Booktalk, 2007 October 8

Under construction.

Booktalk, 2007 August 13

August 13 was a delightful surprise.

Nikki and I were all set to start by ourselves when Rosemary, and later Steve, arrived. What followed was another very satisfying Booktalk.

Because the group was small, the discussion was more intense. We got to talk about the books we had in front of us, the books we are reminded of, the books we may or may not write, and many other topics related to children's books, reading, and writing. Not to mention illustrating and book designing. Because we always come to our own Booktalk “armed” with a little pile of children’s books, we have a number of titles that we never got to discuss in depth that evening. That’s perfectly fine with us, we simply save these goodies for the next Booktalk! Here’s a longer and more detailed report from Nikki.

Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo
RA, SCBWI Philasia

Last August 13 we had our monthly booktalk and as often happens, our group was small, comfortable and very, very talkative.

First up for sharing was Beaulah Taguiwalo—illustrator, book designer, and our SCBWI chapter’s Regional Advisor. The book she brought was a beautiful tome—So Much, written by Trish Cooke and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. Physically, it was very pretty. The illustrations were done in vivid colors, each one crucial to telling the tale. The story itself was not a conventional one with a beginning, a middle and an end. Rather, it simply told of how the presence of one little baby brings smiles and joy to his parents, extended family, and neighbors. Around the table at the booktalk that night were a son (Steve) and three mothers (Beaulah, Rosemary, and myself) all of whom could relate to the happiness and pleasure of having a baby in the house.

Rosemarie, a librarian par excellence from International School recalled how she often told her students to read not with the mind, not with the eyes, but with the heart. A book such as this with its intriguing title, she said, was ideal for “reading with the heart.”

We went on to a discussion on how children and young people should be allowed to read anything they want and not just those bracketed for their age or grade level. Even if they read “trash,” at least they are reading. Beaulah mentioned a friend who pointed out her magazine stand of “trashy” (meaning, not so highly literary) books and magazines at home. They’re for my reluctant readers, she said. Beaulah said she thinks that’s cool, and that she’s all for it. She said that in her childhood, she was allowed to read everything and anything—at home, and in the school library. She said that she firmly believes that as children grow up, it is best for them to see reading as liberating rather than constricting. She is confident, she said, that in due time children eventually weed out what they do not like and end up making choices about what they really love to read.

Next was Rosemarie Kinjanjui, the head of the Children's Media Center at International School Manila. Normally, when people join our Booktalk without bringing a book, they tend to sit quietly, give a few comments, and generally act as observers. Not so this very voluble and interesting lady. Upon seeing Beaulah’s copy of “Dick and Jane,” she managed to launch, through a series of very pointed questions, a long and rather involved conversation on Philippine identity, history and culture, and whether there is such a thing as quintessentially Filipino. Yes, we were still talking about Dick and Jane—the book and the series—but our thoughts and and our words roamed far and wide.

One interesting thing about Rosemary is that book lover that she obviously is, she is not a book hoarder—unlike Nikki and Beaulah. On the contrary, Rosemary said she can easily let go of the many, many books that come her way, content to just keep a few selected ones nearby.

Steve Lupton was next—teacher, poet and returnee to ourBooktalk after an absence of nearly a year. He brought The Cat in the Hat, not by Dr. Seuss but by Jim Thomas. It is based on the movie, which was based on the book by Dr. Seuss. This was a gift to him, he said, and it is a book that he has not really read yet.

What followed was a discussion of what is perhaps not something new, but an interesting kind of book nevertheless—books which are, it seemed to us, written as a form of merchandising for movies. The copyright for this one did not belong to the author but to Universal Studios, the company that produced the movie. We all agreed that it would be very interesting to know how well this movie-based version of the book sold, compared to the original and very much beloved The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss himself.

Someone asked Steve if he is still actively writing, and he admitted that he is a bit disappointed with the progress of his poetry. We all offered him some words of encouragement and gave him a few tips about submissions and the value of persistence.

Next was me, Nikki—mother, wife, writer, and our SCBWI chapter's Assistant Regional Advisor. The segue from Steve to me was perfect because the book I brought was James Kahn’s Return of the Jedi, based on the famous film. As with Steve’s book, the copyright of this book was also owned by the movie's production company, in this case Lucasfilms Ltd. My tattered and torn copy was one that I picked up at Booksale.

I mention the state of my book because Rosemarie wondered how many people had picked up the book, read it, and appreciated it. This started a talk on sharing books. Beaulah mentioned BookCrossing, a world wide system of putting books down in public areas with the hope that another book lover would pick it up, read it, and pass it on. “The world is my library”—that's the idea, Beaulah said.

Thus ended another second Monday evening, a most satisfying one for us all.

Dominique Garde Torres
ARA, SCBWI Philasia

Back to http://scbwiphilasia.blogspot.com/

Booktalk, 2007 July 9

Well, it finally happened. We've been having our monthly Booktalks for a year and a half now, without fail, and so far we've always had some people come and join us. Last Monday July 9 was a first. No one came, except me, Nikki. I already knew that Beaulah couldn't make it because she was in Iloilo, but four people who were supposed to come were not able to make it as well for various reasons. Only I was able to show up. In any case, I was ready to share my book with the other three who should have come. Through this blog, I will now share it with whoever else is willing to read.

I actually brought two books – Rene Villanueva’s Bertdey ni Guido and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie. I was supposed to bring Harry Potter and The Scorcerer's Stone, but sadly was unable to finish reading it on time.

Why did I choose these books?

Aside from the fact that I enjoyed them immensely, and my daughter in her turn liked reading them, both books were translated into other forms. Guido was recently turned into a children’s play and of course Little House was a television series in those long ago days when I was in elementary school.

Let us talk first about Guido.

It is the story of how a young man, Guido, celebrates his 9th birthday in the midst of the People Power revolution of 1986. Through just a few pages, the book details how the child went from worrying about how he would celebrate his birthday in the midst of a revolution to how he eventually gained an understanding of the issues of the day. He then goes on to have the biggest birthday celebration of his life – with all the people who were in the middle of EDSA, fighting for the ouster of the dictator.

The play was written by Rene Villanueva and so was very faithful to the story. It was directed by George de Jesus and the performers were alumni of the Philippine High School for the Arts. The colors used in the production design were the red of Marcos and the yellow of Cory. The lively music of the era (Tie A Yellow Ribbon, etc.) was used and members of the audience were pulled onstage to act as tanks, as Imelda Marcos, as Cardinal Sin, as many other characters. The audience had a jolly time.

Somehow though, what was lost in translation from the page to the stage was the whole aura of the revolution at that time. On the written page, I felt sympathy for Guido, a child who did not quite understand the revolution. Onstage, he looked and sounded like a spoiled brat. The illustrations in the book clearly showed the excitement of the era. The set design did not quite capture it. It was perhaps not the script because Rene was naturally faithful to his own work. It was perhaps the fact that neither the director nor any of the staff nor the actors were old enough to remember the era, to remember how things felt and thus were not able to fully translate the excitement of the times to the stage.

Now on to Little House.

Little House on the Prairie was actually the first of a whole slew of books abut the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. It is the story of a young girl, the daughter of pioneers, herself an American pioneer and how she grew up in this very special era. I think Americans loved it because it was the story of their not-so-long-ago ancestors. I loved it simply because it was a good story.

The television series of course made stars out of Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Sue Anderson and Michael Langdon. I was only in Grade 4 or 5 at the time, but I do recall waiting for it eagerly each week, watching it, rooting for Laura through all of her travails and on occasion losing my temper over the nasty Nellie Olsen. At the age of 10 or 11, I honestly thought that the TV series did full justice to the book.

Whenever a book is translated into another form, I to push myself to see the play or the movie. Ninety per cent of the time, I am disappointed as the translated form can never be as good as the original. But still I watch them. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that theater, film, literature – all are different forms and should not be compared, even when the same story is being told. An obvious conclusion perhaps for some but not so obvious for me. Inasmuch as the movies cannot match the grandeur of the originally books, I will admit that I am happy the Lord of the Rings trilogy was made because it opened the eyes of many people to the genius of Tolkien. That the Narnia movie was produced because I love CS Lewis and I think there was jump in the sales of his books because of the movie, and finally that the Harry Potter movies were shown because I suspect that many young people learned to appreciate reading because of this phenomenal set.

Since there was no one to discuss this with last July 9, I especially encourage readers' comments to this blog.

Dominique Garde Torres
ARA, SCBWI Philasia

Booktalk, 2007 June 11

A hen party - this is often what an SCBWI Booktalk reminds me of, and the last one held last June 11 was no exception.

As has happened many times before. all the people who attended were women. We came, we got down to the all important schmoozing and when we were certain that no one else would arrive, we started the serious business of the Booktalk. Of course, by the time this happened, we were all quite friendly with each other. This is the power of chit chat.

I started the talk with MVP, a book illustrated by John Shelley and written by Douglas Evans. After introducing myself (Nikki Garde-Torres, writer, ARA), I told everyone how John Shelly had gifted me with this book right after the wonderful workshop he conducted for us last May. He had actually given me a choice of books and I chose the one which I felt my twelve year old daughter would enjoy reading.

MVP, which stands for "Magellan Voyage Project", is the story of a twelve year old boy who joins in a competition to circumnavigate the globe in 40 years. It follows him though the trials of travel. In the end, winning ceases to be the major goal. Rather, finishing the race is an act of triumph in itself. The illustrations were in black and white and were quite whimsical, they truly enhanced the story. All of use agreed though, that the title was rather boring. In addition, it was a bit misleading because it made the book seem like a book about sports. We felt that the original title - "Magellan Voyage Project" - would have been a much better.

Gina Lopez followed. She is a dentist turned chef and caterer and one of the three ladies present who were taking part in a Creative Writing class taught by Barbara Gonzalez. Her book was Lin Acasio-Flores' The Quareling Kites. It told the tale of the relationship between fathers and sons through inanimate objects - kites. She loved the illustrations which were actually paintings done by Hermes Allegre. For Gina the story was a bonus because the illustrations were just so beautiful.

At this point Beaulah mentioned that some people think the kites in the story alluded to homosexuality - something that most of us found shocking. Beaulah said it may not be true at all in this case, but the point is, a book is never finished until it's read. The reader "finishes" the book and "finishes" the story. Because each reader is unique, the book is a unique experience with each reader, and even with each time the same reader reads the same book.

The next person who spoke was Len Manuel. She is 57 years old, has three children, and has just finished a certificate course in early childhood development. She was also in the creative writing class as Gina. The book she shared was "One Foot, Now the Other" by Tomie de Paola. It dealt with a grandchild and his relationship with his grandfather who had recently suffered a stroke. Len was surprised that it was possible to have a children's book on this topic. She was even more surprised at how well it was written and illustrated.

Beaulah mentioned, not for the first time, that Tomie de Paola is a SCBWI board member and is very supportive of young and upcoming illustrators. Early in his career before he became a children's illustrator, he was perfectly happy doing liturgical illustrations - something that Beaulah picked up from a breakout session that Tomie presided over with Robert Sabuda at a SCBWI conference in New York City.

We had two "Vivian"s that night. Our first Vivian, Vivian Hermo spoke next. A long time staff member of the Westin Philippine Plaza, she has just recently liberated herself from work and is now part of the trio who were taking the same creative writing workshop. Unfortunately, she did not bring a book that evening but she promised to bring one the next time. We will hold you to that promise Vivian!

The other "Vivian" was next. Her name is Vivienne Magalindal, and she is a multi-lingual storyteller. Her story was "The Dragon Who Couldn't Breathe Fire", a book that is part of a Time-Life series on values. In this case, the story dealt with the beauty of being different. Vivienne has a soft spot for this topic, especially because she is a member of the ADHD Society and is a high-functioning person with ADHD herself. For Vivienne, being different is what makes us the same. She loves the clean lines of the illustrations which she said are in direct contrast to the drawings in some Pinoy cartoons. The illustrations are indeed well done, with colors which normally one would not think of for children. Like grey, for example. It was a pity that as part of a packaged series, the author and illustrator are not acknowledged on the book cover.

Next was our friend from the Manila Women's Forum (MWF), Marianne Stanley. She was also an attendee of the John Shelley illustrators workshop that we hosted last May 26. Originally from New Zealand, Marianne has been in the Philippines for four years now and teaches in various International Schools. The book she brought was "The Sign of the Seahorse", written and illustrated by Greame Base. I was sitting right beside Marianne and I must say that the illustrations for the book are fabulous - topped only, for me, by the beautiful, beautiful poetry in which the story is written. The entire thing is in verse and it is lovely. If I had been given a choice on which book brought there that evening I would borrow - it would have been this one. I can spend the entire night just reading it out loud.

Finally, it was Beaulah Taguiwalo's turn. Being an illustrator herself, she chose Hoppy's New House, a book illustrated by John Shelley, but written in Japanese. The book was also given to her by John, and also discussed by him in his Powepoint presentation about his works. Beaulah noted that just as John said in the workshop, many of his illustrations are drawn from what he has experienced in his life and seen in his travels. A tree in a forest in England, for example, or his fellow students at his dorm. She mentioned that John, who has stayed in Japan for 20 years, was proudly not of the Manga school of drawing. Rather, he has retained his very detailed, very British style.

Beaulah also said it is very apparent that John is highly skilled at freehand drawing. It is something that Beaulah said she'd naturally note, as she herself has a great love for illustrating too. For her, being awake means she is either reading or drawing. It's easy and it's fun for her, she says, so she believes that is what she is meant to do.

True to our commitment, we proceeded to the critiquing portion of the evening. Everyone was first reminded of some ground rules, and then we turned our attention to a manuscript that was presented that evening. It was a story in progress, written by Gina. We told her what we liked about her story, and also what we felt could be improved. In the end, we all agreed that she already had what was the most important - a very compelling story. Gina took all our comments well, which she wrote down in her notebook/journal - something that the rest of the people around the table apparently have with them too, most of the time. For Gina, her notebook/journal is where her thoughts, future stores, and perhaps even a recipe or two resided. Congratulations to you, Gina, for having the courage to share your work. We look forward to seeing you and your story in our future meetings, and we look forward to eventually seeing it in print!

We still had one manuscript to discuss, sent by Chiles Samaniego. But since we were running out of time, we decided to save it for the future. Thus ended another enjoyable SCBWI meeting - a Booktalk and Manuscript Critique combined. See you next month, second Monday July 9!

Dominique Garde Torres
ARA, SCBWI Philasia

Booktalk, 2007 March 12

Questions on reincarnation and publishing the works of children. Talk about books with no authors credited and which are part of a series. Discussions about beloved tomes being banned in certain libraries. All this was part of our Booktalk last March 12, 2007, which was held as usual at McCafe in Makati from 6 to 9 pm.

Present at the Booktalk were Beaulah, me Nikki, Nubbin Macaraeg an old friend and Agence France presse writer, and Florence Hu - a new friend, full time wife and mother to her son Ian, whom she also brought along. Later, we were joined by two more. Neni , also an SCBWI member and now busy retiree, writer, speaker, a woman who seems to find the time to do everything, and Gon Buñag who introduced himself as a grandfather.

As SCBWI RA, Beaulah started the meeting by explaining the concept, rhyme, and reason for the Booktalk, and then we got down to the serious business of sharing.

I went first with my book The Crazy World of What If. It is a non-fiction book, which is a rare thing for me to share. Normally, I tend to favor fiction. But The Crazy World of What If presents scientific fact and trivia in a more interesting manner than most. It is fun to read and in the end reinforces the belief that the world is put together in a wonderdul way and we should be glad that the what ifs (what if you had no bones, what if rockets were never invented) are not. The illustrations are very clever and lightened up what at times were fairly serious topics. The language was simple but accurate. There is a glossary at the end, which is also well illustrated.

It was noted the book had no credited author. We concluded that it is probably part of a series and packaged as such. Some authors are dismayed by books such as this as they are not properly credited. Neni noted that the questions in the book were excellent for writing excercises. She in fact liked the questions so much that she borrowed the book so she could copy some of them for numerous workshops which she taught.

Our child guest, seven year old Ian Hu, amused himself amused himself throughout the Booktalk by reading the books on the table. Judging from the way this young man was pouring over this particular book, what I had initially thought of as a book for older children could possibly have an attraction for 1st and 2nd graders as well. Ian in fact went through the book twice!

Nubbin followed with the Encyclopedia of the World's Greatest Unsolved Mysteries. In contrast to my book, this dealt with speculative science. It is a young adult book which he in fact borrowed from his niece. He liked the fact that while the authors John And Ann Spencer were in fact members of paranormal organizations, the book was well researched and tried to present all side of the questions. Photos were included, rather than illustrations.

This kind of book is very popular. Through the various generations present at the booktalk, we all remembered with fondness the books of this genre which we read in our not so distant youth. For a writer, this is a little easier to write. It is the kind of book that is easy to read and makes you think.

I noticed that Ian did not even attempt to reach for this book.

Beaulah's book was Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born, written by Jamie Lee Curtis and illustrated by Laura Cornell.

Beaulah pointed out that in the recent years there has been a "boom" in celebrity children's authors, the most famous of which would probably be Madonna. Beaulah herself said that she actually bought Madonna's later crop of children's books because she liked the stories, the art, and the production quality. In fact, she said that should would have bought those books even if they were not written by Madonna. As for celebrity authored children's books in general, the group that evening sadly agreed that most of them, not all, stand out and become commercial successes mainly because of the celebrity status of the writer and not because of any outstanding writing. For publishers, it was obvious that these kinds of books are a sure sell.

This particular celebrity author of the book that Beaulah brought, however, has won critical acclaim for her works. The title is nice and it is very well written. I personally think that a good book is basically one that really appeals to you. And I must admit that while waiting for the others to arrive, I actually read the book that Beaulah brought from cover to cover. As a mother, and there were four mothers around the table, the book brought back for me memories of the night when I myself gave birth. Everyone of course has had the experience of having been born, so this book should really appeal on a certain level to everyone. It was well illustrated and showed a very good partnership between the book's two creators, the author and the illustrator. It dealt with contemporary issues, which in this case was adoption.

This book, I noticed, Ian read with great interest.

Florence took her turn and showed a book written by her son, which she herself has laid out and printed by computer. The title was Pied Piper and the People of Pepperonco. We suggested that she use the internet to explore different websites and publications which publish works of children.

A word on this:

While the Booktalk is normally for adults who write for children, we did have a tiny bit of extra time and so we looked at Ian's works as well. However, for those of you out there whose children are creative geniuses, we suggest that you try http://www.stonesoup.com or ask your children's schoolteachers if your children's work can be published in the school paper. Both the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Philippine Star also have excellent children's sections.

That said, I'd say that Ian's work was excellent and Florence's initiative in printing it was very empowering. More mothers in my own opinion, should do this.

Neni, who after some effort finally found us, came next. I love having this lady attend our Booktalks as she is such a teacher. She came with books marked with place holders and a poster of Newberry Award winners. I half expected her to pull out index cards to read her lecture! In any case, she stated that in the US, the "Academy Awards" for children's Literature are the Newberry and Caldecott Awards. Teacher Neni told us that the Newberry was founded in 1922 and the Caldecott in 1938.

The book she shared was EB White's Charlotte's Web. She noted that EB White is a known stylist who co-authored Elements of Style, a reference book which was invaluable to me long ago in college. The detail of the story as well as the theme appealed to her. It was also very amusing to have a literate spider as one of the main characters.

Then followed the schmoozing.

We looked over Neni's poster of Newberry Award winners and identified books we had read. Beaulah pointed out that the most recent Newberry winner, The Higher Power of Lucky, is being banned in certain libraries because the book used a certain word that some found offensive. Not surprisngly, this got us started on our usual long and heated discussion about the perils of cencorship.

Gon talked next, about reincarnation - about his belief in it, stories he has heard, and how we each should be careful about being regressed. All we could was urge him - write about it Gon, write about it!

Finally two projects were proposed. The first was an award for Filipino chidlren's books, similar to the Newberry, the second a movie festival of films based on winning children's books.

The group finally broke up at around 9 pm, and we went our separate ways. The end of a totally enjoyable evening filled with new bits of knowledge.

Dominique Garde Torres
ARA, SCBWI Philasia