Touring with Chris : Batangas

By Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

Author’s Note: These are my personal impressions about the writing seminar with Chris Eboch, which was sponsored by the Philippine chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) in Manila on July 15 and 16, 2006. Chris is the Regional Advisor for SCBWI New Mexico, and the author several of books including The Well of Sacrifice, a young adult historical fiction set in 9th century Guatemala. – Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

Batangas
2006 July 12, Wednesday

On Wednesday the 12th, the Nazareth school very kindly arranged for one of Lipa’s tourist officers to tour us around the city after Chris’ school visit. The name of the tour guide is Aylene and wonder of wonders, she and I have met before. Really, this world is very small.
 
First she took us to the ancestral home of Segunda Katigback, purportedly the first love of Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal. It was a lovely old Spanish style house with a beautiful azotea (balcony). Most of the original furniture was there and family pictures, past and present were prominently displayed. We were toured by her descendant, a sweet old lady who gladly told us ALL about her family. She kept talking and talking and talking – it was obviously a topic very close to her heart.
 
Following this, we visited the Carmelite convent where petals were supposed to have rained down on a miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary. The place had become a shrine for Marian devotees from all over the country.
 
Our final stop was the Lipa Cathedral, a huge church in the center of town. We had to run from the car to the church and were still nearly drenched as the rain came pouring down. It was a big cavernous place with lots of paintings on the wall and with a really beautiful if rather dimly lit altar.
 
This ended our Batangas trip. As we drove home, the rain came pouring down and it truly felt like a typhoon in full swing. Conversation centered on possible floods and consequences for our next day’s trip. 

Booktalk, 2006 May 8 : Zarah, Astrid, Chris, etc.

By Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

For a while, I thought the May 8th booktalk would be the second one in a row with just four people – myself, Beaulah, my partner ARA Ani Almario and Christy Hayes – a mother, aspiring writer and SCBWI member. However, about an hour and a half into the booktalk, we were joined by Zarah Gagatiga, librarian par excellance and Astrid Tobias, outgoing President of Kuting, an association of children’s book writers.

Naughty Naughy Kiefer

AniAnyway… Ani, my fellow ARA and a publisher of children’s books brought “Naughty Naughty Kiefer” by Wendy Gardner. She was first attracted to this book because a friend, Pepper Roxas, worked with the author. Second, the author who is also a toymaker has a line of books about her pets, and many of the characters in this book have been turned into toys. In fact, Pepper gifted Ani with a keychain made by the author Wendy. The book has a very “graphic illustrationy” look to it. The colors are very bright and the illustrator played with the font type and size. Very basic colors were used. It dealt with what is normally a taboo topic – dealing with the poop that your pets leave behind. In this case, the pet was a cat named Keifer.

Beaulah noted that for books such as this, it was very important that the printer is really very careful. She noted that in Singapore, quality control is such that only “good” copies are sent out. Sadly it is not this way for many Philippine presses.

Going from books to toys or toys to books also brought the issue of merchandising to the fore. While Wendy herself wrote very good books with great illustrations, there is a whole new genre of children’s and young adult books which were spawned by TV or movie hits. Among these would be Star Wars and Dawson’s Creek. Admittedly there are also children and young people who would never have picked up Harry Potter and Tolkien if not for the success of the movies.

Nancy Drew

I spoke next. I brought book number 2 of the Nancy Drew series. Again, the mother in me made me bring the book my daughter was currently in love with. While neither Nancy Drew nor Hardy Boys is the best written or illustrated of books, they have been read by several generations of young people, including everyone at the booktalk.

Ani admitted to having read all 60 books of Nancy Drew. When she was younger, she actually tried to be as investigative as Nancy! As for Beaulah, she said that she used to save her allowance to buy each new Nancy Drew book as soon as it came out, and was deeply disappointed when she learned that Carolyn Keene was not a person a but a group of people writing under the pseudonym.

The Thief

Christy’s book was “The Thief” by Megan Whalen Turner. Although she has never heard of either the author or the book itself, she bought it on one of her many sorties into the bookstore. It was a decision she did not regret; she loved the story, and will now buy any book by the same writer. Christy pointed out that the writing style was very sparse and contained no cliches. The story was crafted very well and the cover photograph captured the imagination.

Eloise

The last to speak was Beaulah. She is an Eloise fan, and she brought several books – an original Eloise book, and a spin-off of that particular book. Beaulah ventured that while the Eloise books are very well written, she is not sure if Eloise, the book’s main character, is a child that teachers would like their students to emulate. Sadly, she said, not all teachers, parents, or other adult caregivers for children are amused by children who are naughty, mischievous, and strong minded. I myself was shocked to learn that for this reason, some libraries or homes might actually not want to have copies of Eloise books lying around. Thankfully, all of us who were gathered around the table that evening find children like Eloise adorable.

Since neither Sarah not Astrid had brought books, we went into a discussion – a never ending one – on censorship. Why such classics as Eloise and “The Catcher in the Rye” are not put on library shelves because of the “morals” which they espouse. Why classification should perhaps be according to topic and not age (children develop at different speeds, and read different tomes at different times). Naturally, this discussion, while it lasted for quite a bit, did not end with a solution. Except perhaps for the six of us who were gathered that evening; we all vowed to continue giving those children and young people that we interact with a rich and broad exposure to literature.

Till the next Booktalk!

Booktalk, 2006 Apr 10 : Russell, Katrina, etc.

By Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

The Booktalk on April 10 was a lot of a fun. There were just four of us, Nikki the mother, Beaulah the illustrator, Katrina the budding librarian and Russell who seems to do everything (and do it well).

As always, we commandeered a couple of tables at Figaro in Greenbelt 3 and stayed to talk from 6 to 9 pm. As always, if not for other appointments, I am sure we would have stayed to close the coffee shop.

As we introduced ourselves we learned that: Katrina and Nikki had worked together at the CCP. Beaulah and Nikki had also worked together in Makati. Russell had won the Salangga award first for his illustrations, then for his stories. He was also a Palanca award winning writer and a recipient of the CCP Gawad Award. We never did ask for his age, but I would say he was definitiely under 30. Katrina was in the process of putting up a public library in her hometown of Cabuyao, Laguna, coincidentally, Nikki’s husband’s hometown.

Beaulah and I have, through the course of many booktalks and through this blog shared our thoughts and selves with you, so forgive me if this intro focuses on the two newcomers to the booktalk, Russell and Katrina.

Anyway….

I shared the Grade 5 HEKASI text book of my daughter, Ruth. HEKASI stands for Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika – Geograpy, History and Civics. For the first time since the start of the SCBWI Booktalks, the book shared was chosen because the person ( I,Nikki ) really didn’t like it. The text was boring, the paper used was below par and the illustrations were not pretty.

In the discussion that followed, it was pointed out that in comparison with textbooks used in public schools, this one was of better quality – the paper was better, the illustrations clearer. Private schools do have a big advantage over public schools in that they have abit more freedom in choosing the textbooks and other learning materials for their students.

While textbooks are a major market in terms of writing and illustrating for children, it is very difficult for writers and illstrators to “have their way” so to speak in how the books are presented. The bureaucracy of textbook publishing in the Philippines is such that by the time the book is printed, too many different fingers would have stuck themselves in the pie and edited it, added to or deleted parts of the material to the point of being unrecognizble from the original. Sigh…

In the end, with no false humility, I had to admit that not matter how ugly the textbook, as a parent, it was stil up to me to monitor every single aspect of my daughetr’s education – and I do.

Next up was my old buddy Katrina. As a personal note I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised to see this girl here. I knew her as a restauratuer, a terrific conversationalist and the woman all the guys drooled over. In the year that we worked together under very high pressure, the year she saw me cry over work. For some strange reason, we never once spoke about our mutual devotion to books. Very strange. And now here we were, Nikki as ARA of the SCBWI and Katrina the founder of a soon to be opened children’s library in Nikki’s husband’s hometown. Eensy weensy world.

Anyway, Kat shared Lloyd Alexander’s “The High King.” This was a book she loved and continues to read over and over again to this date. She said that it was “not as preachy as Narnia” that it was the last of five books in a series. The language was “beautiful” perhaps because it was set in Wales. Kat discovered the series when she was a 13-year old nerd inhabiting the International School library. She said that the hero reminded her of Luke Skywalker and while there were great lessons in the novel, she said again “it was not preachy.”

The word “preachy” spawned an entire discussion about how books can and should be read for fun and not necessarily to learn. All of the four of us present at this particular booktalk had in fact fallen in love with reading because of the stories and illustrations inside each tome – not the lessons.

Russell, the man of many awards, spoke next.

His book was Tomie de Paola’s “Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs.”

Russell started by saying that his monthly personal budget includes a sum for buying books. While this particular book was a bit more expensive than usual, he liked it so much that he bought it regardless of his budget. The title intrigued him, as did the very vivid illustrations.

Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs was a semi-autobiograhical children’s book which dealt with the death of a beloved grandparent. It was written and illustrated by Tomie de Paola, a SCBWI Board member.

Aside from discussing the books, the four of us ended up talking about how topics such as death are dealt with in literature for children.

Finally, Beaulah took her turn. Ever the SCBWI Regional Advisor, she first gave Russell and Katrina a brief background on SCBWI before discussing the book she brought: “Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra” – a brightly illustrated book on the great Duke Ellington, written and illustrated by the husband and wife team by Andrea Davis Pinkney (author) and Brian Pinkney (illustrator).

The book with its illustrations showed that music is like painting. All the senses are involved. Indeed, as we each turned the pages of the book, we could each feel the spirit of jazz flowing out of the pictures, no matter that we did not actually hear the music. This book sounded like it was meant to be read aloud, the words had that sort of rhythm in them.

Beaulah pointed out that the book is a Caldecott Honor book, and that it was published in 1998, the centennial of Ellington’s birth. Sometimes, dates such as these are important in terms of marketing. It brings a whole new angle in terms of selling the material.

Thus ended our April 10 booktalk.

While I always enjoy a booktalk with a lot of people, the intimacy of having just four attend was unique. We each handled the books we brought, and in the case of Beaulah and Russell’s books, I believe we each managed to read them as well. In the end, it is amazing to find like minded people and to realize again and again that inasmuch as we all had been reading for most of our lives, there remains much to be learned from other lovers of the genre.

School Visit : Chris Eboch at PHSA

By Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

Author’s Note: These are my personal impressions about the writing seminar with Chris Eboch, which was sponsored by the Philippine chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) in Manila on July 15 and 16, 2006. Chris is the Regional Advisor for SCBWI New Mexico, and the author several of books including The Well of Sacrifice, a young adult historical fiction set in 9th century Guatemala. – Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)
 
The Philippine High School for the Arts
2006 July 17, Monday

After St. Scho, off we went to Mount Makiling and the Philippine High School for the Arts. I personally was looking forward to this particular trip because I had worked many, many times with the school and had never had any problems. I trusted their staff and was sure that the young people would not be found wanting in talent.
 
I had forgotten that it had been over two years since I had worked directly with them.
 
After a traffic filled trip we finally reached our destination. We were expecting two 1-hour sessions with 13-16 year old students, a mixture of creative writing majors, and students from other disciplines. Instead, we found that we were expected to conduct two 2-hour sessions for 8 creative writing majors and 12 teachers.
 
Obviously, it’s all a matter of miscommunication. Happily, we managed to arrange things and all the details were ironed out to everyone’s satisfaction and relief. After this, all went well.
 
With 8 creative writing majors left, the session went much, much faster. This time Chris had the time to ask all of them to read their works out loud and to give them bits of advice. She pretty much covered the same ground, only much faster and slightly more advanced. She also added lessons on description – similar to the lessons she had given the adults just a day earlier.
 
After a short break we continued. Considering that this time, Chris had the same students for both sessions, a bit more depth and rapport was established with the young ladies (yes, for some reason, all the Creative Writing Majors of the school were female!).
 
In the evening, we had an outdoor dinner by the pool, near the ruins of the school’s caffeteria which had burned in 2001. The setting with the dim lights and the music felt like prom night. On the lamp posts, the works of the young ladies were displayed. Providing additional lights were overhead projectors. They had actually attempted (and unfortunately failed) to project their works on the pool. Dinner was good and we had the chance right before that to interact a bit more with the students. After dinner, we were serenaded with somgs and instrumental pieces from the music majors and poetry read by the creative writing ladies. It ended with a few surprise words of thanks from Chris. (Even she was surprised!)
 
While this trip did not start out as well as the others, the young people with their talent and enthusiasm did more than save the day. I am reminded again and again about why I do love returning to this mystic mountain and working with its young students.
 

School Visit : Chris Eboch at St. Scholastica’s

By Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

Author’s Note: These are my personal impressions about the writing seminar with Chris Eboch, which was sponsored by the Philippine chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) in Manila on July 15 and 16, 2006. Chris is the Regional Advisor for SCBWI New Mexico, and the author several of books including The Well of Sacrifice, a young adult historical fiction set in 9th century Guatemala. – Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

Grade School, St. Scholastica’s College
2006 July 17, Monday
 
At 7 am on July 17th, we headed off for St. Scholastica’s College. We warned Chris that this would be a slightly different experience since it was known to be a conservative Catholic school. And it was.
 
After getting into the campus, it took us just a few minutes to find the elementary school. We knew we were expected by the huge sign on a portable blackboard, written with multi-colored chalk saying “Welcome Chris Eboch.” We were met by the principal, Didi Villegas. After a short stay at the conference room we were then escorted to the Library where the workshop was held.
 
A word about this library – it was wonderful! It was big, it was well lit and the children had a little raised platform with pillows and mattresses where they could lie down and read in comfort. Turtles and hamsters were available for borrowing along with the usual books.
 
The first session was for grades 3 and 4, the second for grades 5 and 6. Between sessions we had a truly delicious snack of backed macaroni, coffee, tea, softdrinks and pastry. Lunch was similarly heavy.
 
As we went up the stairs to the library, we learned a little bit about the school. We saw the huge tree, where, when a class picture was taken, ghosts were seen in the final print. And we learned that it being a girls’ school, the only boys bathroom was on the 4th floor. Poor Ikoy!
 
As with Nazareth, the talk of Chris was followed the same format. This time, she did not go into the “questions” but asked them to relate times when they were scared. This time, one or two children were able to read what they wrote.
 
An interesting note about our team was that none of us were practicing Catholics. So being in an intensely Roman Catholic school was a new and truly novel experience for all of us. The prayers before the start of the session complete with a little bow was an amusing practice, particularly for myself, a person who grew up in a rather secular school.
 
This time the young ladies sat on the floor. There was a powerpoint presentation that served as a very good introduction of Chris: who she is, where she is from, the books she has written. Questions were asked again, and this time the children were a little bit more discreet. Instead of asking if she had a boyfriend, they instead asked her to “tell us more about yourself.” But the autograph signing was the same, as was appreciation we felt from all of them. Lucky old Chris came away from the experience with a gift of books and a jacket. Again, Chris donated a copy of her book to their already large library.
 
Again, my goofy smile must have been plastered on my face all morning because again, I was amused, touched and satisfied with the students and their teachers.

Right: They say this tree is so old, and so much a part of St. Scholastica’s 100-year history that once, a group had their picture taken here and when the photo was developed one could see . . . .
 

School Visit : Chris Eboch in Lipa, Batangas

By Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

 

Author’s Note: These are my personal impressions about the writing seminar with Chris Eboch, which was sponsored by the Philippine chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) in Manila on July 15 and 16, 2006. Chris is the Regional Advisor for SCBWI New Mexico, and the author several of books including The Well of Sacrifice, a young adult historical fiction set in 9th century Guatemala. – Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki) 

The Nazareth School

2006 July 12, Wednesday

We refused to believe native Lipeno Dennis Marasigan when he told us that it would take only an hour and half to get from Manila to Batangas. And as I told Chris, she was stuck with two people who are both a bit fanatic about time. I take pride in being late very rarely, on those occassions that I am, I turn slightly frantic. Beaulah would rather be two hours early than ten minutes late. So we got to the city about an hour and half early and a full hour in advance of our appointment at the school.  

Having been unable to download the map which I had nagged Nazareth into e-mailing me, we were able to get to Lipa quite easily but had absolutely no idea where the school was. Fortunately, a couple of young people eating at MacDonald’s (where we also had breakfast) knew where it is and ten minutes later, we were at the school.  

The school was a small school – or a big house, depending on how you want to see it. We were met by Jo Ann Reyes, their very amiable school directress. This woman was all eagerness and warmth, and very, very accommodating. Her English, I noticed, was excellent. In consideration of our early arrival, she immediately made sure that the first batch of students were ready 30 minutes ahead of schedule.  

As we went down the hallways of the school, we were barraged with the images of the children’s works pinned all over the walls. We learned from Jo-Ann that instead of relying on English and Filipino textbooks, the teachers use reading lists that they provided to the students. In the classroom, we found that instead of individual chairs with desks, the children sat in tables together. All over the walls of the rooms, more samples of their work were proudly displayed.  

The first session with the grades 3 and 4 students started at 8:30 and ended at 9:00. I hesitate to go into details about how and what Chris taught since I suspect this is copyrighted under her name. Suffice it to say that she started by asking the children what their favorite books were and continued with guidelines or rather guide questions in putting together a story. After a brief talk on the questions, she allowed them a few minutes to write. This was pretty much the system she followed: lecture, discuss, write. Lecture, discuss, write. Finally, to illustrate her point, she discussed her book and showed them illustrations from it. The second session, which was from 9:30 to 10:30, was pretty much the same.  

Chris did allot a certain amount of time for questions and answers. Here the children amused the adults with their wit and with the directness of their queries. One little boy actually asked Chris outright how much money she made. Another wanted to know if she had a boyfriend. There were questions about how much time she took to write the 200 pages of the book. When they learned that it took her six months, there was collective gasp of “Oh No!’ And there were many, many questions on how her story ended. So much so that she ended up donating the book to their library!  

After both sessions, the children very sweetly (and agressively and insistently) asked Chris for her autograph.  

In between sessions we had a really delicious merienda of chocolate-e and bibingka and for lunch we had caldereta, fish and chicken. Delicious, and for Chris a really good introduction to Filipino food. They sent us off with requests for many more activities of this kind as well as gifts of suman and coffee, and for Chris a huge candle.  

It was on a very personal level, a very satisfying experience. Watching the faces of the children, their eagerness to learn made me feel so good that I had a rather goofy smile plastered on my face for most of the time. This was also the first time that the four of us – Beaulah, Nikki, Chris and Ikoy – worked as a team and it was, even if I do say so myself, a pretty good team. Beaulah was the team leader, Ikoy was the photographer/driver, Nikki was the coordinator and Chris was of course, the teacher.

Left: 7 a.m. at McDonald’s Lipa found Chris, Nikki and Beaulah having breakfast before the school visit. (Thanks to Nazareth School Director Jo-Ann Reyes for allowing us to use these photos here. Photos copyright 2006 by Mark Taguiwalo).The Nazareth School