Asian Pacific American Literature Awards

The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) announced the winners of the 2007 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature, one of the few ethnic book awards that aren't based on the race of the author but on the content in the book. The prizes promote Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and are awarded based on literary and artistic merit. The Fire Escape is pleased to present the winners for illustration in children's literature and young adult literature along with the committees' annotations.

Illustration in Children Literature Winner

Crowe, Ellie. Surfer of the Century. Illustrated by Richard Waldrep. New York: Lee and Low, 2007. This book tells the story of "the Father of Modern Surfing," Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, from his childhood on Waikiki Beach, to his participation in five Olympics, through his lifelong promotion and development of surfing, and to his becoming the official State of Hawai'i Ambassador of Aloha. Each page of text describing his life has an opposite full-page painting-style illustration that shows the progression of his successes in spite of discrimination and his achievements through his creed of Aloha. The final two pages in the book are a timeline of Duke Kahanamoku's life and legacy and a world map showing the major cities of his lifetime accomplishments. The author includes a bibliography of her sources on the back of the title page.

Illustration in Children Literature Honorable Mention

Barasch, Lynne. Hiromi's Hands. New York: Lee and Low, 2007. This first-person narrative tells the story of Hiromi's breaking away from the Japanese tradition in the male dominated sushi culinary and becoming an itamae san, professional sushi chef. The author vividly depicts two generations, beginning with her father's long and grueling training as an apprentice before emerging as a successful sushi chef in a Tokyo restaurant. Hiromi is very enthusiastic in learning about fish as she goes to the fish market with her father in New York. At thirteen, she wants to know how to make sushi. Her father, a man receptive to American ideas, says, "And this is America. Girls can do things here that they cannot do in Japan." So begins the sushi career for Hiromi. The story spans two cultures, Japanese and American. The quiet style of narration complemented by the soft ink and watercolor drawings of two fish markets in Tokyo and Manhattan, the New York subway, and an array of sushi convey authenticity.

Young Adult Literature Winner

Easton, Kelly. Hiroshima Dreams. New York: Dutton, 2007. Hiroshima Dreams portrays the family dynamics of three generations living under one roof: a grandmother adjusting to life in America, a mother who has let go of her roots, and two sisters, one quiet and shy, the other defiant. The struggles and joys of growing up in an interracial family and coping with loss are important issues in the book. The focus of the story is the relationship between the grandmother, Obaachan, and granddaughter, Lin. Both are resistant to change-Lin to her grandmother's presence at home and her grandmother with her longing for Japan-but they soon find themselves inseparable and share the gift of seeing the future. Obaachan's guidance allows Lin to apply Japanese beliefs and meditation to help her overcome her fears. Through touches of mysticism, careful observation, and reflection, Lin learns to accept and understand the changes and consequences of one's actions. The wisdom of Obaachan is explained with meaningful, descriptive examples that create a sense of calmness and security for Lin.

Young Adult Literature Honorable Mention

Sheth, Kashmira. Keeping Corner. New York: Hyperion, 2007. Keeping Corner provides an enriching and eye-opening view of the cultural and social dynamics within a family and community in India during the early 20th century. As a daughter in a high-ranking Brahman family, Leela is overindulged and carefree of worries. Married at the age of nine, Leela, now twelve, prepares for her move to her husband's home. Her world is turned upside down when her husband dies, and instead of donning a silk wedding sari, she is given a chidri, a coarse widow's sari. She is confined to her house for a year, thus "keeping corner." Tradition holds her to having a shaved head, no hope of remarrying, and being viewed and shunned as a burden. Leela's growth and her frustrations of being a child-widow is portrayed in a heartfelt and realistic way. She is able to overcome her confinement by continuing her studies, reading, and journaling. The social reform ideologies of Gandhi and Narmad take hold in her heart, and with the help and permission of her family, she is determined to become a voice in society. The imagery and sensory perceptions are told so vividly that it creates in the reader a sense of familiarity and longing to be a part of that time period. Sheth's usage of Indian words flows well, and she provides good, short explanations and a glossary. This is definitely a fascinating read.

Why Are Children's Books Still So White?

When the Cooperative Children's Book Center released this year's Choices, I was curious to see if their data about diversity in children's literature revealed any changes in two years. In 2005, as we noted on the Fire Escape, the Center received 2800 books and discovered the following statistics:

By African or African/American authors 75
About Africans or African/Americans 149

By American Indian authors 4
About American Indians 34

By Latin American authors 50
About Latin Americans 76

By Asian/Pacific or Asian/Pacific authors 60
About Asian/Pacific or Asian/Pacific Americans 64

In 2007, the Center found the following results among the 3000 or so titles they received:

By African or African/American authors 77
About Africans or African/Americans 150

By American Indian authors 6
About American Indians 44

By Latin American authors 42
About Latin Americans 59

By Asian/Pacific or Asian/Pacific authors 56
About Asian/Pacific or Asian/Pacific Americans 68

In short, not much has changed. We note again that American Indian stories continue to be written mostly by outsiders. Last year, about 12% of Americans were African American, but only 5% of all children's literature featured African American characters. Once again the low numbers and even a decline in Latino books is striking, given that this demographic is the fastest growing and second largest segment of the population in the U.S.A. -- stories featuring Latino characters and themes make up about 2% of all children's books, while the population is more than 15% Latino.

In a recent Entertainment Weekly special report, Why Is Television So White?,  Jennifer Armstrong and Margeaux Watson noted a significant "paling" factor in the fall 2008 television lineup:

According to an Entertainment Weekly study of scripted-programming casts for the upcoming fall 2008 season, each of the five major broadcast networks is whiter than the Caucasian percentage (66.2 percent) of the United States population, as per the 2007 census estimate. And all of the networks are representing considerably lower than the Latino population percentage of 15.2 percent.

But television is doing something about it. Every major network has a high-level veep whose job description is lobbying fellow executives and producers to keep minorities in the game. And they seem to get that the next generation wants and expects to see us mix things up:

...Color-blind casting is something teen-focused networks seem to have down pat: Nary a show has passed through ABC Family or The N without an interracial coupling or a naturally integrated cast ... Those networks' execs say it's a simple matter of economics, that their Gen-Y viewers accept — nay, expect and demand — such a reflection of their multi-cultural lives. ''They're completely color-blind,'' ABC Family president Paul Lee says of younger viewers. ''We've done a lot of things wrong as a nation, but we've clearly done something right here. They embrace other cultures.''

So why aren't we facing up to that reality in the children's book world? Given the CCBC's statistics, it would seem that contemporary children's literature is even less reflective of America's changing demographics than the small screen. Let's face facts: our industry is behind the times when it comes to race and ethnicity, making us seem even more anachronistic than ever in the eyes of the young people we serve.

Meghan McCain's Picture Book

Meghan McCain, First Daughter in Hoping, is trying to emulate incumbent First Daughter Jenna Bush by publishing a children's book of her own. A prolific blogger and Columbia-trained journalist, 23-year-old Meghan has written an illustrated biography of her father. Simon & Schuster will release the book in September, illustrated by Dan Andreasen (artist for American Girl's FELICITY and SAMANTHA along with many other children's books), and the idea originated in the fertile mind of editor Mark McVeigh.

Why is this bit of news on the Fire Escape, you might ask? Only because my fictional character Sparrow has been tracking Meghan along with the other First Kid wannabes, and sparrowblog is averaging about 400 unique visitors a day thanks to google power -- do a search on Sasha and Malia Obama for example. Now if only 10% of those people would buy First Daughter books ...

A Baker's Dozen of Father Daughter Books

Dad and I have always been tight. He taught me how to relish a habanero chili, hit a topspin lob, and tease Mom without getting in trouble. In my book Rickshaw Girl, one of the easiest parts to write was Naima's sweet relationship with her father.  

In honor of Dad and all the other fathers about to eat burned toast in bed on June 15th, here's a baker's dozen of books featuring the special relationship between fathers and daughters, ranging from picture books to middle readers to books for young adults.  Thanks for your suggestions, and feel free to add more titles in the comments below.

PICTURE BOOKS

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. Trixie, Daddy, and Knuffle Bunny take a trip to the neighborhood Laundromat. But the exciting adventure takes a dramatic turn when Trixie realizes somebunny was left behind.

A Place To Grow by Soyung Pak.  As a father and daughter work together in their garden, he explains what a seed needs to flourish and the reasons their family immigrated to a new country--looking for hope, like sunlight, and peace, like good earth.

Night Shift Daddy by Eileen Spinelli. When the narrator of this rhyming story is sleepy, her daddy reads to her, tucks her in, and switches off the light. Then he goes to work on the night shift. When he returns, the next morning, the same bedtime routine is repeated--but this time the daughter puts Daddy to bed.

Don't Let Go! by Jeanne Willis. Megan is nervous about learning to ride her bike. What if the bike goes too fast and she falls? Daddy is patient and encouraging, letting her know she can wait until she's ready. And then it's time -- Daddy lets go and Megan is off. Now Daddy is the nervous one. What if Megan doesn't come back?

My Father's Hands by Joanne Ryder. A father working in his garden finds a delicate worm, a beetle in shining armor, and a leaf-green mantis and shares these treasures with his daughter.

Visiting Day by Jacqueline Woodson. As a little girl and her grandmother get ready for visiting day, her father, who adores her, is getting ready, too. The community of families who take the long bus ride upstate to visit loved ones comfort each other.

TWEEN BOOKS

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. The summer Opal and her father, the preacher, move to Naomi, Florida, Opal goes into the Winn-Dixie supermarket -- and comes out with a dog she dubs Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher tells Opal ten things about her absent mother, one for each year Opal has been alive.

Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown. When her mom runs away from home, Rachel is left behind with her father and many questions she cannot answer. Over time, she learns the truth about her mom. But, it's only when she learns the truth about her dad, the rock -- always there for her to lean on--that Rachel can move toward understanding.

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. Ten-year-old Zoe Elias has perfect piano dreams. She can practically feel the keys under her flying fingers; she can hear the audience's applause. All she needs is a baby grand so she can start her lessons, and then she'll be well on her way to Carnegie Hall. But when Dad -- who is scared to leave the house -- ventures to the music store and ends up with a wheezy organ instead of a piano, Zoe's dreams hit a sour note.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt. A calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the backwaters of the bayou. She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate, and "father" her kittens.

TEEN BOOKS

Squashed by Joan Bauer. As sixteen-year-old Ellie pursues her two goals--growing the biggest pumpkin in Iowa and losing twenty pounds herself--she strengthens her relationship with her father and meets a young man with interests similar to her own.

Midnight Hour Encores by Bruce Brooks. When Sib asks her Dad to take her to meet her mother for the first time, she knows it might mean breaking away from the man who has raised her. Yet as she and her dad wind their way across the country to San Francisco, Sib learns more about the man she thought she knew, and finds out it's not simply her music that makes her special, but also the love from the parent she might have to leave behind.

Going for the Record by Julie Swanson. Seventeen-year-old Leah Weiczynkowski, about to begin her senior year of high school, is on the brink of realizing her dream — playing soccer for the under-eighteen national team, her gateway to the World Cup and the Olympics. She can't wait to tell her dad, her biggest fan and faithful chauffeur to games and practices. Unfortunately, her dad has news of his own. And it's not good.

EXTRAS

I only gave myself room to offer a baker's dozen in the original post, but I'll add additional titles suggested by Fire Escape visitors as I receive them. Here they are: 

• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (Picture Book)
  
• Monkey Soup by Louis Sachar (Picture Book)
• Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban (Picture Book)
  
• The Summer Night by Charlotte Zolotow (Picture Book)
  
• Father Bear Comes Home by Else Holmelund Minarik (Easy Reader)
  
• Ramona And Her Father by Beverly Cleary (Tween)
  
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Tween)
  
• Beige by Cecil Castelluci (Teen)

And here's one last bonus -- a grownup non-fiction book showcasing the bond between dads and daughters:

Daughters of Men: Portraits of African-American Women and Their Fathers. Author Rachel Vassel has compiled dozens of photographs and personal essays about African-American women and their fathers. Whether it's a father who mentors his daughter's artistic eye by taking her to cultural events or one who unwaveringly supports a risky career move, the fathers in this book each had his own unique and successful style of parenting. Daughters of Men provides an intimate look at black fatherhood and the many ways fathers have a lasting impact on their daughters' lives.

Sal Bose getting choked up as he watches
daughter Mitali during her television debut.
Photo taken by his grandson ... on the sly.

Karen Day's Book Launch Party!

Authors Laya Steinberg (THESAURUS REX) and Karen Day (TALL TALES) celebrate the publication of Karen's NO CREAM PUFFS at Wellesley Booksmith

Karen Day successfully launched her newest book, NO CREAM PUFFS (Wendy Lamb Books), at Wellesley Booksmith last Sunday, even though we discovered hours before the party that most of the town's roads would be closed thanks to a parade and (free) Beach Boys' concert. 

Undaunted, friends and fans made it to the store and packed into the cellar to hear Karen's witty, articulate presentation, chomp on cookies, and leave with signed copies in hand along with the author's gift of mood rings (the book is set in 1980). 

Here's an excerpt of the fabulous review NO CREAM PUFFS got from Kirkus:

... Coming-of-age themes emerge naturally at home and on the field ... (Madison's) feelings and choices ring true as do her teammates’ complex reactions. Since controversy still surrounds girls playing football, this fine sports story is fresh and relevant. (Fiction. 10-14)

Congratulations, Karen!

Wanted: Excellent Father-Daughter Books

I'm hoping to compile a list of a dozen or so children's books that celebrate a daughter's relationship with her Dad. I'm looking for fiction picture books as well as novels. Any suggestions?

Karen Day: NO CREAM PUFFS

Today is book launch day for author and fellow writing group member Karen Day (TALL TALES / Wendy Lamb Books). Like the first novel, her second (NO CREAM PUFFS / Wendy Lamb Books), features an unforgettable twelve-year-old protagonist growing up in the Midwest. While the stories are quite different, a fan of Meg in TALL TALES (a Texas Bluebonnet book) is sure to enjoy befriending Madison, the down-to-earth hero of NO CREAM PUFFS. Karen's on the Fire Escape today to answer a couple of quick questions about NO CREAM PUFFS, a book about baseball that's also a universal tale about leaving girlhood to join a circle of strong women -- a circle that surprisingly includes a girl's own sometimes bewildering, often irritating mother.

Q. NO CREAM PUFFS is set in 1980, yet a Kirkus reviewer (who raved about the book) recently said that "this fine sports story is fresh and relevant." How do you think a twelve-year-old reader in 2008 will relate to Madison's story?

Girls today have so many sporting opportunities and they may find the hoopla surrounding Madison's debut in an all-boys' baseball league surprising. But there is much more to Madison’s story. I use baseball as a way to address timeless issues – how awful it can feel when your friends are ready to move on and you aren’t; how girls often worry that “beating” boys will make boys not like them anymore. This is essentially a story about a mother and daughter and how difficult it can be to listen to that “voice” inside. These are the same issues girls face today!

Q. Tell us about the title. What does it signify?

When I was growing up in Indiana and playing baseball we sometimes threw easy pitches that we called “cream puffs.” You know, they were pitches that allowed the batter to belt the ball to the fence! During practice Madison throws one of these pitches to the cute boy she likes. Her catcher, Brett, has a fit and tells her, “no cream puffs!” I like this as a title because it addresses one of the prominent themes in the book. Do you throw a cream puff to a boy because you want him to like you? Or do you try to strike him out?

Thanks, Karen, and congratulations on another wonderful story about girl power. 

Live-Blogging From Nashua: Leda Schubert on Fantasy

Afternoon workshop. Fantasy and World Building. Leda Schubert. 

I'm sitting in the back trying to keep my blogging low-key, next to writing buddies Wendy Nystrom and Mordena Babich (who knows the correct pronunciation of Rick Riordan), both in my critique group, both authors of excellent stories in the fantasy genre. Leda gets started (I did ask her permission to live-blog, and she graciously gave it, so relax and read on. Here's a disclaimer, though: these are rough notes, they don't include Leda's precise words, and the quotes are incomplete.)

What is the wrong reason to write fantasy? Because it's what's selling. The right reason? It is the best way to tell the story only you can tell. We're born with the need for story.

Leda goes over the classic book, Harold and the Purple Crayon. Study this book! It shows all that's right about fantasy, she says. The heart-stopping moment of fantasy is when you wonder if it's going to be okay. If you scare yourself as you're writing, you're doing your job. Sometimes as you write you don't know where you're going.

Motivations? We want to believe that something exists outside of what we see.

Where to begin? Read, read, read. Take notes. Hard analysis. Develop a list of things to look for. What kind of world has this author created? What are the elements? Are there moments when you're jarred out of the fictive world of fantasy?

After you've read the books, turn to folklore and mythology. Try retellings and re-imaginings. We all have stories we're "doomed to write."

Know story structure. Discover the myth of the hero all around the world.

Fantasy is not escapist literature. It is a journey in instead of out. "Myth may not be real," says Susan Cooper, but it is true. "Fantastic conditions must speak to our real one," said Lloyd Alexander.

Leda recommends The Tough Guide To Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones. "It's a hoot," says Leda, making us laugh with a couple of quotes she reads aloud.

She explains Jane Yolen's three types of fantasy: earthbound, evens in our world with possible magical events (Borrowers), faerie (a secondary world like Earthsea), tourist fantasies where an earth traveler passes into another world or time (Narnia).

Leda also pulls from Jane Langton's The Weak Place in the Cloth. In fantasy literature, the cloth is either stretched, punctured, invisible and permeable, or unpunctured, but we're on the other side. The cloth can divide now from then, life from death (ghost stories), or finite present from infinite future (science fiction).

Leda's getting to the fundamentals now, explaining in detail how to create a fantasy world, and ends by saying that the work in this rich genre is still too much in the hands of white men. That's changing, but slowly. We need new voices, especially non-Western ones. We are part of this change.

The Mystery of the Children's Choice Awards

I was glad to see that When The Shadbush Blooms, the only "multicultural" book on IRA-CBC's list of nominees for the Children's Choice Awards, was lauded by Debbie Reese and Oyate.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by the list -- the books were donated by publishers and chosen in six cities of the country not particularly renowned for a diverse demographic: Chico, California, Middletown, Delaware, Crete, Illinois, Starkville, Mississippi, Bellevue, Nebraska, and Omaha, Nebraska (here's a .pdf describing the process.) Of course, I've only been to Chico, which does have a fair share of immigrants, so maybe the other cities are home to all sorts of kids.

Unfortunately, on the official Children's Book Choices site, there's no explanation of selection criteria to be found -- or maybe I'm missing it. The nominees are great, I'm sure, but this award reminds me that for kids and adults to venture outside the story comfort zone, we often need a nudge from a trusted source.

Enid Blyton, Disney, and Kahani Magazine

Scholastic editor Sandhya Nankani is guest-blogging at the always stimulating Sepia Mutiny site this month, and tells us about Disney's plans to diversify and update Enid Blyton's beloved Famous Five characters.

Among other innovations, the Mouse Factory is inventing a hip anglo-Indian character named Jyoti who is the daughter of the original hero of the books. Mutineers' comments reveal the impact that Brit Kid Lit, and especially Ms. Blyton (who wrote 800 books in 40 years!), had on South Asia and mixed feelings about this new venture.

Sandhya ends her post with a quote about Kahani magazine, a children’s literary magazine illuminating the richness and diversity that South Asian cultures bring to North America:

I feel so lucky that we have publications like the South Asian children’s literary magazine Kahani which ... just won the highly respected 2008 Parents’ Choice Award for magazines for the second year in a row. That’s a huge deal. This is a prestigious award from the Parents’ Choice Foundation which has been reviewing mainstream children’s media since 1978.

Full disclosure: I'm on the editorial advisory board of Kahani, have been an ardent fan since the magazine launched, and believe that libraries everywhere should order a subscription immediately.

KABA Modern, JABBAWOCKEEZ, and FUSION STORIES

Anybody catch Randy Jackson's America's Best Dance Crew this week? The show is down to fifteen great dancers, including eleven Asian Americans who are rocking Planet MTV. This type of fusion hip makes the embarrassment of William Hung a distant memory -- in fact Asian American teens today can hardly remember that American Idol contestant.

Times are definitely changing. That's why, in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month this May 2008, ten of us are launching FUSION STORIES, a menu of delectable next-gen hot-off-the-press novels for middle readers and teens.

A wave of middle grade novels (ages 7-11) featuring Asian American protagonists is catching the attention of readers, teachers, librarians, and parents – and not just within multicultural circles. Children’s literature experts are calling Grace Lin’s Year of the Rat (sequel to the popular Year of the Dog) a “classic in the making” along the lines of Besty-Tacy. Janet Wong’s forthcoming novel Minn and Jake's Almost Terrible Summer explores the joys of vacation and friendship, with Jake divulging that he’s a “quarpa,” or one-quarter Korean. Winner of the Sid Fleischman humor award, author Lisa Yee makes kids (and adults) laugh out loud with bestselling stories like Millicent Min: Girl Genius and her newest title, Good Luck, Ivy. When it comes to books like these, as Newbery winner Linda Sue Park told author Cynthia Leitich Smith (Tantalize) during an on-line chat: “At last it seems we’re getting ready to go to stories where a person’s ethnicity is a part but not the sum of them.”

New releases for teens, too, aren’t mainly immigrant stories or traditional tales retold. These YA novels deal with universal themes such as a straight-A teen struggling with a cheating scandal at her school (She’s So Money by Cherry Cheva), a promising athlete coping with a snowboarding injury (Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley), and a Pakistani-born blogger whose father is about to become President (First Daughter: White House Rules by Mitali Perkins). An Na’s The Fold, a novel about a teen considering plastic surgery to change the shape of her eyelids, speaks to all who long to be beautiful, and art-loving teens far and wide will connect with Joyce Lee Wong’s novel-in-verse Seeing Emily. Paula Yoo, a one-time writer for People magazine and television hits like The West Wing, fuses her pop culture savvy and love of music in Good Enough, a novel about a violinist in rebellion. Her brother, David Yoo, connected with hormone-crazed nerds of every race in his funny novel Girls For Breakfast and is offering his fans the forthcoming Stop Me if You've Heard This One Before.

FUSION STORIES aims to be a helpful resource for parents, educators, and young readers, so if you know of a novel that (1) is for middle readers or teens, (2) was published in 2007-2008 by a traditional publishing house, (3) features an Asian American protagonist, and (4) is set primarily in contemporary America, please send a .jpg of the cover, a .jpg of the author, one or two reviews, and a brief description of the novel to press@fusionstories.com. We at FUSION STORIES would be delighted to add titles and authors to the site.

A press kit package (available at FUSION STORIES, www.fusionstories.com) includes downloads, bios of FUSION STORIES authors, information on the books, and a few conversations with experts about Asian American literature for young readers. For more information, review copies, or interview requests with any of the authors, please contact press@fusionstories.com.

Beach Reads

As usual, I read like a deprived addict while on hiatus, which is otherwise known as basking on my favorite Kona beach. Here's the list, not in order of consumption and unexpurgated (a word I've always wanted to use):

Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery (in honor of Anne's centennial) for the twentieth time
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
Slam by Nick Hornby
Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman
Entertainment Weekly
People
Wired
Coastal Living
Christianity Today
Leadership
the Bible
my own manuscript, The Secret Keeper

Welcome to the Class of 2k8!

Introducing a host of fresh voices -- the class of 2008 and their debut middle-grade and YA novels.

Our Ambassador: Jon Scieszka

This year, the Library of Congress, the Children's Book Council, and Cheerios hope to see more guys read. Author of "fractured fairy tales" like The Stinky Cheese Man, Jon Scieszka (pronounced "SHEH-ska") was born in Flint, Michigan in 1954 and is known as a fierce and funny advocate for reluctant male readers.

Our new ambassador demonstrates yet again how the circumstances of childhood can shape a satisfying vocation: Jon had five brothers and a father who loved to teach. Sounds like it took the Ambassador a while to follow his bliss, as he went to military school and studied to be a doctor first before getting his MFA from Columbia University. "I write books because I love to make kids laugh," he says. What a wonderful mission statement. Here's the full announcement in the Post.

CCBC's List of International Reads

A new compilation from the Cooperative Children's Book Center at University of Wisconsin-Madison:

Global Reading
Selected Literature for Children and
Teens Set in Other Countries
Compiled by Megan Schliesman
Copyright © 2007 Cooperative Children's Book Center

This bibliography was designed with U.S. readers in mind, so “other countries” refers to countries other than the United States. Books on the list are arranged by geographic region of the world as follows:

• The Américas
• Africa
• Asia/Pacific
• Australia
• Europe
• Middle East
• Multinational

Saying Smackdown: Rhys Versus Rochman

Check out this great interview via Literary Safari with Katherine Applegate of Animorph fame, who released her debut literary novel this month, Home of the Brave (the Fire Escape's glowing review coming soon). My tiny quibble was the attribution of one of my favorite quotes to Jean Rhys, a Caribbean novelist who wrote in the middle of the twentieth century:

“Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but most importantly, it finds homes for us everywhere.”

I've used that phrase liberally and always given Hazel Rochman the credit based on her classic essay, "Against Borders," published in the March 1995 edition of the Horn Book.

If you google the combo of Rhys and the quote, you come up with this. But when you google Rochman and the same saying, you get this. Help me, research types who despise google and wikipedia searches: who said it?

NYC Libraries' Favorite Children's Books

From the New York Times Corporation:

A list of New York's Top 20 All-Time Favorite Children's Books was specially selected this year by children's librarians from the three public library systems of New York City: Brooklyn Public Library, The New York Public Library and Queens Library. Celebrities from film, TV and Broadway will read from the 20 books on the list at The Great Children's Read (on October 14th).

Here's the eclectic list of books old and new, penned by authors dead and alive. Note that they're all fiction, except for one book of verse, and although a few picture books are included, the rest are mostly novels. The one quality they share in common is the gift of unforgettable, beloved characters, revealing what librarians value in children's literature:

• Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger, illustrated by Michael Hays
• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
• The Bossy Gallito by Lucia M. Gonzales, illustrated by Lulu Delacre
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Bunnicula by James Howe
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
• Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
• Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
• Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything by Lenore Look, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf
• The Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron
• The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith
• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
• The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne

Tall Tales: Interview With Karen Day

Here's the skinny, people: I'm not going to feel like I have to feature an interview with you, even if (a) you're in my writer's group, and (b) you mention me on the acknowledgments page (full disclosure.)

You've still got to write a novel that (a) fills me with hope, as it will for the tweens who'll read your book again and again, (b) gets me choked up with that mix of sadness and joy only a skillful storyteller can induce, OR (c) earns you a two-book contract from a Legendary Master Editor.

Karen Day, author of Tall Tales (Wendy Lamb Books, May 2007), fulfills all five of these requirements. I invited her out to the Fire Escape for a chat about the terrifying, amazing process of writing and publishing her first novel, due out this week.


Tell us about the journey to getting the book published. What was a high point? A low point?

I finished the first draft of Tall Tales in 2000. Almost instantly I had interest from an editor who saw the first 10 pages at an SCBWI conference. Over the next two years I worked on three revisions for her, without a contract, until she finally declined. I was heart broken but by then I had a different editor interested. More heartbreak followed when she declined after two revisions! Not long after this I got a particularly brutal rejection from an agent to whom I’d asked for representation. He literally brought me to my knees (and to tears!) with his harsh assessment of my novel. Definitely the low point in my struggling career! But after a couple of days of licking my wounds, I realized that his critique, while harsh, was right on. I did a major revision, eventually found a different agent and she got me into a bidding war. The most exhilarating part of this whole process was the two weeks when we went back and forth between these two houses. So exciting! In the end I signed a two-book deal with Wendy Lamb at Random House.

YA books are renowned for being edgy, but you're writing about an alcoholic and abusive family for a younger audience. What advice would you give writer wannabes who want to explore more difficult issues for upper elementary readers?

It’s tricky business, portraying a dysfunctional family in a middle grade novel. Sixteen-year-olds are typically more mature, more reflective and certainly more willing to be okay with being different. A typical twelve-year-old doesn’t want to be different nor does he/she have the necessary tools to analyze the situation. Yet feelings of pain, suffering, guilt, longing, desires, anger – they’re all there. So, you have to be extra vigilant in finding ways of showing these often unconscious fears and desires. In Tall Tales Meg and Grace write a book about two girls who start a business solving mysteries. Grace desperately wants the two characters to have “really cool moms who are also best friends.” Meg focuses on finding a “home” office for the two girls to stay in between jobs. Both of these desires speak to dominant issues the two girls wrestle with. Also, to an outsider looking in, the horrors of an alcoholic, abusive father might seem all consuming. But in reality, people living in this situation “get used to it.” Life goes on. You aren’t in crisis every moment. So there has to be a balance in writing a book like this, between the every-day matters that affect most 12-year-olds and the crisis moments.

What was the biggest (hardest) change you made in response to an editorial suggestion from Wendy?

After I signed my contract, Wendy came back to me with a 14-page, single space e-mail outlining changes/suggestions she had for the book. This WASN’T the most daunting part of the revision process because she was so astute and so careful that I was truly grateful. The hardest change came early on, when she initially rejected the book. She thought I left the family too vulnerable and wanted to see a happier outcome. She said she’d look at the novel again if I made these changes, but I wasn’t sure. I wanted to be realistic. I couldn’t see how to change it and stay true to my realistic conception of the novel. I fretted over this for months until finally I found a solution that satisfied me but also, I hoped, would satisfy Wendy. It required drastically rewriting the mom’s character and the last 100 pages. But I did it and Wendy loved it.

Describe a fear you have about this book that can keep you up at night.

Tall Tales is deceptively simple, with its short chapters and sentence structures, and even in what Meg wants, which I come right out and say in the first line. “I want to make a friend.” So, will readers see and appreciate what’s under the surface? Did I pull it off? Will they see and feel how Meg’s desperate and often unconscious desires for a “safe home” infiltrate the dialogue, descriptions, even the story that she and Grace write together? Will readers understand that Teddy, Abby and Dad’s static personalities were done intentionally, to illustrate how normal development is often stymied in families like this? Will they believe Meg’s conflicted feelings about her father? So, as you can see, I stay awake quite often at night, worrying!

Finish the sentence twice, first from an idealistic "literature changes lives" point of view and then give the savvy marketer's take.

Tall Tales will be a successful book if:

1. Just one kid reads it and feels empowered to make changes in his or her life.

2. If, if, if … I don’t know! I wish I had something savvy to say! All I can think about is that I want to make a difference in a kid or kids’ lives. And then I will forever feel blessed and gratefully and know that this journey was well worth it.

What's next for Karen Day?

My next book, No Cream Puffs, is another middle grade novel with Wendy Lamb and it will be published in the summer of 2008. I’m really excited about this book. Set in the 1970s, it’s the story of 12-year-old Madison who is the first girl in Michigan to play little league baseball with the boys. I use lots of themes that are important to me. My love for Lake Michigan. Mother-daughter relationships. How kids respond to intense pressure and expectations. I also toy with some of the adolescent development theories I explored in graduate school, specifically post-Freudian relational and gender issues that women like Carol Gilligan and Nancy Chodorow wrote about. One of Madison’s biggest conflicts in the book is how she reconciles her desires to win and play baseball (she’s the best player in town!) with her intense need to be liked and accepted. I don’t mean to make this novel sound too stuffy and academic. Most of these themes fly under the radar. It’s actually a very funny and poignant book and Madison is a great, quirky character.

Karen, thanks for coming out to the Fire Escape. I know firsthand what a disciplined writer you are; you inspire me daily with your dedication, craftsmanship, and energy. Many blessings to Tall Tales, to the readers who will love and root for Meg, and to you.

Mama's Saris: Interview with Pooja Makhijani

Well, you can stop shopping right now because here's the perfect gift for Mother's Day: Mama's Saris, a new picture book by Pooja Makhijani from Little Brown, gloriously illustrated by Elena Gomez. Don't worry if the mother in your life doesn't know what a sari is — this is a story about every young girl's desire to be as glamorous as Mom, and the tender mother-daughter bond that transcends cultures.

Pooja herself sometimes comes out to chat on the Fire Escape, so I seized the moment to ask her some questions. Here's the scoop on the launch of this fabulous book, her first for kids (she's also the author of the anthology Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America -- read the introduction here.)

Tell us about the journey to getting the book published.

Such a long journey!

I finished a final draft of my manuscript in February 2004 and began the arduous process of writing query and cover letters. Because I used to work in publishing, I also pulled out my Rolodex. The latter approach worked well. My manuscript made it into the hands of Sangeeta Mehta (then at Little, Brown; now at Simon Pulse) who worked with me over several revisions.

Once Little, Brown bought the manuscript, I did several more revisions. All in all, I think I revised the manuscript over nine [9] times before the manuscript was passed onto Elena Gomez. (How Sangeeta and Little, Brown secured Elena I don't know, but I am over the moon with the results! See more below.)

Elena worked on the illustrations for well over a year and I had the opportunity to see her vision of the book from the sketch stage. Through Sangeeta, she was definitely open to suggestions regarding cultural appropriateness and cultural accuracy. She even asked for photographs of my wedding festivities for reference!

As you know, Mitali, producing and printing a book can take a while, and Little, Brown, wanted to time the release of Mama's Saris with Mother's Day, so it's taken some time for the book to hit bookshelves. And now, it's here. It feels great to share it with the world!

What was the biggest change you made in response to an editorial suggestion?

Mama's Saris is a "quiet" book. ("Quiet" isn't necessarily a compliment in today's competitive picture book market). While the story didn't change much from draft to draft, Sangeeta had a number of wonderful suggestions for tightening the text and making it more active. A few weeks ago, I looked at the draft to I sent to Little, Brown for consideration for publication. It had definitely come a long way.

What is your favorite aspect of the art created by Elena Gomez?

Oh, where do I begin? When I was shown Elena's final art, I was struck that her visual interpretation of Nanima (the narrator's maternal grandmother) was identical to the vision of Nanima that I had in my head while I was writing. We were really on the same proverbial wavelength.

Describe a fear you have about this book that can keep you up at night.

That it will go out of print tomorrow!

Finish the sentence twice, first from an idealistic "literature changes lives" point of view and then give the savvy marketer's take.

1. Mama's Saris will be a successful picture book if ... little girls everywhere (regardless of age and ethnicity) connect with the universal experience of dressing up in their mother's (or mother figure's) clothes.

2. Mama's Saris will be a successful picture book if ... it earns out.

What did your mother say when she first saw the book in print?

My mother saw this book in so many incarnations--the manuscript (5 pages, 12pt Courier, double spaced); the jpgs of Elena's spreads, the F&G; the final book--and she's been supportive, curious, and encouraging through the whole process. She is thrilled that the book is dedicated to her; she gleefully pointed this out to my father when I gave them their copy :).

Thanks, Pooja. The Fire Escape gives Mama's Saris a five-star recommendation, and wishes you many blessings on the launch of this lovely story.

Other links and reviews: A teacher's guide for the book, Fuse No. 8's rave, Chicken Spaghetti's review.