Grandfather's Story Cloth Reading in St. Paul June 11

Scholar and Author Linda Gerdner will read her new Children's book, Grandfather's Story Cloth at the Hmong Cultural Center on June 11, 2008 from 10 AM - Noon in a special event for children and families. Snacks will be served.

Grandfather's Story Cloth Reading
June 11, 2008 10AM
Hmong Cultural Center
995 University Ave., St. Paul MN

Skipping Stones Honor Awards Announced... and Romina is included!

Skipping Stones Magazine has announced their annual honor awards for multicultural and ecology children's books. I am so pleased that one of their multicultural honors has gone to Romina's Rangoli by Malathi Michelle Iyengar and Jennifer Wanardi. Go Romina!

Here is the official press release from Skipping Stones. As usual, all of their honors are truly wonderful books:

The 15th Annual Skipping Stones Honor Awards recognize 26 exceptional books and teaching resources. Together, they encourage an understanding of the world’s diverse cultures, as well as nature and ecological richness. The selection promotes cooperation, nonviolence, respect for differing viewpoints and close relationships in human societies. We present these outstanding books to you as the summer season stretches before us. It’s a time of year when we can travel to explore new places or to revisit meaningful ones. Reading books is another way to explore cultures, places and even other time periods. The winners are featured in our summer issue and also on www.SkippingStones.org. Welcome to the wonderful world of words!

Multicultural & International Awareness Books:

One City, Two Brothers by Chris Smith, illustr. Aurélia Fronty. Barefoot Books; www.barefootbooks.com. Picture Book. ISBN: 978-1-84686-042-3

When The Shadbush Blooms by Carla Messinger with Susan Katz, illustr. David Kanietakeron Fadden. Tricycle.www.tricyclepress.com. Picture Book. ISBN: 978-1-58246-192-2

Armando and the Blue Tarp School by Edith Hope Fine and Judith Pinkerton Josephson, illustr. Hernán Sosa. Lee & Low; www.leeandlow.com. Picture Book. ISBN: 978-1-58430-278-0

I Remember Abuelito: A Day of the Dead Story/Yo Recuerdo a Abuelito: Un Cuento del Dia de los Muertos by Janice Levy, illustr. Loretta Lopez. Albert Whitman; www.albertwhitman.com.Picture Book. ISBN: 978-0-8075-3516-5

The Best Eid Ever by Asma Mobin-Uddin, illustr. Laura Jacobsen. Boyds Mills Press; www.boydsmillspress.com. Picture Book. ISBN: 978-1-59078-431-0

Romina’s Rangoli by Malathi Michelle Iyengar, illustr. Jennifer Wanardi. Shen’s Books; www.shens.com. Picture Book. ISBN: 978-1-885008-32-9

Sky Sweeper by Phillis Gershator, illustr. Holly Meade. Farrar, Straus & Giroux; www.fsgkidsbooks.com. Picture Book.ISBN: 978-0-374-37007-7

One Hen by Katie Smith Milway, illustr. Eugenie Fernandes. Kids Can Press; www.kidscanpress.com. Picture Book. Ages 7 and up.ISBN: 978-1-55453-028-1

Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins, illustr. Jamie Hogan. Charlesbridge; www.charlesbridge.com. Ages 7-10. ISBN: 978-1-58089-308-4

Great Peacemakers: True Stories from Around the World (Teacher’s guide available) by Ken Beller & Heather Chase. LTS Press; www.greatpeacemakers.com. Ages 12-80. ISBN: 978-0-9801382-0-7

We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin by Larry Dane Brimner. Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills Press; www.boydsmillspress.com. Ages 10-15. ISBN: 978-1-59078-498-3

Chess Rumble by G. Neri, illustr. Jesse Joshua Watson. Lee and Low; www.leeandlow.com. Ages 11-15. ISBN: 978-1-58430-279-7

Jeannette Rankin: Political Pioneer, a biography by Gretchen Woelfle. Calkins Creek/ Boyds Mills Press; www.boydsmillspress.com. Ages 11-17. ISBN: 978-1-59078-437-2

Tasting The Sky: A Palestinian Childhood, a memoir by Ibtisam Barakat. Farrar, Straus & Giroux; www.fsgkidsbooks.com. Ages 11-15. ISBN: 978-0374-35733-7

The Teen Guide to Global Action: How to Connect with others to Create Social Change by Barbara A. Lewis. Free Spirit; www.freespirit.com. Ages 12-17. ISBN: 978-1-57542-266-4

A Shout in the Sunshine, a novel by Mara W. Cohen Ioannides.Jewish Publication Society; www.jewishpub.org. Ages 12-17. ISBN: 978-0-8276-0838-2

Windows into My World: Latino Youth Write Their Lives, ed. by Sarah Cortez. Piñata Books; www.artepublicopress.com. Ages 13-18. ISBN: 978-1-55885-482-6

The Ocean in the Closet, a debut novel by Yuko Taniguchi. Coffee House Press; www.coffehousepress.org. Ages 15 to adults. ISBN: 978-1-56689-194-3

Nature and Ecology Books:

Nature’s Yucky! 2: The Desert Southwest by Lee Ann Landstrom & Karen I. Schragg, illustr. Rachel Rogge. Mountain Press; www.mountain-press.org. ISBN: 978-0-87842-529-7

River Song with the Banana Slug String Band by Steve Van Zandt, illustr. Katherine Zecca. Dawn Publications; www.dawnpub.com. Picture Book. ISBN: 978-1-58469-093-1

The Bee Tree by Stephen Buchmann and Diana Cohn, illustr. Paul Mirocha. Cinco Puntos Press; www.cincopuntos.com.Picture Book. ISBN: 978-0-938317-98-2

The Inuit Thought Of It: Amazing Arctic Innovations by Alootook Ipellie with David MacDonald. Annick Press; www.annickpress.com. Ages 9-12. ISBN 978-1-55451-087-0

The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon. Scholastic Inc.; www.scholastic.com. Ages 8-13. ISBN: 978-0-439-02494-5

Teaching and Parenting Resources:

2008 World Diversity Calendar, Orison Publishers; www.worlddiversitycalendar.com. This interfaith, multilingual calendar belongs on every classroom wall! ISBN: 978-0-9763800-5-4.

What Kids REALLY Want to Ask: Using Movies to Start Meaningful Conversations - A Guidebook for Parents and Children Ages 10-14by Rhonda A. Richardson, Ph.D. and A. Margaret Pevec, M.A. VanderWyk & Burnham; www.vandb.com. ISBN: 978-1-889242-31-6

My Imaginary Friend by Shirley Ann Povondra and Kathryn Andrew. Llumina; www.llumina.com. For parents and educators to read with children. ISBN: 978-1-59526-669-9

Languages in Grandfather's Story Cloth.

I am holding in my hands an advanced copy of Grandfather's Story Cloth by Linda Gerdner and Sarah Langford and illustrated by Stuart Loughridge. Shen's newest book features text written in both English and Hmong. Though I had helped with the English, the Hmong language is a complete mystery to me. Since the translations are side by side, I enjoyed guessing which words meant what in Hmong. For example, "Yawg" means "Grandfather." "Niam" means "Mother." And "Chersheng" (the name of the little boy) means "Chersheng."

I've always been fascinated with languages, especially how different sounds are interpreted by the Romanized alphabet. I'm sure there are many sounds in the Hmong language that do not exist in English. What's interesting to me are the different combination of consonants. How does one pronounce "txhawj" (worry)? Or "nws" (he)?

Selvakumar is a Bearemy's Book Club Pick!

Build-a-Bear Workshop has a website that includes all sorts of fun things for kids, and every month "Bearemy" the bear picks books on a theme for his book club. April features dogs and ecology, so Selvakumar Knew Better by Virginia Kroll and Xiaojun Li fit right in. You can see it and the book club here.

Tigers, Frogs and Rice Cakes on Lookybook

Tigers, Frogs, and Rice Cakes: A Book of Korean Proverbs
selected by Daniel Holt, illustrated by Soma Han Stickler

Mixing Languages

So I've been thinking about the multi-cultural nature of my stories and making decisions about how much of another language, if any, I should include in my narratives and dialogue. Even though English is my primary language, my first words were in Mandarin Chinese.

People who were raised speaking at least two different languages know that there is more than one way to say something. They also know it is possible for a concept or phrase to exist in one language and not another. Such knowledge is extremely useful to writers.

Sometimes in my stories I will include a few uniquely Asian-American circumstances as jokes and play on phrases to those who understand both languages that I'm writing while trying to make it still understandable to the English-only readers. But usually my overall guiding principle in writing is that I should put in non-English language phrases only when absolutely necessary, when there is not an appropriate translation in English.

Land of Morning Calm on Lookybook

They're churning these out over at Lookybook. Here is Land of Morning Calm by John Stickler and Soma Han.

1st Annual Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival

I got some information this afternoon from Fanshen Cox, one of the organizers of the 1st Annual Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival, and I am more than pleased to pass it on. It sounds like a great idea and a potentially amazing gathering of creative people of mixed race.

According to the event website, the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival will be an annual event celebrating films and literary works exploring racially and culturally mixed heritages. And now is the time to get involved, because they are currently calling for film and literature submissions. So, for you creative types out there, here is the submission info:

We are currently seeking submissions for films and literary works as well as workshop proposals. If you are submitting a film, please send a short synopsis, bio and the film in DVD format. If you are interested in reading your own literary work (plays, poetry, fiction, screenplays, creative nonfiction, spoken word) please e-mail a bio and 10 pages of your published or unpublished writing. If you would like to lead a workshop, please send a bio and an outline of your workshop. Workshops are allotted 1-2 hours.

Please send your films to: Dusky Sally Productions P.O. Box 291775 Los Angeles, CA 90029 If you would like us to return your film please include a self -addressed envelope with postage paid. If you would like acknowledgement of your submission, please include a self-addressed stamped postcard.

Please e-mail your literary work or workshop proposal to: mixedchicks@yahoo.com and put 'Mixed Roots Film & Literary Submission' in the subject line. There is no fee for submissions.

The deadline for submissions is: Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 (if you have a film in post production and need more time, please contact us). You will receive an e-mail notification by Friday, April 4th 2008. We look forward to your submissions and to meeting you at the first annual Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival (TM).

1st Annual Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival
June 12-15, 2008
Japanese American National Muesum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles, CA

The Day the Dragon Danced on Lookybook

Woohoo! The Day the Dragon Danced by Kay Haugaard and Carolyn Reed Barritt is now available on Lookybook. Click through to see the full-size, bright and beautiful, version of the browsable book, or just check it out below.

Sneak Preview: Grandfather's Story Cloth

I am so pleased with our upcoming book (available in May 2008), Grandfather's Story Cloth by Linda Gerdner and illustrated by Stuart Loughridge. I just sent it off to the printer last week, after months and months of work, but it has turned out even better than I had imagined it would be. I can't wait for the world to see this wonderful book about a Hmong boy and his grandfather, who has Alzheimer's disease. Oh, just read the blurb for yourself:

Chersheng's grandfather is beginning to forget things: little things like turning off the water faucet and big things like Chersheng's name. Sometimes he even forgets that he is in America now. Chersheng feels sad and helpless when he learns that Grandfather has Alzheimer's Disease, but then Chersheng's mother presents him with a story cloth stitched by Grandfather himself, embroidered in the Hmong tradition.

Through the story cloth, Grandfather's memories of his life in Laos come alive. And inspired by Grandfather's tales about his life before the war forced him to immigrate to America, Chersheng comes up with a plan to capture his family's new life with his own art project. This way, they can all remember that their love is stronger than Alzheimer’s Disease, no matter which country they live in.

Linda Gerdner's heartwarming story addresses the increasing number of children who live with elderly grandparents with dementia. This volume, presented bilingually in English and Hmong, allows children and their loved ones not only to gain a compassionate understanding of Alzheimer's Disease, but also to share in the simplest act of pleasure and love -- that of reading together.

Maybe if I can figure out how, I'll post a few pages from the interior. Ah, technology. We'll see what I can do.