Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

The Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) declared Michael Jude C. Tumamac as the Grand Prize winner of the 2013 PBBY-Salanga Prize . Tumamac’s winning story, “Ngumiti si Andoy,” is a story inspired by the life of Andres Bonifacio . Tumamac is a teacher and a proud member of Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting (KUTING) and Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo (LIRA) .  Honorable mentions went to Mark Anthony Angeles for his story “Si Andoy, Batang Tondo” and April Jade Biglaen for her story “Ang Supremo at ang Kuweba.” Tumamac shall receive twenty-five thousand pesos and a medal. Prizes will be awarded during the celebration of National Children’s Book Day in July 2013. For inquiries about the contest, contact the PBBY Secretariat at pbby@adarna.com.ph .

We are looking for children’s book illustrators from countries around the world to design bookplates for International Book Giving Day 2013! If you are interested in designing a bookplate, please contact Amy Broadmoore at amy dot broadmoore at gmail dot com. International Book Giving Day is a grassroots, 100% volunteer initiative to encourage people to give books to children on February 14, 2013. To celebrate, people are invited to 1) give a book to a friend or family member, 2) leave a book in a waiting room for children to read, or 3) donate a book to an organization that distributes books to children in need. Children’s book illustrators are invited to design bookplates that celebrants can attach to books they give to children. We welcome bookplates written in a variety of languages. The bookplates must be 11.4 cm x 6.9 cm (or 4.5 inches x 2.7 inches) in size. We will make the bookplates available for free at the International Book Giving Day websit...

Where are the youth who will consecrate their budding years, their idealism and enthusiasm for the welfare of their country? Where are the youth who will generously pour out their blood to wash away so much shame, so much crime, so much abomination? Pure and spotless must the victim be that the sacrifice may be acceptable. Where are you, youth who will embody in yourselves the vigor of life that has lifted our veins, the purity of ideas that has been contaminated in our hearts? We await you, youth. Come, for we await you.

International Book Giving Day is a volunteer initiative aimed at getting books in the hands of as many children as possible on February 14, 2013.  International Book Giving Day’s focus is on encouraging people worldwide to engage in simple acts of giving. We will invite individuals to: 1) give a book to a friend or family member, 2) leave a book in a waiting room for children to read, or 3) donate a book to a local hospital, shelter or library or to an organization that distributes used books to children internationally. In addition, we will encourage people to support the work of nonprofit organizations (i.e. charities) that work year round to give books to children, such as Room to Read, Books for Africa, Book Aid International, The Book Bus, Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Pratham Books. For more, see International Book Giving Day’s new website:  http://bookgivingday.com !

To Naoko Stoop for her debut picture book Red Knit Cap Girl (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) being named one of the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2012! To learn a bit more about the book, please watch the video below: Linkage: Naoko's blog Naoko's Twitter account The complete list of the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2012

Mechanics: 1. HEIGHTS’ KUWENTONG PAMBATA call for entries is open to students, faculty, and alumni of the Ateneo de Manila University except for the panelists and Editorial Board of Heights. 2. The entry of not more than 500 words, either in English or in Filipino, may deal with any subject but it must be appropriate for the grade-school reading level of children ages 7-12. 3. The entry must be in either Rich Text Format (.rtf) or in a Microsoft Word Document (.doc), double-spaced on 8.5” x 11” bond paper, with a one-inch margin on all sides. The font to be used may be Arial size 11, Times New Roman size 12, or Calibri size 12. 4. A separate document must include the following: the author’s name, pseudonym, a photo (preferably 1×1 or 2×2), a write-up about the author in 2-5 sentences, and the story’s synopsis not exceeding 100 words. 5. The English entries must be attached to an e-mail sent to heights.english@gmail.com with the subject head KUWENTONG PAMBATA on or before September 30, ...

Tsumiki No Ie from lennie small on Vimeo . "Tsumiki No Ie" is the sad and beautiful winner of the 2009 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. I know, I'm very late. I didn't know about it until children's author Trevor Kew sent it to me yesterday. Thank you, Trevor! And oh! This short film has a picture book adaptation published by Hakusensha, Inc. Must be gorgeous. Enjoy!

Here are the Philippines' best children's and young adult reads from 2010 and 2011. Congratulations to all the winners of the 2nd National Children's Book Awards! Ang Sampung Bukitkit By Eugene Y. Evasco and Ibarra C. Crisostomo LG&M Ay, Naku! By Reni Roxas and Serj Bumatay III Tahanan Books Doll Eyes By Eline Santos and Joy Mallari CANVAS The Great Duck and Crocodile Race By Robert Magnuson Hiyas/OMF Lit The Secret is in the Soil By Flor Gozon Tarriela, Gidget Roceles Jimenez , and Liza Flores Conquest for Christ Foundation I predicted this would win a National Children's Book Award when I attended its launch . =D Tall Story By Candy Gourlay (with illustrations by Yasmin S. Ong) Cacho Publishing House Also predicted this would win a National Children's Book Award. =D Click here to read the judges' citations for the books. And wow, you can see the entry number of each book in the pictures above!

Congratulations to the three finalists in the Children's Picture Book Category of the 1st Filipino Readers' Choice Awards ! Mahabang-Mahabang-Mahaba By Genaro R. Gojo Cruz and A. Ghani Bautista Madueño Adarna House, 2010 Oh, Mateo! 13: Tree for All By Grace D. Chong and Beth Parrocha-Doctolero Hiyas/OMF Lit, 2011 But That Won’t Wake Me Up! By Annie Dennise Pacaña-Lumbao, Anelka Lumbao, and Liza Flores Adarna House, 2010

Filipino book bloggers and book club members have put together the 1st Filipino Readers' Choice Awards ! The Awards aim to: develop awareness and appreciation of Philippine-published books, engage Filipino reading communities and honor their favorite Philippine-published books, and give Filipino readers a greater voice and recognize their vital role in the Philippine book industry. Do you have favorite Philippine-published books from 2010 or 2011? Please nominate them for the 1st Filipino Readers' Choice Awards! Here are the categories for the Awards: * Children’s picture book * Chick lit * Novel in English * Novel in Filipino * Comic/graphic novel * Short story anthology * Essay anthology * Poetry collection Click here for the nomination form. Nominations close next Monday, July 23!

You guys doing anything Saturday afternoon? =D Let's hang out with illustrators and talk about the key points the Philippine delegates took away from the third Asian Festival of Children's Content !

How will you celebrate? =D

Links, links, links! * Click here for a report on the very active Filipino reading community - it's my last post as the PaperTigers June guest blogger! * Author Candy Gourlay was one of the first to blog about the 3rd Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) in Singapore. Read her posts here . * Little, Brown editorial director Alvina Ling blogged about the AFCC and Book Expo America (BEA) here . Meeting Alvina was one of the highlights of the AFCC for me! =D *major fangirl spazzing* * Illustrator Blooey Singson summarizes the AFCC here . * Here author Trevor Kew shares key points he took away from the festival.

All of the sessions I attended at this year's Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) inspired me to read more, blog more, teach more, and generally work more for children and teens and the books they enjoy. But three of the sessions in particular really hit me hard! Applying Asian Folktales and Fine Art Traditions to Picture Books Presenter: Yoko Yoshizawa , Illustrator, Japan During Yoko Yoshizawa's presentation, I was reminded of what I live for: creative people and their work and sharing their work. I was so amazed by Yoko's love for and dedication to folktales, folk art, and naive art. Some countries or cultures cannot publish their folktales or art because of political or economic reasons, and Yoko works hard, even uses her personal funds, to introduce some of these tales and art to Japan through children's picture books. When she discovers a great folktale and is impressed by the folk art or naive art in its place of origin (for example Chiang Mai, Thai...

Literature, Media, and the Romance of Childhood: States of Innocence and the Business of Frightening Our Children, an interdisciplinary conference for early career researchers and postgraduates MA/MS/PhD students and independent researchers are welcome. When: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 (9 a.m. - 6 p.m.*) and Wednesday, August 22, 2012 (10 a.m. - 4 p.m.) Where: The University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City (specific rooms to be announced) We welcome 250- to 300-word abstracts from postgraduates and early career researchers who would like to contribute 20-minute papers to a two-day conference at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. Paper topics include but are not limited to: children's literature innocence and experience the sexualization of children in literature and in the media the gothic imagination and the literature of horror conduct literature and media didacticism maternity, paternity, and parenting the Harry Potter phenomenon and relevant popular literature e...

* This is my second guest blog post for PaperTigers . Please read it to find out about some new Philippine young adult literature. =D * Click here to read about a possible international book bloggers meetup. If it happens, I'll definitely be there! * Fantastic news! Tu Books has announced the first annual New Visions Award . The New Visions Award will be given for a middle grade or young adult fantasy, science fiction, or mystery novel by a writer of color. The winner receives a cash grant of $1000 and a standard publication contract with Tu Books. An honor winner will receive a cash grant of $500. Click here for more details. I look forward to reading the winning novels!

Every year, the Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) in Singapore sets up a wonderful bookstore for the festival attendees. This year, the bookstore was the best it's ever been because it was run by Bookaburra , a specialist children's bookseller in Singapore that believes in "good books and even finer children." There was a greater variety of the latest children's and young adult books from all over the world and the people from Bookaburra were doing a great job hand-selling. This, of course, was dangerous for the wallets of all the festival attendees! While in Singapore for the AFCC, I made sure to visit Woods in the Books , an independent picture book shop for all ages. The shop had a well-curated collection of new and classic board books, picture books, comics, and graphic novels from around the world. The Sunday afternoon I was there, there were so many customers: artists, families with very small children, and young professionals (I could even h...

I am PaperTiger 's guest blogger for the month of June! For my first PaperTigers post, I report on how the Philippines was the country focus of this year's Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC). Please click here to read my report! A week after the AFCC ended, the Philippine delegates already missed each other (and the delegates from other countries!), so we decided to have a little reunion. Over Mexican food and drinks, Tahanan Books editor Frances Ong, author Russell Molina, blogger and illustrator Blooey Singson, author-illustrator Jomike Tejido, author Candy Gourlay (through FaceTime because she was in the UK!), and I reminisced on the AFCC and planned on hanging out together much more often. Adarna House marketing officer Vanessa Estares and illustrator Isabel Roxas were with us in spirit! I am so proud of the success of the Philippine booth and the Philippine speakers at the AFCC! And I congratulate the organizers of the AFCC for the success of the entire event...

I'm back from the 3rd Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC)! One of the highlights of the AFCC this year was meeting Singaporean YA book blogger Liyana ( LiyanaLand ). We were derping all over the hotel lobby and fangirling over YA authors and K-pop! Do check out her blog. . . And Asian bloggers, Liyana and I want a blogger meet up during next year's AFCC! What say you? =D

Last week, I took a little field trip down to the office of Tahanan Books , a publisher committed to nurturing young people's passion for learning with books that celebrate Philippine culture and history. That's Josie, the sales manager. ~^o^~ I was excited because it was my first time at the Tahanan office and I was meeting with Tahanan editor Frances Ong to talk about the Philippine booth for the Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) ! Isn't she a cutie?! We talked about illustrations we could display. . . Books to bring. . . Then over "Wicked Truffled Mac n' Cheese" we talked more about the booth for the AFCC and the possibility of the Philippines hosting the AFCC one year. (Okay, okay, I admit we actually started planning it.) If you will be at the AFCC in Singapore, May 26-29, please visit the Philippine booth. Meet authors, illustrators, publishers, and book reviewers from the Philippines! Check out our books and illustrations! Books of wonde...

Three Green Dreams , written by Roshni Menon and illustrated by Yusof Majid and Seeling Tan (Small Print, 11 August 2012) "A little girl goes on a glorious green journey full of sights familiar yet unusual, curious yet fun. Where will she go? Who will she meet? It's a green adventure not to be missed, so, step inside . . . and join her green dreams . . ." Looking forward to this "all Malaysian" picture book! ["Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases book bloggers are eagerly anticipating.]

The first of The Adventures of BB and Sam , an ebook series from Dubai-based Bon Education , takes children to Thailand! I'm thinking of checking it out! [Edited to add: The illustrator for the ebook is from the Philippines!!!]

Congratulations to Sarah Jamila Stevenson! Her novel The Latte Rebellion (Flux Books, 2011) won the bronze medal in the children's multicultural fiction category of the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards. "Hoping to raise money for a post-graduation trip to London, Asha Jamison [who is half Indian, a quarter Mexican, and a quarter Irish] and her best friend Carey [who is half Chinese and half Caucasian] decide to sell T-shirts promoting the Latte Rebellion, a club that raises awareness of mixed-race students. But seemingly overnight, their 'cause' goes viral and the T-shirts become a nationwide social movement. As new chapters spring up from coast to coast, Asha realizes that her simple marketing plan has taken on a life of its own—and it's starting to ruin hers. Asha's once-stellar grades begin to slip, threatening her Ivy League dreams, while her friendship with Carey hangs by a thread. And when the peaceful underground movement spins out of control, Ash...

I saw this on the Facebook page of the Malaysian chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators: Along with this announcement: Children's Book Week 12-19th May 2012 at Silverfish. We are celebrating Children's Book Week at Silverfish this May with new books and a one-week only special promotion. And to kick off Children's Book Week, we will be having a party on Sat 12th May at 11am. Come and meet authors and illustrators from Malaysia and elsewhere. Story telling session and free gift packs for children at the party! All are welcome. Please RSVP Phek Chin at Tel: 03-2284 4837 The Children's Book Week is jointly organised by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Malaysia and the Yusof Gajah Lingard Literary Agency. Looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun! If you're in Malaysia, you should go!

The 4th Etisalat Award for Arabic Children's Literature is now open for submissions from Arab or international publishing houses that publish Arabic-language books for children ages 0-14. This annual award, sponsored by the Etisalat Telecom Company, is worth Dhs1m, making it one of the most important and the richest award for children's literature in the Arab world. Half of the award money goes to the publisher of the winning book, and the remaining half is divided between the author and illustrator. Books submitted must be written in the Arabic language, must be original works (not translated or reproduced) and must have been published no earlier than three years prior to the year of the call for entries. In addition, entries should not be recipients of any previous local, regional, or international awards. Each publishing house is allowed to submit a maximum of three titles. For more information please email info@uaebby.org.ae, or visit the website of the United Arab Emirate...

Aspiring writers still have time to finalize and submit their entries to the 62nd Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (Palanca Awards). The Palanca Awards, the Philippines' most prestigious and longest running literary competition, is accepting submissions until 12:00 m.n. of April 30, in the following regular categories: English Division – Short Story, Short Story for Children , Essay, Poetry, Poetry for Children , One-act Play, and Full-length Play; Filipino Division – Maikling Kuwento, Maikling Kuwentong Pambata , Sanaysay, Tula, Tulang Pambata , Dulang May Isang Yugto, Dulang Ganap ang Haba, and Dulang Pampelikula; Regional Languages Division – Short Story-Cebuano, Short Story-Hiligaynon and Short Story-Iluko. Young writers below 18 years old are encouraged to submit essays in the Kabataan Division. This year's theme for the Kabataan Essay is “In the advent of e-books, do I still consider printed books to be an important part of education?” The theme for the Kaba...

Singapore, 20 April 2012 – Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts launched the National Library Board's (NLB) Asian Children's Literature Collection at the Woodlands Regional Library. This is the first time a library will be housing a comprehensive thematic collection. Mrs Elaine Ng, Chief Executive Officer, NLB, said, “The Asian Children's Literature Collection will serve a range of users like researchers with scholarly needs, teachers assembling lesson materials, parents looking for bedtime reads for their children, and the young who love fascinating tales. We can use these fairy tales, folklores and fables to help our children understand our values, beliefs and customs.” With the inclusion of this collection, Woodlands Regional Library has about 181,000 books and other materials in the children's section. Visitors can borrow from a selection of 7,200 books including Chinese, Malay, and Tamil books. There are another 800 books for vis...

Some exciting new things for the 2012 Asian Festival of Children's Content in Singapore: This year the festival has a country focus, and the country to be highlighted is none other than the Philippines! If you have been curious about Philippine children's books, this year's festival will be the perfect opportunity to hear from and network with some Filipino writers, illustrators, and book reviewers. I'd most especially like to invite you to attend the two panels I am facilitating, "Trajectories and Themes in Children's Literature from the Philippines" and "The Art & Science of Writing Book Reviews: Online vs. Print." In "Trajectories and Themes," popular author-illustrators Russell Molina and Jomike Tejido will be sharing the special features of Philippine children's books and trends in the local market, while Candy Gourlay and Isabel Roxas will be sharing their success stories as internationally-recognized children's book ...

Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, 8 May 2012) Book description: When soldiers arrive at his hometown in Cambodia, Arn is just a kid, dancing to rock 'n' roll, hustling for spare change, and selling ice cream with his brother. But after the soldiers march the entire population into the countryside, his life is changed forever. Arn is separated from his family and assigned to a labor camp: working in the rice paddies under a blazing sun, he sees the other children, weak from hunger, malaria, or sheer exhaustion, dying before his eyes. He sees prisoners marched to a nearby mango grove, never to return. And he learns to be invisible to the sadistic Khmer Rouge, who can give or take away life on a whim. One day, the soldiers ask if any of the kids can play an instrument. Arn's never played a note in his life, but he volunteers. In order to survive, he must quickly master the strange revolutionary songs the soldiers demand—and steal food to keep...

Now to make my bookshelves just as full. :o) By the way, click here to see where I got the picture above. It goes with a nice little rant about how a lot of people forget the diversity in Asia.

Especially to: Shaun Tan Lost and Found: Three (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2011), finalist for Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year and Dan Santat Sidekicks (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2011), finalist for Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year Click here for more information about the Children's Choice Book Awards.

Jeremy Lin: From the End of the Bench to Stardom by Bill Davis (Right Fit Reading, 2012) My thoughts: It would be interesting if there would be a book on Jeremy Lin written by an Asian American. . .

Growing Up Asian American in Children's Literature, Proposed Edited Collection “Growing Up Asian American in Children’s Literature” seeks to explore some of the major issues Asian American children and adolescents face growing up in the United States in the latter half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century. Part of the mission of the collection is to define the term Asian American inclusively, to include all the “Asian” ethnicities from the Asian continent, the Pacific Rim, and also from around the world. Some questions the collection will discuss are what does it mean to be Asian and American? Is there a loss of identity in assimilation? How are Asian American children’s experiences different from other minority groups? Are different regions of the country factors in how they grow up? How do they construct themselves racially and culturally? The collection will be interdisciplinary and may include non-traditional texts, such as picture books, comic...

That the movie adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender should have been a bit more like this: Read: ASIAN (and Inuit!) people with elemental powers. And yes, I'm bringing this up again because of those racist Hunger Games tweets , because Avatar: The Legend of Korra has started (Why do I get the sinking feeling there are still people out there who will deny the Asian and Inuit roots of the Avatar world?), and because I like that K-pop group in the video.

When: 26 May 2012, Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Where: the Cultural Center of the Philippines Hosts: Philippine chapter - Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) YA author, journalist, cultural promoter, translator, and language and intercultural communication teacher Tanya Tynjälä (SCBWI Peru/Finland) will conduct a workshop on writing stories for children and young adults. The lectures and exercises will be based on the work of Soviet formalist scholar Vladimir Propp who analyzed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements. This workshop is open to anyone age 18 and above who is a published or aspiring writer, or who teaches or wants to teach creative writing for children and young adults. Fee: Includes lunch, transferrable, nonrefundable P800 if you register on or before April 20 P1000 if you register April 20 to May 15 P1200 if you register aft...

Been following him since his Harvard days! Jeremy Lin: Rising Star by James Buckley, Jr. (Scholastic Paperbacks, 1 April 2012)

The Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the Philippines' longest-running literary competition, aims to help develop Philippine literature by providing incentives for writers to craft their most outstanding literary works, serving as a treasury of Philippine literary gems, and assisting in the dissemination of Philippine literature to the public. Writers may now submit their entries for this year's competition, in categories including: English Division - Short Story for Children English Division - Poetry for Children Filipino Division - Maikling Kuwentong Pambata Filipino Division - Tulang Pambata English Kabataan Division (writers below 18 years old) - Kabataan Essay: “In the advent of e-books, do I still consider printed books to be an important part of education?” Filipino Kabataan Division (writers below 18 years old) - Kabataan Sanaysay: “Sa paglaganap ng e-books, maituturing ko pa bang mahalagang bahagi ng edukasyon ang mga nakalimbag na aklat?” The competition ...

The Hans Christian Andersen Award , considered the most prestigious international children’s literature award, is given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made lasting contributions to children's literature. The winners for the 2012 award will be announced on Monday, March 19 at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Among the five short-listed authors and five short-listed illustrators selected from 57 candidates submitted by 32 national sections of the IBBY is Iran's Mohammad Ali Beniasadi. Congratulations! :o) The other Asian candidates were writers Masamoto Nasu (Japan), Sun-mi Hwang (Republic of Korea), and Sevim Ak (Turkey), and illustrators Satoshi Kako (Japan), Seong-Chan Hong (Republic of Korea), and Feridun Oral (Turkey).

Today is the launch of Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction (Stone Bridge Press), an anthology of thirty-six Japan teen stories. Proceeds from the sales of Tomo will go directly to long-term relief efforts for the teens displaced by the March 11, 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami disasters. Buying this book will help pay the educational expenses of these affected teens! Tomo is edited by Holly Thompson and the stories are by authors and illustrators from all around the world who share a connection to Japan, including Andrew Fukuda, Tak Toyoshima, Alan Gratz, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, and Shogo Oketani. Visit the Tomo blog for more information and please do everything you can to support the book. I'll be posting my reviews and interviews as soon as I can!

The Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) has announced the winners of the 2012 Alcala Illustrators' Prize. The grand prize goes to Hubert Fucio, and honorable mentions go to Aldy Aguirre, Dominic Agsaway, and Jonathan Rañola. Congratulations! Click here to see the winning illustrations! (I am impressed by the details in Fucio's illustrations and my personal favorites are the adorable illustrations by Agsaway.) For inquiries about the Alcala Illustrators' Prize, please email the PBBY Secretariat at pbby@adarna.com.ph.

It's almost that time of the year again: the Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) at the Arts House in Singapore! The 2012 AFCC is for the entire community of children’s content creators. The schedule for the festival is as follows: * Primary & Preschool Teachers Congress - May 26 * Parents Forum - May 27 * Asian Children's Writers & Illustrators Conference - May 28 and 29 * Media Summit - May 29 * Media Mart & Rights Fair - May 26 to 29 Speakers include Leonard S. Marcus, children's literature critic, author, and historian; Alvina Ling, editorial director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Suzy Lee, artist and picture book extraordinaire; Margarita Engle, poet, novelist, and journalist; Candy Gourlay, Jomike Tejido, Russell Molina, and Isabel Roxas, all popular and award-winning Filipino children's book creators. You MUST be at the 2012 AFCC, to learn from top-notch authors, illustrators, editors, publishers, educators, and book reviewer...