where would you turn?
I might suggest The Arrival or The Island.
And if I were looking for more thought provoking books (as indeed I always am), I’d turn to the Little Rebels Children’s Book Award. Now in its second year, this is an award for radical fiction for children aged 0-12. Last year’s winner was the marvellous and moving Azzi in Between by Sarah Garland (my review can be found here), and this year’s winner will be announced in just a couple of week’s time.
The books shortlisted for this year’s award
The books, authors and illustrators in the running of the Little Rebels Children’s Book Award 2014 are:
The Promise by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Laura Carlin
After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross
The Middle of Nowhere by Geraldine McCaughrean
Moon Bear by Gill Lewis
Real Lives: Harriet Tubman by Deborah Chancellor
Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts
Stay Where You Are and Then Leave by John Boyne
I recently put a pretty tricky question to those authors who made it onto the shortlist:
If it were possible with a wave of a wand what would you change about the way the world works, to make it either more inclusive, less discriminatory, or a place which was more just and equitable?
Here’s how they replied…
Nicola Davies
Tricky. I have one practical thing and one that you really would need a magic wand for. The practical one is to make sure that every girl on the planet gets and education; women with confidence, education and power are the single biggest force for change.
And the magic wand one is to give all bankers, politicians, drug lords…all those in positrons of power over others to see the consequences of each of their actions on the wider world, as clearly as a movie and to feel them, as physical pain. I think that might be really helpful.
Deborah Chancellor
This one’s easy. I’d make sure half the people in every single profession were women. With my magic wand, fifty percent of all politicians, judges, business chiefs, religious leaders, generals (etc) would be female. Without a doubt, the world would be a fairer, more inclusive and generally more harmonious place. Perhaps one day we’ll make this utopia happen, but we’re still a long way off.
Andrea Beaty
I would create shoes that would transport people into the lives of others to show how their actions and attitudes affect other people. Many of the world’s problems would quickly straighten out if people who take advantage of others or inflict suffering upon others would have to walk a mile in the shoes of the people they disrespect, harm, or disregard. Perhaps Rosie Revere could invent the walk-a-mile shoes. She is very clever! Until we have walk-a-mile shoes, though, we have literature. It lets us each see the world through other people’s eyes. To walk a mile in their shoes. It gives us empathy. And that is more powerful than any magic wand.
An interior spread from Rosie Revere Engineer. Click for larger image.
Gillian Cross
If I could take one action to make the world fairer and more equal I would make education available and affordable for all children across the world, especially girls.
Gill Lewis
I would wave wand to enable us to be able to change our skin with people and animals…to walk a mile in their shoes…or hooves!
In Harper Lee’s story, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus gives Scout a piece of moral advice;
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Most prejudice or discrimination is born of ignorance, indifference and fear of the unknown. To truly understand another’s situation is to live their life, to see the world from their point of view. I would extend this to animals too, for us to live an animal’s life; to live as elephant, an eagle or a honeybee and to be able to see the adverse effects we humans have on the natural world and to understand the consequences of our actions.
Unfortunately we don’t have magic wands, but we have the next best thing…books!
Books transport us into other worlds and give us some insight and understanding of others’ lives.
Until I find that magic wand, I’ll keep reading and writing books!
************
Unfortunately Geraldine McCaughrean and John Boyne were not able to take part; I would have been very interested to hear what they might have chosen to do with a wave of a wand.
And as for me? What would I magic up? I found myself nodding wildly at all the responses above, but if I were to offer something different here’s what I might conjure up: If looking just at the bookworld, I’d get rid of gendered marketing and watch with great interest to see how it shakes up (or otherwise) book sales. On a bigger scale, I’d ban private car ownership, and invest massively in public transport. It would do wonders for not only environmental health, but also personal well being I believe. And if I could move mountains, I’d change how economies work so they don’t have to be predicated on consumption.
What would you do with a wave of your wand to make the world a better place?
If you are after further interesting reading matter to foster your own little rebels, you might enjoy looking through this list of books for children and young people as compiled on the Marxist Internet Archive. “Some of these books were written to be expressly radical, and others need a stretch to find political implications.” Thanks go to Betsy Bird for alerting me to this bibliography.
Little Rebels Children’s Book Award is given by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers and administered by Letterbox Library and the winner will be announced at the London Radical Bookfair on May 10th 2014.
By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: December 6, 2012
By Deborah Underwood; Illustrated by Renata Liwska
Reading level: Ages 4 and up
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (October 16, 2012)
It’s impossible to keep quiet any longer. It just has to be shouted loudly to everyone: We love the winning combination of Deborah Underwood’s sweet and pitch-perfect “quiet” holiday moments and Renata Liwska’s gentle and charming drawings that make you wish you could reach into the pages and give each and every character a warm embrace. Make a little book bundle and include the original The Quiet Book and The Loud Book—three books and a piece of ribbon and you have the perfect gift for any young child—go the extra mile and tie a little stuffy on top, too.
By Jane Yolen; Illustrated by Mark teague
Reading level: Ages 0-4
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: The Blue Sky Press (September 1, 2012)
Get ready to roar with laughter with your preschooler. The bestselling combo Jane Yolen and Mark Teague are back again with their winning “How Do Dinosaurs” series. The oversized, egocentric, juvenile dinosaurs wreak havoc through the house for the first half of the picture book—they have no regard for the special traditions of Christmas. As per usual, good behavior is highlighted in the second half and a lesson of “how not to act” is delivered brilliantly. This is a must-have Christmas book, especially for fans of prehistoric animals.
By Kirsten Hall; Illustrated by Simon Mendez
Reading level: Ages 4 and up
Hardcover: 20 pages
Publisher: Sterling Children’s Books (October 2, 2012)
With lyrical verses that have a nostalgic quality and a unique art form that allows every painted illustration to change with a simple pull of a tab, this is a Christmas book that will hold an audience captivated.
By Geraldine McCaughrean; Illustrated by Kristina Swarner
Reading level: Ages 2-7
Hardcover: 24 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books (October 3, 2012)
We can’t resist the magical movement of this new take on The Nutcracker. Large die-cut board pages have been made to be handled and allow the cast of characters to literally dance there way through the story. This Nutcracker version gets our vote based on the delightful illustrations and inventive paper-engineering—”A Magic Theatre Book” is definitely the write description.
By Joy N. Hulme; Illustrated by Dan Andreasen
Reading level: Ages 1-3
Board book: 22 pages
Publisher: Sterling Children’s Books; Brdbk edition (October 1, 2012)
Not just a numbers primer for babies and toddlers, the stunning artwork of Dan Andreasen and Joy N. Hulme’s gentle rhymes also introduce the littlest readers to the religious beginnings of Christmas.
Looking for more suggestions? Try our lists from previous years:
20 of the Best Kids Christmas Books
Christmas Board Books for Babies and Toddlers
Original article: Christmas Books: Five of the Best New Gift Books for Christmas
©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.
The Nutcracker: A Magic Theater Book,
by Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Kristina Swarner, Chronicle, $19.99, 24 pages, ages 6 an up, 2012. In this gorgeous remake of the classic ballet story, a girl curls up under a Christmas tree with her broken nutcracker and dreams of freeing a prince from a witch's curse. As readers turn pages, die-cut characters bow to each other in dances or parry in duels within wreath-like openings. A tab inserted over the page fold causes the characters to tilt inward, as if they were dancing on a curtained stage. It also eliminates the need for readers to pull tabs themselves, making this an easy book for little hands. Swarner's paintings look as wondrous as a fairyland -- they glow in rich hues, and sparkle with oversized snowflakes and floating treats, and McCaughrean's writing is as enchanting as ever. Marie (the story's Clara) is taken by her prince on "a boat of starlight and swansdown" to the Land of Sweets (reminiscent of Candyland from the game board). Then later she sails home through "soft, sheep-flocks of clouds" and "gates of sunrise" -- an image that is enticingly dreamy. This is a dazzling, imaginative journey that sweeps readers off the stage to a glistening wonderland -- a world they'll want to lay awake at night trying to imagine into their dreams. (McCaughrean is the award-winning author of
Peter Pan in Scarlet and
Sunshine Queen.)
Best part: When Marie and her prince sail off in the night under a long, feathery wing.
English-language Asia-set Children’s and YA Fiction ~ by Holly Thompson
Part 2 of 3 (read Part 1 here)
Some years back as we settled into our bicultural family life with young children here in Japan, although we were surrounded by books in Japanese and took full advantage of Japan’s healthy picture book and middle-grade market, we discovered that finding English-language reading material to support our bilingual children was no easy task. Because our children attended Japanese schools, English education happened in our home, and we needed a steady supply of English-language books. But libraries in Japan stock few English-language books, and bookstores here carry very few and at hefty mark-ups, so whenever friends or family visited from the U.S. they brought books to us. Returning from a trip back to the States, our luggage was always heavy with books. We book-swapped with families in Japan, we ordered from Scholastic with our English-after school group, and we pounced on book sale tables at international school fairs. At last, Amazon Japan with free and quick delivery of affordable overseas books came to the rescue.
Always on the lookout for books relating to our lives while raising our bilingual children, we soon became aware of a lack of English-language children’s books that reflect Japan. English-language picture books set in Japan were rare, and those that existed, we discovered, tended toward folktales and nonfiction. Where were the day-to-day stories that reflected the landscapes and people and value systems surrounding us? Where was Japan?
We treasured our Allen Say books, especially Kamishibai Man and Grandfather’s Journey.
We read and reread the bilingual Grandpa’s Town by Takaaki Nomura. We enjoyed folktale retellings like The Seven Gods of Luck by David Kudler and Yoshi’s Feast by Kimiko Kajikawa. and biographical works like Cool Melons—Turn to Frogs by Matthew Gollub. All excellent, but we were discouraged that such English-language titles set in Japan were few and far between.
Searching for other Asian cultures in English-language picture books yielded similar results—folktales, nonfiction and concept books, but few fictional stories set in Asia.
As the children grew older, we came to realize that even less common than English-language picture books set in Asia were English-language middle-grade and YA novels set in Japan and Asia. What we found was mostly historical fiction. Of course we read and loved Korea-set historical novels by Linda Sue Park, Japan-set novels by
0 Comments on PaperTigers’ Global Voices feature with award winning author Holly Thompson (USA/Japan)~ Part 2 as of 5/23/2012 10:49:00 AM
Any recommendations on books for newborns?
Great blog!
http://www.thedadnetwork.co.uk
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