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Kids' social network Grom has acquired Top Draw Animation, a Philippines service animation studio whose projects include My Little Pony, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, and Tom & Jerry.

The post ‘My Little Pony’ Animation Producer Top Draw Animation Acquired by Grom Social appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

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In this picture book for older readers, Patricia Polacco tells the story of Johnnie Wallen, a Kentucky boy who manages to get his parents to say he is older than 15 years, allowing him to enlist in the army and fight in WWII.

After basic training, Johnnie is assigned to the Sixth Infantry, Company G, Twentieth Division and sent to the Pacific theater.  On the ship, Johnnie is called "the kid from Kentucky" by everyone because of his youth.  But the kid from Kentucky was an crack shooter by age 10, and now the army trains him as a marksman and for heavy ordnance (explosives).  In now time, Johnnie earns the nickname the Kentucky Kid after proving himself quite adapt at going into the jungle to seek and destroy machine gun nests.

The Kentucky Kid's unit soon finds themselves on Luzon, an island in the Philippines, where they need to level the land to bivouac and to build an airstrip.  It is a hot job in a jungle infested with biting insects, and after a while, Johnnie is covered with bug bites.  Looking for water to cool his bites, he discovers a small native village where women are trying to catch fish with their bare hands.

There, he meets a little girl who shows him how to treat his bug bites with the leaves of a local plant.  Grateful for the relief and the friendly gesture, Johnny repays the young girl's kindness with the chocolate bar from his K-rations, tells her his name was Kentucky Jon, which immediately becomes Tucky Jo when she repeats it, and he begins calling her Little Heart because of a heart shaped birthmark on her arm.

That night, Tucky Jo whittsd a little hinged doll to give to Little Heart, which delights her.  Then, one day when she didn't show up, Tucky Jo goes to find her in her village.  There, her grandfather, who does speak English,explains that she hasn't spoken since she saw the Japanese kill her mother and take away her father and brother.

And, he goes on to explain, the Japanese took all the young men, all the food and all the fishing lines and nets.  As a result, the people in the village are starving.  Well, Tucky Jo is a doer and in no time, the people in Little Heart's village have all the fish they could eat and preserve - how?  You'll have to read the story to find that out.

When Tucky Jo learns his unit is leaving and will be bombing the jungle, he convinces his sergeant to let him evacuate the village first, which  is very successful.  But when the truck with Little Heart pulls away, it is the late time Tucky Jo sees his little friend.  Or is it?

After the war, Johnnie goes home, a highly decorated soldier, marries his sweetheart and raises a family.  As he gets older, and his health fails, he needs to be hospitalized.  Johnnie's nurse is very kind, so kind that he begins to wonder, especially after he sees the small heart shaped birthmark on her arm.  Could it be...?

According to her Author's Note, Patricia Polacco writes that the story of Tucky Jo and Little Heart was inspired by listening to WWII veterans talking about their experiences in the Pacific Theater and is based on the story that Johnnie Wallen related to her.  Of course, there is some poetic license, but the reader will have to figure that out for themselves.

Palacco has created as story about friendship, kindness,and  ingenuity, while at the same time showing the terrible impact that war has on children.  Little Heart has clearly been traumatized by what she had witnessed, compounded by a state of starvation, but Polacco has portrayed these things in such a way that they won't traumatize the reader, but will evoke feelings of empathy for Little Heart.

And there are the signature Polacco illustrations done in color pencil and markers.  The illustrations capture Little Heart's vulneribility and her fragile state, and Tucky Jo's youth and enthusiasm, and his innate kindness that shines in his eyes.

Tucky Jo and Little Heart  is an ideal book for introducing young readers to the war in the Pacific, or for any one interested veteran stories that come out of WWII..

This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Johnny Wallen passed away on January 9, 2010.  If you would like to know more about decorated hero of WWII, you can read his daughter's tribute to her father HERE 

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I write YA books; that is true. But I never write strictly and only of teens. I care about the sweep of generations. I think generations are relevant. Some of my very favorite characters are women even older (believe it!) than me. My Mud Angel and physician Katherine of One Thing Stolen. Stefan's East Berlin grandmother in Going Over. Old Carmen, the rugged beachcomber, of This Is the Story of You (due out next spring). And, of course, my Estela, the old Spanish cook in Small Damages—a character I lived with for a decade before she found herself inside that gorgeous cover.

But now look at the silver wing near the right upper edge of that cover. That is Estela herself, who came to me this afternoon by way of my husband's cousin, Myra. Estela in real life was my husband's father's mother—a loved, buoyant, life-affirming General Counsel in the United States who had also served as the Philippine ambassador to Portugal. I wear her ring as my engagement ring. I hear stories. And today I received this bookmark, which once clipped the pages of the books Estela read.

Myra's words (in impeccable handwriting):

This is an antique silver bookmark from El Salvador my grandmother Estela picked up—probably 50 years ago.... I decided it was time to send you this now. I always thought this should go to you—since you are the writer in the family and it came from William's home country.

 I am so in love with this gift. This piece of then. A bookmark shaped like a coffee bean that might as easily mark my third memoir about my marriage to this Salvadoran man, Still Love in Strange Places.

I thank you, Myra.

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Zenji Watanabe is 17 years old in the summer of 1941, a Nesei born on Honolulu to Japanese parents.  Naturally, he is fluent in both Japanese and English.  He has also just graduated from high school and is thinking about studying Buddhism in Japan, Meanwhile, he was working to help support his family - mother, older brother Henry, younger sister Aiko, father deceased.

All that changes when Zenji's JROTC commanding officer Colonel Blake shows up at his house one day.  He wants Zenji to be interviewed and tested, but for what?  To travel to the Philippines to translate some documents from Japanese to English.

But when Zenji arrives in Manila, he is instructed to stay at the Momo, a hotel where Japanese businessmen like staying, to befriend them and keep his ears and eyes open.  He is given the key to a mail box that he is required to check twice a day to be use for leaving and receiving information and instructions.  Zenji is also given  a contact person, Colonel Jake Olsten, head of G2, the Military Intelligence Service, and even a code name - the Bamboo Rat.

In December 1941, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and the war in the Pacific begins.  It isn't long before the Americans are forced to withdraw from Manila.  Zenji chooses to remain, giving his seat on the last plane out to another Japanese American with a family.  Not long after that, he is taken prisoner by the Japanese, who torture and threaten him trying to make him admit he is the Bamboo Rat, and considering him a traitor to his county - Japan.

Eventually, the Japanese give up and Zenji is sent to work as a houseboy/translator for the more humane Colonel Fujimoto.  Fujimoto seems to forget that Zenji is a prisoner of war, and begins to trust him more and more.

By late 1944, it's clear the Japanese are losing the war in the Pacific.  They decide to evacuate Manila and go to Baguio.  Even though food is in short supply, Zenji starts to put some aside for the day he may be able to escape into the jungle and wait for the war to end.

But of course, the best laid plans don't always work out the way we would like them to and that is true for Zenji.  Will he ever make it back to Honolulu and his family?

WOW! Graham Salisbury can really write an action-packed, exciting and suspenseful novel.  Salisbury was born and raised in Hawaii, so he gives his books a sense of place that pulsating with life.  Not many authors explore the Japanese American in Hawaii experience during World War II and not many people realize that they were never, for the most part, interned in camps the way the Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians on the west coast of the US and Canada were.  And although Hawaii was only an American territory until it became a state in 1959, if you were born there, you had American citizenship, just like Zenji continuously tells his Japanese captors throughout Hunt for the Bamboo Rat.

At first, I thought Zenji was too gentle, too innocent and too trusting for the kind of work he was recruited to do, which amounted to the dangerous job of spying.  But he proved to be a strong, tough character even while he retained those his aspects of his nature.  Ironically, part of his survival as a spy and a POW is based in what his Japanese Buddhist priests had taught him before the war.

One of the nice elements that Salisbury included are the little poems Zenji's mother wrote.  Devising a form of her own, and written in Kanji, it is her way of expressing her feelings.  They are scattered throughout the book.  Zenji receives one in the mail just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and keeps it with him as long as he can, deriving comfort from it.

Like the first novel I read by Salisbury, Eyes of the Emperor, one kept me reading straight through until I finished it.  It is the fourth novel in his Prisoners of the Empire series, and it is a well-crafted, well-researched story, but it is a stand alone novel.  Zenji's story is based on the real wartime experiences of Richard Motoso Sakakida.

True to form, Salisbury brings in a lot of history, along with real people and events, but be careful, fact and fiction are seamlessly woven together.  He also includes the tension between the Filipino people and the Japanese after the Philippines are occupied by the Japanese and the cruel treatment of the Filipino people.   And included is the tension between Chinese and Japanese in Hawaii because of the Nanjing massacre of Chinese civilians in 1937/38.

All of this gives Hunt for the Bamboo Rat a feeling of authenticity.  There is some violence and reading the about Zenji's torture isn't easy, so it may not appeal to the faint at heart.

Hunt for the Bamboo Rat is historical fiction that will definetely appeal to readers, whether or not they particularly enjoy WWII fiction. And be sure to look at the Author's Note, the Glossary and additional Resources at the end of the novel.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was purchased for my personal library

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[Click on the headlines for links!]

Al Jazeera publishes a web comic, and it’s not what you expect!

Two Harris County (Texas) District Attorney employees were indicted by a grand jury for stealing evidence and selling it online!

The case that landed both men in jail began in May 2012, when they were assigned to investigate attorney Anthony Chiofalo, who embezzled about $9 million from his client, a company that manufactures heavy cranes.

[…]

In October 2012, Blevins sold thousands of dollars worth of rare comic books to a dealer in Chicago who later discovered they were the same items purchased by Chiofalo from an online auction house.

An attorney representing the company Chiofalo had worked for learned about the comics and recognized the name of the seller: Harris County DA’s investigator Lonnie Blevins.

The FBI arrested Blevins in February 2013 – about two months after he left the district attorney’s office. Federal prosecutors said he “cooperated substantially” in their inquiry.

Barnes & Noble offers signed books as door busters on Black Friday!

Here’s the link showing all of the titles!  Wimpy Kid!  Smile!  American Gods!  Amulet!  Timmy Failure!

Raina Telgemeier has posted scenes of her massive signing schedule on Facebook, where she signed eleven packages of book pages over ten days with twelve Sharpies.  The pages were then shipped to Asia, where they were bound into the books.  All in top secret mode.

Dunno if President Bush did the same, or if he went to an undisclosed location and signed the actual copies of his book.

How Did A Cartoonist for the National Lampoon and Playboy Get Hired To Draw One Of America’s Most Iconic Comic Strips?!?

…and why was he fired six years later?  Comic Book Resources has the secret history!

Obligatory Hyperbolic Press Release Of The Day

…with qualifications.

“Since we created the Safe Ship & Zip boxes, the damage rate has dropped to nearly zero,” said Drucker. “And, we’ve received lots of e-mails from customers thanking us for making opening boxes so easy.”

“We’ve shipped comic books to 117 countries, and our damage rate is among the lowest in the comic book business,” said [CEO Jim] Drucker. “So, if you buy comic books online, or are looking for comic books for sale, you don’t have to worry about shipping damage at NewKadia.”

[I did a sample search on their website.  They have a copy of “Superman Meets The Quik Bunny”, so it seems like a decent site.]

A New Comic Con Is Announced In Asia!

In a briefing today, Al Ahli Holding Group (AAHG) chief executive officer Mohammed Khammas said the company will hold the Asia Pop Comic Con 2015 in the Philippines.

The annual event features international brands in comics, animation, toys, music and movies, and Manila’s hosting will mark the United Arab Emirates-based conglomerate’s investment in the Philippines.

[…]

Established in 1977, AAHG’s businesses range from real estate to construction, engineering and infrastructure, retail and trading, technology and logistics, lifestyle and fitness, entertainment, as well as hospitality.

The conglomerate operates in 25 countries and has a 5,000-strong workforce.

…And You Can Have A Coffee While You Wait For It To Open

Those are not the only pleasant surprises you’ll find upon entering Subspace Coffee House, though. Living up to the establishment’s moniker, the three-year-old coffee shop is divided into diverse, uniquely designed sections—“subspaces,” if you will—that, when taken together, deliver a one-of-a-kind cafe experience for K-Pop fans, pop culture geeks, office workers, and social media enthusiasts alike.

They specialize in latte art… using the foam to make an illustration, as seen here.

Thor is also proud of the fact that, as geeks and fans themselves, they can get pretty much any latte art request right, with minimal to zero questions and at no extra cost. “Our coffee is good, but our strength is really our latte art—we transport people to different locations by personalizing their coffee.” From comic book characters to TV shows to K-Pop bands, Subspace’s artists have got latte art down to a science. “[Our regulars] know that when they come in, we ‘get’ it. No need to explain what they want us to draw on their coffee. No questions asked, we get it.”

Another School Library Gets Boys To Read, in Fayettville, North Carolina

In the “Guys Read” program, students are paired with mentors who read with them and try to introduce them to the joys of the printed page. Many of the mentors are South View High School students.

Baldwin librarian Jennifer Scott said boys were singled out for the mentor program because they tend to read less than their female counterparts. Particularly at the fourth-grade level, Scott said, boys tend to drift away from reading.

[…]

Scott said the program attempts to identify books that 9- and 10-year-old boys might like.

“They like graphic novels. They don’t want books that don’t have pictures,” she said. “They don’t like made-up stories. If they do come to the library, they spend their time in the nonfiction section.”

The school advertised the mentoring program and partnered with South View High School. Many of the mentors are ROTC students looking to earn community volunteer credits, but other people from the community have volunteered to help.

Discover The Secret Comic Book Origin Of An Art Book Publisher!

You started selling books very young. What were you into then?

I was interested in one particular comic book artist who made the Donald Duck series: Carl Barks, who is one of the great American 20th century art geniuses, and he’s still totally underappreciated. I thought I was the only one collecting comic books, but I learned that others did the same but much older than me — people who were looking to buy back the lost dreams of their childhood. So I started dealing when I was still in school; I had a little mail-order business when I was 14. I have this DNA for what a collector needs or loves. What we wanted to do later on with our books was create the ultimate fetish items for the collector.

Read the entire interview to discover an exclusive announcement!  (And if you’ve been good this year, Santa might bring you this.)

A Crowdfunded Comic Teaches Indian Children About The Law

Kanan and Kelly Dhru still have the wide-eyed enthusiasm characteristic of fresher law students. The sisters are on a mission to foster a new generation of kids who will grow up to be socially responsible adults aware of the laws that govern them. To this end, they plan to release a series of comic books called ‘Lawtoons’.

The first volume, which was released earlier this month, is titled “A Song for Everyone” and deals with topics like the Right to Equality and Freedom of Expression. The initiative has been successfully crowd-funded, with a total of 2.75 lakhs being raised for the first volume alone.

[Now if only someone in the U.S. could produce a comic on how Grand Juries work…]

“Batman and Robin” Meets “Batman Forever” or “Chill.”

Comics Artwork From Boris Karloff’s Cousin Sells For $485,500 in France

Some 400 lots of comic art were sold at the auction in Paris on Saturday, Artcurial said, with the highest price fetched by a Tintin strip from “The Castafiore Emerald”, signed by its creator Herge, going for 404,500 euros.

You can see the results at Artcurial’s website.  Search for Sale 2666, held 22 November 2014.  Or view the 244-page catalog here!

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Stacked is our sister-site's weekly mailbox-sharing feature.

Crikey, it's been a while! I've only acquired a handful of books since last time, which is good for the hoard, but I do also have a ton of news. I'll try to bullet-point it and use lots of photos so you don't get antsy :) Sorry, not going to happen. I have a lot to say, I guess!

First off, I finally started hitting the bookstores near my parents' place in Manila. Did you know that in a recent study by the World Culture Score Index, the Philippines is the top 4 country in the world in terms of time spent reading per person? The US is #22 on that list, though only a couple hours less per week on average.

In the mall near my mom's house alone there are at least 4 bookstores, that I know of anyway. One is inside the supermarket. In some of the malls the bookstores take up 3 or more floors! There's even one mall where I was getting so confused because the same company would have a store on the ground level and one on the third floor. Not just one company, but two different ones with multiple locations in the same mall. It's pretty crazy.

Anyway, here's one shelf from a store called Book Sale. It's basically a used bookstore (they sell some new books from local presses as well as magazines and assorted stationery like gift wrap and notebooks) and they are freaking everywhere. I was too embarrassed to take a photo of the store to show you what one looks like (I was already kind of lurking and surreptitiously taking pics). They basically cram everything into a tiny space, pile books on the floor, triple-stack them on shelves and tables with no real order. You just have to pick through and find something you might want to read. I think it's pretty fun! I ended up with Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking and Ann Patchett's Bel Canto for about $2 each.


I also went to Fully Booked at the GreenHills Promenade. I like them because the interior is kind of cool, they face out a lot of their books (especially in arts and design, where it matters so much!) though this isn't one of their coolest locations. Their kids/YA section was in disappointing disarray, but at least they have some nice huge display tables for new and bestselling YA. I even found some sale books for half off!




The thing they really have going for them is their selection. I just have to stop myself from going in and re-organizing their shelves. I will be doing a Shop Hop post soon (yep, bringing that back) where I will go into more detail.




Next up, I finally freaking finished the Pasadena Teen Book Festival website! PHEW. I hope you'll take a look when you're done here.


Also, next weekend is the 3rd Annual Yarn Crawl LA--our friends at Unwind in Burbank will be hosting Salina Yoon on Sat, Apr 5 from 11am-1 pm. There will be storytime, crafting, and snacks. My cousin and epic-level cake popper Adri P. is bringing Penguin and Bootsy pops! Our very own Thuy is running the show. Salina will show kids how to do finger-knitting, even though she admits she doesn't know how to knit for reals, haha! Once Upon a Time Bookstore will be selling Salina's books, including the Penguin titles and her latest book, Found! Awesome yarnista and knitwear designer Heather Walpole of Ewe Ewe Yarns created a scarf and hat pattern inspired by Penguin in Love. You can peek at the samples here and pick up the kit at Unwind during the Yarn Crawl! Last but not least, our favorite photographer Katie Ferguson will be on hand to document the event. I can't be there, sadly, but maybe I can eat some cake pops while I look at the photos afterwards!


This weekend, I headed out to Glorietta Mall to meet up with some of the Filipino book bloggers (find them #PHYAbookbloggers on Twitter). Thanks Louisse (@louisse_ang), Kate (@BookishBlurber), and Jesselle (@_jessellev) for hanging out with me! They actually had to run off to Becca Fitzpatrick's blogger forum and OMG you have to go look at their photos because Black. Ice. ARCs. Who do I have to beg, bribe, or bake for at Simon & Schuster to get a hold of one of those?


My selfie skills were strained to the max, haha! You can see the rest of our photos on my Instagram feed @frootjoos. I totally missed Kai (aka @amaterasureads) but I still hope to meet up with her and get a #PHYAbookbloggers t-shirt because how cool is that?!


Anyway, about the signing. I didn't get to go because I was going to have to work at 11 pm (I know, time zone madness) and the signing was at 4 pm. So what, you say? That's plenty of time!

People, this was the line at National Bookstore at 8 am for this 4 pm signing:


This was the bottom floor of the bookstore (which has 4 floors I think, I didn't get to them all) at 1 pm:


Scheiße! American YA fans, you don't even know. I think we sometimes take these events for granted, since so many YA authors actually live there. On the other hand, publishers, this is where you should send YA authors. Pinoys read! They read widely. We love fantasy as much as we love contemporary. We love Andrew Smith as much as we love Cassandra Clare--yes, they've read and loved The Marbury Lens. We are equal-opportunity readers. We buy books (libraries aren't really a big thing here) and we wait patiently in massively mind-numbingly long lines. We fangirl like it's going out of style (you would know how over the top we go if you had been here the year Michael Jackson died--I swear I didn't enter a single mall, jeepney, or restaurant that didn't have MJ songs playing or being performed by avid karaoke singers).

In case you're wondering, here's who I heard they want to see the most: Rainbow Rowell, Jennifer E. Smith, and Leigh Bardugo.

@frootjoos OMG, tons! @JenESmith @Marie_Lu, @mstiefvater, @marissa_meyer, @AndrewFukuda, @Susan_Ee, @jenlynnbarnes!

— Kai A (@amaterasureads) March 30, 2014

@frootjoos Lots! Jennifer E. Smith, Marie Lu, Rainbow Rowell, A.G. Howard, Kendare Blake, David Levithan, Sarah Dessen! :)

— Jesselle Villegas (@_jessellev) March 30, 2014

I actually really wanted to see Kate Evangelista (Til Death, Entangled Teen 2014) but I had to work that day, too. Bummer! Her launch party looked like it was a lot of fun. I did buy her book at National yesterday.


National actually books auditoriums for some visits, where they expect way more people than will fit in their store. Example:


Anyway, I'm sad I didn't get to see Becca, but I have already met her 3 times, and hopefully she'll tour in SoCal when Black Ice when it hits the shelves on October 7, 2014.

Crap, I just thought of three more book-related things to tell you. But this post is way over tl;dr already so I'll just leave you with this:


Folks, I legit fell off a futon when I read the email telling me to expect one in the mail. Like I wasn't excited enough to get Ruin & Rising when it releases on June 17! Anyway, my husband took a photo of the package contents with my lil' Darkling-wannabe John Carter, but he refused to read me the chapter sampler over FaceTime. *frowny-face*

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Maggie Steele, the storybook heroine who vaults over the moon, has been attracting thousands of visitors from around the world. So many visitors, in fact, that she’s using a time zone map to keep track of them all.* People are … Continue reading →

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Concluding our focus on Laguna BelAir School and their involvement in our WaterBridge Outreach program we present the feedback of the school  librarian Ms. Vin Del Rosario.

The books donated by the Paper Tigers: Books+Water presented a very suitable opportunity for me to propose a reading program for the Learning Resource Center (LRC).

I am a School Librarian who oversees the operations of the Library and Learning Resource Center of Laguna BelAir School, a K-12 private educational institution located in the City of Santa Rosa, Laguna,Philippines.

This reading program was spearheaded by the LRC in partnership with the Class Advisers and Reading Teachers of students in Grades 2 to 6. One of the aims of this reading program was for students to encourage one another to read the Spirit of PaperTigers (SPT) books in the library to reach the class reading goal. The reading goal was determined by the number of students in the class, the assigned 3 SPT titles and percentage of expected participating students. To reach the class reading goal faster, more students must participate in the reading program.

This SPT Reading Program gave me more chances to reach out to the clients of the library. While the reading program was up and running, the students would wait for me every morning during their Class Routine time for the distribution of the Mini Book Certificates. These small pieces of paper certified that the student earned points for his/her class by submitting correct answers using the Book Completion Form (BCF).

This SPT reading program provided me an avenue to know in-depth the reading abilities of the students who participated in the program. In the same manner, the Class Advisers themselves professed that this activity opened another opportunity for them to know more the students in their advisory class. Some students found a chance to show off their special abilities, and for that, efforts were made to recognize these little triumphs. The tokens that were distributed to the children (ballpoint pens, bookmarks, and stickers) gave the children some sense of pride in their active participation in the SPT Reading program. Parents were given copies of the pictures taken during the SPT Reading Program awarding ceremony. The school reiterated the partnership that we need to uphold to ensure that the children will develop the habit of reading. Most of the parents appreciated the recognition given to their children.

As a School Librarian, and in conceptualizing this reading program, one of my deepest desires was to use the SPT books to encourage more students to visit the LRC. The program aimed to encourage 50% of the students in grades 2 to 6 to participate. The response of the students was so overwhelming. The SPT reading program was well accepted, it achieved 76.1% participation! They were excited to read the adventures of Kojo, Jilu, Little Leap Forward, Luis, Thomas, etc. It was unfortunate, but I had to deliberately shorten the reading program because the class reading goals have already been reached, almost two months earlier than the target time. There were days when the cues of students wanting to read the SPT books were very long, but the students still waited patiently for their turn. The book completion forms made them read the books in a more comprehensive way to be able to satisfy their want to receive the Mini Book Certificates the following morning.

This SPT reading program also created more meaningful working relationships between the library and some faculty members. The library requested for teacher volunteers who would assist the library staff during the reading sessions in the library. More than 30% of faculty members responded positively to this call. It was indeed an opportunity to practice stewardship, one of the core values that the school advocates for all the members of the school community.

After the reading program, I had opportunities to do read aloud sessions for some of the SPT books to the students in grades 2 and 3. We allowed ourselves to be absorbed by the moving stories and the artistic illustrations of the book. We joined Jilu as he explored his ger in different seasons, an experience that we do not have in the Philippines as we only have two seasons. We shared the struggles of Luis on his way to El Tormento, his passion to read was worth emulating. We all admired the skills of Thomas and his friends, they worked together to build their school. In the Philippines, we call the value of working together as “bayanihan”, which is a culture we share with the children and teachers of Chad.

I had sleepless nights checking an average of 108 Book Completion Forms daily during the SPT reading program. This I had to do as I did not want to disappoint the students who were waiting for their Mini Book Certificates the following morning. And being able to encourage 32% of non-library users to finally visit the library just to participate in this reading program was all worth the back pains and sleepless nights.

This SPT Reading Program was just a commencement activity. We have to continue encouraging the children to read and to understand the traditions, practices, and culture of different peoples all around the world. We all need to see that, while we have differences, still, we can live with respect for one another and exist harmoniously.

I look at the future with hope in my heart knowing that all other PaperTigers: Books+Water books will continue to promote these values. The teachers in the classrooms, with the prodding of the Academic Team Head, will discuss these values more deeply with the children. Laguna BelAir School will continue to explore and use the stories in the SPT book sets because the school also espouses related advocacies, appreciation of our Filipino culture and at the same time understanding other cultures… in the hope for a better world-with children growing up as stewards and adults with deeply-rooted empathy.

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At the heart of every PaperTigers book is a message for all of humanity. The message each book conveys is relevant, timeless, and transcends the boundaries set by current economic, political, or cultural constructs that continue to impinge on the way peoples of the world interact today.

We at Laguna BelAir School have realized the affinity between our core values and those of the PaperTigers (PT) organization, as conveyed in the PT books that the organization has sent us. By sharing the PT books with our students, we are also imparting our core values in a way that is not awkward and forced. Through the books, they may realize that the things we say we value are not simply words to be memorized but are ideals that other people cherish and live out. Through their constant exposure to these wonderful books, and their continuous experiences in the school’s different advocacies, they may truly become what we wish them to be – stewards for a better world.

Thank you, Paper Tigers, for involving us in your outreach program. We share in Wangari Maathai’s (Planting the Trees of Kenya) advocacy of caring for the environment by planting trees and in her belief in women and in communities working together to bring about much-needed reforms. We are inspired by Kojo’s (One Hen) example of thrift and of making a difference one small step at a time. The way we view people with cultures or beliefs other than ours is challenged by the way friendship is forged between Abaani and Haki (First Come the Zebra), thereby promoting peaceful coexistence. And we are truly inspired by the boy (A Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope) who despite all adversity finds hope for a better future in a war-ravaged land.

 

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Yesterday on the blog we highlighted student feedback from Laguna BelAir School that we received on the 2010 and 2011 book sets. Today it’s time to read some of the wonderful comments we received from the teachers.  As I mentioned yesterday obtaining feedback from our participants is a crucial part of our WaterBridge Outreach project and we are most appreciative of the students and staff at Laguna BelAir School who took the time to share their thoughts and comments on the book sets.

Question: How specifically have the PaperTigers book/s (any of them) helped you to open your pupil’s minds and hearts to other places and other cultures

The PaperTigers books are stories of different countries. Because of this, the stories helped me in opening my pupils’ minds and hearts to other places and other cultures. For instance, the book Rain School relates the culture of children who don’t have a formal school to enter to, yet they still loved schooling despite of their unfortunate situation. The books tackled variety of stories introducing other places specifically remote places and containing adventures of young children. The lessons they hopefully learned might have opened their minds to the fact that more children are still wanting or excited to be educated and that my pupils are more fortunate than them. ~ Ms. Sheila Lumbay, English 1 and 2

Since most of my pupils don’t experience too many hardships in their lives, it is difficult for us teachers to open their minds in the reality of the world. But with the help of the PaperTigers books, they became aware of the different cultures. I have read a pupil’s answer regarding the difference of his life to the lives of the characters in the story. He said that he is fortunate because he doesn’t need to build his own school compared to the children in the book Rain School. With the help of the books, they become thankful with what they get, as well. ~ Ms. Kate Caling, English 3 and 4

Question: What was your favorite PaperTiger book/s among your pupils and why?

The favorite books among my Grade 5 students are One Hen and A Child’s Garden. But most of the students like A Child’s Garden because it is a story of hope despite local conflicts in the country. ~ Mr. James Alvin Mirador, English 5

Biblioburro was the favorite book of my pupils because most of them were able to read and to reflect in the story. The book has inspired them to read and borrow more from the library. In fact, one of their comments says that they also want to be like Luis who was a generous man and really loved reading books and shared those books to the children from far-flung places. ~ Ms. Sheila Lumbay, English 1 and 2

Question: How specifically have the PaperTigers book/s (any of them) helped you teach English and encourage reading among your pupils?

These books helped me little by little to appreciate reading. I learned a lot about other cultures and started to get fascinated in books. They said that if you want to learn more vocabulary words, try reading children’s books. It’s true! It widens not only my vocabulary, but also my students’. I could easily motivate them because I incorporated the stories in my lessons. The students and I were hooked with the books. ~ Ms. Emirose Gonzale, English 6 and English Coordinator

Do click here to read the entire teachers’ feedback document.

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Today we continue our focus on Laguna BelAir School, located in Santa Rosa City, Philippines, and their involvement in our WaterBridge Outreach Project. The first post in the series can be read here.

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This promises to be a special week here on the blog as we spend the next few days highlighting feedback from one of our WaterBridge Outreach participants:  Laguna BelAir School in Santa Rosa City, Philippines.

Our WaterBridge Outreach: Books + Water Nourishing the Mind and Body program (formerly known as Spirit of PaperTigers Outreach)  seeks to further the overall goals of the PaperTigers Program: bridging cultures and opening minds, promoting greater understanding and empathy among young people from different backgrounds, countries, and ethnicities. More specifically, WBOutreach works to advance education through books and reading, and development through clean and accessible water.

Since 2009,  the “Books” portion of WaterBridge Outreach: Books + Water has seen us put  specially chosen book sets into the hands of young readers through schools and libraries, encouraging literacy, developing understanding and making reading a lifelong habit.  Each year’s  set is comprised of books that we feel provide “multicultural” or “trans-cultural” stories that promote awareness of, knowledge about, and positive acceptance of “the other” in ways children can learn and enjoy. We are convinced of the crucial role of literacy and reading in an education that fosters understanding and empathy. Click here for information on the  2010, 2011 and 2012 Book Sets can be found here and includes reviews of the books, interviews with authors and illustrators, illustrator galleries, and publishing information.

Laguna BelAir School has participated in our Book Set program for the past 3 years under the guidance of  the school’s amazing head librarian, Ms. Vin Del Rosario. Using the books Ms. Del Rosario implemented an inspiring  reading program for her students in grades 2 to 6.  Ms. Del Rosario writes:

You have chosen quality book sets, books that contain values that are important to us. It was easy for us to share the books with our students as the stories and illustrations “capture” our students’ interests.

I initiated the PaperTigers reading program to create an avenue to encourage our students to read the books in a fun way. It is also the library’s way of helping the English subject teachers to get feedback on the PaperTigers books.

This reading program is a class effort. It encourages class participation. The more these students read in a class, the faster they can reach their reading goal. Reading points were assigned to different PaperTigers books. Class advisers and Reading teachers encourage students to participate in the reading program.

The students visit the library to read the PaperTigers books during their snacks and lunch break. After reading a book, the student is given a “book completion form”, which is a small piece of paper with two or three questions about the book. Students earn points for each form they complete and are awarded a “mini book certificate”.

Originally, I had intended to run the reading program up to November 2012. However, due to the overwhelming responses of the students, we completed it by the end of September!

We have been posting Laguna BelAir’s written feedback on the book sets on our Outreach page here.  Earlier this month we received this video from Laguna BelAir school that documents their Spirit of PaperTigers reading program! Such a thrill for us to see the students and staff of the school engaging with the books we sent and I think we can all agree that Ms. Del Rosario’s reading program was a HUGE success!

http://youtu.be/v1ns1yb23T0

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Laguna BelAir School, located in Santa Rosa City, Philippines, is a participant in our WaterBridge Outreach Program. We highlighted their feedback on the 2011 Book Set last week and we have just updated their feedback page with new photos. Click here to view.

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Ana Maria Bacudio, the project leader and story-teller for the Dagdag Dunong Reading Center in Singalong Malate in Manila read the books from the 2011-12 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set to different groups of children during story-telling sessions.  Here is a brief selection of reactions from the children:

About Rain School by James Rumford:

King Robert M. (age 10) felt sad when the school was washed away by the flood. It was a loss for him because the children did their best in constructing the school but because of the rain it was destroyed. There was a feeling of hope in him because by the next school year, the children will again help in building their school and they will again study and learn. He realized that the children should not waste learning time while there is still no rain and their school is still standing. When the rain comes, they cannot study anymore and will again make a classroom next school year.

About A Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope by Michael Foreman:

Jenielle S. (age 8 ) felt so happy when the fence was removed and the people joined together without separation by a barbed fence. She wanted to imitate the boy by taking care of their plants at home so that they will grow and shelter birds and insects like in the story. She became excited and happy because the girl from the other side of the fence also took care of the small plant which later grew into a big plant and covered the fence. She wanted to imitate the boy and the girl from the story on how they took care of the plants.

About Biblioburro by Jeannette Winter:

Angela R. (age 8 ) was happy and enjoyed the part when the children were asked to wear pig masks and listen to stories about pigs. She told me that we should also make masks when we tell stories about animals so that they will feel and internalize the stories more and feel that they are also characters in the story.

Read the rest of the Dagdag Dunong Reading Center’s feedback here.

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Filipino Readers Make It Social~ by Tarie Sabido

Part 3 of 3 (read Part 1 here and Part 2 here)

Wondering about the Filipino reading community? Filipino readers are social readers. We don’t just love books; we unite with other book lovers and meet both online and offline to discuss books. We regularly meet with our book clubs or other reading organizations in person, and we use social media to keep in touch between meetings. The first Filipino online and offline book club was Flips Flipping Pages. Flips Flipping Pages meets every second Saturday of the month for food, games and other activities, and discussions of books – everything from Dr. Seuss books, the Hunger Games, and Howl’s Moving Castle, to Wicked, the Little Prince, and the Left Hand of Darkness. Their website serves as a bulletin and discussion board. Their latest online discussion being on books they would recommend to school children and books they would like to be part of the elementary and high school curricula.

Another online and offline reading group is Filipino Book Bloggers, an informal organization that started as an online directory and grew to include regular meet-ups. Click here to see a list of some Filipino children’s book bloggers and here to see a list of some Filipino young adult book bloggers.

Last year, the Filipino reading community organized the first Filipino Reader Conference. The event was held on September 14 at the Manila International Book Fair, and included a keynote speech on the merging of readers and writers through social media, a panel on putting up and running a book club, a panel on the whys and hows of book blogging, and giveaways. Speakers included Tata Francisco, teacher and founder of Ex Libris Philippines, a book club and an organization that raises money for scholarships, and Chachic Fernandez, popular young adult book blogger and administrator of Filipino Book Bloggers. The conference provided support, instruction, and social time for readers; celebrated readers and reading; and promoted closer ties between readers, writers, and publishers.

The second Filipino Reader Conference is this August 18 and will be bigger and better, with book discussions, presentations on topics such as book blogging ethics and effective school reading programs, and the ceremony for the first Filipino Readers’ Choice Awards.

The Filipino Readers’ Choice Awards seek to honor Philippine-published books and give the Filipino reading public a greater voice in the Philippine publishing industry. The award categories include children’s picture books, comics/graphic novels, short st

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Watch Out for New Young Adult Literature from the Philippines! ~ by Tarie Sabido

Part 2 of 3 (read Part 1 here)

In the Philippines, very young readers have many excellent local picture books to choose from, but it’s slim pickings for young adult readers. There just hasn’t been a lot of young adult literature (excellent or not) published in the country. So when young Filipino readers grow up, they turn to young adult literature from the US, the UK, Australia, and other countries.

The good news is that Philippine young adult literature is slowly growing. The local publishing industry is starting to recognize the desire for much, much more young adult literature with Philippine content. Just last month, Summit Media launched Kwentillion, a bi-monthly young adult science fiction and fantasy magazine that includes comics, short fiction, book reviews, writer and artist features, resources for young writers and artists, and much more. Co-editors Paolo Chikiamco and Budjette Tan have put together an entertaining and eye-opening first issue with stories of Philippine mythical creatures, monster-fighting plumbers, comic book superheroes, alternate histories, and deep space-swimming Filipinos, along with previews of young adult science fiction and fantasy novels, an article on fan fiction, interviews with two rock stars of the Philippine comic book world, a directory of Filipino artists to follow, an art tutorial, and a primer on folk magic.

I wrote an article for Kwentillion about the need for more Filipino young adult literature. It’s important for Filipino teens to read stories from around the world, but it’s even more important for them to read local stories. Young adult literature is about being relevant to teens, and context and distance matter when it comes to relevancy. It isn’t enough for Filipino teens just to know through stories that there are others who share their problems, concerns, hopes, and dreams. They need to know that other teens going through very similar emotional journeys are around them every single day, on buses and trains with them, in their churches and neighborhoods, at the same schools and malls.

Filipino teens can now look forward to books like Horror: Filipino Fiction For Young Adults, an anthology of horror stories edited by Dean Alfar and Kenneth Yu, to be published by the University of the Philippines Press. Flipside Publishing will soon release four young adult e-books: the first two installments of a paranormal romance series by A.S. Santos (tentatively entitled The Voices in the Theater and The Corpse in the Mirror); The Woman in the Frame, an art mystery and historical romance by Raissa Falgui; and The Viewless Dark, a paranormal mystery by Eliza Victoria. Other Philippine publishers also have young adult books in the pipeline. I can’t wait! This may seem like a very small number of books compared to other young adult markets, but this is the most number of Philippine young adult books to be published in recent years. This is something to be excited about.

Fans of young adult literature, especially Filipino teens, please watch out for many more stories that feature Filipino settings, culture and heritage, legends and folktales, creatures, characters, and more!

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