Booktalk : Monday 2007 June 11

The books brought and discussed this month were:

* MVP (Written by Douglas Evans, illustrated by John Shelley)
* The Quarreling Kites (Written by Lin Acacio-Flores, illustrated by Hermes Alegre)
* One Foot, Now The Other (Written and illustrated by Tomie de Paola)
* The Dragon Who Couldn’t Breathe Fire (Time-Life series on values)
* The Sign of the Seahorse (Written and illustrated by Greame Base)
* Hoppy no Atarashii Uchi (Story and pictures by John Shelley)

Below is a more detailed report from Nikki Torres about our June Booktalk/Critique.

Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo
RA, SCBWI Philasia

A HEN PARTY

A hen party – this if often what a SCBWI Booktalk reminds me off, and the last one held last June 11 was no exception.

As has happened many times before. all the people who attened 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 and made it sould like a book about sports. We felt that Magellan Voyage Project would have been a much better title.

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 Quarelling 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 chidlren, 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 granchild 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 Paula is a SCBWI board member and that he started his career as a liturgical illustrator.

We had two “Vivian”s that night. Our first Vivian, Vian 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-linguial 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 writtem. 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 a book that was written and illustrated by John Shelley, in Japanese – Hoppy no Atarashii Uchi (Hoppy’s New House). 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 related how John, who had 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 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 imporant – 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 second Monday next month, July 9!

Dominique Garde Torres
ARA, SCBWI Philasia

Booktalk, 2006 Oct 9 : Light, and pigs

By Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

Beaulah and I suspected that it would eventually be a Booktalk with just the two of us. With the messiness of everyone’s schedule this was bound to be the case sooner or later. And that is what we thought would be on October 9.

Much to our surprise, two people showed up. Patrice Hill came and wanted to stay, she even brought a book with her. Unfortunately, after registering for the November workshop and chatting for a bit she had to leave for another appointment. Darn!

However, just a few minutes before Patrice left, David Larkin, writer, illustrator and publisher of The Modern Teacher came. So now there were three – Beaulah, Nikki and David.

I started the booktalk with Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Ring of Endless Light.” L’Engle is a writer I fell in love with as a teenager and who my eleven year old now enjoys as much as I did. The choice of this book was a no brainer for me. You see, one evening, as I was watching television, my daughter ran upstairs. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, she came down and presented me with the first poem she had ever written (or at least the first she ever showed me). This poem was inspired by “A Ring of Endless Light.” So, as I said, no brainer. I had to share the book that unlocked the door to my daughter’s literary creativity.

Briefly, this book tells the story of how a 15 year old, Vicky Austin, copes with the death of a dear family friend. As the story continues, she must, along with her other siblings, cope with a dying grandfather. Complicating matters are the three young men who are after Vicky’s heart – Leo the boy next door, Zachary the handsome but dangerous young man and Adam, the calm would-be scientist. In the end, Vicky gets comfort from an unexpected source – dolphins who are being studied by Adam.

Like all of L’Engle’s books, this one focuses on the inter-relation of all living creatures, human and non human and their ability to communicate. As always, the author is not afraid to touch on painful realities, such as death. Again, like all of L’Engle’s books, this is part of a series – each of her books deal with specific characters. Young people reading these books are spurred to read the next in the series to see how each character grows and develops.

In closing, I shared my Ruth’s poem. Below is an excerpt:

The world is like a pool of light
In the middle of it all it shines so bright
A light that sparkles in the breeze
A world that dances like the trees

Within this light we see
A mixture of feeling of people and me
A circle of happiness, anger and feeling
Within a mixture of love all in all completing

…So in a galaxy so full of light
The world is like a pool of light

Dave was supposed to be next. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to bring a book for children. Instead he had The Modern Teacher with him. This was a family publication meant for teachers around the country. It had about 60,000 subscribers.

So Beaulah then stepped up. She had actually brought three books, all on pigs, all published within a year of each other in 1989 and 1990. We briefly discussed what could have happened in those years that brought this resurgence of pig stories.

The tome she chose to share was Rene Villanueva’s “Ang Unang Baboy sa Langit.”. As Rene mentions in his book of essays “Personal,” this was his very first children’s book. Rene of course, is one of the country’s most prolific writers with over 50 stories and 30 plays as well as 29 Palanca Awards to his name.

How “Ang Unang Baboy…” came to be is an interesting story in itself. The Philippine Board on Books for Young People which was founded twenty years ago used to have a story telling hour at the Luneta. One day, the story teller for the day ended her stint rather quickly, leaving the children present wanting more. PBBY founder and now National Artist for Literature told Rene to tell the children another story. And so, literally off the top of his head, Rene told this story, inventing it on the spot. Later, it became, for Rene a simple matter of writing is down. And, as with many of his works, winning an award for it.

The book tells the story of a pig unlike any other pig. He is clean, he is respectful and he understands his role in life – to be lechon and chicharon. As such he earns the ire of the other pigs. In the end, he is slaughtered, and does become both lechon and chicharon. What is unusual is that he ascends to heaven – the first pig saint.

The book has parallel text of English and Filipino. It interested Beaulah to note that the story, the illustrations and the lay out of the parallel text were all copyrighted to specific people. The Filipino version seems to target anyone from 3 to 8 years of age who could listen, but as with many of his works, Rene did not hesitate to use complex words and ideas. It is hilarious and in many instances, irreverent.

The ideas are the kind which will encourage young people to ask questions. As simple as the story is, the tendency is to keep processing it and to keep on asking questions. Published in 1990 by Cacho Publishing, it is part of the Trampoline series, which is their line of affordable books, which at that time was priced at P50 and and below.

Beaulah also briefly spoke about “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” as told to Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith (Viking, 1989). It is a re-telling of the story of the three little pigs from the point of view of the wolf. The wolf contended that he was innocent and that he was framed. This sparked a discussion about point of view. Someone said that it actually is an interesting exercise for future story tellers. In one workshop, Rene Villanueva himself used it in one workshop, where he asked children to re-write the Cinderella story from the point of view of one of the other characters. The results were hilarious.

Thus ended out Booktalk. Come to the next one, second Monday as usual, November 13. As usual, from 6 to pm at Figaro in Greenbelt 3.

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