We have blogged quite a bit about Grace Lin lately as her book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was chosen as one of seven books in our Spirit of Paper Tigers Book Set and was also named a 2010 Newbery Honor Book, one of the most prestigious awards for children’s literature in the United States. Be sure to check out Grace’s blog to read about and see photos from “the Newbery call” .
One thing that I really admire about Grace is that she is so accessible to her fans via her regularly updated blog and her full schedule of book signings and school visits. This Saturday, February 20th, she will be at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, USA hosting Learn How Books Are Made with Grace Lin where she will show the many steps of publishing, read one of her books, answers questions, draw some of her book characters and sign books. After a lunch break, she will talk about Lunar New Year customs, referencing her books Bringing in the New Year and The Year of the Rat. Perhaps she will share some of the special lunar crafts that she has been making to help celebrate the Year of the Tiger (and have you made our Paper Tiger yet?). Of course, all of us at PaperTigers have a special affinity for the Year of the Tiger and so does Grace:
In my book, The Year of the Rat there is the story of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac, which tells of the great race of the animals to win the the honor of a year named after them. The winning animals had their own characteristics as you can tell by how they they competed
The Tiger won his place by sheer strength, courage and nerve. That is why they say people who are born in the Year of the Tiger are risk-takers and brave. So, this year, the Year of the Tiger, is the year where we all have to be strong, brave and ready to take risks. It might be a bit unpredictable and surprising.
Now, I was born in the Year of the Tiger so this is MY year. But, it doesn’t mean it will be a lucky one. When it is YOUR year, it means it will be a year of important and possibly life-changing decisions. It’s the year where big things happen that change the course of your life.
Just in time for February 14th, when we will be wishing everyone a Happy Year of the Tiger, we at PaperTigers are delighted to be launching a Tiger of our own: one that we hope will find a home in every corner of the globe. And when you have created your personalised tiger, we hope you will send us a photo for us to post here on our blog.
We have talked for a long time about having a “real” paper tiger and we are very grateful to husband-and-wife team, authors Sally and Stewart Walton for giving us permission to reproduce the tiger from their book, Make Your Own: Paper Jungle (A Golden Book, 1994). My children were given this book as a present a few years ago and have made most of the animals several times – they make great gifts for grandparents, who, of course, don’t mind how many times they receive a toucan or a chameleon!
The tiger, in pdf format, comes with complete instructions. On page 1 you’ll find a ready-painted version and on page 2 there are two plain outlines – perfect for those who want to give their imaginations free rein and for making multiple copies…
So get going – and send photos of your Tiger(s) to blog(at)papertigers(dot)org – we can’t wait to see your Paper Tigers and what a great way to see in the New Year! Gung Hei Fat Choy! Xin Nian Kuai Le!
2010 is the Year of the Tiger so I have chosen a book that features a tiger in its telling. White Tiger, Blue Serpent is an old Chinese tale from the Drung tribe in Yunnan. Retold by Grace Tseng (illustrated by Jean and Mou-Sien Tseng, published by Lothrop, Lee and Shepherd, 1999), the story is about a young boy named Kai whose poor mother is a weaver of brocades. Kai supports his mother in her work by fishing and collecting firewood. The brocades his mother makes are sold in the market to buy food and silk supplies. The two live frugally on the impoverished west bank of a great roaring river which divides it from the magical and mountainous east — a land guarded by a ferocious white tiger and monstrous blue serpent in the service of the jealous goddess Qin.
One day Kai asks his mother to make a special brocade just for him. She knows that such a brocade will take a long time to weave — a thousand days — and will require Kai to work hard like a man and not a boy. Kai is up to the challenge; he takes his mother’s latest brocade to market and sells it to buy an ox and rice seedlings. He will become a farmer as well as a fisherman to support his mother’s grand endeavour. After a thousand days, the brocade is ready. It is so beautiful that the goddess Qin snatches it away from Kai with a gust of wind that transports the brocade into her highly guarded realm. What will Kai do? In order to get the brocade back, he must venture into the mountains and face the tiger and the serpent.
In this story, the tiger represents a fearsome obstacle and will be a test of Kai’s budding manhood. The illustrations in the book by Jean and Mou-Sien Tseng make this more than amply clear. What stories of tigers have you read and what emotion have they elicited in you as a reader? Fear? Awe? Admiration? Tell us about your favorite books about tigers!
