Roots and Blues

Here is the last installment in the wonderful work my students produced this summer (and generously agreed to share). This is Adaora Eigbobo's readers guide for the book, Roots and Blues by Arnold Adoff.

Bibliography
Adoff, A. & Gregory, R. (2011). Roots and blues: A celebration. Ill. by R. Gregory Christie. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 9780547235547

Recommended Age Levels
8 – 14 years

Summary of Book
Arnold Adoff traces and celebrates the roots of and the music that is the blues. Christie's vivid full color acrylic paintings complement Adoff‟s poems and vignettes about the slavery, hard work, religion, sights and sounds, rudimentary musical instruments and other aspects of the early African-American experience that helped shaped this American music form. He also highlights pioneers and more contemporary blues stars, including Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Billie Holliday and Eric Clapton. Each page of text features a short poignant snippet of life, presented as either prose or a shaped speech poem that is laid across the page like a musical arrangement or art work.

Review Excerpts
*Publishers Weekly (2010) Starred Review
"In this visceral collaboration, Adoff and Christie honor the enduring legacy of blues music . . .This is a challenging, open-hearted collection with images and poems that bleed into one another, but also stand powerfully alone."
*School Library Journal (2010)
“This exquisite collection of poems and paintings celebrates the history and culture of blues music. Adoff traces the horrific journey of slaves to America and the role that music played as a means of survival, of passing on "the ancestor words." Christie's haunting acrylic images bring to life the drama and emotion of the music, as well as the dignity of his subjects.”
*Booklist (2011) Starred Review
“Celebrated children’s poet Adoff here offers nothing less than a sensory history of the blues. Christie provides arresting and soul-stirring paintings that echo the poems here and add texture and harmony there, but Adoff’s poems are themselves things to be savored visually as well as out loud.”
*Kirkus Reviews (2010) Starred Review
“Adoff creates a moving meditation on the roots of American blues. … Christie's Expressionistic acrylics employ a palette of crimson, teal and brown, reserving grays for faces and hands, linking shackled slaves with sharecroppers, rocking grandmothers with juke-joint dancers. An incandescent, important work.”

Award/Honors
*Notable Children's Trade Book in Social Studies – 2011
*Starred Review, Booklist, 2011
*Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, 2010
*Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, 2010

Questions to ask/discuss before reading Roots and Blues
1. What is your favorite kind of music and why do you like it/ listen to it?
2. Play some samples of blues music and ask the students to respond to the music:
a. What kind of music is this?
b. How does it make you feel? Write a few words down about that.
c. Who are some current musicians who sing like this? (Middle schoolers might know Amy Winehouse and Adele, etc.)
3. Why do people sing? Why do you sing?
4. When you feel down and out, what do you do to make yourself feel better?
5. What do you know about slavery? Teacher records the answers on the board or on a poster so the responses can be revisited after. (This question is deliberately open-ended to solicit as wide a range of answers as possible. There are and have been many forms of slavery, not just the African-American experience.)

Suggestions for Reading Out Loud
Have individual students rehearse reading individual vignettes of their choice to a background of mellow blues music and do „spoken word‟ performances for the class.
*“Singing” - Using call and response, have volunteers read the lines of this poem, while the rest of the class reads the lines that begin with ”Still…” in unison.
*Add rhythm to one of the poems by having the students clap, stomp and/or snap a steady beat while reading the words to the beat. For example, “Listening” (p. 51) could be read to a four count beat with just the beat filling the blank spaces in the text.

Follow-Up Activities
Writing
*“Ma Ma” (p. 43) is one of the vignettes that is about a snippet of life. Have the students write a poem about a snippet of their own life, and arrange the text on the page in an unusual way. They should be prepared to discuss why
Technology
*Have students put together a powerpoint or short digital movie on one of the musicians mentioned in the book, e.g. Muddy Waters or Robert Johnson. The presentation should incorporate pictures, facts about the artist with samples of their music.

Social Studies
*Chains, shackles, “the passage across the ocean…” Slavery is a major theme in this book. This book would go well with the 5th grade TEKS on slavery. Have the students identify what this book teaches them about slavery, in both the text and the illustrations.
*Using a world map, have the students trace the route of the transatlantic slave trade, noting facts about some of the important stops on the route.

Art
*What do the blues look like to you? Have the students create art work (drawing, painting, collage, poster) that reflects what they feel when they feel blue or are listening to the blues.
*Have the students illustrate one of the pages that does not have an accompanying illustration. An example, “Take A Single Black Pencil” naturally invites the reader to draw a pencil sketch of the scene.

Music
*If possible, play blues songs on an old gramophone or record player for the students. If not available, find some recordings online that maintain the old scratchy sound. Have them identify what instruments they hear on the records.
*In groups or individually, have students compose a blues song or chorus about the woes of school, using non-traditional instruments that could have been used decades ago, whether mentioned in the book or not: washboards, spoons, sticks, tin cans, buckets, etc. Example: “I've got the Homework Blues”

Related Websites
*The Blues – A PBS series
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/index.html
This website details the PBS series from executive producer, the famed director Martin Scorsese. The various links include information on the roots of and facts about the music, as well as musicians' biographies. It also includes the Blues Classroom with lesson plans and other resources for educators to use in the classroom.

*AOL Blues Radio
http://music.aol.com/radioguide/blues-radio
Choose from a variety of blues styles to listen to on the internet, including classic or modern blues, “She done me wrong” blues, and blues rock.

*The B. B. King Website
http://www.bbking.com/bio/
Visit the website of the King of the Blues, B.B. King to learn about the legendary and ongoing career of the world‟s greatest living blues man.

*National Geographic – The Underground Railroad
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/
Students can use this interactive site to learn about slavery, and follow Harriet Tubman on the path to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

*International Slavery Museum
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/slavery/
Students can learn a lot about the transatlantic slave trade, including the role played by the Europeans. On the Slave Stories link, students can follow the tragic journey of 4 slaves from different parts of West Africa.

Related books
Nonfiction Children’s Literature related to the Blues
*Lester, J. (2001). The blues singers: ten who rocked the world. New York: Jump At The Sun. ISBN 0786824050
This book profiles 10 renowned blues singers, including Billie Holliday, Bessie Smith and Ray Charles.
*Shelf Medearis, A, & Medearis, M. (1997). Music. New York: 21st Century Books. ISBN 0805044825
The authors trace the evolution of African-American music from its African roots to modern rap.
*Shirley, D. (1995). Every day I sing the blues: the story of B.B. King. New York: Franklin Watts. ISBN 0531112292
This is the story of the legendary blues performer B.B. King.
*Bryan, A, & Manning, D. (1991). All night, all day: a child's first book of African-American spirituals. New York: Atheneum Books. ISBN 0689316623
The blues has roots in Negro spirituals, and this book contains 20 of the most popular ones, including: “This Little Light of Mine” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

Non-fiction Children’s Literature about Slavery
*Pearl, S, & Schomp, V. (2006). The slave trade and the middle passage. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. ISBN 9780761421764
This book looks at the transatlantic slave trade.
*Adler, D. (2004). Enemies of slavery. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 0823415961
This book profiles 13 key figures in the fight against slavery, including Abraham Lincoln, Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass.
*Evitts, W. (1985). Captive bodies, free spirits: the story of southern slavery. New York: Julian Messner. ISBN 0671540947
The author writes about the slave trade and the life of a slave, using anecdotes from the writings of real slaves.

Other poetry books by Arnold Adoff on the African-American experience
*Adoff, A. (1997). I am the darker brother. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks. ISBN 0613014995
This is an anthology of 21 poems by African-American writers, including Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes.
*Adoff, A. (1982). All the colors of the race: Poems. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books. ISBN 0688008798
Adoff writes poems from the perspective of a child with a white father and black mother.
*Adoff, A. (1973). The poetry of black America: anthology of the 20th century. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060200898
A collection of poems by African-American writers, including Gwendolyn Brooks and Lerone Bennett Jr.

Arnold Adoff, in his own words
www.arnoldadoff.com
*“Writing a poem is making music with words and space.”
*“I have incorporated the concept of time in my writing by the use of space. The millesecond that it takes the eyes to move forward is an aspect of time. Time is the music or the rhythmic force and that, I think, is a step forward in the medium.”
*“I began writing for kids because I wanted to effect a change in American society. I continue in that spirit. By the time we reach adulthood, we are closed and set in our attitudes. The chances of a poet reaching us are very slim. But I can open a child's imagination, develop his appetite for poetry, and more importantly, show him that poetry is a natural part of everyday life. We all need someone to point out that the emperor is wearing no clothes. That's the poet's job.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
R. Gregory Christie, in his own words
www.gas-arts.com
*“Although I enjoy painting all ethnicities, in Children‟s books my focus is to depict distinctive images of brown people. I choose to illustrate manuscripts that shed light upon historical figures and give a sense of dignity to the many cultures on this planet. The disproportionate compositions and elongated figures are meant to be a directional device for the viewer, my own natural inclination, and a challenge for the viewer to break away from the established fundamental belief that all children's books must be realistic or cute. I take chances with each project and do what is necessary to make the art interesting and unique."


Used with permission of Adaora Eigbobo.

The Great Migration

Two of my terrific graduate students created resources for Eloise Greenfield's latest work, The Great Migration. Gina Saldana made this digital trailer (below) and Annabel Moreno developed a readers' guide (further below). Check 'em out!





And here is the readers guide created by Annabel Moreno.

Bibliography
Greenfield, Eloise. 2011. The Great Migration: Journey to the North. Ill. By Jan Spivey Gilchrist. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Recommended Age Levels
Student ages 3 to 10 in the 1st to 4th grade level.

Summary
In this compilation of poems with beautiful realistic illustrations, the reader is introduced to the causes, emotions and feelings experienced by African Americans as they made their decisions to relocate to the North in search of a better quality of life.

Review excerpts
Booklist (February 1, 2011) - “Greatly enhancing the impact of the words, Gilchrist’s moving mixed-media collages layer drawings, maps, and color-washed archival images that have the slightly distorted look of photocopies, giving some of the figures an almost ghostly, translucent appearance. Together, the immediate words, striking images, and Greenfield’s personal story create a powerful, haunting view of a pivotal moment in U.S. history even as they show the universal challenges of leaving home behind and starting a new life.”

Publisher’s Weekly ( November 22, 2010) - “Making intriguing use of photographs of people, news headlines, maps, and painted elements, each of Gilchrist's collages has a distinctive look and lighting, ranging from conventional portraits of the travelers to more abstract images.”

School Library Journal (April 1, 2011) - “Gilchrist's illustrations gracefully complement the poetry; mixed-media collages incorporating line drawings, muted watercolor washes, newsprint clippings, photos, and sepia-toned illustrations depict warm family representations as well as stark desperation and anger.”
Horn Book Magazine (January 1, 2011) - “Details in the art effortlessly remind the reader of the time period: maps cars, trains, porters, lunch boxes, and crowded stations all played a role in moving African Americans away from the Jim Crow South and toward the promise of the North and a better life.”

Awards and honors received
ϖ Nominated for an NAACP Image Award (January 2011)
ϖ Notable Children’s Book Nominee (Summer 2011)

Questions to ask before reading
Before reading the book, students will be asked the following questions to tap on their background knowledge, lead to the reading of the book and build into the lesson.
ϖ By utilizing a U.S. map, ask the students where the North and the South is. Ask them to name some cities in the North and some cities in the South.

ϖ What does it mean to migrate? After listening to the responses, provide the students with the definition of the word migrate and use it in context to make the word relevant to the students.

ϖ What factors might prompt somebody to leave their hometown and move to another city? What would you do if you depended on your crops to survive and these were burned during a fire, or due to a lack of water they didn’t grow?

ϖ Have you ever migrated up north to work the fields and then come home after the season was over? Would you come back, if people mistreated you, or if you wouldn’t have money to feed your family?

ϖ Do you have any relatives that live in other cities in the north? Why did they move that specific city?

ϖ After discussing the questions above, give the students a brief synopsis of The Great Migration: Journey to the North to lead them into the story.

Suggestions for reading poems aloud
ϖ Book will be displayed over a document camera and will be read over a period of one week. Students will be divided into small groups and each group will be responsible for reading two poems.

ϖ As the poems are read, discussions will be held and students will analyze important elements within each poem, such as the troubled man who is conflicted about leaving his home in “Saying goodbye to the land puts pain on my heart.”

ϖ At the end of each class, students will vote for the best poem read during that class and will volunteer to act out the poem, as a culmination activity for the day.

Follow up activities
Writing
ϖ Students will observe the various illustrations in the book and will write a short analysis of the illustrations. Elements that must be included in the analysis are the emotions depicted by the illustrations, the setting, the physical landscape, the texture and the color, as well as how the illustrations contributed to the book and their depiction of the poems.
ϖ Students will write a Compare and Contrast essay on the lives of African-Americans in the North and the South during the early 1900's.

History
ϖ Students will imagine living in the U.S. during the early 1900”s and will create a brochure to entice African-Americans to relocate to their city. Brochure must include elements such as housing and job opportunities, social and cultural elements of the city, as well as a description of the physical landscape and geographical features.
ϖ Students will receive an outline map of the United States and will label it with the migration routes followed by African-American during the early 1900’s.

Mathematics
ϖ By referring to the link from The Journal of Negro History, vol. 64, no. 3 (Summer1979) "Black Automobile Workers in Detroit, 1910 to 1930" students will calculate the percentage increase in the African-American population in Detroit from 1900 to 1910, 1920 and 1930. http://www.inmotionaame.org/texts/viewer.cfm?id=8_024T&page=177

Related websites
African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam011.html
This website is composed of an exhibit of primary documents such as letters from prospective migrants to African American churches, which assisted these migrants in finding housing and employment. In addition, the church also assisted many African American families in coping and adjusting to their new environment.

In Motion the African-American Migration Experience
http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/landing.cfm?migration=8&bhcp=1
This website provides a wealth of resources in reference to the Great Migration and other topics of importance in American History such as: the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Runaway Journeys.

Times is Getting Harder
Curtis, Lucious. 1940. “Times is Getting Harder”. Mississippi River Blues Vol. 1, Matchbox label reissue.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5333
This link includes lyrics to a song, Times is Getting Harder, recorded in 1940 by Lucious Curtis. This song details some of the hardships experienced by many African American families, which prompted them to relocate to the North in search of employment and a better life.

Related books
Fiction
Arnow, Harriette. 1976. The Dollmaker: A Novel. New York: Avon.
This is a story of a Kentucky family who leaves the beautiful Appalachian Mountains and relocates to Detroit, Michigan during WWII in search of employment and a better life.

Lawrence, Jacob. 1993. The Great Migration: An American Story. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
This book describes the migration of many African Americans from the rural South in search of employment and a better life in the industrial cities of the North.

Nonfiction
Bausum, Ann. 2006. Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement. United States: National Geographic Society.

This book describes the journey of two young men trying to achieve equality for all during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. The book includes photographs and accounts of the terrible consequences of continuing with the Freedom Rides in an attempt to end racial discrimination.

Wilkerson, Isabel. 2010. The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. New York: Random House.
This book recounts the horrible experiences of African Americans in the South and details the abuses and punishments these were subjected to, and which ultimately led them to relocate to the North.

Zinn, Howard. 2009. A Young People’s History of the United States. New York: Seven Stories Press.
This book brings important elements of American History to life and presents viewpoints and the impact of workers, slaves, immigrants, women and Native American among others in American History throughout the years.


Used with permission of Gina Saldana and Annabel Moreno.

Skate Fate

My student France Loving created a digital trailer to generate interest in Skate Fate, a new verse novel by Juan Felipe Herrera. It's viewable on YouTube here. Check it out!









Used with permission of Frances Loving.

Karma

Karma by Cathy Ostlere is the featured book in two student assignments. Teri Lybecker created a digital trailer and Jessamy Sorelle developed a readers' guide. Both of these resources are featured below. Enjoy!

Here is Teri's trailer for Karma.





And here is Jessamy's readers' guide.

Ostlere, Cathy. 2011. Karma: a novel in verse. New York: Razorbill. ISBN 9781595143389

Recommended age level: 14 and up (Young Adult)

Summary
15-year-old Jiva, also known as Maya, is the Canadian born daughter of a Sikh father and a Hindu mother. After her mother’s suicide, Maya and her father return to India with her mother’s ashes. Maya writes about her experiences in her new diary. Shortly after their arrival in India, on October 31, 1984, Indira Ghandi is assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in retaliation for the desecration of the Golden Temple. The city of New Delhi, where Maya and her father are staying, erupts into violence as Hindus massacre Sikhs in retaliation for the prime minister’s death. In the chaos that follows, Maya is separated from her father and escapes on a train bound for Jodhpur. Maya becomes mute after witnessing a Sikh man pulled from the train and burned alive.

Maya is sent to Jaisalmer by a doctor who hopes her younger brother, Sandeep, can help her find her voice. The story continues in entries from Sandeep’s journal as he tries to protect Maya from the vicious rumors that result from having an unmarried woman staying with his family. As weeks go by, and Maya remains mute, Sandeep’s family has no choice but to send Maya away to live with desert nomads. Sandeep and his father accompany Maya on the journey across the sands, on her way to becoming the unwilling bride of their guide, Akbar. When Maya realizes what is going to happen she runs away, right into a sand storm. Maya finds her way back to Sandeep, and finds her voice.

Maya resumes the story, writing in a new journal, as she and Sandeep return to New Delhi to search for her father. Sandeep eventually finds Maya’s father, but he is a changed man who burns with hatred of Hindu people. Maya’s father forbids Maya from having any contact with Sandeep, a Hindu. It is up to Maya to remind her father that the wife he loved was Hindu, and his daughter is half-Hindu, if she is to have a chance of seeing Sandeep again before she returns to Canada.

Review Excerpts / Awards
Nominated for YALSA’s 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults
• The novel's pace and tension will compel readers to read at a gallop, but then stop again and again to turn a finely crafted phrase, whether to appreciate the richness of the language and imagery or to reconsider the layers beneath a thought. This is a book in which readers will consider the roots and realities of destiny and chance. Karma is a spectacular, sophisticated tale that will stick with readers long after they're done considering its last lines. (School Library Journal)

• In her YA debut, acclaimed adult author Ostlere offers a riveting, historically accurate coming-of-age tale of gutsy survival, self-sacrifice, and love...With artful compassion, Ostlere reveals the infinitely complex clash of cultures within both India and Maya’s family, and although the allusions to karma could have seemed awkward in less talented hands, here they lead into well-framed larger questions that will stay with readers. A fascinating, epic page-turner. (Booklist - Starred Review)

• In her first YA novel, Ostlere (Love: A Memoir) makes Maya's subsequent muteness believable in the wake of the many traumas she endures. Burdened with guilt over her parents' fate, as well as that of a Sikh man burned alive in front of her, she asks, "Is my silence unfounded too?/No. I do not deserve to be found./Or loved." A family in a desert town takes Maya in, and 17-year-old Sandeep (who contributes kinetic, love-struck journal entries) takes special interest in her. In contrast to the hatred, mistrust, and violence, the friendship--and then love--between Maya and Sandeep offers hope, rebirth', and renewal. (Publishers Weekly)

Questions to ask before reading
• What is karma? How does the concept of karma relate to concepts of vengeance or atonement?
• What are the differences between the Sikh and Hindu religions? What is the political history of the people of these faiths in India?
• What is a caste system? How is the caste system used in India?

Suggestions for reading aloud
Karma is a novel written in free verse that incorporates the voices of many characters. As such, Karma is particularly suited for Readers Theater using groups, or reading aloud as duet or monologue.

The Golden Temple (p. 94)
Duet by two narrators:
N1: Bapu says her death
is due to architecture.
Because a four-hundred-year-old
temple was desecrated.
N2: Because of the wind that
came through the cracks
in an old prairie house.
N1: Because its doors were entered
(East. West. North. South.)
without respect.
N2: Because the back door
never closed properly.
N1: Because the gold was tarnished
with blood.
N2: Because the kitchen was
always cold. And empty.
N1: Because of hate. Prejudice.
Intolerance.
N2: Because of love.
N1: Because the extremists used the
temple for a sanctuary of violence.
N2: Because it wasn’t home.
N1: Architecture inspires and kills.

Mirage (p. 149)
Readers Theater for 3-5 people. Two narrators and a chorus of 1-3 people.
N1: They come across the yellow fields
running with dark faces and teeth bared
through ribbons of heated air
a mirage of false water.
The train slows as if waiting for them to catch up.
C: What’s happening?
Why are we stopping here?
Is it wolves?
N1: But they are not wolves
N2: We should have prayed for wolves
N1: But men instead
four-limbed and angry
carrying iron rods and knives
hands gripping gasoline cans
voices shouting into the hot dry air
their fury stirring the dust like a wind.
N2: We should have prayed for wolves
N1: They slam their bodies against the slowing
train. They cling to the window bars. They
climb to the roof and throw people into the air.
A voice demands we unlock the door of our carriage.
C: Open or be burned!
N1: I tell myself I’m still sleeping:
the unwound turban meting out
punishment
a gang of men severing the body of the
prime minister
the pounding of their fists
on this train
on this car
are only hammering
the metal walls of my head.
C: Open or be burned!
We must save ourselves!
N1: But it is no dream
my hands and arms know
my nostrils know
even my lungs and
my shallow breaths
know
what my heart cannot fathom
know
what’s going to happen next
because in dreams you cannot close
your eyes and mine are shut tight.
C: We must save ourselves!
N1: The door opens.
Oh my God. Who unlocked the door?

We are Sikh (p. 473)
Readers Theater for 3 people. Narrator, Maya, and Bapu.
N: The arguments are loudest in the morning.
We are refreshed. Ready to do battle again.
B: Khalistan will become a reality,
Jiva. God has seen our suffering
and will help us.
M: You said that would
never happen.
B: It will now. Sikh soldiers will
gather and be as one. So now is
the time for you to renounce your
Hindu blood.
M: That’s crazy, Bapu.
B: I am not crazy!
M: Well, your thinking is! One can’t wipe
away one’s heritage with the sweep of
a hand. You wouldn’t accept that for
yourself. You kept your hair long in
Canada. You wore the turban. So
you wouldn’t disappear.
B: Your blood, Jiva, is the blood of
murderers. And since I am your
only parent, I will now say what
you are!
M: Or what? You’ll bring out
your big knife?
B: Do not make me angrier!
M: There’s more? Besides my heart,
and the memory of my mother’s love,
what else will you burn with your hatred?
B: Any Hindu that comes near you.
M: Is that what you told Sandeep? Is that
why he left and hasn’t come back?
B: I told him the truth, Jiva.
M: You threatened his life! Unwilling to
see his kindness and sacrifice as
separate from his family’s religion!
B: Jiva, I am grateful to God for bringing
the boy to us. I recognize that through
his actions, he has paid a penance
for the crimes of his people. But he is
still a Hindu and cannot be in control
of his emotions.
M: So, no Hindu can ever be trusted again?
Even those who helped the Sikhs during
the riots? Putting themselves in danger?
B: No.
M: What about your oldest friend, Kiran.
B: There can be no exceptions.
M: And me, of course.
B: You must be cleansed of your nature, Jiva.
But you are still a child. There is time.
M: I used to be a child. When I lived in
Elsinore. But now I am an old,
old woman. I have seen things no child
should see. I have seen adults make
a hell of this world.

Longing (p. 517)
Monologue.
Miraj.
I close my eyes and imagine he’s with me. Holding
my face in slender hands. Lips soft and dark - a
cinnamon bloom. A poet’s words fall from his
mouth into mine: I desire my beloved only / And
there is no other wish in my heart. I touch the
memory of his arm. From wrist to shoulder.
Coffee skin. Thin and close to the bone.
My lover’s name is Miraj.
We find each other in the darkness. Our longing is
our guide out of innocence. Tongues too. We are
awkward but tender in our shyness. Do we
hesitate? Hold back? Perhaps only to take a
breath. For our desire is like a sea. Wave upon
wave. Until our souls lay bare and exposed upon a
far-off shore and our grief is eased.
The young are told to wait for emotions to catch
up to the flesh but what if the moment is now?
Our yearnings ready to set us free from sorrow
and fear?
And besides, who will show the world the
possibility of love, if it isn’t us?

Follow up activities
Writing:
• Have teens write journal entries about events in their own lives in free verse.
Social Studies:
• Research the history that lead to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. What happened after? What is happening today?
• Research the caste system in India. How did it originate? What does it look like today?
• Research the history and symbolism of the sari. What does the color of a sari signify? The drape? The fabric?
• Compare and contrast the Sikh and Hindu religions.

Related websites / blogs
• http://cathy-ostlere.com
Cathy Ostlere’s website provides information about her inspiration for writing Karma. She talks about her travels through India as a young woman.
• http://www.sarahtregay.com/novelsinverse.html
This website provides an annotated list of novels in verse by recommended age level. If you’re looking for more novels in verse, this is an excellent starting point.
• http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/2008/07/south-asian-review-database_9529.html
A database of reviews of books by and about South Asians. A good way to find more fiction about Indian characters.

Related Books and Film
Young adult fiction set in India:
• McCormick, Patricia. 2006. Sold. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 9780786851713
13-year old Lakshmi is sold into prostitution in a brothel in Calcutta.

A fictional film about the legacy of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots:
• Bose, Shonali (director). 2005. Amu. Jonai Productions.
A young Indian American woman returns to India and discovers secrets that tie her to the massacre of Sikhs 20 years earlier.

Juvenile Nonfiction about Sikh and Hindu religions:
• Meredith, Susan. 2010. The Usborne encyclopedia of world religions. London: Usborne. ISBN 9781409510116
• Mann, Gurinder Singh. 2002. Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs in America (Religion in American life). New York: Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 9780195124422
• Hyde, Margaret O. 2008. World religions 101: An overview for teens. Connecticut: Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 9780822575184
• Singh, Nikky-Guninder Kaur. 2006. Sikhism (World religions). New York: Chelsea House Publications. ISBN 9781604131147
• Wangu, Madhu Bazaz. 2009. Hinduism (World religions). New York: Chelsea House Publications. ISBN 9781604131086

Adult Nonfiction about saris:
• Katiyar, Vijai Singh. 2009. Indian saris: traditions - perspectives - design. New Delhi, India: Wisdom Tree. ISBN 9788183281225


Used with permission of Teri Lybecker and Jessamy Sorelle.

Hurricane Dancers

Bobbie Johnson, a graduate student in my Multicultural Literature course this summer, created this readers' guide for Margarita Engle's 2011 historical novel in verse, Hurricane Dancers. It's full of terrific ideas and activities!

Bibliography
Engle, Margarita. 2011. Hurricane Dancers; The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 9780805092400

Recommended age levels: Ages 11 to 18 1. Summary
This historical novel in verse tells three intertwined stories that occurred in 1509: Quebrado’s story of finding freedom, Talavera and Ojeda’s story of selfish greed and disregard for human life, and Caucubú and Naridó’s love story. Quebrado, a boy of Taíno Indian and Spanish heritage, is captured and enslaved by pirates. His master, Bernardino de Talavera, was once a wealthy slave owner. However, he mistreated his slaves and when they died he suffered financial ruin as there was no one to take care of his land. To avoid being placed in debtor’s prison, he stole a ship and turned to piracy. Talavera captured the governor of Venezuela, Alonso de Ojeda, a ruthless conquistador who had been injured by a Native’s poison dart. When Talavera’s ship is sunk in a hurricane, Quebrado is rescued from the sea by Naridó, a Taíno fisherman from Cuba, and embraced by Naridó’s village. Talavera and Ojeda also survive and are washed up on the shore. When they wander into the village, Quebrado warns the villagers about these two evil Spaniards. Instead of executing the two men, the villagers decide to release them in the swamp, expecting them to die or be eaten by alligators.

In the mean time, Caucubú, the girl Naridó loves, is being forced into an arranged marriage. Knowing the only way to be together is to run and hide, Caucubú and Naridó secretly leave the village. The villagers blame Quebrado for the strange twist in events and exile him. He is able to find Caucubú and Naridó, and together they start their own village. Haunted by his past, Quebrado fears that Talavera and Ojeda might have survived and he leaves to warn villagers on the other side of the swamp. He gets there after Talavera and Ojeda do, and Ojeda tries to kill him upon his arrival. The villagers let Quebrado decide whether the Spaniards’ fate. In choosing to release them, Quebrado finds that, for the first time since he was a young boy, he feels whole. He sheds the name Quebrado, meaning broken in Spanish, and calls himself Yacuyo (Far Light) instead.

2. Review Excerpts
Booklist Starred Review (January 1, 2011) – “Once again, Engle fictionalizes historical fact in a powerful, original story. With the exception of Quebrado, all the characters are based on documented figures (discussed in a lengthy author’s note), whose voices narrate many of the poems. While the shifting perspectives create a somewhat dreamlike, fractured story, Engle distills the emotion in each episode with potent rhythms, sounds, and original, unforgettable imagery. Linked together, the poems capture elemental identity questions and the infinite sorrows of slavery and dislocation, felt even by the pirate’s ship, which “remembers / her true self, / her tree self, / rooted / and growing, / alive, / on shore.”
Kirkus Reviews (January 15, 2011) – “Taken individually the stories are slight, but they work together elegantly; the notes and back matter make this a great choice for classroom use.”

Library Media Connection (June 2011) – “This historical fiction story, set in the Caribbean in 1510, is written in verse format. The figurative language is captivating as multiple voices spin a tale of the first Caribbean pirate shipwreck, slavery, banishment, betrayal, and love.”

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (April 2011) – “Based on the early sixteenth century shipwreck and on the legendary Cuban story of forbidden love between Naridó and Caucubú (who provides the fifth narrative voice here), this is both a taut adventure tale and a grim examination of the disastrous cultural contact between Europeans and the Caribbean islanders they promptly exploited or enslaved. The slender size and accessible format may help draw readers daunted by thicker materials . . .”
3. Questions to Ask Before Reading
a. This story takes place in the Caribbean. Where is that, and what countries are found there? When were these countries discovered? Many students do not understand that in 1492, Columbus did not discover the land known as the United States. Instead, he discovered Caribbean islands. A map should be displayed of the region so students understand the geography in which the story takes place.

b. Lots of people have seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Do you think these movies accurately depict pirates? Why or why not?

c. When you think of Native Americans, what comes to mind? What do you know about their culture, beliefs, religion, etc.? Were Native Americans only found in the American West? Where else were they found? Does anyone know if there were any Native Peoples found on the islands of the world’s oceans and/or seas? (These questions could lead to a rich discussion about Native Peoples. It would be a great time to dispel some misconceptions.)

d. We know there were slaves in the United States. Was there slavery anywhere else in the world? Was there slavery anywhere else in the Americas? Background information about the slavery of indigenous peoples in the Americas can be discussed.

4. Suggestions for Reading Aloud
a. The book can be read aloud over a series of six days, corresponding to the six parts of the story. Each day, different students can be chosen to read the words of Quebrado, Talavera, Ojeda, Naridó and Caucubú.

b. Read the poems on pages 77 and 79. These are Caucubú’s and Naridó’s reactions to the stories Quebrado tells about the things he saw and experienced while with the Spanish. Discuss their different reactions to Quebrado’s tale. After discussing this, read the poem on page 80. What part of Quebrado’s story caught Caucubú’s and Naridó’s attention?

c. Read the poems on pages 5, 9, 13, 40, 47. These poems give readers a sense of the main characters: who they are, their feelings, and their histories. After each poem is read, discuss what it says about the character it describes. Discuss how the traits portrayed by these poems explain the different reactions the characters have to the story’s events.

5. Follow Up Activities
a. Language Arts/Research Assignment - Write diary entries, as if you were a Taíno Indian, regarding your impressions of the Spanish explorers and settlers. Create entries for 1 day, 1 month, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, and 30 years after their arrival. You will need to do research regarding the interactions between the Taínos and the Spanish, as well as the fate of the Taíno Indians, to complete this assignment.

b. Science assignment – A research project can be conducted regarding the causes and effects of hurricanes. Students should work with one or two partners, sharing their information on a group wiki. Information regarding tropical waves, depressions, and storms, as well as the different categories of hurricanes could be included. Students should prepare a product of their choice (PowerPoint, Blog, iMovie, etc.) to share their findings with the rest of the class. The presentation should include pictures and other visual representations of hurricanes and the damage they cause.

c. Art assignment - Make a diorama of a Taíno village. Be sure to include bohios, a central plaza, a caney (the cacique’s dwelling), and a batey court (an area for traditional ball games). The following websites will help students visualize Taíno villages and understand how they were constructed.
1. http://www.stjohnbeachguide.com/Taino%20Village.htm
2. http://www.indio.net/ - Warning: While this website includes a very nice graphic of a Taíno village, some of the Taíno people are drawn scantily clad or naked. No body part details are shown, however the teacher may want to preview the site prior to showing it to the class to ensure it is appropriate for students’ age group.
3. A Google search for “taino village image” will provide several images of Taíno villages.

6. Related websites/blogs
a. The following websites include information regarding the Taino Indians.
1. Welcome to Puerto Rico http://topuertorico.org/reference/taino.shtml
2. El Boriqua: Un Poquito de Todo http://www.elboricua.com/history.html
3. Glencoe Online: The Journey of Christopher Columbus: Native Peoples (The “Indians”) http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/btt/columbus/native_peoples.shtml

b. Background information regarding Christopher Columbus may give students background knowledge regarding early Spanish interactions with Native cultures.
1. http://wilstar.com/holidays/columbus.htm
2. Although Wikipedia does not always have a reputation for providing reliable information, this article does provide some interesting background information and facts about Columbus and his voyages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyages_of_Christopher_Columbus#Discovery_and_exploration

c. A more complete and accurate account of the relationship between Bernardino de Talavera and Alonso de Ojeda can be found on pages 136-139 from Tierra Firme. “Tierra Firme” is a chapter from the following book, available online in its entirety.
Anderson, Dr. C. L. G. 1911. Old Panama and Castilla Del Oro. Boston: The Page Company.

7. Related Books
a. Dorris, Michael. 1992. Morning Girl. New York: Hyperion Books.
A brother and sister tell the story of their lives as island pre-Columbian Indians in this historical novel.

b. Jacobs, Francine. 1992. The Tainos: The People who Welcomed Columbus. Ill. by Patrick Collins. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
This nonfiction book tells the story of the demise of the Taíno peoples after the arrival of Columbus.

c. Crespo, George. 1993. How the Sea Began: A Taíno Myth. New York: Clarion Books.
This Taíno myth describes how the world’s ocean was created.

d. Yolen, Jane. 1992. Encounter. Ill. by David Shannon. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
A Taino boy tries to warn his village about the arrival of three ships (Columbus) to no avail. This story tells about Columbus discoveries from the Taíno point of view.

Other books by Margarita Engle dealing with Cuban history can be read.
1. Engle, Margarita. 2008. The Surrender Tree. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
This novel in verse is about those who fought for Cuban independence during the nineteenth century.

2. Engle, Margarita. 2009. Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba. New York: Henry Holt.
This story, told in free verse, is about Jewish refugees who found their way to Cuba.


Used with permission of Bobbie Johnson.

Inside Out

Kathryn Anderson created this terrific digital trailer for the novel in verse, Inside Out & Back Again by first time (children's) author Thanhha Lai. I wrote about this book earlier this year-- it's one of my favorites of 2011-- and I was particularly pleased by what Kathryn came up with to showcase this book. What do you think?





Used with permission of Kathryn Anderson.

Mambo Moon

Cynthia Molinar created this engaging digital trailer for Under the Mambo Moon by Julia Durango. Enjoy:



Used with permission of Cynthia Molinar.

Hush, Baby, Hush +

For the next few weeks, I’d like to share more info about new 2011 poetry books out this year. Several of my students this summer created digital trailers and readers guides for new poetry books that they have given me permission to share. Watch for them. 

But first, I’m happy to share an interview with a new writer who has created a lovely collection of lullabies from around the world. The book is Hush, Baby, Hush! Lullabies from around the World by Kathy Henderson with illustrations by Pam Smy and published by Frances Lincoln Publishers. Here’s a link with more detailed info.

Here’s the scoop:
Hush, Baby, Hush! is a book of traditional lullabies gathered from all over the world to entertain children of all ages. These beautiful, simple songs and poems give a flavor of different parts of the world as well as show that soothing children to sleep is the same the world over. With words in the original language plus the English version, together with a melody line and delightful illustrations, this global collection is truly a book for all children; parents and educators can select from the songs to lull young children to sleep or to read and sing along with older children. 
The lullabies included in Hush, Baby, Hush! come from Australia (Aboriginal), Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Czech Republic, England, France, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Malawi, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, Spain, Turkey, USA (Hopi), Wales, and West Africa (Yoruba).

It’s really a gem— lovely for laptime or storytime sharing— with many cultures represented and engagingly illustrated. It’s quite an achievement to capture multiple languages and cultures, so I had several questions for Kathy and she was kind enough to answer them all. Here you go:


Where did the idea for this book come from? Do you have background or training in this area (in poetry, folklore, linguistics, anthropology, etc.)?

I’ve wanted to do a lullaby book for ages. I’ve been interested in the oral tradition and how singing happens in ordinary life for many, many years. My first ever book was My song is my Own – 100 Women’s songs from the British oral tradition which was result of two years research (and of course included some lullabies).

The book also comes from my personal experience – as a child and as a mother (see the dedication), through my early training in music, a degree in English from Oxford University and a long career as a children’s author, illustrator and poet.

You include an excellent and impressive list of source notes. How did you build this network of resources?

Research over many years, many people and many places. Sources included books and recordings, contacts, friends (and friends of friends), stopping people in the street and asking them, email, internet, people singing lullabies down the phone onto my answering machine. People above all.

I love that you included the music for these lullabies at the end of the book. Any chance of a CD or downloadable audio (from a web site)?

The publishers are looking to produce a CD to go with the paperback edition when it happens. No date yet. Naturally I wanted to do a CD from the start but the ‘market’ view was that this might disadvantage the book because, I was told, librarians don’t like books with CDs in them.

I’m so glad you included the lullabies in both their original languages (first) as well as in English (and explained the transliteration). Who wrote these English versions? Did you tweak them for rhythm and structure?

It was very important to me that they should be in their original languages and that we should be able to sing them in both versions. The sound patterns of lullabies are crucial and fascinating and cross languages. As a writer I’ve always been acutely aware of the importance of the sound in writing for young children (and their parents and carers) and lullabies have much to teach us.

The translation and the English versions are mine. Wherever possible I tried to create a song that would fit the original tune while staying as close to the original words as possible but still working in its own right! This included translating from languages I don’t speak myself – like Korean or Japanese – and don’t even know the script. With these I sat down with the singer and went through the original, transliterating syllable by syllable to get the sound of the song and then again to get the exact meaning of every word before attempting to render an English version.

Needless to say I still look at my translations and wish I could tweak them some more. Traditional lullabies are sung in for years and years, generation after generation and sit so comfortably in their tunes and have a wonderful spare quality which we writers can only begin to emulate.

How did you go about selecting these particular lullabies for the book? Were there others you would have liked to include? Any plans for a sequel or companion book?

With difficulty! There are so many wonderful lullabies to choose from, from way back in history (– the earliest I have are from 2500 BC) and right across the world. The first selection principle was that the lullabies in this book should come from the oral tradition and not the literary one (and there are many fine ‘written’ poems and lullabies to be found in books of course but they are very different).

Then came the problem of how to represent the whole world in 38 pages!? I could have filled hundreds of pages. Instead I tried to give a glimpse of the range of kinds and moods of lullabies and to shape the book into a sequence that travels through different phases of the day into night at the end to make it a satisfying picture-book read. I also tried to represent as wide a range of countries as possible but the constraints of space were extreme and the demands of co-edition publishing another influence.

I would love to do a sequel or companion book but the economics of publishing will decide (So please pass the word and tell all your friends to go and buy it!)

The design and illustrations are so pleasing and suit the lullabies so well. Did you have input here or collaborate with the artist or designer at all?

Yes I was closely involved. (Background here is that I have been a children’s writer and illustrator myself for many years and have also worked as an editor in children’s book publishing) The publishers consulted with me from the beginning over their choice of illustrator and before Pam started work we had a meeting to talk about it in which I was able to hand the project over to her. I explained how I’d constructed the sequence and suggested the range of situations and people I thought it would be good to illustrate – and of course background stories like the one behind All the Pretty Little Horses (p 24). After that the project was all hers to take away and make her own and Pam did a wonderful job. I also had the opportunity to make comments at the rough drawing stage and again at the very end.

P.S. Kathy was a guest on Wisconsin Public Radio's "Here on Earth" last month, and she discussed the uniqueness of lullabies and how she went about collecting them for the book. The segment also features some lovely musical versions of the lullabies in the book. Check it out.

ALSO: Don’t forget about Danielle (Dani) Wright’s work in New Zealand and her web site of nursery rhymes from around the world.

PLUS: From the iBbY Ireland Newsletter (Vol. 25 June 2011)
Playtimes: A Century of Children's Games and Rhymes website
The Playtimes website is part of a wider UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project entitled "Children’s Games and Songs in the New Media Age," which seeks to highlight the importance of communication, sensory perception, orality and material culture within current scholarship and today’s digital culture. The project has digitized existing audio recordings, from the "Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs" and also carried out a two-year study of playground culture today – focusing on two primary schools, Christopher Hatton school, in London, and Monteney school, in Sheffield. The digitized recordings of the Opie collection as well as the footage from the research projects have been used to create this website – a resource that not only preserves the games and songs, but is a resource to which people, particularly children, can contribute their own thoughts and ideas about play. Here is the link.


Image credit: 

Frances Lincoln Books

Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2011. All rights reserved.

ICDL poetry for kids

I'm doing a bit of research and ran across a reference to digitized poetry books available through one of my favorite global resources in children's literature, the International Children's Digital Library. This is a unique repository of FREE full-text children's books from around the world. I've searched it before and shared it with my students, but oddly enough, I hadn't looked for POETRY books there til now. Silly me.

Here, you'll find two hundred plus examples of poetry for kids-- with the COMPLETE BOOK available online in its original language! That includes children's poetry in Serbian, Farsi, Spanish, English, Croatian, Dutch, Hungarian, German, Arabic, and Hebrew and more...

Plus, they have a new iPad app that links to over 4,000 titles of children's books in 54 languages representing 64 countries.

FYI, if this resource is new to you, let me share their "mission statement" with you:

The mission of the International Children’s Digital Library Foundation (ICDL Foundation) is to support the world’s children in becoming effective members of the global community – who exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas — by making the best in children’s literature available online free of charge. The Foundation pursues its vision by building a digital library of outstanding children’s books from around the world and supporting communities of children and adults in exploring and using this literature through innovative technology designed in close partnership with children for children.

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

Poetry on the 2010 IBBY Honour List

I’m in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, for the 32nd annual Congress of the International Board on Books for Young People. This event is held biennially and rotates around the globe, most previously held in Copenhagen (2008) and Macau (2006). I’m attending as co-editor of Bookbird, the journal of IBBY, along with 600+ registrants from 72 member countries gathering for multiple sessions, including the presentation of the Hans Christian Andersen awards and announcement of the IBBY Honour List.

The IBBY Honour List is a biennial selection of outstanding, recently published books, honoring writers, illustrators and translators from IBBY member countries around the world. The first Honour List in 1956 was a selection of 15 entries from 12 countries. For the 2010 Honour List, 54 countries have sent 164 nominations in 44 different languages—with a total of 64 entries in the category of “writing,” 52 in the category of “illustration,” and 48 in the category of “translation.” This list provides a “welcome opportunity to study and review the production of children’s books” around the world—the best each country has to offer an international audience.

Of these 164 books worldwide, 8 were works of poetry (5 honored for writing and 3 for illustration). The books are on display at the conference and we each receive a booklet detailing the particulars of each book. Here is the lowdown on 8 unique poetry books from around the world (with annotations from the booklet)—at least one of which is available in English.

HONORED FOR WRITING

HAITI (French)
Roumain, Jacques
Jacques Roumain parie aux enfants
(Jacques Roumain talks to children)
Ill. Lyll-Martine René
Port-au-Prince: Editions CUC Univ. Caraibe, 2007.
42 pp.
ISBN 978-99935-7-199
Ages 8-10

As part of the celebrations of the author’s 100th anniversary these series of poems and folk tales about nature and social injustices were published especially for children. The tone is soft without sadness or harsh feelings. The texts are historical in the sense that they were written while the author was in jail under the dictatorship and were written for his son who was only five at the time A lot of the poems are allegoric and are very relevant to children.

IRELAND (Irish)
Ní Ghlinn, Áine
Brionglóidi agus aistir eile
(Dreams and other journeys)
Ill. Carol Betera
Clár Chlainne Mhuiuis: Cló Mhaigh Eo, 2008.
84pp.
ISBN 978-1-899922-49-9
Ages 10-13

This collection of 40 poems on the theme of dreams encompasses an interesting range of voices guaranteed to bring a fresh perspective to the ordinary. A mouse dreams of sprouting wings to swoop like a bird-of-prey on its enemy like the cat, while a dinosaur skeleton in the natural history museum imagines falling in love and fathering the first dinosaur babies in sixty-five million years. A school trip to Mars, a library in which characters are dislodged from their books and a flirtation between the sun and a grey cloud, are just some of the surprising happenings in this vibrant collection. The poems are rhythmic, the imagery vivid and the language musical. While each poem is a gem in itself, the themes are beautifully developed in the collection as a whole.

ITALY (Italian)
Quarenghi, Giusi
E sulle case il cielo
(The sky above the houses)
Ill. Chiara Carrer
Milan: Topipittori, 2007 (Parola magica)
61 pp.
ISBN: 978-88-89210-20-8
Ages 5+

One whole year of poetry: four seasons pulse with the beat of verses and landscapes of land and soul, experience and mood. Verses and images; figures, colours and sounds, form a symbolically rich and delicate map of the passage of time. Searching for the internal beauty of things, the words and pictures invite the reader on a journey through the forms, observations and feelings of the secret life of being.

MEXICO (Spanish)
Paso, Fernando del
¡Hay naranjas y hay limones! Pregones refranes y adivinzas en verso
(There are oranges and lemons)
Ill. Josel
Mexico: CIDCLI, 2007
31 pp.
ISBN 978-968-494-225-7
Ages 8-12

The old rhymes and sayings of the vendors who sold their wares throughout the streets of Mexico up to the last century are recreated in this book of poems. The author takes a humorous journey through popular forms of poetry and invents word games, riddles, songs, recreating the proverbs that grandparents often repeated. Through these poems and rhymes children can learn what the past generations have talked about and this helps to keep alive the vast oral tradition of Mexico. The book is complemented by comic illustrations by Josel that reproduce older images with touches of humor.

NETHERLANDS (Dutch)
Gerlach, Eva
Het punt met mij is dat ik alles kan
(The issue for me is that I can do everything)
Ill. Charlotte Vonk
Amsterdam: Querido, 2008
60pp.
ISBN 978-90-451-0414-0
Ages 10+

John inherits a luck-bringing little dragon called Fu from his grandfather. John writes about all kind of adventures—real and imaginary—that he had with his grandfather before he died. In prose he tells about the story of the dragon Fu, who, at the end, is set free. The adventures with his grandfather are written as poetry. One of them is about when they fought against the big seven-headed dragon! The poems are accompanied by attractive and moving black-and-white humorous illustrations. The friendship with his grandfather and the great loss John feels form the thread of the book. They observations and the memories are written in a beautiful literary language and are recognizable for anyone who has lost someone he or she has loved very much.

HONORED FOR ILLUSTRATION

ECUADOR
Illustrated by Chamorro, Marco
Cielos descalzos
(Barefoot skies)
Written by Wafi Salih
Quito: Manthra Ed., 2009
68pp.
ISBN 978-9978-353-35-6
Ages 8-12

This is a book of poems that has a strong connection between sounds, rhythm, haikus and illustration. A haiku is a three-line poem made from two lines of five syllables and the middle one of seven. It is the synthesis between each poem and the uncomplicated drawings by the illustrator that results in a profound connection between the two components of the book. The techniques used are combined with great importance given to handmade paper, enabling readers to see and feel its textures. The illustrator regards the form and colour for each haiku to be minimalist, at the same time they communicate perfectly the rhythm and meaning of the poems to the reader.

LATVIA
Illustrated by Jansons, Edmunds
Brinumbebisa gads. Dzejoli musu gimenei
(Year of the wonderbaby)
Written by Inese Zandere
Riga: Liels un mazs, 2008
50 pp.
ISBN 978-9984-820-15-6

This book is a 22-poem cycle telling the story of a family with a new addition—a newborn baby. It is a chronicle of the events of the first year of its life and their place within the context of family, nation, nature, the course of seasons, language and traditions. The red thread of the cycle—the tiny baby—is also the key to awareness of family togetherness. The illustrations enhance the imagery of the poems and extend the boundaries of the written text. The artists has created a magical world of anthropomorphic beings that, nevertheless, is ruled by the universal order of thing and human relationships on which a child can safely rely. 


SLOVENIA
Ilustrated by Stepančič, Damijan
Majhnice in majnice. Pesmi mnogih let za mnoge bralce
Buddings Songs, Maying Songs
Written by Tone Pavček
Dob pri Domžalah: Miš, 2009.
243 pp.
ISBN 978-961-6630-87-0
Ages 13+

This bilingual (Slovene-English) volume of poetry by Tone Pavček was published to present one of the most prominent of contemporary Slovene poets to readers worldwide. The selection in this collection offers the poet’s best works, which are mostly poems for children and young readers, but also some poems for adult readers. In the foreword, Pavček has given an informative portrait of himself and his work. The illustrator has given the poems unique and surrealistic, sometimes almost dream-like images. The colours of his double-page illustrations, which delineate the collection, together with the vignettes in sepia, breathe a touch of the old and a lyricism. The illustrator is characterized by his use of various artistic means of expression.

NOTE:
BTW, I was honored to serve on the US committee for the IBBY Honour List recommendation and we chose We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson for illustration, The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt for writing, and Garmann’s Summer written by Stian Hole (Norway) and translated by Don Bartlett in the translation category.


Annotations from IBBY Honour List booklet. Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

Poetry Book Digital Trailers #1

I’m trying something new with my children’s literature courses and my students have produced some amazing projects! I’ve encouraged them to create digital trailers or mini movies to promote interest in reading—a kind of video booktalk. I know these are gaining in popularity, particularly among teens and tweens, but I rarely find them made for works of POETRY. So… I’m happy to report I have some wonderful examples to share (with their permission) of original poetry book digital trailers. Here’s the first one created by librarian Shante Clark-Davis for the book, The Poet Slave of Cuba by Margarita Engle.



Isn’t it powerful and personal? With her own original voiceover chanting and storytelling, along with photos of her own family, Shante has captured the tension and spirit of Engle’s incredible novel in verse, while connecting with her own family history, too. Shante writes, “95% of the pictures I used are pictures of my family (My maternal grandparents, great grandparents, and my great aunt). My grandfather was a sharecropper turned fruit preservationist and the images are of his land. After reading THE POET SLAVE OF CUBA, I could remember my grandfather's stories. So, I ran to my photo album. I took the pictures of his land and my mother's old high school. (Other images of the plantation home, the young boy with his mom, and the statue are from Creative Commons.) … I've been brainstorming ideas for encouraging my students to create book trailers and projects of their own in relation to Texas curriculum.”

Go, Shante! I hope to share more student poetry trailers soon, too. Enjoy!

Posting (not trailer) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

A new poetry calendar coming in 2011

One of the things I gleaned from attending this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair in March was the news about a new “poetry calendar for children” coming out for 2011. It’s being produced by a German publisher and you’ll find more info (in German) here. Dr. Christiane Raabe told me about it—she is the Director of the International Youth Library in Munich and I have written about that amazing library before. They hosted a fantastic poetry symposium last summer (that I attended and wrote about) and one of their exhibits featured children’s books of poetry from around the world. Well, that exhibit has now been transformed into a gorgeous week-by-week calendar for 2011.

Here’s the informational paragraph I picked up in Bologna, “Children between 4 and 9 years can travel around the world week after week with 53 wonderful, witty, funny, serious and mostly rhymed poems from all over the world. The illustrated texts have been chosen carefully by the International Youth Library, Munich. They come from 30 countries such as Italy, England, Canada, USA, South America, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Japan, Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Norway, or Germany. Every page shows the original illustration and the original poem plus the translation into the German language by well known translators. The calendar will be published in July by Arche Kalender Verlag, Zurich-Hamburg."

58 pages, in color, 33 x 30.5 cm ca.
16 Euros
ISBN 978-3-0347-7011-8
Publication date: July 2010

I had the chance to look at a partial proof copy and it’s just gorgeous! Rich color on every page and a wonderful assortment of world poetry—many poems in English. Wouldn’t it be fun to have this calendar in your school or library and see if you could find translators for the non-English poems among your circle of patrons, community members, students, families, and friends?

Join the rest of the Poetry Friday circle this week at Alphabet Soup hosted by Jama Rattigan.

P.S. My Mom (Ingrid) is finally doing better. Thanks so much for the support!


Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

Image credit: http://arche-kalender-verlag.com/4-0-Arche-Kinder-Kalender.html

Moms and roots

I may have mentioned before that my first language was German and my parents immigrated to the U.S. when I was a baby. My first books were collections of German fairy tales and nursery rhymes. One of my first “literary” memories is finding a poem in one of those books, memorizing it, and performing it for my parents for a special birthday. So, in honor of Mother’s Day, I decided to see if I could resurrect that gem. I can’t seem to find the book itself now, but this is the poem, as best as I can remember it (or spell it in German).

Wenn Vater oder Mutter Geburtstag haben
Was sol ich dir sagen? Was sol ich dir geben?
Ich hab nur ein kleines, ein junges Leben
Ich hab ein Herz das denkt und schpricht
Ich hab dich lieb, mehr weiss ich nicht!

Just saying that poem out loud makes me feel 8 years old again!

 Here’s a close approximation in English (although not nearly as rhythmic and musical):

If Father or Mother have a birthday
What should I say? What gift should I give?

I’m only a little, young life
I have a heart that thinks and speaks
I love you so much, that’s all I know.

I realized recently that the roots for my obsession with poetry are buried deep. For me, poetry was part of the music of learning English, too. It was the rhyme and rhythm of Mother Goose and playground chants in English that helped me learn to speak—and then read—my new language. Something to keep in mind when we think non-English speakers can’t “handle” poetry til they are fluent in English.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. My own Mom is in the hospital having a difficult recovery after two surgeries. I’ve been worried crazy about her, but I think she’s slowly mending. If you’re a praying person, please add “Ingrid” to your list. Thanks!

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

Image credit: me as a kindergartener in Germany!