I have a backlog of books that I want to say something about, but I'm not sure I have all that much to say about, beyond the initial notes that I made for myself. It doesn't help that I read some of them months ago, and I'm starting to forget the nuances. Ouch.
So in order to clear up the backlog and catch up a little, I'm going to be doing First Impressions posts every now and then.
Title: Doll Bones
Author: Holly Black
Published: 2013
Source: Local Library
Summary: Haunted by the feeling that their childhood is slipping away, three friends go seeking the story behind the doll that has featured in their make-believe stories for years.
First Impressions: Creeeeeeeeeeepy, but also balanced with a quintessentially tween story of everybody growing up at different paces.
Title: Promise of Shadows
Author: Justina Ireland
Published: 2014
Source: review copy from publisher
Summary: Zephyr Mourning isn't a great harpy, but when her sister dies, she does her job of wreaking vengeance on the man responsible. But because it was Hermes, she's not rewarded but sent to the Underworld as punishment. When she escapes, she finds out that she might be more powerful and dangerous than even she expected.
First Impressions: Took some time to get into. I realized most of the way through that this girl - flawed, prickly, murderous, and grappling with dark powers - would have been the villain in any other book. That was actually pretty cool. The love story was a little lackluster. I didn't feel the pull toward the love interest and I didn't know why Zephyr did, either.
Title: The Problem with Being Slightly Heroic
Author: Uma Krishnaswami
Published: 2013
Source: Local Library
Summary: Bollywood superstar Dolly Singh is premiering her new movie at the Smithsonian, and superfan Dinni couldn't be more excited. But as the premier draws closer, everything seems to be falling apart, including Dinni's relationship with her best friend Maddie. In Bollywood epics, all problems are solved with a song and a dance, but will that work in real life?
First Impressions: As frothy and fun and Bollywoodish as the first book.
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Blog: Confessions of a Bibliovore (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: first impressions, The Problem with Being Slightly Heroic, Doll Bones, Justina Ireland, Promise of Shadows, Uma Krishnaswami, Holly Black, Add a tag
By: Cynthia Leitich Smith,
on 2/18/2016
Blog: cynsations (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, historical fiction, research, Shawn Stout, Add a tag
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations
Several years ago I had a story idea swirling inside my head. It was about three sisters who try to clear their father’s name after he is accused of being a Nazi spy.
The story was based on the real-life experiences of my grandparents, whose restaurant in Maryland in 1939 was boycotted by the townspeople over my grandfather’s purported “secret back room” and rumors of espionage.
It was a story that was personal to me and to my mother and her two sisters, but I kept it safely locked away for a couple of reasons.
The first was that I had never written anything even close to historical fiction before, and the story ultimately would have elements of xenophobia, racism, and super-patriotism of that period—heavy themes that, when I thought of writing about them, gave me the willies. The other reason, and perhaps the bigger one, was that I didn’t know how to balance the knowledge of historical facts with telling a mostly fictional story.
Basically, I didn’t want to write a history book—one that was so bogged down in historical details that the characters were overshadowed by the time period.
When I finally got up enough gumption to give my idea a chance, I began by interviewing family members and others who worked at my grandparents’ restaurant. Then I dived into history books, newsreels, newspaper articles, old radio shows, spy movies, and World War II timelines. A lot was going on in 1939, apparently, and I spent months trying to learn it all.
Pretty quickly, though, I became overwhelmed. I had accumulated piles of folders, newspaper clippings, CDs of digital recordings, and at least a dozen notebooks labelled “Important Pieces of History.” And, unbelievable as it seemed, there was still more to know.
After spending nearly a year in 1939, I wondered, how would I know when I’d learned enough? How much “historical” did a person need to know to write historical fiction, anyway?
Enough turned out to be tricky to define. The truth was that I had already learned a great deal. I knew about the short-lived Studebaker Dictators, about Hitler’s advances in Europe, about the voyage of the St. Louis, about restaurant prices, and about widespread anti-German sentiment.
But was that enough?
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| Uma Krishnaswami |
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| Shawn K. Stout |
Just start writing.
You can always go back and do more research, if you need to, she told me, but let your story and characters dictate what else you need to know.
Uma, of course, was right. I did start writing, and as I began filling out the characters of the three sisters, the edges of their small town, with bits of historical detail, became more defined, and their world soon came into sharp focus.
I only ended up using a small fraction of the many historical details I found in my research, but in the end, for my characters and their story, it was enough.
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JacketFlap tags: HarperCollins, Uma Krishnaswami, Houghton Mifflin, Kids Can Press, Kadir Nelson, Lauren Thompson, Groundwood Books, Tim Wynne-Jones, Orca Books, The Nightlife of Trees, Ram Singh Urveti, Books, Picture Books, Articles, Candlewick Press, Barbara Reid, Cornelius Van Wright, Best Friends, Allen Say, Bhajju Shyam, Durga Bai, Gita Wolf, Feiwel and Friends, Andrea Spalding, Amistad, Children's Book Press, Dianne Hofmeyr, E. B. Lewis, Connie McLennan, Frances Lincoln, Christy Hale, Anushka Ravishankar, Front Street, Dana Goldberg, AG Ford, Cheryl Foggo, Dear Baobab, Devashish Makhija, Big Bear Hug, Alan Marks, Cate James, Capucine Mazille, Dingo's Tree, Gladys Milroy, Breaking the Spell: Stories of Magic and Mystery from Scotland, MWD theme - Trees, 'Branching Across the World: Trees in Multicultural Children's Literature, children's books about trees, Caroline Binch, Big Jabe, Epigram Books (Singapore), Bulbuli's Bamboo, Bakame Editions (Rwanda), Alone in the Forest, Andrea Anastasio, Call Me Tree / Llámame árbol, Cézanne and the Apple Boy, Derek Blanks, Grandfather Goes on Strike, Grandma Lim's Persimmons, Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree, Janet Wilson, Magabala Books, Walker Books, John Shelley, Nicola Davies, Roseanne Thong, Tara Books, The Boat in the Tree, Piet Grobler, The Wishing Tree, Pratham Books, Simon & Schuster, William Miller, Laurence Anholt, Jerdine Nolen, Maggie Prewett, The Old Frangipani Tree at Flying Fish Point, Trina Saffioti, Second Story Press, ZonderKidz, Nicholas Oldland, Karadi Tales, Janetta Otter-Barry Books, John Kilaka, The Amazing Tree, Nina Sabnani, Sandhya Rao, Marjorie van Heerden, Out of the Way! Out of the Way!, Tulika Books, Uma Krishnaswamy, Qin Leng, Scholastic Canada, Sirish Rao, The Promise, Walter Lorraine Books, Under the Cherry Blossom Tree, Marcia Vaughan, Up the Learning Tree, Jin Pyn Lee, The Elephant and the Tree, Maya Christina Gonzales, North-South Books, Paula Wiseman Books, Picture a Tree, Proiti Roy, In Bon Bibi's Forest, Pulak Biswas, Priya Kuriyan, Ibrahima Ndiaye, The Magic Formula, Lari Don, Tiger on a Tree, Laura Carlin, Jill Milroy, The Magic Bojabi Tree, Sharon Wilson, Trish Cooke, Mita Bordoloi, Jainal Amambing, Oyez! Books (Malaysia), The Proud Butterfly and the Strange Tree, Lee & Low (US), Look Back!, Papillote Press, The Grandad tree, Irene's Wish, Running Press Book Publishers, Rebecca Page, Greystoke, judith Clay, Julie Stiegemeyer, K. S. Nagarajan, Neeta Gangopadhya, One Two Tree!, Rev. Lyndon Harris, Rosalind Kerven, Solomon's Tree, Sunita Lad Bhamray, The Busy Beaver, The Enchanted Forest: A Scottish Fairytale, the Forgiveness Garden, The Woodcutter of Gura, Thea's Tree, Under the Baobab Tree, Veena Seshadri, Victor Reece, When Ali Became Bajrangbali, Yong-Ha Hu, Add a tag
Trees are so much a part of our daily lives, whether we take them for granted or find ourselves fighting for their survival: so it is perhaps unsurprising that there are many stories from all over the world that feature trees, woods or forests as a central theme or ‘character’… … Continue reading ...
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Out of the Way! Out of the Way!
written by Uma Krishnaswami, illustrated by Uma … Continue reading ...
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By: Debbie Reese,
on 2/22/2013
Blog: American Indians in Children's Literature (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, not recommended, John Segal, playing Indian, Pirates Don't Take Baths, Add a tag
On AICL, there's a page of "the foul among the good" that catalogs books in which Native people are stereotyped, objectified, and mocked in celebrated or popular children's books. Some of the images there are in old books that are still being published, and some are from newly published books. I've got another new one to add...
From there, kid-pig imagines him/herself (gender not specified) as "someone else." Here's the summary from the publisher's page:
For any young child (or pig), there are few things more excruciating, more traumatic, more torturous than bathtime. And this little pig is putting his hoof down. No. More. BATHS. But how can he possibly accomplish this? Well, by being someone else, of course. After all, everyone knows that pirates, astronauts, and knights in shining armor - just to name a few - never, EVER take baths. Now if only he can convince his mother . . .
In his hilarious new picture book that is sure to become an integral part of bathtime routines, John Segal documents one particular skirmish in this never-ending battle of wills.
With each "someone else" pig-kid comes up with, pig-parent counters with a reason why the "someone" won't work. For example, pig-parent tells pig-kid that pig-kid can't be a pirate, because pig-kid gets seasick. So, pig-kid moves on to another "someone."
Most of the suggestions pig-kid comes up with are things someone can choose to be.
Astronaut? A job one might choose... Knight in shining armor? Ditto. Cowboy? Again, a choice. Same thing for treasure hunter.
In the midst of all this someone-elsing is Eskimo.
Pig-kid says "I'm an Eskimo. They can't bathe. Its TOO COLD."
Pig-parent says "Yes, but do you know what Eskimos eat? Whale blubber and walrus liver." To which pig-kid says "Blubber and liver? That's gross."
Come on, John Segal! Eskimos--who prefer Inuit, Inupiaq and their own names for who they are--take baths. You're having fun at their expense, and you're contributing to misinformation about people who Americans know so little about!
I'm curious, Mr. Segal...
You've got kid-pig playing Cowboy on one page, but you don't have the usual playing Indian alongside it. I wonder why you didn't do that? I'd like to think you knew better, but the Eskimo page tells me otherwise. Playing Eskimo is just as bad as playing Indian.
And---what's up with making fun of food Alaska Natives eat?! As Erin (a librarian who works with Inupiaq children) writes in her review at Goodreads,
The Iñupiaq people practice a subsistence lifestyle that many people may regard as “gross” because it is unfamiliar. Bowhead whales are harvested and used to feed the entire community.
Erin writes that she's sending the book back to the publisher. I wonder if she included a letter stating why. I hope so! And, I wonder what would happen if ten people did that?
Segal's choice to make light of Alaska Natives backfires. For a thoughtful essay on humor, take a few minutes to read Uma Krishnaswami's article at Horn Book: "No Joke! Humor and Culture in Middle-Grade Books." Though her essay focuses on middle-grade books, her words apply to picture books, too.
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 9/24/2012
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: quotes, support authors, perspectives on reading, Uma Krishnaswami, authors, Add a tag
- Uma Krishnaswami
By: Aline Pereira,
on 5/23/2012
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Matthew Gollub, Manila International Literacy Festival, Minfong Ho, Linda Sue Park, Geraldine McCaughrean, Holly Thompson, Allen Say, Lensey Namioka, The Clay Marble, Kamishibai Man, Kimiko Kajikawa, Yoshi's Feast, Bamboo People, Asian Festival of Children's Content, Global Voices, Cultures and Countries, Orchards, The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, Scholastic Asian Book Awards, The Grand Plan to Fix Everything blog tour, Tomo, Society of Children-s Book Writers and Illustrators, Cool Melons Turn to Frogs, japanese picture books as a window to japan, Asia Pacific Writers, AsiaWrites, David Kudler, Grandfather's Journey, Grandpa's Town, Island of Ogres, Japan Writers Conference, Jenny Schwartburg, SingTel Asian, Takaaki Nomura, The Kite Rider, The Seven Gods of Luck, Uma Krishnaswami, Japan, Mitali Perkins, Add a tag
English-language Asia-set Children’s and YA Fiction ~ by Holly Thompson
Part 2 of 3 (read Part 1 here)
Some years back as we settled into our bicultural family life with young children here in Japan, although we were surrounded by books in Japanese and took full advantage of Japan’s healthy picture book and middle-grade market, we discovered that finding English-language reading material to support our bilingual children was no easy task. Because our children attended Japanese schools, English education happened in our home, and we needed a steady supply of English-language books. But libraries in Japan stock few English-language books, and bookstores here carry very few and at hefty mark-ups, so whenever friends or family visited from the U.S. they brought books to us. Returning from a trip back to the States, our luggage was always heavy with books. We book-swapped with families in Japan, we ordered from Scholastic with our English-after school group, and we pounced on book sale tables at international school fairs. At last, Amazon Japan with free and quick delivery of affordable overseas books came to the rescue.
Always on the lookout for books relating to our lives while raising our bilingual children, we soon became aware of a lack of English-language children’s books that reflect Japan. English-language picture books set in Japan were rare, and those that existed, we discovered, tended toward folktales and nonfiction. Where were the day-to-day stories that reflected the landscapes and people and value systems surrounding us? Where was Japan?
We treasured our Allen Say books, especially Kamishibai Man and Grandfather’s Journey.
We read and reread the bilingual Grandpa’s Town by Takaaki Nomura. We enjoyed folktale retellings like The Seven Gods of Luck by David Kudler and Yoshi’s Feast by Kimiko Kajikawa. and biographical works like Cool Melons—Turn to Frogs by Matthew Gollub. All excellent, but we were discouraged that such English-language titles set in Japan were few and far between.
Searching for other Asian cultures in English-language picture books yielded similar results—folktales, nonfiction and concept books, but few fictional stories set in Asia.
As the children grew older, we came to realize that even less common than English-language picture books set in Asia were English-language middle-grade and YA novels set in Japan and Asia. What we found was mostly historical fiction. Of course we read and loved Korea-set historical novels by Linda Sue Park, Japan-set novels by
0 Comments on PaperTigers’ Global Voices feature with award winning author Holly Thompson (USA/Japan)~ Part 2 as of 5/23/2012 10:49:00 AM
By: Aline Pereira,
on 5/7/2012
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: The Locked Up Boy, The Mudskipper, Using Multicultural Books to Teach Your Child About the World We Live In, Uma Krishnaswami, Add a tag
PaperTigers is a proud sponsor of the 2012 Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) which will take place May 26 – 29 at The Arts House in Singapore. Lots of exciting events are planned this year; check out the featured speakers and programme by clicking here and the 2012 AFCC trailer here. As well organizers have just released the following information about two Asian Book Awards for children’s literature!
Asian Festival of Children’s Content Announces 2 Asian Book Awards
Asian Content for the World’s Children
Singapore, 27 April 2012– Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) 2012 announces two Asian Book Awards, Scholastic Asian Book Award and SingTel Picture Book Award.
The Scholastic Asian Book Award is a joint initiative of the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) and Scholastic Asia to recognise excellence in Asian children’s fiction. In its 2nd edition, this award showcases the diversity of literary talent within Asia and inspires more Asian-themed books and stories.
The winning manuscript will receive a prize of S$10,000 at the award presentation ceremony on 29 May 2012 during this Festival. It will also be considered for publication by Scholastic Asia. The four nominations for the Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA) 2012 are, Bungee Cord Hair by Ching Yeung Russell (US), Double Take by Katherine Seow (Singapore), Hidden in Plain Sight by Ang Su-Lin (Singapore) and The Locked Up Boy by Pauline Loh Tuan Lee (Singapore).
The judges for the SABA 2012 are, Chief Judge Nury Vittachi (Hong Kong), Ken Spillman (Australia), Helen McAleer (United Kingdom), Sayoni Basu (India) and Naomi Kojima (Japan).
In 2011, the winning manuscript was from Uma Krishnaswami, titled, ‘Book Uncle and Me’. Uma will be giving a talk during the Parents’ Forum on ‘Using Multicultural Books to Teach Your Child About the World We Live In’. The first runner up was Marjorie Sayer for the novel ‘The Girl Mechanic of Wanzhou’. [N.B. Papertigers' former editor Aline Pereira was a judge for the 2011 award. Read about her experiences here and see photos from the event here].
Ovidia Yu’s story ‘The Mudskipper’ was the second runner up in the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2011 and will launch at this press conference. ‘The Mudskipper’ has reached the publication stage and will be available at the Festival. Based in Singapore, Ovidia Yu is an award-winning novelist and short-story writer whose plays have been performed locally and abroad. ‘The Mudskipper’ is her first book for children.
AFCC also introduces the inaugural SingTel Asian Picture Book Award
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By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 3/23/2012
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, Sara Pennypacker, Kate DiCamillo, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Share Our Books, Add a tag
The uber-talented Sara Pennypacker, author of the fabulous Clementine books, came up with a brilliant idea called:
Here's how it works:
At Share Our Books you'll find a list of author-donated books suitable for elementary school community reads, which are available free of charge for periods of six weeks. In addition to the books, each participating author provides a welcoming introductory video and a list of trivia questions. When the books arrive, the school distributes them and implements the read. All we ask is that when the read comes to an end, the books be repackaged and shipped to the next community.
I'm proud to be part of this great project, along with Kate DiCamillo, Uma Krishnaswami, Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Sara Pennypacker.
Children's authors and their publishers have teamed up to help spread the love of reading.
So go ahead.
Plan a Community Reads or School-wide Reads event.
Request some books.
Start reading.
Then spread the love.
By: Greg Leitich Smith,
on 3/19/2012
Blog: GregLSBlog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, author interview, The Chronal Engine, Add a tag
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| Greg at Dinosaur Park, Bastrop |
CHRONAL ENGINE releases on March 20! The Release Party for CHRONAL ENGINE is at BookPeople at 603 N. Lamar on March 24, at 2 PM!
And I just heard: The sequel to Uma's THE GRAND PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING releases in 2013!
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 3/19/2012
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: School Library Journal, Uma Krishnaswami, Allen Say, Battle of the Books, Add a tag
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| Allan Say vs Uma Krishnaswami |
By: Greg Leitich Smith,
on 3/13/2012
Blog: GregLSBlog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, author interview, The Chronal Engine, Add a tag
Uma is the author of a number of picture books, as well as the hilarious middle grade novel, THE GRAND PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING.
By: Aline Pereira,
on 10/31/2011
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: origami, Ed Young, Michael Foreman, James Rumford, Jeanette Winter, Elizabeth Laird, Diane Ackerman, Kelly Waldek, My Handful of the Sky, Drawing from Memory, Elvira Lindo, Emilio Urberuaga, Florence Temko, Hana's Suitcase, Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Joanne Moriarty, Karen Levine, Manolito Four-Eyes, Oranges in No Man's Land, Uma Krishnaswami, Writing With a Broken Tusk, Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set, Rainbow World Poems from Many Cultures, The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, Sadako, Rain School, The House Baba Built, The Zoo-Keeper's Wife, Add a tag
Since my last update on this year’s PaperTigers Reading the World Challenge, we have added some great books to our list.
Together, we have read two new autobiographical picture books: Allen Say’s Drawing from Memory (Scholastic, 2011) and Ed Young’s The House Baba Built (Little, Brown and Company, 2011) – both wonderful, and I’m not going to say much more about them here as we will be featuring both of them more fully on PaperTigers soon. Those are our reading-together non-fiction books for the Challenge.
As our local book, we tried reading a book of folk tales from the North York Moors, where we live in the UK, but discovered the stories formed part of a tourist guide, including instructions for getting around… we extracted what we could but it wasn’t a very satisfactory read. It has made us not take beautifully illustrated and retold folk tales for granted!
Older Brother has read Rainbow World: Poems from Many Cultures edited by Bashabi Fraser and Debjani Chatterjee , and illustrated by Kelly Waldek (Hodder Children’s Books, 2003). He dipped in and out of it through the summer break and we had to renew it from the library several times…
Older Brother has also been totally captivated by A Thousand Cranes: Origami Projects for Peace and Happiness. After reading the story of Sadako for the Reading Challenge way back in its first year, he’s wanted to know how to make the cranes but I have two left hands when it comes to origami – or at least I thought I did, until I received a review copy of A Thousand Cranes from Stone Bridge Press. Recently revised and expanded from the original book by renowned origami expert Florence Temko, it’s a super little book, with good clear instructions for beginners like us, and giving background about both the offering of a thousand origami cranes as a symbol of longevity, and specifically the story of Sadako and the Thousand Cranes. Older Brother, now that he is older, enjoyed reading this factual account here, and learning more about the Peace Park in Hiroshima. He is now determined to make a string of 1,000 cranes himself and send them to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial: full details of how to do this are included in the book. There are also lots of ideas for other craft projects, though I’m not sure any of us is quite up to making anything like the amazing example shown of pictures made with 1,001 cranes as wedding gifts. But with such clear instructions, the only difficulty now is choosing which of the 48 pieces of beautiful Japanese chiyogami
By: Aline Pereira,
on 9/19/2011
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, Eventful World, Singapore, Asia, AFCC, Asian Festival of Children's Content, Scholastic Asian Book Awards, Aline Pereira, Singapore Book Council, Add a tag
The deadline for submissions to the 2012 Scholastic Asian Book Award is just under a month away, on 17 October 2011 – 5.00p.m. Singapore time.
The National Book Development Council of Singapore and Scholastic Asia have jointly launched the 2012 Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA). The award will recognise Asians and writers in Asia who are taking the experiences of life, spirit and thinking in different parts of Asia to the world at large. SABA is awarded to an unpublished manuscript (original or translation) targeted at children of ages 6 to 12 years.
This year’s inaugural award was won by Uma Krishnaswami and we can’t wait to see the book. Former Managing Editor of PaperTigers Aline Pereira was one of the judges: read about her Personal View about the Award and the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, where the Award Announcement was made.
For more information, visit the SABA website.
By: Aline Pereira,
on 6/11/2011
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Abigail Halpin, Cultures and Countries, The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, Week-end Book Reviews, Week-end book review, The Grand Plan to Fix Everything blog tour, Uma Krishnaswami, India, Atheneum, Middle Grade Books, Add a tag
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
By: Greg Leitich Smith,
on 5/28/2011
Blog: GregLSBlog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, middle grade, contemporary, Indian-American, Add a tag
When Dini's parents announce that they're moving to Swapnagiri, India, for two whole years, Dini and Maggie are devastated. The only good thing the two friends can see is that maybe, just maybe, Dini will get a chance to meet the great Dolly Singh herself.
So when her family finally arrives in the remote mountain town, Dini sets her plan into motion...
THE GRAND PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING offers a vibrant voice and a funny, almost cinematic glimpse into Dini's quest. With larger than life characters and a dose of kismet, in THE GRAND PLAN, Dini encounters monkeys, strangers, representatives of the India Post, and maybe, even, a movie star.
In short, THE GRAND PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING is a whimsically engaging tale of friendship and family. And chocolate curry puffs which, of course, can fix anything.
By: Greg Leitich Smith,
on 5/19/2011
Blog: GregLSBlog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, Elizabeth Law, Allen Zadoff, Add a tag
Also, take a look at the interview Cyn posted yesterday of Elizabeth Law and Allen Zadoff. Of particular note are extensive discussions of revising a manuscript and selecting a cover with boy appeal.
Also, Elizabeth Law is giving away a 30 page manuscript critique. Go check it out!
By: Aline Pereira,
on 12/2/2010
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Indian diaspora, children's literature from India and the Indian diaspora, Ajanta Guhathakurta, Jonathan Yamakami, Kamala Chatterjee, Lila Majumdar, Signature: Patterns in Gond Art, The Yellow Bird, Uma Krishnaswami, Mitali Perkins, India, Bhajju Shyam, Gita Wolf, Saffron Tree, PaperTigers Themes, Add a tag
Shortly we will be moving on to a new update on the main PaperTigers website – but, of course, there’s still time to explore Children’s Literature from India and the Indian diaspora, if you haven’t already, and the features will remain readily available via the permalink to the October/November homepage.
And just to remind you of the wealth of resources and sheer joyful reading out there, here’s a glimpse at some recent blog posts from that rich and varied Indian diaspora, as well as India itself:
Find reviews of Signature: Patterns in Gond Art, edited by Gita Wolf, Bhajju Shyam and Jonathan Yamakami (Tara Books, 2010) and The Yellow Bird by Lila Majumdar, illustrated by Ajanta Guhathakurta and translated by Kamala Chatterjee over at Saffron Tree. Both books sound and look wonderful…
Read this post from author Uma Krishnaswami, in which she muses on cultural perspectives, and on making unfamiliar words clear through their context in a story…
Mitali Perkins is (sort of) on her winter break from her blog (her back-posts are still worth perusing, though) BUT you can read a new interview with her over at Color on Line, conducted by Tarie of Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind…
A recent post on Pratham Books’ blog, Revamping Mythological and Traditional Indian Stories, will be of particular interest to graphic novel fans; and they also have lots of news and photos from the recent Bookaroo in the City festival in New Delhi…
By: Aline Pereira,
on 10/10/2010
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, India, Middle Grade Books, Cultures and Countries, Seaglass Summer, Indian diaspora, Anajali Banerjee, metafictional interviews, Add a tag
You may have seen our review of Seaglass Summer, by Anjali Banerjee among the reviews recently added to PaperTigers as part of our focus on children’s literature from India and the Indian diaspora. If not, here it is.
After reading it, make sure to check out Uma Krishnaswami’s metafictional interview with Poppy, the book’s eleven-year-old protagonist. The fact that Uma read drafts of the novel before it was published gave her a privileged perspective on the character’s evolution from idea to full development. Uma’s interview questions prompt Poppy to reveal how she and her story changed in the process of being written.
What a fun way to get some insight into an author’s creative process! That’s what I call giving voice to a character!…
Does anyone know of other interviews with book characters (keeping in mind our focus on multicultural children’s and ya books)? I know Uma also did one with Amadi, the Nigerian boy from Katia Novet Saint- Lot’s picture book, Amadi’s Snowman… If you’re aware of any others, do let us know!
By: Aline Pereira,
on 10/5/2010
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: PaperTigers personal views, PaperTigers Themes, Global Voices, Out of the Way! Out of the Way!, Uma Krishnaswamy, point Return, The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, Uma Krishnaswami, Add a tag
In her Personal View for our current issue of PaperTigers, Uma Krishnaswami ponders some of the questions that have come her way as a writer recently. Make sure you head on over to the main website to read the whole article; in the meantime, here’s the introduction. I found her pondering over the word ’swale’ particularly fascinating as I live not too far from Swaledale in the UK – and it certainly catches a lot of rain too! – could there be a connection?
Four years ago, an uncle of mine, D.V. Sridharan, started the crazy, impossible, madcap project, of restoring a wasteland in a rural area near the city of Chennai in India, and turning it into a sustainable farm. The reason this has anything to do with my own crazy, impossible, madcap occupation, writing books for children, is that his endeavor too had to do with words.
Words like “swale”: Roll it on your tongue. How round and beautiful it is. How it creates a resonance in the air. Swale. A low tract of land, a swale follows the contour line, and can catch water when it rains. Holding the rush of a monsoon shower, the swale in turn recharges underground water sources so that in the dry season, wells can remain refreshed. Swale. The thing is as magical as its name.
The name of that restoration project is “point Return.” The capitals are intentionally placed, intentionally withheld. The point, Sridharan says, is to return. To come back again and again to the places and the ideas that give us sustenance and hope, that are generative and regenerative in nature, that keep us going, that lead to a larger sense of who “we” are.
Story does this too. Thinking of story as cyclical in nature rather than linear, with a beginning, middle and end, changes everything. It stops me from rushing after answers, grabbing the first one that comes along. It allows me instead to live with questions.
I am happy to say that I have managed to make a career out of living with questions.
As I said, do read the rest of the article, in which Uma talks about her latest picture-book, Out of the Way! Out of the Way! (illustrated by her near-namesake, Uma Krishnaswamy, Tulika Books, 2010), which certainly provides scope for lots of questions, and gives a tantalising look ahead at her forthcoming middle-grade novel The Grand Plan to Fix Everything (Atheneum Books, due ot 2011) – and then pay a visit to Uma’s wonderful blog, Writing with a Broken Tusk.
By: Aline Pereira,
on 6/21/2010
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, Picture Books, Book Blog Tour, Out of the Way! Out of the Way!, Tulika Books, Uma Krishnaswamy, Add a tag
Newly published Out of the Way! Out of the Way! by Uma Krishnaswami and illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy (Tulika Books, 2010) begins its blog tour today at Educating Alice, where you can read her students’ reviews of the book; and Saffron Tree, where there’s an intriguing Q&A with (writer) Uma, as well as the book title in all of its available languages/scripts…
Also, do read Uma’s explanation of the book’s format – I found it fascinating…
And we can’t wait to be hosting Out of the Way! Out of the Way! on Wednesday. Don’t miss it!
Here’s the whole schedule (I’ll update links to the actual posts as the week progresses):
Monday 21 June:
Educating Alice
Saffron Tree
Tuesday 22 June:
Chicken Spaghetti
Through the Tollbooth
Wednesday 23 June:
Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind
Here at PaperTigers!
Thursday 24 June:
Brown Paper
Plot Whisperer
Friday 25 June:
Notes from New England
Back to Saffron Tree for an interview with Uma Krishnaswamy
Saturday 26 June:
Scribbly Katia
Jacket Knack (Carol Brendler)
Sunday 27 June:
Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database
The Drift Record
By: Aline Pereira,
on 5/19/2010
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, Eventful World, Chris Cheng, Asia, Rukhsana Khan, Asian Festival of Children's Content, Cultures and Countries, Add a tag
Corinne the other day pointed us to Tarie Sabido’s blog, Asia in the Heart, as a great source of news and images from the first Asian Festival of Children’s Content, which happened earlier this month in Singapore. Authors Uma Krishnaswami, Chris Cheng and Rukhsana Khan also share their experiences of the event on their respective blogs, so I encourage you to check them out as well.
One of the many highlights of the festival was Uma and Rukhsana’s joint panel about their cross-cultural collaboration in Many Windows. Oh how I wish I could have been able to attend it!
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 4/27/2010
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, Vermont College of Fine Arts, plot interview, MFA/Writing for Children and Young Adults program, Add a tag
Uma Krishnaswami is a former child writer who now writes for children, and teaches writing in the MFA/Writing for Children and Young Adults program, Vermont College of Fine Arts.
By: Aline Pereira,
on 2/1/2010
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, Book Fairs, Black History Month, Eventful World, Calendar of Events, Freedom to Read, Jerry Pinkney, children's literature conference, Deb Ellis, Coretta Scott King Book Awards, First Nations Week, multicultural children's literature event, National Storytelling Week, African American History Month, literacy workshop, Add a tag
(Click on event name for more information)
African American History Month~ USA
National African American Read-in~ USA
Black History Month~ Canada
February Literacy Workshops for Parents, Teachers and Writers with Daphne Lee~ Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
National Storytelling Week~ ongoing until Feb 6, United Kingdom
Kolkata Book Fair~ ongoing until Feb 7, Kolkata, India
“Tea with Chachaji” A Musical Production based on Chachaji’s Cup by Uma Krishnaswami~ ongoing until Feb 11, New York, NY, USA
Stories from Childhood: Lin Hai-yin’s Children’s Literature Book Exhibition and Activity Series~ ongoing until Mar 1, Tainan City, Taiwan
2009 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ ongoing until Mar 1, Seoul, Korea
Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books Presents: Journey to Adventure~ ongoing until Mar 6, Toronto, ON, Canada
Entries Accepted for the Growing Up Asian in America Contest~ ongoing until Mar 10, San Francisco, CA, USA
The Making of the Word Witch: The Poetic & Illustrative Magic of Margaret Mahy & David Elliot~ ongoing until Mar 14, Ashburton, New Zealand
21st Annual Children’s Book Illustrators Exhibit~ ongoing until Apr 3, Hayward, CA, USA
Mother Goose in an Air-Ship: McLoughlin Bros. 19th Century Children’s Books from the Liman Collection~ ongoing until Apr 18, Amherst, MA, USA
Heart and Soul: Art from Coretta Scott King Award Books, 2006–2009~ ongoing until Apr 18, Chicago, IL, USA
From The Tiger Who Came to Tea to Mog and Pink Rabbit; A Judith Kerr Retrospective~ ongoing until May, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Leo Lee Arts Centre Presents Renowned Canadian Author Deb Ellis~ Feb 1 – 2, Hong Kong
By: Aline Pereira,
on 1/11/2010
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uma Krishnaswami, Reading the World, Religious Freedom, Elisa Carbone, The Tiger's Treasures, Rukhsana Khan, Wanting Mor, Karen Gray Ruelle, Deborah Durland DeSaix, Social Justice Challenge, The Grand Mosque of Paris, Many Windows, Respect for religious diversity, Add a tag
As soon as I spotted the Social Justice Challenge button dotted all over the blogosphere, I knew that I would have to come up with some very good arguments not to take it on… so you will now find said button in our side-bar and here is my first post as an Activist for this month. If you haven’t already, I really do recommend you read this post, which explains the workings of the Challenge much better than I ever could… I will just say that this is a Challenge to do, as well as to absorb…
Launching January’s theme of Religious Freedom, which happens to run parallel to our own current theme of Respect for Religious Diversity, we are asked to answer a few questions:
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of religious freedom?
Peace and harmony – when we all learn to respect the right of each individual to follow (or not) the religion of their choice without fear of persecution, the human race will come close to achieving them. And education also comes to mind – because children (and adults) need to find out about the different world faiths, and learn to value both the diversity and shared values that they have at their heart.
What knowledge do you have of present threats to religious freedom in our world today?
I have some awareness of religious intolerance across the world – but I’m not going to go into it here…
Have you chosen a book or resource to read for this month?
With my sons, I’m going to read Many Windows: Six Kids, Five Faiths, One Community by Rukhsana Khan with Elisa Carbone and Uma Krishnaswami (Napoleon, 2008) and The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust by Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland DeSaix (Holiday House, 2009), both of which I have already read… I haven’t chosen something new for myself yet… if I hadn’t recently read Wanting Mor (also by Rukhsana) , I would choose that…
Why does religious freedom matter to you?
It is a human right.
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You really don't think that the reaction would have been the same if the cowboy was eating rattlesnake or something. My students react with "Eeew" when I read a story about someone eating bugs. It's not part of our everyday culture here. I really don't think that's such a big deal.
Beverly Slapin asked me to post this comment on her behalf:
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Dear Anonymous,
You’re right: the portrayal of cowboys eating rattlesnake meat would probably elicit “eeew” reactions. But “cowboy” is an occupation, and children do not automatically link “cowboy” with “rattlesnake” because cowboys are not portrayed as eating rattlesnake meat—or not bathing—as significant parts of their culture. On the other hand, “Eskimo” people belong to cultures with specific lands, languages and communities; and children’s book authors/illustrators continue to portray children “playing (stereotyped) Indian” or “playing (stereotyped) Eskimo.” Isn’t it time to stop justifying their actions?
--Beverly Slapin