One way to get closer to a country’s culture is to explore its proverbs and idiom. Being fans already of illustrator Axel Scheffler, we couldn’t resist his Proverbs from Far and Wide (Macmillan, 2001) when I came across it recently.
Scheffler depicts facial expressions with a cartoonist’s eloquence, whether on humans or other animals, and he really comes into his own here in conveying the meaning of each proverb through its accompanying vignette. The people are all shown wearing the traditional costumes of the proverb’s country of origin, which contributes to the global feel of the book; and the universality of humankind is communicated by the gathering of the proverbs into categories like “Friend or Foe?”, “What Happens Next?” or “That’s Not Fair”. Some of the gems included are:
Those who have one foot in the canoe and one in the boat are going to fall in the river - Tuscarora
A hasty man drinks tea with his fork - India
If I peddle salt, it rains; if I peddle flour, the wind blows - Japan
Trust in God, but tie your camel. - Persia
You cannot find a striped squirrel in every fence pole - North America
All in all, this is delightful book for introducing small - and not so small - children to some great expressions from different cultures… And it has got me looking around to see what other similar books there are out there for children. Here are a couple I’ve spotted and would love to know more about - if you know them, do tell us about them:
Tigers, Frogs and Rice Cakes: A Book of Korean Proverbs by Daniel D. Holt, illustrated by Soma Han (Shen’s Books, 1999);
Mi primer libro di dichos / My First Book of Proverbs by Ralfka Gonzales and Ana Ruiz (Children’s Book Press, 1995)
I’ve also come across Many Ideas Open the Way: A Collection of Hmong Proverbs by Randy Snook - it’s out of print now but there are some fun images here, although you don’t get to see the original Hmong as you would in the book…
Laos is gorgeous, picturesque, and on the UN Human Development Index it ranks 133 out of 177 nations. It’s a country in which 41% of the population is under the age of fourteen and where per capita income is low. Books are hard to come by for Laos children and says American Carol Kresge, “Books matter.”
Living in Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage site, Carol ensures that not only are books available for the residents of that city– there is also a library that goes far beyond the norm. @My Library has 1200 books, with 1000 of those checked out every month, and classes in English and Laos typing, computer skills, art, photography and calligraphy. Five different languages are taught, and there is a music room with guitars, keyboards, synthesizers and a recording studio for Laos and Hmong music.
There’s a gallery showing the work of the photography students–if a photograph is purchased, 50 percent of the proceeds go to the photographer and the other half to the library, which is a non-profit institution. There is no charge to check out books, and the classes are free.
@MyLibrary is open six days a week, with 150 users a day, most of them between the ages of 14 and 27. It’s run by Carol and five Laos staff members, with the help of an innovative program called Stay Another Day. This enlists the assistance of travelers, enticing them to serve as volunteer language teachers or sharing their skills with other classes.
The library is a place to find books in the Hmong language, as well as in English and Laos. The most popular book? It’s Malaysian author Billi Lim’s Dare to Fail. And in a culture where perfectionism can hamper effort, Carol Kresge is delighted that in her library, this is a title that is rarely on the shelf.
First things first, HT to Bookshelves of Doom.
You may want to preorder your copy NOW of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance+Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! How can you resist?!
Y'all saw the results of this morning's ALA Youth Media Awards, right? For me, it provided the perfect excuse not to work out. Ok, the cuteness of the dog would have worked this morning, but obviously, a good children's librarian should watch the awards webcast instead of working out, right? RIGHT!
I have very strong opinions in some of these categories, but they're the same categories that I'm sitting on non-ALA awards committees for (Cybils and Blue Crab) so I'll keep my trap shut until I'm allowed to discuss such things.
In other news, The New Classics Challenge ends on the 31st. This started in AUGUST, but I forgot about it until this month. Whoops. So far, I've read 2.5 of my 6. Also, I was supposed to read The Bonfire of the Vanities: A Novel but I couldn't find our copy, so given I was checking a book out of the library, I figured it should be The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes.
Anyway, the two I finished are both nonfiction! Yay!
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman
I have long wanted to read this book because of the fact it deals with Hmong culture. Growing up in the 80s and 90s in Northeast Wisconsin, the Hmong made up the vast majority of the non-white population, but this isn't an ethnic group that you hear a lot about, which has always surprised me.
One of the reasons I love the
Jackson Friends series so much is because there is a Hmong character.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a heartbreaking tale of a young Hmong girl in Merced, California, who has severe epilepsy. Due to the language and cultural barriers between her family and the medical community, the system fails her utterly.
Fadiman's account explains how each side tried its hardest to help Lia Lee and how each side completely failed her. Mostly, she does this without judgment and anger, but once and awhile, she can't, and I can't really fault her for that.
Fadiman does an excellent job of explaining the medical issues surrounding Lia's condition and treatment, as well as the cultural issues surrounding her life, and the history of the Hmong people and their life in America.
My only fault with the book is that it tends to treat Hmong culture as completely homogeneous, without the usual disclaimers or sentence weakeners you see in other cultural books, such as "traditionally X culture does... " or "many member of Y ethnic group feel..."
My other wish is for an updated version, as many of the troubles facing the community Lia and her family lived in had to deal with immigration and welfare status--both contentious issues that have undergone drastic changes since this book first came out in 1997. Luckily, the book's website does offer updates on how the people we meet in these pages are doing since publication.
Oh, and when discussing China, it uses the Wade-Giles instead of Pinyin system of romanization, but that's a China-geek complaint, and the book isn't about China, so I'll let it slide.
The Glass Castle: A Memoir Jeannette Walls
I picked this one because it's on the scary list.
Jeannette Walls grew up unbelievably poor. Her father was a dreamer and drunk, her mother an artist who didn't want to be tied down with a regular job. As a result, they moved a lot, lived in places with no water or electricity and often went hungry. Despite this Jeannette managed to attend Barnard and is now a
gossip columnist for MSNBC.
While Walls life was unbelievably hard, the plot is the only driving factor in this book. The events make it readable, but the characters are flat--there's little insight, or feeling. (Except for Walls embarrassment when she feels people are laughing at her, or staring. So it's odd that she became a gossip columnist, right?) Many times when writing about something horrible, survivors tell their tale in a detached manner--as if truly engaging in the subject matter again would inflict great physiological damage, which it might. While this is quality I will forget in stories that we would otherwise might not hear, such as
This is Paradise!: My North Korean Childhood, I'm less forgiving in instances such as these. First this happened, then this, then this, then this. No analysis, just plot.
While engaging, I'm not entirely sure why it won so many awards because the literary merit isn't as there as it could be.
Overall, I give it a resounding "meh"
Nonfiction Round up is
here.
New Classics Round up is
here.
Hi!
Don't forget to do a wrap-up post and vote for your favorite to qualify for the contest!