Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

I spent my Saturday at the SM North branch of Fully Booked , enjoying storytelling sessions from Adarna House . The children were so precious. So smart and animated. And I was really impressed by storyteller Dyali Justo . She had infinite patience with the children and was such a bundle of energy. She made the storytelling sessions truly entertaining and engaging. Some Adarna House authors and illustrators were there! Below are pictures of the children in line to get their copies of Just Add Dirt (Adarna House, 2009) signed by author Becky Bravo and illustrator Jason Moss . One of the picture books Dyali Justo read aloud was the wonderful Naku, Nakuu, Nakuuu! (Adarna House, 2008). It's one of my favorite picture books. Nanoy Rafael writes so beautifully and Sergio Bumatay III is an amazing illustrator. I was able to snap this picture of the both of them at the event (Sergio Bumatay III on the left and Nanoy Rafael on the right) and I was SLAYED. I should attend more stor...

Dear Greenwillow Books, I understand that you are worried about the sales of Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon and the potential sales of its sequel, Fury of the Phoenix . Oh, I know that you are not worried that Asian-inspired YA fantasy will not sell. If that was your worry, then you would never have chosen to publish Silver Phoenix and Fury of the Phoenix in the first place. The hardcover edition of Silver Phoenix has an Asian model on the cover. The paperback edition of Silver Phoenix and the hardcover edition of Fury of the Phoenix both use a Caucasian model on the cover. I take that to mean that you are worried that American readers will not buy books with Asians on the cover. Whitewashing a book cover does injustice to the book because it misrepresents the book and misleads readers. Moreover, there is racism at work in the whitewashing of book covers because of the underlying assumption that Asian faces are "not good enough" to sell books, or that Asian faces will so...

Bookmark Read Kutub KIDS , a blog celebrating Arabic children's books! SO glad I discovered this awesome blog. And dear readers, I am slowly compiling a list of blogs with a special emphasis on Asian children's and YA books. :o)

July 20 is the 27th Philippine National Children's Book Day. YAY!!! Above is this year's Children's Book Day poster. Isn't it great? =D The English translation for the text on the poster is "Who Reads [Books], Wins!" (or "Readers are always winners!"). Thank you, Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) , for the poster!

Out of the Way! Out of the Way! , written by Uma Krishnaswam i and illustrated by Uma Krishnaswam y (Tulika, 2010), is the story of a boy, a baby tree, a village path in India, and how they grow together. The boy grows up and becomes a father, then a grandfather. The baby tree grows into a giant tree. The village path grows into a city road. In contrast to what the title of the book suggests, the three never get in each other's way. They live together in harmony. This harmony is also seen in the layout and illustrations of the book. Each spread has ample white space set off by illustrations inspired by Indian folk art. The many, many details in the illustrations will definitely draw young readers in. They will enjoy discovering new things each time they pore over the illustrations. The illustrations are mostly in color, but are very nicely balanced with black and white portions. Here is a slideshow of some of the illustrations in Out of the Way! Out of the Way! . (Note: The text ...

New Crayons is a meme started by Susan at Color Online . It is about sharing the books one has bought, received, or borrowed over the past week - with an emphasis on books featuring people of color and/or written by people of color. I'm still busy reading children's and young adult books for a special project, so I haven't been able to read for this blog. But I did get some new books for the blog. My fabulous friend Corinne bought me two picture books in Taiwan! The first book is Spit the Seeds by Lee Chiu Lun (Hsin Yi Publications, 1993). It's in Chinese. But it comes with English translations by June Chen... And audiobooks of both the Chinese and English versions! The second book is The Little Stone Lion by Kim Xiong (Heryin Books, Inc.). The illustrations are GORGEOUS. I have the Chinese edition of The Little Stone Lion . You can buy the English edition here . My copy comes with audiobooks of both the Chinese and English editions, and a pamphlet (in Chinese) wit...

New blog alert! :o) Children's and young adult literature critic Irene Ying-Yu Chen has started a blog on children's and young adult literature in Taiwan. Go and check out iRead Taiwan and Beyond ! :o) Below are a couple of pictures of me with Irene. I had the great pleasure of meeting her at the Asian Festival of Children's Content.