Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

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...