Inside Out And Back Again

One of my New Year's resolutions was to make time every week to read more books, which I tend not to do when I'm fully absorbed in my own writing. Being a finalist for this year's South Carolina Children's Book Awards, (it's still thrilling to say that), and seeing so many titles on the list that intrigue me, I'm determined to read most of them before the winner is announced in March of 2013.

While I usually don’t gravitate toward novels told in verse like Inside Out And Back Again, Thanhha Lai--the first-time author of this National Book Award winner--composes such beautiful, vivid prose, I feel as if I could taste the papaya tree fruit  “middle sweet, between a mango and a pear,” and feel the warm breezes of Saigon just before South Vietnam crumbled.

Told by 10-year-old Ha, who navigates her place in a community left cautious, frightened, and rationed at the cusp of Vietnam War, Ha feels helpless both as a child, and as a girl in a culture favoring boys like her 3 older brothers. Ha’s bursts of random thoughts riddle the calendar of the novel (which begins and ends with Tet, the first day of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year), like sharp staccato notes on a keyboard. Her two anchors are the papaya tree that has grown serendipitously in the yard from discarded seeds, and her beloved mother.

The family manages to escape just before Saigon falls, and journey by boat to become refugees. Finally ending up in America, the tone and pace abruptly changes, and Ha’s disappointment with her new world is palpable. As Ha pronounces: “No one would believe me but at times I would choose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama.”  

I preferred hearing about Ha's life on the run (I suppose I was hoping things would then get better for them in America, somehow). Yet the language of the book is so unexpectedly stunning, I spent the day away from my writing and read it in one sitting. 

I won’t soon forget my favorite line in the book where Ha writes about her mother: ”She’s wrong, but I still love being near her even more than I love my papaya tree. I will give her its first fruit.”

WHY THE BOOK SOUNDER STILL HAUNTS ME

I saved my favorite animal book for last. I’m capping off CHILDREN’S BOOK WEEK with SOUNDER.

Our 11-year-old Coon-like dog, Lucy, nestled by SOUNDER

William H. Armstrong's heart-wrenching story, set in 19^th century Virginia, tells of a poor sharecropper, his family and their coon dog, Sounder. When I first read SOUNDER it stayed with me for days: the cadence of the characters’ dialogue, and the thoughts of the boy. (There are no characters with names, except for Sounder.)

The story is as much about perseverance, acceptance and dignity despite injustice, as it is for fighting to save your family in the best way circumstances allow. For the boy, it’s about finding Sounder--which is his only tangible bond with his father. For the mother, it’s caring for her children instead of herself. Sounder is the glue that binds them, and a beacon for the truth that animals live among us, not beneath us. 

Metaphors in this Newbery novel abound, but every line is so brilliantly heartfelt and haunting, the images of Sounder and his family are indelibly etched in my mind.

A BOY AND HIS OLD YELLER DOG

To celebrate CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK, I'm continuing to pick favorite animal-themed books. As much as I love LAURA INGALLS WILDER’S Farmer Boy, OLD YELLER is superb in giving us a glimpse of a boy coming of age amidst the hardships of pioneer life. (And of course, I love first person narration.) How do we get drawn in after being told on the first page how the story will end? Because author FRED GIPSON is so convincingly 14-year-old Travis—every line oozes the boy’s love for his dog. And Travis is so convincingly trying to be brave—taking care of his mother and tiny brother in the Texas wilderness—the only crack to appear is the love he can’t help feeling for a dog he tries so hard not to like. Knowing that Travis is re-living the outcome again by sharing OLD YELLER’S heroic spirit with us makes the story even more aching. And every time I read it, I have to run down the stairs & give my own yeller dog a hug.

What's Your Favorite Animal-themed Book?

To honor CHILDREN’S BOOK WEEK I’m sharing my daily picks for the best animal-themed children’s books (with the help of our dog, Lucy). First up: CHARLOTTE’S WEB. 

Our 11-yr-old shelter dog, Lucy with Charlotte's Web

By now you know E.B WHITE’S classic animal/fantasy tale has had a profound effect on me (although I haven’t crossed the anthropomorphic threshold yet). With one of the best all-time beginnings: “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” it’s a story that makes you laugh, cry & appreciate animals (can anyone kill a spider, now?)as well as the world around you; which is my kind of book.What's your favorite animal-themed book?

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT OUR SCHOOL VISIT

EXTRA! EXTRA!

"Hey, I ain't no blade of grass!"said ELI in LITTLE JOE. This greenery really pops out, doesn't it?

Rich and I had a fun weekend in Columbus, Ohio. We spoke to students at Immaculate Conception School and were greeted with such enthusiasm, we’re ready to keep those revisions going on our book projects this week.

The night before we’d caught the 7^th and 8^th grade musical Little Luncheonette of Terror, and knew we’d be dealing with a poised group of learners creative enough to think about becoming authors themselves! Especially after hearing them chant in the play: BOOKS!BOOKS!WE NEED MORE BOOKS!! (Check out the musical on UTUBE below.)

Whisked to the school first thing in the morning, the younger grades had made some lively welcome posters for us.

Good thing we're kneeling-- the cleaners lengthened Rich's pants, instead of hemming them shorter!

Rich and I are still talking about the the pizza party with 20 enthusiastic contest winners, who'd written essays on why they’d like to have lunch with us. While munching on carrots sticks and gooey pizza slices, the 3rd through 8th graders asked us laser smart questions and listened attentively to our answers all through the chocolate-chip cookie dessert!

Contest winner lunch mates at I.C. School in Columbus, Ohio. Instead of saying, "Cheese!" they all said, "Little Joe!"

 Thanks to I.C.School librarian Jessica Klinker for getting the kids so jazzed about reading— I don’t think I’ve ever been featured in so many individual student book clubs! Not only had most of them read LITTLE JOE, they’d also devoured dozens of Rich’s novels—(PERPETUAL CHECK got plenty of talk with its clever chess/silhouette cover, and so did Rich's series books, THE WINNING SEASON and KICKERS).

Here's Rich and I with I.C. librarian extraordinaire, Jessica Klinker

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HAPPY 32nd EARTH DAY!

Happy 32nd EARTH DAY! Yep, the movement--begun by the Senator Gaylord Nelson--started the year I was born, but became an official day of remembrance and action in 1970.

My favorite children’s book on EARTH DAY is Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet. In it, fellow Ontarian Janet Wlison profiles 10 young environmentalists doing such doable things as PESTER POWER (constantly reminding parents what’s at stake if we don’t do sustainable things like recycling, or driving less). And I really like the story of a Malawi boy who took out a library book and taught himself how to build a windmill for his village, bringing it electricity.

One of my own traditions of remembering to value the earth, is to treat our land as kindly as you would a friend. That's why I hug a tree every EARTH DAY. They’ve been on the planet so much longer than we have, and there’s every reason for us to ensure that they’ll continue to be.

CAINE'S ARCADE: WHY KIDS ARE THE COOLEST PEOPLE

I may never look at a Fed Ex box the same way again after learning about 9-year-old Caine Monroy. 

While spending time with his dad at his east L.A. auto parts shop, Caine decided to create his own entertainment—by making an arcade. That’s right. No X Boxing here. Caine took all the different boxes his dad uses to ship parts and cut, pasted, and navigated the shapes into the most unforgettable recyclable cardboard kingdom of fun you’ve ever seen.

Think army men and re-purposed loot from Shakeys pizza as prizes, rolled up duct tape as soccer balls, and Caine himself climbing into the box to hand you your tickets or the FUN PASS—two bucks for 500 chances to win something and have fun trying. Does it get any cooler than that? (And I thought The Paper Bag Princess rocked.) Caine’s even devised a security system to prevent counterfeit FUN PASSES.

Still, business was slow for Caine, but it didn’t matter. He’d sit in his lawn chair making more cool games out of boxes.

But in a curious twist of fate along with good vibes, Caine’s tenacity and innovative genius now inspires tens of thousands around the world, and just might take low tech to new heights.

Here's how it happened. When Caine went to chat with his dad one afternoon in the back of the parts shop, his father noticed on the surveillance camera that someone was actually playing in the arcade. Caine’s first customer! And not just any customer—Nirvan Mullick, a filmmaker who would turn out to be Caine’s biggest booster.

Mullick soon invited a thousand of his closest virtual friends to come to the arcade for a day that Caine won’t soon forget. (Check out the video that has made Caine a welcome sensation and join in the fun.)