Quick Link: Annotations by Famous Authors

Check out Flavorwire's fascinating slideshow of famous authors' annotations of classic books. There are many links to view more annotations, as well. Not surprisingly, Mark Twain's comments are hilarious.

(Semi-related note: Mark Twain is the only person I would desperately want at my dream dinner party.)

Book Event This Weekend at Yellow Book Road

This Saturday, February 2nd (tomorrow!) the Yellow Book Road bookstore in conjunction with Adventures by the Book is hosting a book drive and fundraising event in honor of Sandy Hook Elementary. This is a sublime opportunity to meet local authors and artists, have some fun, eat some food, and support your local community all in the name of ultimately serving the the minds and imaginations of children.

The event details:

When: Saturday, February 2, 2013

Time: 2:00-5:00pm

Where: Yellow Book Road, 2750 Historic Decatur Road, Suite 101 (Liberty Station), San Diego 92106

Local Authors/Artists attending include: Robin Preiss Glasser, David Shannon, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Salina Yoon, Candace Ryan, Marla Frazee, Susie Ghahremani, Annika Nelson, Edith Hope Fine, Kathleen Krull, and Arthur Sal.

All the information and details on the event can be found on here.

If you do attend, let us know your experience!

Multicultural Perspectives: Ilyas and Duck Search for Allah

I stumbled upon Ilyas and Duck Search for Allah, by Omar Khawaja, entirely at random (oh the glories of the internet and its mysterious ways). Immediately I was taken in by two things: the title and the duck. I haven't seen many American Muslim picture books, least of all an open and unobtrusively thoughtful one with "Allah" in the title (which means "God" in Arabic, for the unawares), so I wanted to see how this presented itself. And upon reading it, I admit I immediately loved the little sidekick Duck. Ilyas of course is an adorable inquisitive little boy with such profound thoughts but the absurd antics caught in the illustrations of Duck must surely tickle many a funny bone. So overall, the book was a win for me—accessible characters breaching a complex issue with the honesty and curiosity only a child can demonstrate with a touch of humor. Khawaja introduces readers to an Islamic perspective that demonstrates the universality of beliefs in a colorful and educational adventure.

I had the chance to ask Khawaja a few questions about his book, its purpose, and so forth, and am happy to share that exchange here.

Share a little bit about your book. What are the key themes and issues?

Ilyas & Duck Search for Allah is about a boy's quest to find God. Ilyas is a typical 5 year old boy with an insatiable appetite for questioning the world around him. Duck is fun-loving, goofy and quick to help Ilyas satisfy his many curiosities. Because kids often think in literal terms, the story too begins with Ilyas thinking that he is able to find God in His physical form. This leads the two characters on an exciting adventure to various parts of the world to find Him. Along the way they meet interesting characters who ultimately help Ilyas and Duck understand the concept of God. The clear challenge in the story was to transform kids' literal interpretation of God into a more abstract and philosophical view that is both simple enough for kids to comprehend and consistent with the Islamic faith. 

What was the inspiration and/or motivation behind it?

Young kids ask the most simple yet profound questions about the world around them. Asking about God then is a natural part of this innocent wonder especially if God is referenced in the home over the course of a typical day. My three young kids are no different and ask more questions than I am equipped to effectively answer. So when my kids presented me with the question about God, I initially struggled to deliver an adequate response.  But as I thought about it I realized that a response to a profound question like this could only be meaningful to young minds if it was delivered in a way that they can relate to. I couldn't think of a better way to do that than through a storybook. So I can safely say that my own kids inspired me to write the book.

As part of my Multicultural Perspectives series, do you feel that Ilyas and Duck addresses or attempts to transcend cultural boundaries? In what ways?

In writing the story my goal was simply to help young kids understand the somewhat abstract concept of God.  And being a Muslim parent, I used "Allah" to refer to God because I was mainly directing the story to other Muslim parents. By using "Allah" in the story however, my intention was not to distance the Islamic view of God from that of other faiths. Rather I believe that given the universally applicable idea around the existence of our "creator" across all monotheistic religions, Ilyas and Duck do cross cultural boundaries by showing that we all believe in the same God regardless of how we refer to Him.  In that sense, my hope is that people will realize that if they simply replace "Allah" with "God" or "Hashem" for that matter, that the message in the story about the existence of God remains consistent with their own belief.

What audience do you hope to reach? Why is a book like this important for the greater American and worldwide audience? What does it contribute?

I think there is such a huge gap in the market for quality books for young kids that communicate Islamic themes and values that I hope Ilyas and Duck will help fill this void and be appreciated by the tremendous global Muslim population. Beyond books though, I believe Ilyas and Duck has the [global] potential... This is especially true considering the vast majority of cartoons that dominate television networks in the Middle East and other Muslim countries today originate mainly from the US, Europe and Japan. There is nothing wrong with that but I think there is room and demand nonetheless for characters that appeal more directly to the local cultures in these markets.

I have had conversations with people that clearly have very little understanding about the Islamic faith. Some believe that Muslims pray to a different God than do Christians and Jews. So to the extent that the use of "Allah" in the story sparks conversations that help dispel some of these misconceptions I think contributes in a positive way to a wider American and global audience.

Did you do any kind of research for the development of the story? 

I had to make sure that the core message in the story was appropriate and widely acceptable to my target audience. I started with my own simple understanding of what I thought Islam said about God. I summarized this in a rhyme within the story the ends with "But you can't see Allah like you can see me." The idea was to position the story through the understanding that you can't see God like you can see others but rather we see God through his amazing creations, and through them we believe Him to be true...  However, it wasn't enough to just have a good message if the delivery of that message was weak. This is where the many nights I spent reading wonderful storybooks to my kids played a role. Over time I had come to appreciate the finer points that made children's books effective for both children and parents and tried to apply this understanding when developing and writing this story.

Will Ilyas and Duck have other adventures?

I currently have two more stories in the works in the Ilyas and Duck series. I also am translating the current book into an interactive storybook app that I'm really excited about which should be available sometime in 2013.

The Scorpions of Zahir and Pilgrimages

I love me a good adventure story.  Add a precocious girl protagonist and that usually makes it better (though I've read the occasional exception wherein I dropped my head in frustration at the utter nauseating perfection of some tailored characters. *sigh*). So far it's only a gut feeling, but I wager that The Scorpions of Zahir, by Christine Brodien-Jones, will not disappoint. I've only just begun this harrowing adventure of a young girl and her family on a suddenly-thrust-upon-them-by-a-flourish-of-fate quest to find and save a sacred lost city in the deserts of Morocco. Still, it leads me to ponder over the answers for many questions: How will the author choose to depict Morocco, its people, its culture? Will the girl, Zagora, begin as a tomboy and "blossom" into something more, or will her inherent qualities be good enough to last? Race, gender, and storytelling. Fun stuff!

In considering this novel as my next adventure, I stumbled upon the author's blog itself: Owl Tracks, and with rapid interest read the a post detailing her inspirations for writing The Scorpions of Zahir. In it, Brodien-Jones reminisces about her own journey to Morocco with her family, a voyage that may have lacked tribal myths and extinct supernatural animals but was rich with culture, indelible experiences and most likely sensational food. And so it seems that great tales are born from equally magnificent life experiences.

Multicultural Perspectives: Chummz by Farah Ansari

If you were born in Kentucky, lived in Kuwait for ten years, then moved to the US to grow up in Southern California, you're bound to have some proclivity toward multicultural subjects. What luck if you can harness and apply it to an endeavor that speaks to the world—say, a book.  Even better if you use multiculturalism as the foundation to approach a broader sense of unity within humanity. That's how I would loosely describe Chummz, a children's book by Farah Ansari. Ansari, an Indian American Muslim, is a young professional now working in the San Francisco Bay Area. She recently wrote, illustrated, and self-published this colorful and engaging picture book, incorporating comic book qualities that concurrently simplify the imagery and bring added complexity to each character.

Chummz marks the adventures of eight young Muslim friends (four girls and boys), all of different ethnicities, who find comfort and strength with each other amidst adversities. This first book, subtitled "Isa's Issue", follows the littlest Chum as he struggles with finding his natural gift.  Every friend exhibits his or her own penchant for something, thus uniting them in their diversity; with Isa we witness the desires to belong and to stand out emerge simultaneously. That's a distinctive individual conundrum, but Ansari resolves it with Isa's personal discovery that brings the praise and celebration of all his peers.

Each character embodies a different personality as well, from shy to rambunctious, philosophical to nurturing.  That doesn't come out completely in this first issue, but as each volume will likely highlight a different chum, those differences will become more apparent (and more inconsequential as they continue to bond). Farah is a friend of mine and was happy to answer a few questions about this new endeavor of hers. 

Dear Teen Me

Zest Books, based in San Francisco, will release Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teenage Selves on October 31. Publishers Weekly has a thorough write-up of the endeavor, which is the collaborative effort of YA authors Miranda Kenneally and E. Kristin Anderson. The book features letters from several popular YA writers to their past selves. The letter subjects range all over the map of teenage issues, from body image to abuse to friendship to love, with specific details about all the little things that make up a teenager's daily life. (The editors have a website with sample letters -- check it out here.)

Already on the market is a similar concept in the book The Letter Q, in which dozens of queer writers pen notes to their younger selves. The SDSU Children's Lit Center actually has this book in its possession; if you are on campus and would like to read it, please stop by Arts and Letters 218!

As so many young adult and children's books focus on the struggles of finding an identity as a teenager, it's fitting that these authors would channel their experiences into anthologies about what's on the other side of those angst-ridden teenager years. And since I love children's literature and often think about my own formative teenager-hood, I thought I would take a stab at it myself.

What would you say to your teen self?

Dear Teen Me,

I know it's been a difficult road. You don't like high school, because you were a new student at age 14 and everyone already had their friends established. There was no real place for a new girl, especially when you got all skinny and withdrawn. But if you're a senior now, you're doing okay. You always expected that you would pull through the lowest parts, and you have. And guess what? You're just going to keep on climbing.

You've got a handful of really wonderful friends who are going to remain in your life. And many years from now, you're going to be glad that you went to high school where you did, primarily because of these people. Your connection to your unexpected hometown is going to lead to meeting your husband, and he is awesome. And before you meet him, you'll meet some other good guys. (And, okay, some shitty ones.) The bottom line is that you're not going to be the only one without a date forever.

Your high school theatre experience will lead you to many more theatrical options in your future. One piece of advice: stop caring so much about having a starring role. You're going to find that it doesn't matter to you as much as you think it does. And that leads me to my next point:

You know how you read in that hidden spot in the stairwell during lunch period because you'd rather read than socialize? In the future, you'll find a balance between friends and books, but you're actually going to study books for a living. I'm not gonna lie -- you're going to be a graduate student and your living won't exactly be luxurious. But you won't mind, because you're going to be thrilled to feel like you're in the right place. Your bookish instincts are correct.

And remember that you are strong. You've already made it through the hardest part of your teenage years. College is going to rock your world, and eventually you're going to find your own little corner of the world to rock, too.

Love,

2012 Jill

Lois Lowry on Dystopian Novels

For those who love Dystopian novels or those who have grown up on the books of Lois Lowry, her new novel Son, the fourth and final installment of the series that began with the critically acclaimed The Giver, should instantly have caught your attention.  This interview on Huffington Post with Lowry is a welcome window into the heart and mind of the author, where she discusses among other things the Dystopian genre and why she loves writing for children.

"Early on I came to realize something... That is, kids at that pivotal age, 12, 13 or 14, they're still deeply affected by what they read, some are changed by what they read, books can change the way they feel about the world in general... I think writing for kids is profoundly important."

Highlights on Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is underway around the country (Sept 30 - Oct 6), celebrating its 30th year of challenging literary censorship. To get you up to speed on the most challenged books of the last year (including The Hunger Games, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, and To Kill a Mockingbird), Huffington Post put up an informative infographic breaking down the categories under which the Top Ten most banned books fall.The graphic also displays the number of challenges made over the past twenty years, a useful tool in examining the changing trends.

Check out Publisher Weekly's Banned Books Week at 30: New and Notable Efforts to learn details about some of the events and efforts being held across the nation.

Locally, the San Diego Public Library is holding an All-Day Read-Aloud Reading Marathon on Thursday October 4th at the Central Branch. It's being held in conjunction with their months long library project, Searching for Democracy: A Public Conversation about the Constitution sponsored by Cal Humanities. Check out their site for details and more events: http://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/news-events/index.shtml.

Lastly, we share an essay by Ray Bradbury, taken from the Introduction to The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012, which highlights his own adventure of falling in love with books:

"I asked big questions because of books. I dreamed because of books. I started to write because of books. I read everything from comic strips, to history books, to the fantastic tales of L. Frank Baum, Edgar Allen Poe, H.G. Wells, and many others. None of this reading was required, mind you. I just did it."

The essay can be found here.
Find more information on Banned Books Week on their website: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

Links You'll Love

Sometimes you just need someone else to round up some fascinating links for you, right? Here are five noteworthy links to entertain you today:

Presenting Lenore's 2012 Dystopian Recap: Every August, blogger and author Lenore Appelhans rounds up dozens of dystopian young adult novels and rates them on a scale of "zombie chickens." The rating system might be a little quirky, but Lenore's thoughtful reviews are an excellent resource for those of you who might be seeking a repository of dystopian options.

55% of YA Books Bought by Adults: Publishers Weekly reveals a study from Bowker Market Research. Are you surprised? Considering that I own about ten bookshelves' worth of young adult novels and I'm a fully qualified grown up, I'm not.

University of Florida's Fairy Tale Resource Page: Check out this fantastic site with information about fairy tale retellings, the Brothers Grimm, and link after link of fairy tale resources, from pop culture to scholarship.

YA Author Jessica Spotswood's Blog: When I do these link roundups, I'll try to highlight my favorite blogs by active young adult writers. The first is Jessica Spotswood, whose first novel Born Wicked debuted last February. Jess writes an eclectic blog that ranges from personal musings to author

Genrefluent: Diana Tixier Herald is a blogger who has been reviewing and recommending children's books for over 15 years. She has a huge archive of book reviews categorized by, you guessed it, genre.

San Diego City College Book Fair Begins October 1

The 7th Annual San Diego City College International Book Fair will be held October 1 - 6, 2012.

The weeklong celebration of books includes talks and readings that are free and open to the public. Coinciding with Banned Books Week, the Book Fair will also feature talks about and readings from several banned books, including a reading and signing by SDSU grad and young adult writer Matt de la Peña.

Check out the full schedule of programming here.

Philip Pullman on Retelling the Grimms' Fairy Tales

"But my interest has always been in how the tales worked as stories. So I decided to retell the best and most interesting of them, clearing out of the way anything that would prevent them from running freely... I just wanted to produce a version that was as clear as water. My guiding question has been: 'How would I tell this story myself, if I'd heard it told by someone else and wanted to pass it on?'"

 An excerpt from Philip Pullman's essay “The Challenge of Retelling Grimms’ Fairy Tales” found in The Gaurdian. An insightful examination of the fairy tale and how to keep it "true to form."

Reflections on Roald Dahl

Today would have been Roald Dahl's 96th birthday; children and adults alike celebrate his literary legacy today on what is also the 6th annual Roald Dahl Day. In keeping with that spirit, we share the following interview in The Huffington Post with Michael Rosen, former Children's Laureate in the UK and Dahl's "biggest fan" who recently wrote a biography of the author, Fantastic Mr. Dahl, aimed for children.

Q&A: Michael Rosen on Roald Dahl

A thoughtful look into Dahl's continuing legacy can also be found in this piece in which Roald Dahl's widow, Liccy, talks about her husband's life.

Mrs Roald Dahl & Me

Two thoughtful essays about 9/11

Today marks the anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. We invite our readers to read the essay below, written by former NCSCL director and SDSU Emeritus Professor Jerry Griswold for the Irish magazine "Inis," in which he discusses how things changed in his classes after the terrorist acts of 2001.

http://blog.parents-choice.org/2010/09/reading-differently-after-september-11/

Another thoughtful response to the events of 9/11, this time by the late great David Foster Wallace, is linked here:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/9-11-the-view-from-the-midwest-20110819

New Book by Tove Jansson Released, excerpt from the Independent, with thanks

Art in Nature, By Tove Jansson

Dreamlike trip through the magic of life

Christian House

Sunday 08 July 2012

When reading anything by Tove Jansson, one cannot quite ignore the looming hippo-shaped shadow of the Finnish author's legendary creation, the Moomins. At the time of her death in 2001, those loveable, large-snouted trolls had made Jansson an international name, one synonymous with a particularly Scandinavian take on children's books. And that is how it would have remained if it hadn't been for Sort of Books posthumously publishing her novel, The Summer Book, two years later....

The latest fiction of Jansson's to be translated and published in Britain is Art in Nature, a sublime little collection of stories that is full of boats and beach houses, painting and plays.... In "White Lady", three middle-aged ladies, one of them a novelist, enjoy a night out with youngsters at a seaside restaurant. "I write books for young people and they don't know who I am," ponders the writer. "And I know nothing about them, either. Funny, isn't it." It's a bittersweet scene for Jansson to have composed; she entertained a generation of children but had none herself.

New Reviews Daily at sdsubookreviews.blogspot.com

Our user-friendly blog posts new reviews daily of Kids, YA, teacher, researcher, and parent resource books from top publishers, lesser known publishers, non-fiction publishers, and international publishers.

Give us a click on the top right of this blog page, and thanks to the many publishers who send us books!

from The Washington Post, excerpt with thanks

Jean Craighead George, author of ‘My Side of the Mountain’ and ‘Julie of the Wolves,’ dies at 92

By Emily Langer, Published: May 21

Jean Craighead George, a children’s author widely regarded as one of the premier American nature writers for young readers, died May 15 at a hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y. She was 92.

Her novels and picture books — more than 100 — have sold millions of copies. “Julie of the Wolves,” a novel about a 13-year-old Eskimo runaway who is welcomed by a wolf pack in the Alaskan tundra, received the 1973 Newbery Medal for the “most distinguished contribution to American literature.

from AP, excerpt with thanks

Mexican novelist, essayist Carlos Fuentes dies

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON

Associated Press

photo by Eduardo Verdugo, File:

In this Thursday, March 3, 2011.file photo, Mexican author Carlos Fuentes greets the audience during a conference of Peru's Nobel Literature Prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa in Mexico City. Fuentes, Mexico's most celebrated novelist and among Latin America's most prominent authors, died on May 15, 2012.

MEXICO CITY -- Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America's novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83.