Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

The Philippine Board on Books for Young People is now accepting entries for its Wordless Book Prize.  2018 will mark the first year that the PBBY will be awarding such a prize. The winner shall receive twenty thousand pesos and a medal. Prizes shall be awarded at an appropriate ceremony to be held on National Children's Book Day, July 17, 2018. CONTEST RULES The contest is open to all Filipino citizens except those who are related to any PBBY member up to the third degree of consanguinity. All entries must be e-mailed to pbbywordless@gmail.com. For this contest, all submissions must be in digital form, with each file clearly identifiable by a filename that is actually the pen name of the contestant. Entries may be in color or in black and white. They may be digitally rendered or traditionally done artwork that may or may not have been digitally enhanced. The submission format should be pdf. Entries should use the CMYK color space and should be at actual size fo...

See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2017) "My name is Alex Petroski and my house is in Rockview, Colorado, United States of America, planet Earth. I am eleven years and eight months old . . ." Filipino American Alex Petroski LOVES astronomy. His hero is Carl Sagan, the astronomer who sent a "Golden Record" out into space. In 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. In case the spacecraft ever made contact with extraterrestrial life forms, or future humans, each had on board a "Golden Record," a copper phonograph LP featuring a collection of sounds and images meant to portray the life and culture on planet Earth. The recorded sounds included things like wind, thunder, bird songs, greetings in 55 languages, and the brainwaves of a woman in love. (You can actually listen to the audio of the Golden Record here .) Alex has built his very own rocket, Voyager 3, and plans to launch it into space at SHARF (Sout...

I am very happy to share an interview with  Erin Entrada Kelly , Filipino American author of the excellent middle grade novels  Blackbird Fly ( Greenwillow Books, 2015),  The Land of Forgotten Girls (Greenwillow Books, 2016) - one of the best middle grade novels I've ever read,  Hello, Universe (Greenwillow Books, 2017), and the forthcoming You Go First (Greenwillow Books, 2018). Hello, Erin! To start, can you please tell us about your Filipino background? I am mestiza. My father is from the US. My mother is from Sogod, Southern Leyte, and lives in Cebu. What are the five books that turned you into a writer? It’s hard to pinpoint five books. I’ve always been a big reader. When I was about seven or eight, I realized that books were just pen and paper, which meant that I could write my own stories. That’s when I started writing. I’ve been writing for so long that I don’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t working on something. So I guess I ...

This year’s PBBY-Alcala Grand Prize winner is art student Sophia Lorraine Demanawa, from the Ateneo De Manila University. Demanawa is studying Information Design and is an active member of Blue Indie Komiks (BLINK). She earned the judges’ unanimous vote for her fresh portrayal of Genaro Gojo Cruz’s Dalawa Kami ni Lola . Gojo Cruz’s story bagged the 2017 PBBY-Salanga Prize . Aside from illustrating, Demanawa also enjoys making comics, designing gig posters, and writing poetry. Four other illustrators were chosen as Honorable Mention: Arade Louise Villena, Mary Grace Theresa Dulawan, Christian Oliver Cruz, and Irene Rose Buenaventura. The winners will be awarded at the National Children’s Book Day (NCBD) celebration on July 18, 2017 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. For inquiries about the contest and the NCBD celebration, contact the PBBY Secretariat at telephone number 352 6765 loc 204 or e-mail  pbby@adarna.com.ph . 

Scholastic , the global children’s publishing, education and media company, is giving a chance to Filipino writers living in Asia to submit a short synopsis and the opening pages of their unpublished chapter book or novel and stand a chance to be shortlisted to receive a review and written feedback from the man who discovered J.K. Rowling, Mr. Barry Cunningham. In partnership with   the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) , You Write to Me, I'll Write to You is a manuscript critique initiative of   the Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA)   in an effort to further encourage and inspire Asian writers. The manuscript critique initiative aspires to motivate writers while assisting them to get their manuscript in shape and recognizing excellence in Asian writings. A total of six entries (the brief synopses and opening pages of six manuscripts) will be shortlisted to receive a review and written feedback from Mr. Cunningham, and only the most outstanding ...

I just finished reading The Way Home in the Night by Akiko Miyakoshi (Kids Can Press; April 4, 2017), originally Yoru no Kaerimichi (Kaisei-Sha Publishing, 2015). This book caught my eye because of its bunny (one of my favorite animals!) main character and its Japanese author-illustrator. Of course I had to read it. This isn’t a cute, cuddly, fluffy bunny though. This bunny and the other animal characters rendered in pencil, charcoal, and acrylic gouache are surreal – even reminding me a bit of the Twilight Zone – but the effect is beautiful. The bunny is observing his neighbors as he walks home with his parents at the end of the day. There’s a bookseller closing his shop for the night, a neighbor watching TV, a party next door, and more. When he’s tucked into bed, he wonders about his neighbors: Is the bookseller reading on his couch? Are the party guests saying goodbye? Are his neighbors getting ready for bed, or already snug in bed like him? It’s a different take on the bedti...

The Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) is now accepting entries for the 2017 PBBY-Alcala Prize . The winner shall be given a cash prize of P25,000, a gold medal, and an opportunity to be published. Prizes will be awarded in an appropriate ceremony to be held during the celebration of National Children’s Book Day on   July 18 . Contest Rules The contest is open to all Filipino citizens except those who are related to any PBBY member up to the third degree of consanguinity. Entries must be based on the 2017 PBBY-Salanga Prize winning story   Dalawa Kami ni Lola   by Genaro Gojo Cruz. A copy of this story may be requested from the PBBY Secretariat or   downloaded from the PBBY website . All entries must be original unpublished illustrations that have not won in any previous contest. All entries must consist of three (3) illustrations that are of the same size and medium. Entries do not have to be based on consecutive spreads/parts of the tex...

The Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) declared Genaro Gojo Cruz as the grand prize winner of the 2017 PBBY-Salanga Prize . Gojo Cruz bagged the Salanga prize with his story  Dalawa Kami ni Lola , a story about a child and his grandmother. This is Gojo Cruz’s second grand prize win. Gojo Cruz, a children’s author and professor, won the grand prize last year. For his win, Gojo Cruz will receive 25,000 pesos and a medal. Gojo Cruz’s story  Pamilya Papel  was also declared honorable mention alongside Imelda Estrella’s story,  May Lihim ang Dagat. Winners will be awarded during the celebration of National Children’s Book Day on July 18, 2017. For inquiries about the contest, contact the PBBY Secretariat at telephone number 352-6765 loc. 203 or e-mail  pbby@adarna.com.ph .

The International Book Giving Day team is delighted to announce that Marianne Dubuc is the illustrator behind 2017’s official poster. Libraries, schools, and bookshops are encouraged to download, print, and display Dubuc’s poster to celebrate the love of reading and encourage others to give books to children on International Book Giving Day, February 14.  Now in its 5th year, International Book Giving Day continues to grow from strength to strength, reaching places such as Nepal, India, Canada, South Africa, UK, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Nigeria, Fiji, Czech Republic, USA, Cambodia, Hungary, Philippines, and Romania. On February 14, #bookgivingday, participants are encouraged to give books to children. This can takes many forms, the only limit is the imagination. Books have been sent to child refugees in Calais, France; a new library was created in Cape Town, South Africa; in Uganda the Mpambara-Cox Foundation gifted books to children, for many it wa...