I approached Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It by Sundee T. Frazier with some trepidation, as I'm not a big fan of books where the main character's race is the central issue. Normally, I would rather see a more nuanced approach to the subject of race, where a character's appearance or cultural difference affects multiple facets of the story without being the story itself (like in real life). However, I was pleasantly surprised at Sundee Frazier's refreshing ability to approach Brendan Buckley's biracial background directly, while still weaving a fun story with great characters that charmed and touched me emotionally.

Brendan Buckley is your average ten-year-old kid who fancies himself a scientist, and looks forward to a summer full of bicycle riding, Tae Kwan Do, and figuring out the answers to his Big Questions. He is also half black and half white, and while he has always been close with his black grandparents, he has never even met his white grandparents. Until one day, when he discovers that his Grandpa Ed lives nearby and begins to visit him secretly.

It is around the same time that Brendan also encounters some bullies who seem to find his dark skin reason enough to pick on him. Which leads him to some of his biggest questions ever. My favorite scenes in the book are those in which Brendan and his parents work through these questions, and how each of Brendan's parents interpret racism in a way that is both truthful yet gentle. Their love for each other and for Brendan is clear, and each tries to explain hatred in others without resorting to hatred of their own.

As it turns out, Grandpa Ed has his own issues with race. But Frazier works with Ed's prejudices beautifully, without making him out to be a bad guy or a good guy, but genuinely conflicted over his own beliefs and the consequences of them. And there is something so refreshing about Brendan's straightforward, scientific nature that allows him to, after gathering up his courage, ask his grandfather right out, "You mean you didn't want my mom to marry my dad because he's black." Ed doesn't have a pat answer, and it's clear he doesn't understand it himself, nor are there any easy answers when it comes to prejudice.

Frazier has wonderfully woven a summer full of fun, adventure, learning, and triumphs with a refreshing and sensitive look at racism and multiracial families. I would highly recommend Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It for all readers for a nuanced and deeper understanding of these issues.

Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It by Sundee T. Frazier

So yesterday was my birthday, and I simply must share the best birthday present I have ever received. The best! It's a YouTube video put together by my singing buddies in the California Bay Area. I haven't seen some of them since I moved to LA nine months ago, and I had no idea that they were planning this. No. Idea. It made me cry. Did I mention that I have the best friends ever?

At a ceremony held last week in New York City, ForeWord Magazine announced the winners of its annual Book of the Year Award. Grandfather's Story Cloth, written by Linda Gerdner and Sarah Langford and illustrated by Stuart Loughridge, took top honors in the Children's Picture Book category! I am so proud of this little book that could! Its message of love and understanding has been so well-received that I can hardly believe it.

This Gold Medal award is shared with A Visitor for Bear, by Bonny Becker and Kady MacDonald Denton, published by Candlewick Books. To be recognized in the company of such a wonderful book is truly an honor indeed.

ForeWord Magazine is a bimonthly journal reporting on the independent publishing market and reviewing books published by independent presses. Its Book of the Year Award honors "only those books coming from independent community, giving them the value they deserve." Award winners are selected by a panel of librarians and booksellers.

This month's online issue of Papertigers.org spotlights book awards, and naturally, those Asian-Pacific books that have won them. To that end, they have posted a nice review of Romina's Rangoli, written by Malathi Michelle Iyengar.

"Celebrating the richness of growing up biracial, the story does a good job of pointing out the similarities shared between Romina's two cultures. "Chutney is a lot like salsa," she concludes after watching her dad select and mix all the ingredients for his chutney recipe - an observation that goes well beyond cuisine."

Even better is a personal essay written by Malathi herself discussing her biracial heritage and how it has affected her outlook on the world around her, and on her writing. She says:

"When writing Romina's Rangoli, I struggled with wanting to make the story simple enough to engage and entertain very small children, while at the same time trying NOT to promote the kind of simplistic thinking that reduces "culture" to food and holidays - i.e., Romina is Indian and Mexican, so that means she makes rangoli designs and papel picado!  I have often wondered whether Romina's craft project isn't too pat, too simple of an ending.  But in a society that still tells us, most of the time, to "Check only one box," the very fact that we multi-ethnic folks actually exist is news to many children.  Hopefully, as children get older, they will begin to explore with intellectual rigor the subtle complexities of what "culture" means in people's lives, and how various cultural influences converge in family life."

The kidlit blog Into the Wardrobe has a wonderful interview with Dorina Lazo Gilmore, author of Cora Cooks Pancit, today. Blogger Tarie, who is located in the Philippines as she blogs, asks Dorina about her ethnic background, her inspirations for the book, and, of course, her cooking:

"My mother is a fabulous cook. She is 100% Italian and I think of her as a food artist because her creative juices really flow in the kitchen. I literally grew up in the kitchen doing the "kids jobs" mentioned in my book like drawing in the flour and licking the spoons and learning the "grown-up jobs" like chopping, stirring and sautéing. My girls are 3 years old and 3 months old and they are growing up in the kitchen with me too. My creative muse is food and it often inspires my writing."

Read the entire interview here.

Adoption books are hard to get right. That's what I think. Too many are overly sentimental, trying too hard to tread the thin line between expressing the adoptive parents' love and explaining the whats and whys of adoption. But in Ten Days and Nine Nights, Yumi Heo gets it right. By keeping the text ultra-simple, by showing how small acts have big meanings, and by allowing the illustrations to tell much of the story, Heo conveys how every member of the family is looking forward to welcoming a new baby, and how joyous the occasion is.

The premise of the story is brilliant: a little girl counts down the days from when her mother departs on an airplane to when she comes back home with a new member of the family from Korea. Each page is has only one sentence, depicting a single act of preparing for the baby's arrival, and a calendar with X's marking the days. "I have ten days and nine nights," it begins, and counts down from there. The little girl does things to prepare like washing her old teddy bear and making a drawing of her kitty, that then goes up on the nursery wall. One page reads, "I practice," as she holds a doll in her arms. Another reads, "I tell Molly," and she and her friend stand by the crib. Without any words, you know what the girls are talking about and thinking.

Interspersed throughout the countdown are wordless spreads showing her mother's journey: on the airplane, signing papers at the adoption agency, meeting the new baby at the orphanage. The pacing is surprisingly cinematic and full of momentum. As the number of days decreases, we feel an excitement. Finally, "Daddy puts the CLOSED sign on his dry cleaning store. I have only one day!" And the whole family greets Mother and new baby at the airport.

Yumi Heo has always been so good at conveying a child's view of the world through simple text and wonderfully emotive illustrations. In Ten Days and Nine Nights, she successfully depicts an overseas adoption with just the right combination of information and joy.

Ten Days and Nine Nights
by Yumi Heo

Alphabet Soup, a blog about children's books and food (need I say more?), written by children's writer Jama Rattigan, is featuring a review of Cora Cooks Pancit today, complete with an interview with Kristi Valiant.

Jama says, "Here's a thoroughly delicious, lip-smacking picture book, perfect for celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!" I couldn't agree more. "The true joys of cooking -- from the initial anticipation, through every step of preparation, and finally, the sharing and tasting, is palpable with every page turn. By the time you come to the final double page spread of the whole family at the table, you'll wish you were right there, feasting on the adobo chicken, lumpia, and Cora's first pancit."

Besides a review of the book and some words from Krist on how she developed the illustrations, there are some interior images and a great photo of a bowl of pancit.

Which reminds me... it's lunchtime. Mmm.

The blog Sruble's World, written by illustrator Stephanie Ruble, has a nice interview with Kristi Valiant about her art, her career, and her newest book, Cora Cooks Pancit.

When asked how she chooses which scenes and details to draw from the manuscript, Kristi says,

"Picture books by definition tell part of the story through pictures, so I try to pick out parts that can be expanded upon to tell a deeper or funnier story by "reading" the illustrations. For example, in Cora Cooks Pancit, I added a dog to the illustrations who wasn't mentioned at all in the text. He follows around the main character and keeps bringing more and more toys hoping the little girl will play with him. She ignores the dog all the way through the book, until the very end when she's lying on the floor playing tug of war with the dog. I don't draw only what the text says for picture books, but novels are a bit different. In a novel, the whole story is told in the text and the illustrations usually just show the action or feeling of what's already told."

If you're in the Fresno area, come meet Dorina Lazo Gilmore at Petunia's Place, an independent children's bookstore, on June 27th at 11:00am. She'll be reading and signing her book, Cora Cooks Pancit, about a Filipino girl who makes her favorite noodle dish with her mother.

Dorina is a local author in Fresno, and Central California plays a role in this charming children's story, since Cora's grandfather Lolo was a cook for the Filipino farmworkers who picked strawberries and grapes in the fields.

Dorina Lazo Gilmore Book Signing
Saturday, June 27, 2009 11:00 am
Petunia's Place
2017 W Bullard Ave. Fresno, CA 93711