The Places You Will Go

Picture Book of the Month: The Blacker the Berry

October 2009

The Blacker the Berry
Author: Joyce Carol Thomas
Illustrator: Floyd Cooper
Publisher: Amistad, 32 pages
Year: 2008
ISBN: 978-0060253752
Malaysians, taught, from the cradle, to value a fair complexion, may be surprised to encounter a celebration of dark skin. Different shades of African-American skin are lusciously and sensuously described by Joyce Carol Thomas, and then rendered just as sumptuously by Floyd Cooper's illustrations, making it abundantly clear that bitter chocolate is as beautiful as vanilla. The Blacker the Berry won the 2009 Coretta Scott King Book Award. This book was part of What a Wonderful World: A Multicultural Journey Through Text and Pictures, held at Kinokuniya Bookstore Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur from 1st-31st October, 2009.

A Pleasantly Surprising Discovery

I've been meaning to blog about this for some time.

The Dram Projects' library will be moving into Rumah Nur Salam's KL Youth Hub on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. This will signal the start of, I hope, a long and fruitful partnership between TDP and RNS.

Anyway, on one of my visits to the hub, I walked a few doors down to a food court housed in a row of shoplots. As I was having a cup of coffee, I noticed a couple of bookcases arranged against one wall of the food court. Yes, bookcases!

Of course, I just had to take a closer look. The shelves were full of old books and magazines. As you can see, the selection included classic murder mysteries and other interesting titles.

I wonder whose idea it was to put these books there and if anyone reads them. I will try to find out on my next visit.

The Promise of Earthsea

By DAPHNE LEE

From Tots to Teens, StarMag

MORE than 10 years ago I tried to read Ursula K. Le Guin's The Wizard of Earthsea and failed miserably. This happens sometimes. You find a book unremarkable, hard to read even, at 23 only to declare it the best thing since sliced bread when you re-read it at 50.

The Wizard of Earthsea and the other books in The Earthsea Quartet (The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore and Tehanu) kept me up way past my bedtime two weeks ago. Like the best fantasy novels they explore the great mysteries of the universe - life and death, good and evil, and time. Running through the books is also the theme of self-discovery, the search of identity and the meaning of self, mainly through the life and exploits of the quartet's central figure, Sparrowhawk.

R.I.P Norma Fox Mazer (15 May, 1931–16 October 16, 2009)

Norma Fox Mazer was an American author of children's and YA literature. Her books include When She Was Good, After the Rain, Summer Girls, Love Boys, Up in Seth's Room, Missing Pieces and What I Believe.

Laureate: Because He's Worth It

Old news because I'm slow: Datuk Dr Mohd Anuar Rethwan (Anwar Ridhwan) has been named Malaysia's 10th National Laureate.

From the New Straits Times: "Among others, the award (national laureate) carries a national recognition scroll, cash of RM60,000 and first-class ward facility at government hospitals."

No mention of the duties of the laureate. It's an award after all, to recognise a writer's achievements thus far, unlike the British poet laureateship or children's laureate post that come with responsibilities like composing poems for important state occasions and promoting the reading and writing of children's literature, respectively.

Young Malaysian Writers: Worth the Effort or Beyond Help?

Yesterday I attended the press conference for the Singapore Writers Festival 2009. Present were representatives from the National Arts Council of Singapore, the Arts House (the old parliament house where the SWF's events are held) and Malaysian authors Anwar Ridhwan (the latest national laureate), K.S. Maniam and Wong Phui Nam, all of whom will be speaking at the event.

During the press briefing, Wong drew attention to his and Maniam's age. According to him, the mature years of the Malaysian authors participating in the festival reflect the dearth of young Malaysian writers, especially those writing in English.

In my opinion, the fact that there are no young Malaysian writers featured at the SWF speaks more about the organisers' ignorance of the Malaysian literary scene than the lack of actual writers.

Or, perhaps, the organisers are aware of our new generation of writers but do not think them worthy of their recognition.

Similarly, I wonder if Mr Wong is familiar with fiction and poetry published (in English as well as Bahasa Malaysia) by emerging Malaysian writers. It sounded like he isn't, or perhaps he just doesn't rate what he has come across.

Also, his interest seems to be in writers who write in English whereas I feel that it's the writing that matters, not the language used.

The representatives from the NAC and The Arts House spoke of how young Singaporean writers would appreciate the opportunity to meet and consult with and learn from experienced writers like Wong, Maniam and Anwar. Young Malaysian writers would also benefit. There simply needs to be a platform on which such meetings can take place.

Wong spoke about how Malaysian wrtiting (in English) is stillborn, a result of our education system. Having identified this problem, I should think Wong has his own theories about how the deadening effect of our schooling can be countered and/or reversed. Does he and others like him have a part to play in helping aspiring authors produce writing that has a chance to grow in effectiveness and beauty? Perhaps Wong just does not think it is his battle to fight.

National Book Award 2009

National Book Award nominees for Young People’s Literature

Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith (Henry Holt)

Phillip Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (Farrar Straus and Giroux)

David Small: Stitches (W. W. Norton & Co.)

Laini Taylor: Lips Touch: Three Times (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)

Rita Williams-Garcia: Jumped (HarperTeen/HarperCollins)

Find out who the nominees are in the other categories at the official website.

Your Right Not to Read

From Tots to Teens, StarMag

BANNED Books Week in the United States has ended but that doesn’t mean we should stop thinking about our rights as readers.

If you ever come across Daniel Pennac’s The Rights of the Reader (Walker Books, 174 pages, ISBN: 978-1406300918), get a copy for yourself (the last I checked BookXcess at Amcorp Mall in Petaling Jaya had a few copies).

The book was first published (in French and in France) in 1992. The English version appeared in 2006, translated by Sarah Adams, and illustrated by the illustrator most Malaysians know best, Quentin Blake (his are the drawings you see in Roald Dahl books).

Pennac based the book on his experiences as a child, a parent and an inner-city teacher in Paris. It’s a celebration of reading and stories, and champions a child’s right to have control over his relationship with books.

The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize: And the Winner is ...

From The Guardian Unlimited: Exposure, a version of Othello, which casts the Moor of Venice as a South American football star, wins Mal Peet the 2009 Guardian children's fiction prize.

Hope for Multicultural Literature

The picture book exhibition, What a Wonderful World: A Multicultural Journey Through Text and Pictures, began on 1st October at Kinokuniya Bookstore in KLCC Suria, and will run until 31st October.

Books displayed include Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, written by Mary Williams and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. 

Here are some words from Christie about his work on the book and also his thoughts about multicultural literature:

"For the past decade I believe that we live in a new world order and with all of our technology and instantaneous information, our privacy is gone and it's very difficult to know what the future of the world will be five years from now. I felt this way when illustrating Brothers in Hope and still do now. As the Illustrator of this book I want to take you to this real life child's world. I feel that the landscape is as important as his interaction with these thousands of children. Africa is alive, and a continent so large that you could fit China, the USA, Western Europe,India, Argentina and the British Isles combined in to it.  So when starting the project I had to really take myself to a place that I had never been. I had to put my self into society that I never lived and in a situation that I never fully experienced.

If the reader reads in between the lines they will see that the beginning of this story is universal. Simply put , he lives in a place with a certain type of structure and his development as a person is derived from this structure. Cattle herding, land and family is what Garang knew and in an instant he was thrust in to the dark of a Sudanese night far away from all that was recognizable. The point for me is that things can change in an instant and I believe it's important to know the stories of as many cultures as possible because there are lessons in those past journeys.

For this particular children's book, I wanted an embracing style, flat and graphic overall but with a lot of movement and energetic earthy tones when it came to the landscape.  I wanted a folk art like naive representation of the figures almost doll like but with depth and emotions in the facial rendering. This is because the story is a honest one, tales of children being hunted, surviving against the elements, war, famine and deserves to be represented truthfully. However, with all of this the book is about Hope and in most cases there was a light at the end of the tunnel for these children. Such a journey is a lesson for all cultures and ethnicities.

This is why such a spotlight on Brothers in Hope is not only an honor for me but also I suspect for the thousands of children that survived this ordeal. It is my hope that as viewers in Kinokuniya Bookstore are introduced to this book they take it as an opportunity to reflect on how quickly a life can change. Personally I've always have been drawn to the more challenging end of the children's book spectrum. The part that entails social issues or stories about history and culture, although these subjects are often difficult to speak about, children's book are a tool to play a role in a child's creativity and development while growing in to adulthood." ~ R. Gregory Christie