How to use this Page

Shaun Tan,
The Bird King and Other Sketches
Templar Publishing (UK), 2011; first published by Windy Hollow Books (Australia), 2010.

Ages 9 +

Shaun Tan’s beautifully produced sketchbook, The Bird King, generously lays bare the creative process of illustration. While not specifically designed for children, Tan’s familiar images are of instant, near-universal appeal, and his explanatory text will be a revelation to young fans, especially aspiring artists.

Tan’s introduction references Klee’s famous description of drawing as “taking a line for a walk.” The colored and black-and-white drawings are divided into sections. Images in which “one little drawing is enough” to suggest a whole story comprise the untold stories section. In book, theatre and film, Tan describes his preliminary sketches as “a constant reminder of what I was ‘getting at’ in the first place” during longer creative processes. In drawings from life, we see “ongoing studies in the relationship of line, form, colour and light” that are crucial to an artist’s lifelong process of learning to see. A final section, notebooks, is culled from small ball point pen sketches, doodles and scribbles, some “an equivalent to daydreaming” that Tan poetically compares to fishing: “casting loose lines into a random sea… catching ideas that might otherwise be hidden beneath the waves.”

The drawings themselves also include little notes, ideas for development, and titles that further decipher the artist’s visual language. One double-page drawing entitled “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” features a dozen of Tan’s creatures marching behind a small boy, bird on his head, palette in hand. The only color on the page is a splash of orange dropping from his brush, repeated on the body of a goldfish, held aloft in a bowl, by a large creature with a diving bell head in which a bird in a beret stands at the wheel. In Tan’s quixotic imagination, the robotic and the humanizing hover in edgy balance.

The production quality of this small hardcover book is excellent. Partially bound in red cloth, with embossed lettering on the front cover, it’s held closed with a red elastic band; a blue ribbon bookmark is sewn into the binding. The back matter includes a list of the drawings in the book (noting materials used and the original purpose of each sketch) and a bibliography of Tan’s published works.

Young artists will learn more from studying the lines Tan takes for a walk than from any number of art classes. Children who already know and love books by the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner will recognize preliminary sketches of work from favorite books. For newcomers, The Bird King is a great introduction to this evocative Australian writer-illustrator.

Charlotte Richardson
February 2012

Douglas Wood, illustrated by P. J. Lynch,
No One But You
Candlewick Press, 2011.

Ages 6+

There’s something wonderful about stimulating the senses through the simplistic beauty that Mother Nature has created. In Douglas Wood’s children’s book, No One But You, people of all ages are invited to use their five senses to discover “many important things” because “the best things, the most important ones of all, are the ones no one can teach you or show you or explain. No one can discover them but you.”

An award-winning writer and author of the best-selling book Old Turtle, Wood once again highlights his fascination with nature, this time focusing on the happiness that comes with the simple things in life: dangling your feet in a pond, eating a strawberry, gazing at the stars, laughing and smiling with loved ones. There is a rhythmic feel to his writing and the repetition of the two words “no one” throughout the book lends an almost hypnotic quality. This, paired with P. J. Lynch’s beautiful oil illustrations, makes for a winning combination. Lynch, an acclaimed illustrator and two-time winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal, has created images evocative of ones a parent would take of their own child, perhaps from the weekend getaway to the park or a camping trip by the lake. It encourages parents to contemplate whether they too can capture a loved one “set[ting] out to create their special place in the world.”

Younger children will be inspired by Wood’s beautifully crafted book, whether they set out to uncover the treasures of nature for the first time or they wish to share their enchantment with others. While this is a children’s book, adults can also take something away from the story. We live in an era where technology dominates every aspect of our lives, from how we socialize with others to how we shop. No One But You is a reminder that life is more than texting, emails, and sitting at a desk; it’s worthwhile to take time to slow down and enjoy what life and nature have to offer.

Keilin Huang
February 2012

Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, illustrated by Raúl Colón,
Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina
Marshall Cavendish, 2011.

Ages 10+

Alicia Alonso, the latest in a series of portraits of Latin figures by award-winning author and poet Carmen Bernier-Grand, is written in lyrical free verse, a style that particularly suits the dramatic life of this beloved Cuban dancer.

Alonso’s long career has been marked by many difficulties. Already a highly regarded dancer in Cuba, she and her young fiancé, also a dancer, immigrated to New York in 1937, when Alicia was 15 and pregnant. She resumed ballet as soon as her daughter was born. In a field known to destroy bodies and careers early in life, Alonso continued dancing until she was in her seventies, despite diminishing vision from a detached retina that led eventually to blindness.

Bernier-Grand tells the story in touching word-sketches of key moments in Alonso’s life: selection for the role of Swanilda in Coppélia; romance with Fernando Alonso, her eventual husband; parental disapproval of ballet as a career; separation from her daughter during her U.S. tours; learning Giselle while blind and hospitalized by using her fingers as her feet; ballet shoes stuck to her feet with dried blood; eventual refusal to dance in Cuba while Batista was in power.

“She counts steps, etches the stage in her mind.
Spotlights of different colors warn her
she is too near the orchestra pit.
She moves, a paintbrush on canvas…
She imagines an axis
and pirouettes across her own inner stage.”

Raúl Colón’s stylized pastel illustrations poignantly evoke ballet’s beauty and Alonso’s suffering, despite which she has had one of the longest, most esteemed careers in ballet history. Vision in one eye was partially restored in 1972. Alonso, who founded the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, still choreographs dances at age 92.

Back matter includes a detailed biographical narrative of Alonso’s life; lists of some of the ballets she has danced and choreographed and awards she has won; a glossary; an extensive bibliography of sources and websites; and notes on the text. While the simple story of the ballerina’s life will appeal even to very young children, the reference material is rich enough for an older child to use for a research project. In the process of understanding a woman artist’s life struggles, young readers will also learn much about U.S.-Cuban relations.

Charlotte Richardson
February 2012

Meg Medina, illustrated by Claudio Muñoz,
Tía Isa Wants a Car
Candlewick Press, 2011.

Ages 5-7

Nowadays, many of us take owning a car for granted and we think nothing of the fact that a good number of families have two, even three cars. Recently awarded a spot on the Amelia Bloomer Prize List for portraying a strong female protagonist, Meg Medina’s children’s book, Tía Isa Wants A Car, shows readers how dreams can come true if you set your mind to something and have a whole lot of perseverance and determination.

Dedicated to the memory of her own family’s first car, a “light-blue Wildcat that stalled everywhere and was awful to park on crowded streets,” Medina’s book tells the story of how a young girl and her aunt, Tía Isa, manage to save enough money to buy a “shiny green car” that will “take us to the beach!” With the funds from taking odd jobs around the neighborhood and her aunt’s work at a local bakery, the girl and Tía Isa save up enough (while also putting aside money for family out of the country) to ultimately end up with their dream car, a symbol of freedom literally as well as metaphorically. Tía Isa be able to take her family to the beach and not have to wait for the bus, but she has also defied a cultural norm: one where the women are obedient and demure. After purchasing the car, Tía Isa is no longer seen as a “[r]rrridículo” sister who prepares meals; rather she has taken on the role of a strong contributing family member who can act independently, yet still manage to support other family members who are far away.

The pictures by Claudio Muñoz, an award-winning illustrator whose work has appeared in The Economist, The Financial Times, and several children’s books, has created a visually pleasing accompaniment to Medina’s words. He has created his own descriptions of the characters through his illustrations, choosing to depict Tía Isa and her strong personality in bold, brightly patterned dresses, whereas mention of the loved ones living outside of the country are depicted in a more toned down palette of colors.

Tía Isa Wants a Car is a heart-warming story that brings together culture, the importance of family, and the rewards of hard work. Children will delight in the sprinkling of Spanish words throughout and they will take away the knowledge that nothing is impossible if you have the belief and drive to make your dreams a reality.

Keilin Huang
February 2012

Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham, illustrated by Michael Foreman,
Painting out the Stars
Walker Books, 2011.

Ages 8-11

Three magical stories make up this beautifully presented middle-grade book: “The Mysterious Traveller”, “Night Sky Dragons”, and “Cloud Tea Monkeys”, from which the collection takes its name. Set in unspecified times and countries, they transport readers to the desert, the steppe and a tea plantation respectively.  What links them is that they all hinge on inter-generational relationships that will resonate with today’s young readers.

“There were five riders but six camels, travelling fast.  Desperately fast.” So opens the first story, “The Mysterious Traveller”.  The sixth camel and his precious cargo, a baby girl with a mysterious necklace, are the only survivors following a sandstorm.  She is found and adopted by Issa, the most respected guide locally, who calls her Mariamma and teaches her all he knows.  The years pass and Issa goes blind, but is still the best guide in the area, with Mariamma’s help.  Their lives could have continued along this path, had not some strangers required a guide to take them safely over the mountains…

In “Night Sky Dragons”, young Yazul would rather make kites with his grandfather than follow the path of travel and trade, business and money that his father advocates.  He is fond of mischief too, and one day his antics cause untold, if unintentional damage.  Yazul despairs that not only will his father never love him, but he’ll never again feel the happiness of flying kites – but when bandits lay siege to their fortified han, Yazul has an idea to save them that could just reconcile both…

In the last of the three stories, a tea-picker falls ill.  Her daughter Tashi understands the grinding wheel of poverty: no work, no money, no medicine.  “The problem went round and round.  It was like a snake with its tail in its mouth and Tashi was frightened by it.” She tries unsuccessfully to pick the tea herself.  Despairing, she seeks out the shady spot where she has always shared her lunch with a large monkey family, little realising that they will now repay her kindness and friendship in the most extraordinary way…

It is perhaps no surprise that “Cloud Tea Monkeys” has previously been published as an acclaimed picture-book (illustrated by Jean Wijngaard), and that there are similar plans for the other two stories.  Michael Foreman’s black and white illustrations accompanying this edition are charming and add atmosphere, deftly conveying the atmosphere of each story, including the underlying humor in “Cloud Tea Monkeys”.  Readers of these great stories will find themselves cheering on the protagonists, while feeling complicit in the storyline by being able to anticipate enough, though not all, of each ending.  While the atmospheric description and details beg to be read aloud, the depth of characterisation and the relationships explored make this just the kind of book that independent readers will want to pick up again and again.

Marjorie Coughlan
December 2011

Kazuki Ebine,
Ghandi: A Manga Biography
Penguin Books, 2011.

Ages 10-14

Award-winnning animation artist Kazuki Ebine’s Gandhi A Manga Biography appears at first glance to be an ideal meeting of form and content that will appeal greatly to young adult readers. The greyscale-illustrated book provides an easily digested overview of Gandhi’s life, including specific events in South Africa and India that tested and strengthened his resolve to resist all temptation toward violence. Ebine’s project is something of a ground breaker for a genre that is often associated with aggressive action stories.

As the page order is reversed (to left-to-right), the book will be an easy introduction to manga for readers accustomed to western page layout. Ebine’s skill as a draftsman is evident, particularly in his portrayal of Gandhi as he ages. Over the 192 pages of the story, Gandhi is taken from a precocious child through his education as a barrister in England to his appointment in South Africa, where his action on behalf of Indian civil rights inspires his growing conviction that only peaceful resistance has the moral force to overcome injustice, and finally to India, where he works with Nehru but fails to stop the political forces leading to the partition and to the creation of Pakistan.

Compelling as the story is, the execution is somewhat disappointing. Penguin’s second in its manga biography series (an earlier volume featured the Dalai Lama) badly needs an editor. The text is riddled with awkwardness, from the many instances of agreement error (Japanese doesn’t distinguish singular from plural) to amusingly goofy expressions. (My favorite is “When I first heard your speech, I was so inspired as if you boiled my blood.”) The only closing punctuation marks are exclamation points and question marks. The lack of page numbers is an inconvenience. Young readers expecting a deeper understanding of Gandhi’s life and moral development may find that in this case, the manga form is less adroit than usual at conveying story through image.

Despite these hindrances, manga enthusiasts will appreciate getting biographical information in a favored format, and Penguin’s effort to present Gandhi’s life and precepts to a generation of more visually-oriented young adult readers is laudable. Let’s hope the editorial glitches are worked out as the company publishes further inspiring lives in the manga genre.

Charlotte Richardson
November 2011

 
Natasha Anastasia Tarpley, illustrated by Adjoa J. Burrowes,
Destiny’s Gift
Lee & Low Books, 2011.

Age: 5-11

Destiny’s Gift is a story about one particular bookstore – Wade’s Books – and of the fate generally of many small independent bookstores in North America. Mrs. Wade is the silver-haired, dreadlocked owner of Wade’s Books. Across the street from her store lives Destiny, a girl who visits the bookstore twice weekly. Destiny and Mrs. Wade have a special relationship; they both love words and books. However, one day Destiny discovers that Mrs. Wade can no longer afford to keep the store open. What can Destiny do to help Mrs. Wade? Will the bookstore stay open?

It’s hard not to read Destiny’s Gift without thinking about the metaphorical implications of the girl Destiny’s name on the situation of independent bookstores generally. What Destiny does for her local bookstore might be something others could do for bookstores in similar situations all over North America, but even then, such efforts, however heartfelt, may not be enough to save them. Destiny’s Gift thus ends on an ambiguous but realistic note. What is clear and heart-warming about the book is the special relationship the bookstore owner has with a young reader and writer. Adjoa Burrowes’ paper-cut style illustrations foreground this relationship nicely. And although the book speaks to a larger social topic on one hand, on the other, it speaks to the intimacy certain people have with books and reading. And ultimately, whatever the fate of bookstores might be, it is the pleasure of reading that unites the characters in Destiny’s Gift to act decisively.

Destiny’s Gift is a wonderful picture book that works its magic at several levels at once for both the parent and the child who reads it.

Sally Ito
November 2011

B. L. Sauder,
Year of the Golden Dragon
Coteau Books for Kids, 2009.

Ages 12-15

The drums have stopped. What does it mean? Master Chen knows. The Black Dragon is angry.

Thousands of years ago a jealous wife of the Emperor of China broke a gift of jade from the powerful Black Dragon. In turn, the angry Black Dragon demanded that all descendents of the Emperor join together at capital’s river to return that gift of jade to him the next time the Year of the Golden Dragon met the millennium – two thousand years later. In this beautiful blend of ancient legend and modern-day metropolis, B.L. Sauder fashions a tale of fantasy, mystery, and family as Chen Hong Mei from China and brothers Ryan and Alexander Wong from Canada, all descendants of the emperor, face, and must fix, the consequences of this ancient legend.

Mysteries have long shaped Ryan, Alex and Hong Mei’s lives – mysteries that converge during the year the millennium meets the Year of the Golden Dragon. Where did Hong Mei’s father go, and why does her mother never speak of him? What really happened during the fire that killed Ryan and Alex’s parents? Why did all their parents so treasure the jade pieces each of them carries and why do so many people now seem determined to steal them? Fans of Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” series and Blue Balliett’s mysteries will particularly enjoy the mixture of present and past, everyday existence and otherworldly life, and myth and adventure spiced by danger and family secrets.

Ancient magic blends into twenty-first century life as Ryan and Alex travel with their aunt and uncle from Canada to China to celebrate the New Year. But their trip takes an unexpected turn when they discover they must unite with fellow descendant Hong Mei to beat the clock – and ever-present enemies – to unravel and execute the ancient task given to them by the Black Dragon. Together the three find themselves caught up in a fantastical and fantastic series of events centered around three pendants of precious jade, a deadly enemy and a two-thousand-year-old mystery that will change all of their lives forever. Advance readers and reluctant readers alike will enjoy the quick pacing and blend of fantasy and reality in this tale of destiny and adventure.

Sara Hudson
October 2011

Manjula Padmanabhan
I Am Different! Can You Find Me?
The Global Fund for Children/Charlesbridge Publishing, 2011.

Ages 4-8

In this exuberant celebration of differences, Indian cartoonist, novelist and playwright Manjula Padmanabhan makes being unique a source of delight and excitement, rather than something to fear or avoid. Each colorful spread displays an array of a single object, all apparently exactly the same. But wait – one actually is different. Which one?  Readers will love the interactive fun of these sixteen puzzles in which they must identify the one ladder, iguana, car, flower, or other object that is not like the others.  (Where are the wheels on that car?  Is that girl asleep?)

As Padmanabhan writes, “In the United States, eight out of every ten people speak only English.” But in fact, both the country and the continent have always been a place of immigrants, and I Am Different encourages readers to remember those roots. Each spread repeats the question, “Can you find me?” in one of sixteen different languages now spoken in North America. Along with phonetic pronunciation, Padmanabhan offers a brief paragraph about each language, including fun facts like “Cheetah, pajamas, and shampoo are words you might know that come from Hindi,” or instructions on how to count to five in Cree, the most widely spoken indigenous language in Canada. By repeating the same phrase, “Can you find me?”, in a variety of languages, Padmanabhan brilliantly recognizes both the delights of being different as well as the commonalities we all share.

Padmanabhan has illustrated twenty-one children’s books, and is well known for her cartoon strip, Suki, which ran first in Bombay’s Sunday Observer and later the Pioneer in Delhi. In I am Different, bright, kindergarten-friendly colors and cartoon-like illustrations make an engaging game of hide-and-seek that will provoke young pre-readers (and indeed, the adults next to them) to think deeply about and rejoice in our differences. While some individual spreads may challenge the youngest readers, the book remains a valuable teaching tool for colors, shapes and counting, a wonderful bonding book for parents and children or brothers and sisters, and most of all a joyful embrace of discovering and celebrating things that make us unique.

Sara Hudson
October 2011

Shogo Oketani, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa,
J-Boys: Kazuo’s World, Tokyo, 1965
Stone Bridge Press, 2011.

Ages 9-12

J-Boys describes the life a Japanese boy, Kazuo Nakamoto, living in Tokyo in the mid-1960s.  The book is laid out in chronological segments over a year starting in October.  Kazuo is nine years old and lives with his brother Yasuo and his parents in West Ito, a district in Shinagawa Ward in Tokyo.  Set in an interesting period in Japan’s more recent past, this account of a boy’s life in mid-’60s Japan touches on a wide range of social topics relevant to the time.  For example, the book discusses the issue of migrant labor used to develop the rapidly growing city of Tokyo, the racism against resident Koreans, and pervasive American cultural influences present on TV and in music.

There is nostalgia for this lost world prevalent in Japan at the moment – a period roughly corresponding to the latter part of the Showa era; and J-Boys is really a book that celebrates that Japan from a child’s perspective.  But at the same time as the book is nostalgic, it also explains the culture of the day to an English-reading audience. Alongside the main text are side-boxes explaining cultural items such as the names of foods, or the terms of reference for certain holidays or traditional art forms, which help contextualize Kazuo’s world for the reader.  I found these more or less helpful; with a book like this, it’s always difficult to ascertain what or what not to include as extra information for the reader.  However, using the side-boxes I think was a good device.

J-Boys is a great read that brings a certain slice of Japanese life to life, without making the culture seem like an artifact.  Yes, this is an account of a Japan of the past, but of a recent past that contains many elements of interest to readers, from the once ubiquitous urban phenomenon of the bath house to the gathering spot of Kazuo’s friends in the empty lot.  I appreciated the fact that this book is a translation of a Japanese author, Shogo Oketani, who lived through the period described. Stone Bridge Press and translator Avery Udagawa should be credited for taking on a book like this to give young readers an insightful look into Japanese society from the perspective of a young boy growing up in the ’60s. Alongside the book, one can consult the very helpful J-Boys website for information on the author and on Japan, as well as resources for teachers.

Sally Ito
October 2011

Edwidge Danticat, illustrated by Alix Delinois,
Eight Days: A Story of Haiti
Orchard Books, 2010.

Ages 5-11

When a devastating earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, Haiti-born author Edwidge Danticat struggled to find a way to help her daughters make sense of it.  In her Author’s Note at the end of the book, she explains that she wrote Eight Days: A Story of Haiti as a response to her five-year-old daughter’s concerns: “I carefully told her about a few people, among them some children, who had been miraculously rescued.”  The result is this story of a young boy who is rescued after being trapped for eight days, during which hope, luck and his memories and imagination all play a part in his survival.

The story begins with the boy’s rescue – the accompanying illustration of an apparently international press pack gets the point across that his survival is newsworthy.  The questions asked will resonate with young readers: “Were you afraid?  Were you sad?  Did you cry?” The boy’s response forms the framework of the story, as he relates one activity/memory for each day.  This device is the perfect vehicle to show how he and his friend Oscar used the power of their imaginations to separate themselves from the reality of their situation: but it also allows the blur between imagination and reality to come through in the narrative.  So, for example, they spend Day 5 playing soccer with their friends.  “Oscar felt really tired and went to sleep.  He never woke up. That was the day I cried.” Or again, on Day 6, he is in the countryside playing with his sister and getting “soaking wet and muddy”, catching “a mouthful of rain”…

Illustrator Alix Delinois, who was also born in Haiti, brings the boy’s imaginings to life.  His palette of almost overpoweringly bright colours conveys the hyper-reality of his memories of what are, after all, very real people and events.  This interplay between the boy’s imagination and his physical situation allows Eight Days to be absorbed and pondered by young children at just that age when awareness of the human cost of natural disaster is dawning; and it also makes it a good book to read with older children.  This is a book for sharing.  It will raise plenty of questions, as well as perhaps the need for reassurance, and some searching of young readers’ own imaginations.

Marjorie Coughlan
October 2011

Michael Foreman,
Mia’s Story: A Sketchbook of Hopes and Dreams
Candlewick Press, 2006.

Ages 4-8

British author-illustrator Michael Foreman was traveling in Chile when he encountered the family on whom he based Mia’s Story. Mia lives in a “village” between Santiago and the snow-capped Andean mountains she can see in the distance. Her village has a name, but really it is a community of poor people built up on the edge of a vast trash dump, which they scour for anything they can fix and re-sell in the city. Foreman’s appealing illustrations intersperse full-page paintings and conventional text with smaller sketches accompanied by handwritten-looking text, like scrapbook entries.

Mia isn’t the poorest of the poor; she lives in a house, albeit one roofed in tin scraps, and most important, she has both her parents. Her father has a truck, and she goes to school. There is even a horse, Sancho, and eventually a puppy, Poco, who provides the plot structure for Foreman’s story. When he goes missing, Mia, wearing the traditional poncho and ear-muffed cap of Andean people, mounts Sancho and goes off looking for her dog. Gradually they climb higher and higher. “From up there she could look down on the dark cloud that always filled the valley.”

Things look scary for a moment, but when Mia and even Sancho realize that the air is clean and the snow is irresistible, they both have a good roll in it. “The sky had never been so blue and so near.” Mia doesn’t find Poco, but she does discover a field of white flowers and returns home with a clump, “roots and all,” that she plants near her house.

By the next spring, those flowers have spread into a field that provides a new source of livelihood for Mia and her family. Mia tells her city customers that the flowers “come from the stars.” She still remembers Poco, especially when packs of dogs run by the cathedral, where she sells her flowers. Happily, by the end of the story, there is a dog in Mia’s life again.

On the back flyleaf, Foreman explains that Mia’s Story was inspired by people for whom “trash was a crop to be harvested, recycled, and made useful once more.” His book subtly introduces young children to a sophisticated ecological concept through a delightful story.

Charlotte Richardson
September 2011

One Arm Point Remote Community School,
Our World: Bardi Jaawi, Life at Ardiyooloon
Magabala Books, 2010.

Ages 8-11

Our World: Bardi Jaawa Life at Ardiyooloon is a stunning, encyclopaedic book that welcomes readers into the remote indigenous Australian community of Bardi Jaawi people at Ardiyooloon a.k.a One Arm Point, at the top of the Dampier Peninsula in the north-west of Western Australia. One hundred and fifteen children from the One Arm Point Remote Community School, along with their School Culture Team, School Staff, and Community Elders, as well as others from the local community, all came together to create this unique document of their culture and environment.

Colourful photographs show the children engaged in the many outdoor activities that form part of their curriculum, including camping and bushcraft. The book is filled with eye-catching artwork by the children, from illustrations for the traditional stories scattered throughout, to an identity parade of local “Saltwater Creatures”. The community’s connection with the sea is very strong. Many of the activities revolve around fishing, from catching to eating the fish. The variety of activities covered is reflected in the headings for each double-page spread, ranging from “Our History” to “Fish Poisoning and Spearing” to “Bardi Jaawi Seasons” (there are six seasons in the Bardi Jaawi calendar). And along the way, there’s “How to Dress a Snake Bite” with the check box “If you survive, you have done this right” – let’s hope so, then!

At the beginning, a colourful series of maps gradually hones in on Ardiyooloon, right down to One Arm Point Remote Community School itself. The Bardi pronunciation guide is useful since relevant Bardi words and their English translations are to be found encircling most pages, with a complementary English-Bardi wordlist at the end. The “Bardi Family Ties” section also teaches the Bardi words for all the different family relationships. Interestingly, birrii means both mother and aunt on the mother’s side; and gooloo means both father and uncle on the father’s side.

The obvious effort and enthusiasm that have gone into the project of putting Our World together have certainly paid off. As well as enjoying their visit to Ardiyooloon, readers will perhaps feel inspired both to try out some of the activities, adapted to their own surroundings, and to create a parallel record of their own communities and school lives. Congratulations to all involved, children and adults alike, in producing such a captivating book.

Marjorie Coughlan
August 2011

Susan Lendroth, illustrated by Kathryn Otoshi,
Maneki Neko: The Tale of the Beckoning Cat
Shen’s Books, 2010.

Ages 4-8

The story behind the now ubiquitous good-luck symbol of a white beckoning cat, or Maneki Neko, is well known in its native Japan, and Susan Lendroth’s retelling accompanied by Kathryn Otoshi’s atmospheric illustrations is a welcome addition to the versions of the story available in English.

A poor monk welcomes a little white cat into his simple monastery. He shares what he has with her, naming her Tama, which we learn in a glossary at the end means “round, like a ball, coin etc.” Time passes until one day there is a storm with “Buckets and barrels and rivers of water”. Tama’s attempts to wash are ineffectual in the driving rain, but when a passing samurai spots her from his shelter under a pine tree, Tama appears to be beckoning him towards the shrine. Curious, the samurai moves closer. Then, just as he reaches the gate, a flash of lightening strikes the pine tree, setting it alight: the Beckoning Cat has saved his life. In gratitude, the samurai rewards the monk, transforming the simple monastery to Gotokuji Temple, as it is known today. The monk shares his good fortune with the villagers, and Tama lives out her days growing plumper under their admiring eyes.

Lendroth’s writing has a poetic turn of phrase that makes this a very satisfying readaloud. After setting the scene of Tama and the monk’s tranquil day-to-day life, the pace quickens, heightening the dramatic effect of the storm. Both Lendroth and Otoshi clearly love cats and both the narrative and the illustrations show keen observation of and empathy with feline habits. Otoshi intersperses vigorous images following the action of the story with almost meditative depictions of the shrine and its surroundings that evoke silhouettes viewed through Japanese rice paper shoji screens – even, wittily, when the monk had the “shoji screens opened wide to the night air.” Pinks and blues predominate, and shadows and reflections intensify the contrast between the solidly depicted protagonists and their collage-like backdrops.

With its subtheme of the importance of sharing good fortune, as well as seeking it through buying one of the “thousands of cats waving on thousands of shop counters” around the world, Maneki Neko is a particularly appealing retelling of the legend, relevant to young readers everywhere.

Marjorie Coughlan
August 2011

Anitha Balachandran,
The Dog Who Loved Red
Kane Miller, 2011.

Ages 4-8

When Raja’s chewing habit puts him out of favor with her parents, Tanvi decides to take her frisky, red-loving dog to the park. There the pair meets Raja’s Dalmatian buddy, Champ, but the canines’ favorite (red) ball is nowhere to be found.

This second book by talented young illustrator and animator Anitha Balachandran (Mr. Jeejeebhoy and the Birds) tells of Raja the dog’s colorful adventure to rescue his favorite ball from the back yard of mean Mr. Mehta, the neighbor with yellow shorts, a violet gate, a silver car, brown flowerpots, a white sheet hanging on the line, and a blue garden hose he turns on dogs to chase them out of his yard.

Balachandran’s bright illustrations live up to her previous work in this book about color in which each color-word is printed in ink of that color and made to stand out so that children soon recognize not only the colors but the words for those colors as well.  Though it is a simple story that could take place anywhere, Raja and Tanvi’s world is distinctly Indian: Raja’s first chewing casualty is Mrs. Lal’s red sari shawl, for instance.

The Dog Who Loved Red is an inviting book for young children who will relate to the plight of naughty, messy, playful dogs and the kids who love them.  The characters and setting reflect diversity, though diversity itself is not a theme of the book, making it a fun story for learning about color and a wonderful addition to library shelves.

Abigail Sawyer
July 2011

Forward by N. R. Narayana Murthy,
A Clear Blue Sky: Stories and Poems on Conflict and Hope
Puffin Books, India, 2010.

Ages 13+

War. Violence. Death. Poverty. Hatred. Displacement. No matter where we live, as human beings we hope that these dark parts of life will not touch our lives, but even more, that they will not touch the lives of our children and young people. For many, however, darkness weighs heavy on childhood. This has been particularly true for millions living in southeastern Asia over the last decades, as religious and national conflicts have marked and scarred the lives of the children growing up in them. This collection of stories and poems from writers from India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan sings stories of their national and personal grief.

The grace of the collection is how the writers manage to remind us of our own saving grace: how, paradoxically, “conflict and hope” can co-exist, as the subtitle indicates. In “A Time to Mend” by Asha Nehemiah, after an angry mob breaks into a church in Bangalore, beating the priest and leaving the church in ruins, a shaken and distraught Mubina and her brother bring home the damaged altar cloth, where their grandmother, the one person in the city with the skill to repair it, makes it whole again. In another story, “The Answer” by Rohini  Chowdhury, childhood sweethearts meet again, decades after being torn apart by the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan. Perhaps one of the most haunting stories is Adithi Rao’s brilliantly told “Turban for A Little Boy”, which uses the format of a boy’s essay to convey how the innocence of a child can unintentionally provide the catalyst for evil – and how that innocence is then scarred.

Masterful storytelling techniques throughout offer classroom uses far beyond social studies; and the short bios of each writer at the end of the book also provide options for further reading.  The stories question the very idea of the reality of storytelling itself. Some tales are clearly fiction, but others, particularly a set of first-person stories, will leave their teenage readers wondering, “Was that real? Did that happen to the author? Or is it made up, historical fiction?” Such doubt creates unique teaching moments, about perception and reality, and about storytelling itself, as well as about the way people thrive, survive, and find hope in shards of despair.

Sara Hudson
July 2011

Retold by Lucine Kasbarian, illustrated by Maria Zaikina
The Greedy Sparrow
Marshall Cavendish Children, 2010

Ages 4-8

Too rarely do we see a book where text and illustration prance along in perfectly matching high step as well as they do in this Armenian folk tale. Imbued with an impish humor and attention to authentic detail in both illustrations and storytelling, The Greedy Sparrow is an Armenian folktale, passed down in author Lucine Kasbarian’s family from generation to generation, continuing ancient traditions of Armenian oral storytelling. A wandering sparrow with a devious bent flies through the Armenian countryside, tempting people he meets in order to benefit himself. In a surprising twist, he discovers that deceptive behavior and greed may leave one empty-handed in the end.

From first glance, The Greedy Sparrow bursts with life, its minimal narration placed above oversized, overly round figures, objects, and text bubbles that fill the page from corner to corner with color. “Once there was and was not a sparrow who caught a thorn in his foot.” Armenian folk tales, we read in the author’s note, always begin, “Once there was and was not”, a questioning of the reality of the fantastical story that will follow. The motifs of animals, magic and morals will make elements of this otherwise little-known Armenian folktale familiar to readers across the world, just as Maria Zaikina’s layered oil and wax illustrations echo centuries old woodblock images, which pull readers into the world of the familiar unfamiliar. This is the land of folk tales, where sparrows can carry sheep in the sky, and brides will interrupt their weddings to care for the sheep when it lands (until their new husbands decide to make shish kebabs, of course, which leads to the forfeit of one new bride to the sneaky sparrow.)

The only jarring note in the richness of color, of both story and illustration, is the text bubbles of the trickster sparrow, which use the decidedly out-of-place – and immediately recognizable – Comic Sans font. With such a beautiful design and aesthetic palette, which extends to all the other typography, this jarring detail stands oddly out of place. However, the strength of the storytelling and the rough beauty of the illustrations leave us forgiving this one misstep, and hoping to see more work from both author and illustrator.

Sara Hudson
July 2011

Tom Avery,
Too Much Trouble
Janetta Otter-Barry Books, Frances Lincoln, 2011.

Winner of the 2010 Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award, Too Much Trouble will have its readers hooked right from the explosive introduction to the prologue: “The gun was much heavier than I expected.” The story of how Emmanuel, the book’s likeable 12-year-old narrator, got to this point is a gripping tale that deliberately mirrors Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist in a modern setting.

Emmanuel has mastered the art of not attracting the attention of his peers or his teachers – no mean feat, considering that he and his nine-year-old brother Prince are living alone. The boys had been sent to England to escape conflict in their unnamed African country, but the uncle who is supposed to be looking after them turns out to be a drug dealer and eventually throws them out.

Salvation comes from an unlikely quarter, in the shape of Mr Green, who is just as grotesque as the original Fagin. It’s a slippery slope from there into learning how to be good pick-pockets, along with the other children Mr Green has taken under his wing. Emmanuel is old enough to have learned the roots of integrity from his parents and to feel disturbed by this new mode of survival; the same cannot be said for Prince, which adds to Emmanuel’s anguish, as the responsible older brother. And so, eventually we come full circle to the point where Emmanuel has a gun in his hand…

As is appropriate for its targeted readership, Too Much Trouble does not enter into deep analysis of the social background, or do more than sketch in the criminal underworld. We don’t find out the other children’s stories, we just know they are bad. One girl, Terri, is an avid reader, and there are some deft allusions to books (including Oliver Twist) that may or may not be familiar. If they are, it adds to the story’s strength; if not, readers may be curious to find out…

Avery (a teacher himself) credibly weaves in the ineffectuality of the teachers and other adults in picking up on the brothers’ situation until it’s almost too late. This does not mean, however, that readers are not required to consider deeply the issues involved. Because it steers clear of making any moral statement itself, as a knuckle-biting journey of a read, Too Much Trouble is likely to evoke a strong response for social justice.

Marjorie Coughlan
July 2011

Naoko Awa, translated by Toshiya Kamei,
The Fox’s Window and Other Stories
University of New Orleans Publishing, 2009.

The Fox’s Window by Naoko Awa is a collection of ‘modern fairytales.’ Naoko Awa (1943-1993) was born in Tokyo and was an avid reader of European fairytales as a child. She studied at Japan’s Women’s University, where she was influenced by a teacher and translator of Nordic children’s literature, Shizuka Yamamuro. The Fox’s Window is a representative collection of Awa’s work, the edited and translated cumulation of which reflects the translator Toshiya Kamei’s taste.

From the first story, “The Sky-Colored Chair”, I was immediately enchanted by Awa’s imagination. A chair maker and his wife in northern Japan are expecting a child. The chair-maker decides to make a rocking chair and paint it red for the child. Unfortunately, the child is born blind and the chair maker, dismayed, gives up on painting the chair as the child will never experience the world of color. However, one day a mysterious boy shows up and offers the chair maker an opportunity to paint the chair the color of the sky. Soon the daughter, by sitting in the newly painted blue chair, experiences for the first time, the color of the sky. This essentially synaesthetic quality of the narrative wherein a blind child experiences color through sitting on a painted rocking chair won me quickly over to Awa’s highly imaginative and poetic story-telling.

Other such stories in the collection are equally as compelling and enchanting. The title tale, “The Fox’s Window”, left a strong impression on my daughter. In the story, through the Fox’s window – the shape made by putting one’s index fingers and thumbs together to form a diamond – one can see through to an irrecoverable and magical past.

As these stories are ‘modern fairytales,’ they do not necessarily all have happy endings. Some end rather sadly, others abruptly, and still others end atmospherically. In this way, Awa’s tales are rather unforgettable – they leave a deep impression like the way certain paintings do, haunting the reader long after one has finished reading them. This collection takes a reader through a literary, magical journey full of symbols and imagery that tap the deeper parts of the psyche. I was thoroughly captivated by The Fox’s Window and recommend it highly for readers interested in Japanese tales of a slightly untraditional bent, yet still bearing the magical qualities of the country’s best known folk tales.

Sally Ito
July 2011

Youme,
Mali Under the Night Sky: A Lao Story of Home
Cinco Puntos Press, 2010.

Age 6-9

In Mali Under the Night Sky, Youme beautifully renders the true story of Malichansouk Kouanchao, who, the flyleaf tells us, “walked from Laos to Thailand when she was five years old.” Bordered watercolor paintings capture the simple beauty of her early life in Laos—napping with her family, catching tiny fish in the rice paddies, making spicy traditional foods with her aunts—with key words translated into Romanized Lao as well as the original Lao script.

“But something was changing where Mali lived…Fighting in neighboring countries was bringing danger to the land and the people. Even the birds were disappearing.” Youme pictures a child at the edge of her house, the wide space beyond empty to the horizon. It’s not safe to stay any longer. After a leave-taking that includes the traditional tying of strings around the wrists of each departing family member, Mali, her parents and siblings cross the broad Mekong, offering ritual flowers and rice with prayers for safety. They are met the next day by soldiers and are imprisoned with other refugees. Things look dark, but the strings on her wrists remind Mali of her home, and when she tells the others her happy memories, “their hearts were safe…soag sai—blessings.”

The real Mali, now a beautiful young woman, is pictured on the front flyleaf along with an introduction to her present work as an artist and anti-war advocate. At the back of the book, one of her paintings is reproduced beside her message to young readers: “…when we share about where we have come from, we all find that our homes are safe in our hearts…” A further statement by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Thavisouk Phrasavath describes the effects of war on children and how books like Youme’s about Mali are a balm to heal those traumas.

Cinco Puntos Press has made a significant contribution in publishing Mali Under the Night Sky. Its tender images and heartfelt words will touch children everywhere. While it ends with Mali in prison, young readers also learn of her subsequent success in life and dedication to healing the wounds of war. The book’s value to Laotian families in diaspora is of course incalculable.

Charlotte Richardson
May 2011

Norman Hinsdale Pitman,
The Chinese Wonder Book
Tuttle Publishing, 2011.

Ages 9-12

Though little is known about Norman Hinsdale Pitman (1876-1925) today, his effort to bring Chinese folklore to Western readers continues to be influential.  Indeed Pitman, who taught at Chinese colleges and authored several novels and short story collections, brought these ancient tales to a new audience much as the Brothers Grimm preserved the fairytales of central Europe for generations to enjoy.  These tales, not unlike those gathered by the Grimms in Europe, are full of magic, mysticism, and a certain amount of gore.

Tuttle’s latest edition of The Chinese Wonder Book, originally published in 1919, includes the beautiful and highly detailed full-color illustrations by Li Chu Tang originally published in the book’s first edition and printed here on high-quality glossy paper.  There is also an engaging foreword by Sylvia Li-Chun Lin, associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Notre Dame.

The tales include some of the best known fairytales of China, among them  ‘The Golden Beetle or Why the Dog Hates the Cat’, ‘The Strange Tale of Doctor Dog’ and ‘The Talking Fish’. Many of the themes and even the plots and characters resemble those found in Western fairytales: but these are not your cleaned-up, Disneyfied stories.  Happy endings are in short supply, and the brutality is every bit as intense as that of the original tales of the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen.  At the same time, there is lighter fare to be found in stories such as ‘Bamboo and the Turtle’ and ‘The Mad Goose and the Tiger Forest’, stories which will be enjoyed by even very young listeners.

In these rich and exciting tales, virtue, including hard work and filial piety, is rewarded, and wickedness is punished, though the version of justice reflected in the stories is clearly of a particular time and place and may not resonate with children of today.  For instance, it may seem of little consolation to be immortalized in a famous monument after an unjust death (‘The Great Bell’).  On the other hand, when a lazy thief and would-be liar turns his life around rather than be turned into a duck (‘The Man Who Would Not Scold’), children and their parents will delight in the tale’s humor and theme of redemption.

The Chinese Wonder Book has served as an introduction to the folk tales of classical China for generations and remains Pitman’s best-known work.  This lovely new edition wi

Uma Krishnaswami, illustrated by Abigail Halpin
The Grand Plan to Fix Everything
Atheneum, 2011.

Age: 9+

In her exuberant new book, The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, award-winning writer Uma Krishnaswami uses the novel form itself to deconstruct film-making, especially plot development. In the process she creates layers of plot fun for ‘tween girl readers.

Best friends Maddie and Dini are separated when Dini’s physician mom gets a chance to return to India for two years. Through internet and mobile phone technology and her dad’s computer skills, Dini stays connected to Maddie, back in the States, while she attempts to realize their dream scheme: to meet their idol, Bollywood “fillum” star Dolly Singh. Plot reversals abound, of course, but thanks to a conscientious postal worker, an Indian girl with a talent for sound effects, Dini’s tolerant if clueless parents, a bakery that puts chocolate in curry puffs, a singing electric car, and even a goat-herder, not to mention the characters and crises in Dolly’s career and love life, Dini’s dream of meeting Dolly more than comes true.

Dini knows that there is something mysterious about how everything works out in Dolly’s fillums, but orchestrating to her purposes the characters in Krishnaswami’s fictional Indian hill town, Swapnagiri (Dream Mountain), is a big challenge for an 11-year-old–even after Dini learns that Dolly is staying in the very same town. However precocious and however loyal a fan Dini is, she needs vision, luck, courage, energy—and kismet!—to realize her dream. Patterning herself on Dolly in her fillums, Dini aspires to have everything come out right, every dream come true.

Abigail Halpin‘s humorous black-and-white drawings and cover illustration give just the right amount of visual suggestion to young imaginations. Krishnaswami’s lively plot exudes entertaining references. No mention of Mumbai passes without reference to fillum people who still call the city Bombay, for example. Dini’s puzzlement about a grip’s role on a film becomes an extended joke. Her dad’s penchant for nifty phrases introduces homespun English idioms. As Dini follows Dolly’s musical advice to “Sunno-sunno, dekho-dekho” (listen-listen, look-look), she becomes part of the Swapnagiri community and everything does come out right. Krishnaswami’s brilliant, multilayered book will delight her readers. Younger ones will love the story for itself, while older girls will also appreciate her nuanced message, plot dissection, and linguistic in-jokes.

Charlotte Richardson
June 2011

Monika Schröder,
Saraswati’s Way
Francis Foster Books, 2010.

Ages 10-14

What do you do when you have a dream that seems impossible? Twelve-year-old Akash loves numbers. He loves the way they fit together, form patterns, and make order in a world so often full of incomprehensible unfairness. After his Bapu, his father, passes away, Akash’s dreams of winning a scholarship to study math seem further away than ever. His family’s fields lie parched and barren. They cannot pay their rent. When Akash’s grandmother gives him to the man who owns their land, forcing him to leave school to chip rocks in the quarry, Akash decides to take fate into his own hands.

Praying to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, Akash runs away to Delhi, empty-handed but full of determination. In this raw, unsentimental, yet wholly empathetic novel, Akash faces harsh realities of poverty and street life in India, while negotiating universal struggles of temptation. Will he choose the faster, dishonorable route to his goal? Or the slower but honest option? Like all who encounter roadblocks, Akash struggles with challenges and temptations. But armed with a steady head and a true heart, he learns to trust that honest paths and loyal friends ultimately prove wiser ways to achieving one’s dreams.

Monica Schröder, a German native who has lived and taught in New Delhi since 2002, weaves a layered, nuanced story of longing, loss and coming-of-age in a country struggling with poverty, as told through one boy’s fierce determination to overcome its challenges. Her graceful, mellifluous writing seamlessly interweaves details of Indian life and Hindu religion into Akash’s story, making it a gripping, inspiring tale of perseverance, integrity and urban survival set in a landscape rich with details of Indian culture, cuisine and religion. A brief afterword and glossary give background on Vedic math, Hindu gods, street children in India, and words used in the book.

Schröder’s gentle tone makes this a stylistically light read for a teenager, but the complexity of the problems Akash faces – including drugs, child labor, and family death – may be heavy for some pre-teens. A wonderful choice for parents to put under the noses of reluctant teen readers, ready for mature plot lines narrated in accessible language, Sarawati’s Way also dialogues well with recent offerings about India and Indian Americans, including works by Mitali Perkins, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Uma Krishnaswami.

Sara Hudson
May 2011

Sally Morgan, illustrated by Bronwyn Bancroft,
Dan’s Grandpa
Freemantle Arts Centre Press, 2007; originally printed 1996.

Ages 5-10

Right at the opening of this moving, sensitive story of a boy’s love for his grandfather, we learn that Dan’s Grandpa died six months earlier and Dan misses him terribly. The narrative looks back over the past before overtaking its starting point, and by the end of the book, Dan is finally able to emerge from the rawness of recent bereavement towards the comfort of knowing that, as his Grandpa persistently told him, “Don’t worry, Dan, don’t worry” – he would always be there to look after his grandson. The catalyst for this shift in his grief comes from a no-longer-hoped-for quarter, which adds to the story’s poignancy.

Readers follow Dan as he remembers all the special things he and his Grandpa did together, like fishing and dancing, and how Grandpa passed on his heritage to his beloved grandson: such as love and respect for the nature around them, and traditional stories and songs in their native Naml language. Bronwyn Bancroft’s bold illustrations come into their own here, evoking Dan’s aboriginal roots and his spiritual connection with his landscape. While they appear to be expansive in their scope, the illustrations also pinpoint details in the story, like the “lollies” Grandpa keeps hidden under his pillow at the hospital, to give to Dan when he visits. And young readers will make friends with Grandpa’s dog and cockatoo long before they make an appearance in the written narrative. Bancroft uses traditional aboriginal art to create a flow of energy that pulsates through the story and adds an emotional charge to Sally Morgan’s simple, dignified prose: whether its Grandpa telling stories about the stars, or Dan at school, in his mind already at the end of the day, running to the hospital to visit his sick grandfather.

Dan’s Grandpa is a beautiful, simple story which will resonate especially with young children who have lost a grandparent, or indeed any dear loved one. First published fifteen years ago, it is as fresh as ever today and looks set to become a timeless classic that will communicate on a contemporary level with its readers both now and in the future.

Marjorie Coughlan
May 2011

Tetsu Saiwai,
The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography
Penguin Books, 2010.

Ages 12+

Manga biography is a great way to introduce historically significant personages that would appeal widely to certain readers, especially young adults: and Tetsu Saiwai’s manga biography The 14th Dalai Lama does just that. The 14th Dalai Lama aims to inform readers of the life of the 14th Dalai Lama from his birth until the present day. The story is a dramatic one – from its beginning in 1939 where the young boy, Llhamo Dondrub, born of a peasant family, is discovered to be the reincarnation of the former Dalai Lama, through his removal to Lhasa, where he grows up and is educated by the monks, to his eventful departure from Tibet for India in 1959.

The story is book-ended by the Dalai Lama in the present day. It starts with his recounting of the past to an audience made up of foreigners, and ends with his expression of the spiritual tenets he abides by because of who he is. It is really those spiritual values of the Dalai Lama that are an inspiration to the world; what this manga biography does, in part, is show how these values came to be formed and also tested. A good example of this is the Dalai Lama’s struggle to stay peaceful amidst the growing persecution of his people by the Chinese. Even as his loyal Tibetan advisers urge him to get ‘support from foreign governments’, he is recalcitrant, for he is utterly convinced that getting such support from the likes of the American CIA, for example, will inevitably lead to armed conflict. He chooses the way of peace, consistently and with determination, in spite of the odds and temptations to do otherwise.

Although the manga style and format of this book are fairly conventional, they are both used to good effect to tell the compelling story of a remarkable contemporary figure. While there were no particularly visually arresting moments in the book, I think the book is intended to be educational than artistically entertaining. In other words, for your average young adult reader, it will have conveyed the Dalai’s Lama’s story in a manner they can easily consume and engage with. One quibble: I hope that page numbers will be included in future editions should Penguin continue to publish more of these manga biographies. Such biographies are a welcome addition to the growing market of manga fare available in English for young adult readers.

Sally Ito
May 2011