The Places You Will Go

Picture Book of the Month: Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith

March 2010

Jingle Dancer

Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith

Illustrator: Cornelius Van Wright

Publisher: HarperCollins, 32 pages

Year: 2000

ISBN: 978-0688162412

JENNA is inspired by a video of her grandmother performing the Ojibway jingle dance. Friends and family help her collect jingles to sew on her own dress so she can perform at the next powwow and honour her grandmother's memory and the traditions of the Muscogee Nation. This story and the accompanying watercolour illustrations help challenge the stereotyped ideas and images most Malaysians have of Natives Americans, and will hopefully serve as a starting point for further exploration of the different cultures of the various peoples and nations that were the original owners of the country now known as the United States of America.

Pullman defends 'Scoundrel Christ' - News, Books - The Independent

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Pullman defends 'Scoundrel Christ'

By Mike Collett-White and Kunal Dutta

His books have depicted God as a senile figure and painted the Catholic Church as a corrupt bureaucracy. And yesterday the author Philip Pullman, who once said he was "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief", acknowledged that his latest book is also likely to offend believers.

Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival ahead of the publication next week of The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, Pullman, 63, said: "Nobody is forcing anyone to pick the book up or to read it or, if after having read it, to like it. If you don't like it, you can always write to me, or to the publisher, or you can write your own book. No one is stopping you."

The Associated Press: Australian author Patricia Wrightson dies at 88

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Australian author Patricia Wrightson dies at 88

By ROD McGUIRK (AP) – 3 days ago

CANBERRA, Australia — Patricia Wrightson, the internationally acclaimed Australian children's author who attracted praise — and then criticism — for entwining Aboriginal mythology into her writing, has died at age 88.

In 1986, Wrightson was awarded the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Medal — the highest accolade for a writer of children's fiction — given by the Swiss-based International Board on Books for Young People for an author's body of work.

She died of natural causes on March 15 in northern New South Wales state several days after being hospitalized, her son Peter Wrightson said Thursday.

The Whole Package

By DAPHNE LEE 

From Tots to Teens, StarMag
 

I HAVE just spent a pleasurable couple of weeks reading five collections of folktales, three of them locally published works. 

At a recent colloquim on children's literature, held at University Malaya, several speakers lamented the fact that Malaysian children are unfamiliar with local folktales and legends, Instead, fairytales like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are often named as favourites -- and Disney's sanitised, saccharine versions at that! 

I had a Eurocentric upbringing, in terms of literature, and I remember my father reading to me tales by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. There was a book that I particularly loved -- small and fat, with dark crimson clothbound covers, miniscule font, and no pictures. I remember especially loving the story of Snow White and Rose Red, and so it must have been a Grimm collection. I can remember how the book felt in my hands, and how it smelt deliciously dusty. 

Although I recall being introduced to Sang Kanchil when I started school, I don't remember what form the stories took - whether I was told about the mousedeer or if I read about him in a book. 

Their look, feel and smell are a big part of my memories of a great many books I read and loved as a child. This is why I think it's important that publishers of local children's literature pay attention to the way a book is packaged. 

The text is important of course, but so are the illustrations. Why include pictures at all unless they are of the best quality and best suited for the stories they are illustrating? The three local collections I recently enjoyed comprise well-written versions of local and Asian folktales, but the illustrations could be a lot better.

BBC News - Children's author Crowther wins Astrid Lindgren award

Crowther writes mainly in French

Belgian illustrator and author Kitty Crowther has won the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial award, which honours the best in children's writing.

The award, named after the Swedish creator of Pippi Longstocking, brings with it prize money of 5m kroner (£461,724).

David Almond wins Hans Christian Andersen medal | Books | guardian.co.uk

David Almond, who won the Hans Christian Andersen medal for his 'unique voice' Photograph: Garry Weaser

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An international jury of children's literature experts this afternoon decided to award the world's most prestigious prize in children's literature to British author David Almond.

Almond, who won the Carnegie medal and the Whitbread children's prize with his first children's book Skellig, the story of a boy who discovers an angel in a derelict garage, was selected as winner from authors around the world, seeing off finalists from Iran, Brazil, Sweden and Denmark to win the medal. Given biennially since 1956 by the International Board on Books for Young People for an author's complete works, the award comes with no money but much honour: past winners include much-loved British children's writer Eleanor Farjeon, Pippi Longstocking creator Astrid Lindgren and Moomins author Tove Jansson.

The Book Makers Podcast: Virago Press

ABC Radio National has a new series (The Book Makers) that looks "at what goes on behind the pages; how a book gets into print, the work of the publishers, the editors and designers".

Virago

Here's the first segment, which features an interview with Lennie Goodings, publisher and editor of Virago Press (the publishing company dedicated to women's writing). Goodings, who has been with the company since day one (back in 1973) talks about the early days, the reasons why Virago was founded and why it's still relevant today.

I like what she says about how there should be people from all walks of life and backgrounds making decisions about what books get published as only in that way can stories represent all voices.

This ties in with what Chimamanda Adichie says in her TED address about the danger of a single story. Listen to her talk here.

The Railway Children: Forever Young | Film | The Guardian

Heartbreaking ... The Railway Children. Photograph: Allstar/EMI/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar

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The Railway Children will always be remembered for that scene at Oakworth station, the one where Roberta's father emerges through the steam of a departing train. "Daddy, my Daddy!" Plenty of people will admit to weeping when the young Jenny Agutter is reunited with her father. But watching it now, 40 years after it was first released, I find myself welling up long before then: at the birdsong, the music, the Yorkshire countryside, the lost Edwardian world.

Asian Festival of Children's Content

By DAPHNE LEE
Tots to Teens

CHILDREN'S lit is beginning to get the attention it deserves in this part of the world. Last year, a children's literature module was introduced as part of University Malaya's English literature course.

And two days ago, on March 19th, a colloquim on children's literature was held at the university.

Perhaps most exciting for those passionate about children's literature is the Asian Festival of Children's Content. This event, which will take place from May 6-9 at The Arts House in Singapore, is co-organized by The Arts House and the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS). It incorporates the Asian Children Writers & Illustrators Conference (ACWIC) (organised by the NBDCS for the past 10 years), the Asian Children's Publisher's Symposium, the Asian Parents Forum and the Asian Primary and Pre-School Teachers Congress.

Ten rules for writing fiction | Books | guardian.co.uk

Illustration: Andrzej Krauze

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Elmore Leonard: Using adverbs is a mortal sin

1 Never open a book with weather. If it's only to create atmosphere, and not a charac­ter's reaction to the weather, you don't want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead look­ing for people. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways than an Eskimo to describe ice and snow in his book Arctic Dreams, you can do all the weather reporting you want.