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Around the World: China

Dear Readers,
Lon_po_poAs installment 3 of our Around the World with Caldecott and Newbery, today we visit China!  For the purposes of brevity and conciseness, I’ve entitled this book tour through children’s award-winning literature as Around the World with Caldecott and Newbery, but I also include other notable awards such as the British Carnegie Medal, the Kate Greenway medal etc.  Occasionally I will throw in a book that just happens to be a personal favorite, and though it may not have won a particular honor, has won credibility by virtue of its timelessness and appeal to children.

For the youngest reader, Lon Po Po:  A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young, won the Caldecott Medal in 1990 and turns the tale of the sweet but gullible Red Riding Hood on its head.  In this Chinese version, the wolf is outwitted by three discriminating and resourceful children!  Ed Young grew up in China and studied art here in the US.  He brings a richness and drama to this tale through his use of ancient Chinese artistic techniques combined with watercolors and pastels.  Also by Ed Young, Ye259382-Mh, Shen: A Cinderella Story from China won the Horn Book Honor in 1983.

The well-loved children’s book author, Jean Fritz, writes the story of her childhood in China in Homesick, My Own Story–winner of the Newbery Honor in 1983.  Born in China, Jean’s childhood is rich with vivid memories of her Chinese amahs–her nursemaids, family picnics on the Great Wall, being spat at and called a “foreign devil”, glorious summer vacations on the beach at Peitaiho, and the unrest of impending revolution.  Fritz’s memoir draws these stories into a beautiful mix woven with the longing of a young girl for her American “home”–a home she’s never seen.  Margot Tomes enhances the text with her delightfully whimsical line drawings.

The House of Sixty Fathers has to be one of my all-time favorite children’s books!  First of all, I love Meindert DeJong for his tender depictions of his childhood protagonists.  DeJong seems to remember poignantly how he thought as a child, and incorporates that sensibility into his characters.  Young Tien Pao has escaped Japanese invading forces on  his family’s sampan with his mother, father, three ducklings, the family pig, and his baby sister, Beauty-of-the-Republic.  DeJong uses beautiful alliteration to establish the setting.

9780060214814_xlgRain raised the river.  Rain beat down on the sampan where it lay in a long row of sampans tied to the riverbank. Rain drummed down on the mats that were shaped in the form of an arched roof over the middle of the sampan. It clattered hard on the four long oars lying on the top of the roof of mats.  The rain found the bullethole in the roof of the mats.”

DeJong was stationed in China as a US Army sergeant during WWII, and the book is based upon his friendship with a young Chinese boy at the time. What follows is the tender, yet gripping story of a young boy, separated from his family during  war, and of his relentless and courageous pursuit of them through hostile enemy territory.  His remarkable adventures will bring a tear to your eye.  Maurice Sendak’s tender illustrations enhance the text.  The author won the Newbery Honor for this book in 1957.Young+Fu

Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman won the Newbery Medal in 1933 and concerns thirteen-year-old Fu, who comes from the country to Chungking with his widowed mother, where the bustling city offers adventure and his apprenticeship to a coppersmith.  Set in the turbulent era of the 1920s, the author has drawn an authentic depiction based upon her own experiences as a missionary to China.

The Kite Rider by Geral9780066238753_p0_v1_s260x420dine McCaughrean won a Horn Book Fanfare award (2003) a American Library Association award as well as 2 British awards, for its intricately plotted tale of a 13th century Chinese boy who becomes a kite-rider.   Kite-riding was believed to predict the fortune or demise of a sea voyage and boys and men were sent up on large kites for this purpose.  After Haoyou’s father is killed kite-riding,  the boy takes up the profession in order to support his mother.  His world is beset by the treachery of the man responsible for his father’s death, and his wicked uncle who forces his mother to labor relentlessly to pay his gambling debts.  His adventures take him all over the empire, and even to the tents of the great Kublai Khan.

This is just a taste of the books that will be covered in my upcoming Back-to-School Literature Soirée, which you can register for here.  Hope to see you there!

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Around the World with Newbery and Caldecott!

Dear Readers,9780060215859-l
As many of you know, I’m hosting a Back-to-School Literature Soirée in two weeks.  In preparation for this, I’ve been reading some current medal winners as well as pulling lots of old Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners from my shelf and rereading them.  This is such a delight!  While I am learning new things, I am also taking a trip down memory lane, as rereading these treasures brings back reflections of how these books affected me when I first read them.  I have been struck by how reading these award-winning books can be a veritable trip “around the world”, as so many of them have to do with cultures, nations, and historic periods completely outside of our own familiar and comfortable world.

For the upcoming soirée I will present an “Around the World” with Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners.  We will take a trip through various nations, cultures, and historic periods through treasured classics.  Here’s an example of what our “trip” will look like:  We will travel to Holland through the wonderful works of Meindert DeJong, in The Wheel on the School and Journey From Peppermint Street. In the first book, we get90a a charming look at life in a fishing village in Holland when the school children place an old wagon wheel on their school so a mother stork will build her nest.  This tender and touching story won the Newbery Medal in 1954 and continues to have a place in the hearts of children today. In Journey from Peppermint Street, young Siebren goes on a long journey with his grandfather and in the process learns valuable lessons about the joys and mystery of life. Yonie Wondernose by Marguerite De Angeli won the Caldecott Honor in 1945 and concerns a Pennsylvania Dutch boy named Yonie who lets his curiosity get him into all kinds of scrapes.

Continuing our European tour a bit north to Denmark, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is an inspiring story set in Copenhagen during the Nazi occupation of Denmark.  Lois Lowry, (who I was able to meet just recently in Boston!) has created her story based on the Danish people’s rescue of the Jews through the inspiring example and leadership of their King Christian X, and the profound courage of the Danish Resistance.  Ten year-old Annemarie Johansen risks her life to save her best friend Ellen Rosen and learns the meaning of courage and self-sacrifice.  If the plight of storks has peaked your interest, you can continue reading about these marvelous creatures through a lighthearted and whimsical tale, also set in Denmark (and London) about a family that saves an abducted stork! Mrs. Easter and the Storks by V.H.

Mrs. Easter and the Storks
Mrs. Easter and the Storks

Drummond will delight your youngest readers with its fun and adventure!

Another award-winning work on Denmark is Chase Me, Catch Nobody by Erik Christian Haugaard which won the Jane Adams Book Honor in 1981.  It involves a 14 year-old Danish boy on a school trip to Germany in 1937 who becomes involved in the activities of the anti-Nazi underground.  You may recognize this award-winning author from his more well-known work set in 16th century Japan, The Samurai’s Tale.

So, this is just a little preview of the upcoming journey we will take through treasures old and new during my upcoming Back-to-School Literature Soirée. Our journey will also take us to Japan, China, England, Korea, and even into the future!  There are still spots available, so if you are interested, visit my last post for info, or to register visit here.

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More from my friend . . .

Dear Readers,

In my last posting I mentioned the work of Anita Silvey and recommended her resources for those “stories behind the stories” of great children’s books.  You can read that posting here.  Just a few weeks ago, Anita began publishing a blog entitled “Anita Silvey’s Children’s Book-A-Day Almanac.  In my humble opinion, Anita’s almanac will become the children’s literary counterpart to The Writer’s Almanac of Garrison Keillor.  This blog will introduce readers to countless classic as well as contemporary books that, as Anita notes, are on their way to becoming classics. And just like The Writer’s Almanac, the book postings will be connected to important historic milestones,  author’s birthdays, or other events related to the history of children’s literature.

On that note, today, November 19th, is the anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address of 1863.  To honor Lincoln, Anita kindly posted the story of our reissue of Abraham Lincoln by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire.  You can read her lovely post here.  If you’ve been touched by this book, post a comment on Anita’s site and tell her how this book has enlarged, enhanced or impacted your view of America’s 16th President.

As Anita notes, Ingri D’Aulaire’s family was living under Nazi occupation in Norway at the time she and Edgar were working on their biography of Lincoln’s life.  As European immigrants in America, the character of Lincoln so captured their imagination, that they saw in him and his remarkable story an antidote to the madness and insanity of Hitler‘s rise in Europe.  That was a key reason they were so drawn to his story at this tumultuous and trying time in history.  An in an ironic twist, the very day the D’Aulaire’s received the Caldecott Medal for this book, the famous Dunkirk evacuation was taking place.  So today, the anniversary of one of the world’s greatest speeches, pick up your copy of this remarkable book and remember the man behind the legend.  Happy reading!