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Gung Hay Fat Choi! Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy Year of the Sheep/Ram/Goat!

So how are you celebrating? Here are some of my favourite children’s books for Chinese New Year:

The Year of … Continue reading ... →

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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.

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Over the past week or so, my daughter has gravitated toward the two Grace Lin books we have in our house.

First, Chronicle Books sent us the paperback version of Red is a Dragon: A Book of Colors, written by Roseanne Thong and illustrated by Grace Lin. It's a concept book written in rhyme that features gorgeous spreads of Chinese characters in both Asian-themed and familiar settings with objects in the color featured on the spread.



For example, here's the opening of the book:

The text is "Red is a dragon/ Red is a drum/ Red are the firecrackers--here they come!" The book continues with many more colors: yellow raincoats, flowers, and a taxi; green toads, bottle gourds, and jade; a blue pool, dragonfly, and pair of sneakers; pink peonies, white dumplings, and more. A glossary in the back explains more about some of the items in the book that some kids may not be familiar with, such as lychee fruit, chopsticks, silk fans, and more. This is a wonderful way to not only teach colors but to also introduce children to another culture.


And speaking of teaching kids about different cultures, take a look at Lin's book, Bringing in the New Year (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2008). Both written and illustrated by Lin, this book follows a Chinese family as they prepare for and then celebrate the Lunar New Year.

The entire family participates in the preparations: "Ba-Ba hangs the spring happiness poems. Ma-Ma makes the get-rich dumplings. Mei-Mei gets a fresh haircut."

The preparations lead up to an exciting celebration with firecrackers, the arrival of "lions" to scare away last year's bad luck, and an exciting pull-out three-page spread of the arrival of the dragon. Here's just one page of this impressive and vibrantly-colored spread:



At the end of the book is a two-page summary of the Lunar New Year, which includes information about the customs and traditions of this special holiday. And if anyone doubts the importance of having fun, colorful end papers, check out my little one who is fascinated with the end papers in this book. This one was taken earlier this week during our post-bath time reading session.



Yes, she loves Grace Lin, and we're definitely going to add to our collection. Check out Grace Lin's Website for more information about all of her books.

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I did this drawing for the Illustration Friday theme this week, which is "Multiple."

In light of this theme, I think most folks would agree that the ability to multitask is pretty much manditory these days. Other than wearing roller-skates all day long or having your self cloned, eight arms might come in very handy.

Perhaps with these extra appendages or tentacles (for the pedantic,) you could, while designing that logo for your client, also wash the dishes, balance your checkbook and make yourself some lunch. You might even consider picking up a some dumbbells with your suckers and work those flabby biceps.

While your at it, you really have to watch this. Make sure to watch it to the end, because that's where you will see how amazing octopus really are.

Sketched Out

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