VOL. 47, NO. 4 OCTOBER 2009

ON WAR: When Children Die in War; Death in War Literature for Children and Youth • Bringing Books and Children Together: Croatian War Experiences • Peace and Peacemakers in Books for Children • The War Inside Books • What Do We Tell the Children? War in the Work of Roberto Innocenti The Journal of IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People Copyright © 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. Reproduction of articles in Bookbird requires permission in writing from the editor.

Editors: Catherine Kurkjian and Sylvia Vardell

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Editorial Review Board: Sandra Beckett (Canada),Emy Beseghi (Italy), Ernest Bond (USA), Penni Cotton (UK), Hannelore Daubert (Germany), Claire Malarte-Feldman (USA), Erica Hateley (Australia), Nancy Hadaway (USA), Hans-Heino Ewers (Germany), Janet Hilbun (USA), Jeffrey Garrett (USA), June Jacko (USA), Kerry Mallan (Australia), Nadia El Kholy (Egypt), Kerry Mallan (Australia), Chloe Mauger (Australia), Lissa Paul (USA), Linda Pavonetti (USA), Ira Saxena (India), Anna Karlskov Skyggebjerg (Denmark), Deborah Soria (Italy), Liz Thiel (UK), Mary Shine Thompson (Ireland), Mudite Treimane (Latvia), Jochen Weber (Germany), Terrell A. Young (USA)

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Cover image: Leo and Diane Dillon (1992). AK by Peter Dickinson. New York: Delacorte Press. I said it in Hebrew – I said it in Dutch – I said it in German and Greek: But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much) That English is what you must speak!

FIT THE FIRST: JAM AND JUDICIOUS ADVICE Editorial | ii

FIT TH E SECOND: THOUGHTFUL AND GRAVE When children die in war; Death in war literature for children and youth Milena Šubrtová | 1 Bringing books and children together: Croatian war experiences Ivanka Stričević | 9 Peace and peacemakers in books for children Ira Saxena | 21

IRD: SUCH QUANTITIE HE TH S OF SA IT T The war inside books ND F Roberto Innocenti | 27 What do we tell the children? War in the work of Roberto Innocenti Lindsay Myers | 32 FOURTH: OF SHOES AND SHIP G WAX FIT THE S AND SEALIN Her ways with pictures and words: An interview with Marie-Louise Gay S. Rebecca Leigh | 41

Understanding the Other: Alterity in contemporary Greek fiction for young adults Vassiliki Lalagianni | 51

UNDRUM FIT THE FIFTH: CON S TO GUESS Postcards from Around the World | interleaved Books on Books | 59 Focus IBBY | 64 “The Dubai Sonnet” Ted van Lieshout | 74

The quoted stanza is from “The Hunting of the Snark” by Lewis Carroll. The titles of various Bookbird sections are taken from that same poem, from “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, also by Lewis Carroll, and from “The Owl and the Pussycat” by Edward Lear. Editorial

Dear Bookbird Readers, n this issue of Bookbird, we turn our attention to the difficult subject of war, particularly as to how it is depicted in books for I children and young adults. Sadly, many children around the world Bookbird editors continue to live amidst conflict and violence. The writers in this issue consider the many ways in which war affects children including how books for young people reflect war history, how childhood experiences with war shape future writers, and how literature can support children and families in surviving war and conflict.

Feature articles Milena Šubrtová’s article When children die in war: Death in war SYLVIA VARDELL is a professor literature for children and youth gives us an historical perspective on at Texas Woman’s University (USA) where she teaches graduate courses the depiction of war in books for young people, from the portrayal of in children’s literature. She is the the heroic to the disillusioned character, including how writers handle author of CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN ACTION: A LIBRARIAN’S GUIDE and the the deaths of children. What do the voices of the characters tell us? PoetryForChildren blog. How do their voices inform the present? What can we learn that will be helpful to children whose lives are torn apart by war? This is the essential question that Ivanka Stričević addresses in Bringing books and children together: Croatian war experiences. We learn the valuable role libraries played during the difficult war years in Croatia and how libraries created a sense of normalcy for children, families, and communities living in the most difficult of circumstances. Stričević shares powerful lessons to learn about how libraries can help children and families maintain their CATHERINE KURKJIAN is a humanity in inhumane times. professor in the Department of Reading and Language Arts at Central Next, two children’s book authors offer their experiences growing Connecticut State University (USA) where up during wartime. Author Ira Saxena’s Peace and peacemakers in she teaches courses in Reading and Language Arts and Children’s Literature. books for children writes about her own experiences as the daughter of Her areas of specialization include a Gandhian freedom fighter growing up in India during that country’s children’s literature and the intersection of literacy and technology. struggle for freedom. She conveys the Gandhian view of peace that goes beyond the absence of violence and which must include the presence

© 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. EDITORAL of justice. Saxena presents a discussion of books Netherlands with special attention given to eight in which peacemakers like Gandhi, Dr. Martin representative authors, to picture book illustration Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela sought in Korean children’s books, to a critical study of the justice through nonviolent means. work of acclaimed Swedish author Peter Pohl, to a Acclaimed artist and illustrator, Roberto retrospective view of Australian author and artist Innocenti, shares his thoughts about growing up as Graeme Base, to a scholarly look at the world of a child in war-torn Italy, as well as his insights about postmodernism in children’s picture books. how political ideologies are represented in books for Glenna Sloan once again brings us Postcards children. In his essay The war inside books we get a from Around the World with mini-reviews of behind-the-scenes view of how his books depicting children’s books. Each offers a special focus on war came to be published. Lindsay Myers’s What the issue of war, including interview-based works do we tell children? War in the work of Italian edited by Canadian author/interviewer Deborah illustrator, Roberto Innocenti offers a fascinating Ellis, and the team of Marc Aronson and Patty companion piece, brilliantly analyzing Innocenti’s Campbell, a nonfiction history of the Battle of illustrations depicting the experiences that children the Teutoburg Forest in Germany, real-life refugee have of war in Rose Blanche, Erika’s Story, and Leda experiences across Africa, war orphan stories from e il mago. When taken together, these three articles Vietnam and Afghanistan, the real and symbolic remind us that children should be afforded access power of a garden or art in times of war, and a war to history and, more importantly, that the child’s fable. place in history should be acknowledged. Liz Page helps us keep current with IBBY This issue also features two articles that expand happenings with the Focus IBBY column. Liz our understanding of the artistic process and the brings us news about the International Youth nature of multiculturalism in books for youth. Library’s 60th anniversary, about exciting plans S. Rebecca Leigh shares insights from award for our World Congress to be held in Santiago de winning Canadian author and illustrator, Marie- Compostela in September 2010, and about National Louise Gay, who creates picture books in two Book Fairs spanning the globe. Additionally, IBBY languages. Her ways with pictures and words: President Patsy Aldana provides an update on An interview with Marie-Louise Gay provides us IBBY’s important work and accomplishments half with an insider’s view on the work of this prolific way through her tenure as president. artist. And scholar Vassiliki Lalagianni examines Finally, our back-page Poem in this issue offers the depiction of “other” cultures in Greek fiction an innovative poem that crosses all cultures and for young people in Understanding the Other: language barriers. Award-winning Dutch poet, Ted Alterity in contemporary Greek fiction for young van Lieshout, kindly shares “The Dubai Sonnet,” adults. Lalagianni explores the multifaceted and a poem built upon the strict line and stanza sometimes stereotypical portrayal of what it means structure of the sonnet. However, instead of words, to be a stranger in a strange land and offers hope van Lieshout cleverly places objects in repeating that literature will ultimately challenge bigotry patterns that echo the look and rhythm of a poem’s and broaden perspectives about those who are language. It’s a visual treat and one that children different. will surely enjoy imitating themselves. Once again we scan the globe from India to Italy, The departments Canada to Croatia, to consider how war, conflict, The departments bring our readers information and violence impact children and the books created about professional resources and children’s books for them. In the spirit of IBBY founder, Jella from around the world. In Books on Books, Lepman, we hope these perspectives reinforce our the reviews in this issue address a wide range of focus on the goal of peace through books for young topics, from the history of children’s books in the people.

No. 4 – 2009 | iii As in Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak (2004) and Off to War: Voices of Soldiers’ Children Ellis here gives voice to the youngest sufferers of the(2008), ON OR TO tragic catastrophes brought about by war and conflict. The T children speak for themselves in Ellis’s books with minimal

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editorial comment. Refugee children now in Canada and C

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N D Jordan speak frankly about the horrors and misery they A and their displaced families endure: poverty, ill health, disability, fear of deportation, discrimination, uncertainty Deborah Ellis for the future and much more. Particularly moving in the children’s words is evidence of their capacity for hope and Children of War: of their resilience in overcoming horror and devastation in Voices of Iraqi Refugees positive ways. Yemen, 13, a young musician from Baghdad comments: “I wish we could use music somehow to stop Toronto, Canada: Groundwood war. I know it sounds silly, but instead of picking up a gun, Books, 2009 soldiers should instead pick up a guitar or a saxophone…. They could have battles with music, to see who could make 144 pp. ISBN-10: 0888999070; the best music.” ISBN-13: 9780888999078 (nonfiction, 12+) Glenna Sloan

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In the year 9 Anno Domini, Aminius and his Germanic N

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G warriors defeated the forces of General Varus. How can we tell? M E

Wolfgang Korn describes how historians and archaeologists try to R reconstruct the mystery of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Korn demonstrates how every discipline proceeds and makes conclusions Wolfgang Korn from their actual research results. He holds his readers in suspense with counter-arguments and encourages them to critically reflect Das Rätsel der Varusschlacht on scientific or academic “proofs.” The brilliant ink drawings by Klaus Ensikat illustrate the past in rich detail. The self-contained (The Mystery of the Battle of form of illustration illuminates many issues beyond the text. This the Teutoburg Forest), the illustrations. The enlightening, innovative andboth well-researched the text and nonfiction book combines information in Illus. Klaus Ensikat nonfiction nominee for the German Youth Literature Award for 2009, this work engages the reader’s emotions and extends an Cologne: Fackelträger, 2008 invitation to think for oneself. 224pp. ISBN: 978-3-7716-4379 (nonfiction , 12+) Susanne Helene Becker

iv | BOOKBIRD Death in War Literature for Children and Youth and Children for Literature War in Death War: In Die Children When

From the 19th century novel, The Heart of a Boy (1886) to the contemporary collection Stolen Voices: Young People’s War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq (2006), children have suffered the ravages of war and have been depicted in stories and accounts of war experiences. What do their voices tell us?

he history of literature for children and youth, since its beginnings in the late 17th century, has not avoided serious T topics such as war and conflicts. Scenes of the suffering, violence, horror, and death connected with war can be found in literary works aimed at child readers for at least 200 years. From the 19th century novel, The Heart of a Boy (1886) to the contemporary by MILENA ŠUBRTOVÁ collection Stolen Voices: Young People’s War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq (2006), children have suffered the ravages of war and been depicted in stories and accounts of war experiences. Whether heroes or victims, political pawns or eyewitnesses, the role of children in war literature is worthy of close examination and analysis.

Heroic death on the battlefield In the 19th century, death and dying were a natural part of a child’s life and also part of literary works dealing with war. In his novel The Heart Milena Šubrtová is an assistant professor at Masaryk University, Faculty of a Boy (1886), one of the founding works of modern prose for children of Education, in Brno, Czech Republic. Her main field of interest is world © 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. literature for children and youth. WHEN CHILDREN DIE IN WAR and youth, Edmondo de Amicis does not deal with dumb witnesses, of course, but often are given the death as an existential matter, but as a natural part narrator’s part. In Czech and Slovak literature for of the child’s experience. Death is featured in the children and youth, the immediate postwar period narrative line of the novel, in inserted letters, but witnessed a large-scale appearance of literature especially in the so-called “month” stories depicting depicting adventures of the Czechoslovak foreign the brave deeds of Italian boys from various regions. legions (e.g., František Langer’s Pes druhé roty / The Child characters do not hesitate to lay down their Dog of the Second Company/, 1923; Rudolf Medek’s lives for their countries or to save someone else’s O našich legiích, dětech a zvířátkách na Sibiři /About life. They are portrayed in critical life situations Our Legions, Children and Animals in Siberia/, 1921). In Russian literature for young people, the end Child characters do not of the war is connected with scenes of that country hesitate to lay down their lives being ravaged by civil war, including the devastating for their countries or to save effects on children. In his novel Tashkent, City of Bread (1923), Alexander Sergeyevich Neverov someone else’s life. depicts the journey of twelve-year-old Mishka and his younger friend, Seryozka, from their native that demand an extraordinary exertion of moral village in the Volga valley, which is suffering from powers, and all the children meet the challenge. famine, to Tashkent where they plan to find food In these stories the scene of death has an intensive and corn for sowing. They encounter death from heroic form. It is death in the name of higher aims the very beginning of their journey and desperate and ideals leading to an elevation of the deceased situations sometimes weaken their moral principles – the victim becomes a hero. The main character (starving Mishka steals a piece of bread from a dying of the story “The Little Vidette of Lombardy” is a old man), but their strong friendship lasts until foundling living at the public expense. He willingly Seryozka’s death from typhus. Mishka continues offers his help to soldiers and from the top of the exhausting quest, driven by the desire to live a high tree he reports the position of the enemy until he is hit by a bullet. Death thus makes a war hero out of an ordinary boy. Homage is paid to his The civil war is depicted in dead body by the passing troops in a spontaneous the Russian literature of that act of gratitude and his death becomes the heroic period from a one-sided and culmination of the otherwise insignificant existence of a village shepherd boy (Šubrtová, 2007). ideologically tinted viewpoint.

Disillusionment and death as a and his feeling of responsibility for his widowed premature end of life mother and younger siblings. His mentality is no In the first half of the 20th century, war suffering is longer childish and naïve and the twelve-year-old treated variously in literature for children and youth boy grows into a brave hero and purposeful head according to the social, political and geographical of house. contexts. The immediate literary reaction to the The civil war is depicted in the Russian literature First World War in 1914-1918 avoids depictions of of that period from a one-sided and ideologically war horrors and violence as if the authors wanted to tinted viewpoint. In R.V.S./Revolutionary Military protect child readers who had been frequently hurt Soviet (1926) by Arkadi Gaidar, which takes by the war. Animal protagonists are substituted place during the civil war in the Ukraine, the boy for the child characters and act as witnesses to or characters plan to run away from their home, which direct participants in war clashes. They are not has long ceased to be a safe refuge. Their fates are

2 | BOOKBIRD WHEN CHILDREN DIE IN WAR affected, though, by the need to take care of a wounded soldier of the Red Army. In this prose, too, the child characters are permanently in danger of death and come in close contact with death and dying. But saving a soldier of the Red Army suggests a symbolic dimension in which important posts will be taken by children who are brave. The children in these works have traits of adult characters, thus interconnecting literature for children and literature for adults. Literature for children and youth about the First World War (1914- 1918) is written from the distance of many decades already influenced by multiple interpretations of the given conflict as a finished historical event. Whereas the immediate reactions to the war were influenced, of course, by the situation of the period (they reflect more patriotism and celebration of war heroism), the contemporary literature about the war is significantly humanistic and pacifistic. Most national literatures depict war and death (especially the death of minors) as absurd and useless. The adolescent protagonists usually undergo a transformation when they awake from their naïve patriotic enthusiasm in the middle of a war hell. Facing the threat of death, they witness the painful dying of their closest friends and often lose their lives prematurely on the battleground without identifying themselves with the ideals for which they fall. Arthur Ténor in the novel Mémoire à vif (2007), a story of fifteen-year- old Max dreaming of a journalistic career, shows a thin border between the hero, the victim, and the killer. Max, influenced by the exciting atmosphere of the August 1914 mobilization, embarks on a risky course of action following a convoy of cars confiscated by the army. The adventurous expedition into which the boy hurls himself with patriotic enthusiasm soon changes into a bitter experience. The adolescent boy gets in the battle line and horrendous war scenes are revealed before him (maimed bodies, the death agony of the injured). Max has direct contact with death not only as a witness, but also as a partaker – there is no room any more for neutral observers in the war. He has to take a weapon and kill. His diary, reflecting war through the eyes of a minor, depicts the horrendous dimension of the war consisting of the violation of all moral principles. The events deeply affect the boy and it is only through It is the individualization of self-reflection in his diary that he is able to return to a normal life. originally anonymous victims The very participation in the slaughter of war is and their lives that intensifies the stigmatizing for the adolescent characters in the novel Camarades/Friends by Catherine Cuenca (2005). The useless deaths of war. protagonist called Félicien has to fulfill a promise he made to his friend Delphin. A seemingly simple task – to write a letter about his friend’s death in battle to his family – becomes a burdensome chore. Félicien, who himself is heartbroken by sadness, reveals the absurdity of war in his recapitulation of the war’s events. It is the individualization of originally anonymous victims and their lives that intensifies the useless deaths of war. In another novel about war,

No. 4 – 2009 | 3 WHEN CHILDREN DIE IN WAR Il s´appelait le soldat inconnu /His name was unknown soldier (2004), Ténor depicts the lives of the lovers François and Lucie from their idyllic childhood to adulthood. In patriotic enthusiasm, François leaves for the front where he faces imminent danger. The death of his close fellow soldiers causes a change in his view of the war, but he himself becomes one of the many victims of the war. Accidentally, Lucie happens to learn about the death of her fiancé and about his body having just been buried under the Arc de Triomphe as the body of the Unknown Soldier. Death in war is no longer a heroic death – ironically, it only becomes heroic when the adolescent protagonist opposes the blind military machine by disobeying an order to kill. The retrospectively narrated story Private Peaceful (2003) by Michael Morpurgo is one of the works introducing that new type of hero. Two brothers oppose the inhuman demands made by the army. The elder Charlie refuses to leave his injured younger brother, thus defying his superior’s order, and is shot to death as an example. Soldiers of both sides feel aversion to killing one another; the war fury cannot be justified in any way. The topic of disillusionment and aversion to killing is also Morpurgo’s focus in his novel War Horse (1982). An instructional dimension can be found in the picture book (album) Zappe la guerre /Zap the war (1998) written by PEF (Pierre Elie Ferrier). A postmodern approach makes use of an almost horror-film motif of fallen soldiers coming back to the present and is not supposed to frighten readers, but is a motivational starting point for confronting the historical experience and the uninformed present. The Death is shown primarily book aims at provoking the child reader to think more as a loss that cannot be critically about the war, which they see either as a closed and compensated for by any long-ago history (as evidenced by their indifference when passing by memorials to war victims) or as a geographically feeling of noble sacrifice. distant event that is not affecting them personally and has lost impact due to large-scale publicity in the media. The title itself is a reference to the indifference that paradoxically often results from oversaturation with news of war conflicts. “Zap the war,” says the grandfather to the boy when watching TV shots from battlefields in Sarajevo and Rwanda. Eighty years after the end of the war, the fallen soldiers come to life in the album, appearing in the present world and wishing to see if their sacrifice made any sense for humankind. One of them, a teacher, tries to explain to the little boy what happened at that time. In the book modest text is linked with illustrations, managing to avoid pathos and even incorporate elements of black humor (e.g., hints at war injuries that are depicted with naturalistic roughness, but also with humorous aloofness). However, death is shown primarily as a loss that cannot be compensated for by any feeling of noble sacrifice.

Ideological manipulation The Second World War, 1939-1945, is depicted in various forms of

4 | BOOKBIRD WHEN CHILDREN DIE IN WAR literature for children and youth, in several waves of readers (e.g. rewriting the original records, using books on this topic. In the countries of the former cover names for real people). The appalling fate of Eastern Bloc, and in their literatures, there was a the deported Jews is not depicted here directly, but considerable ideologization of literary works. The the Jewish tragedy is revealed in the fear experienced Second World War was interpreted as a clash of by Anne, her family, and friends in their hiding antagonistic class forces. The role of the American places. Death becomes a permanent threat as it allies was downplayed in order to highlight the Red does not come as the culmination of life, but as an Army and the Soviet Union. In those texts, children unworthy, brutal, and premature severance. The serve as symbols of the new life participating first edition of The Diary of Anne Frank published actively in military actions in which they think by her father, who was the only member of the and act as adults. An example may be Jura Sosnar’s family to survive the Holocaust, became a global book Jurášek/Yurashek (1951), highly praised by bestseller. Alison Leslie Gold returned to the fate of the critics of that period. A young boy participates Anne Frank with her novel Memories of Anne Frank in the resistance movement and sacrifices the lives (1997) in which she dealt with the testimony of of his cousin and uncle and risks his own life in Hannah Goslar, an intimate friend of Anne Frank. order not to put a Soviet partisan and his radio The novel begins with the sudden disappearance of transmitter in danger. When he himself is dying, the Frank family and reconstructs the story of an natural feelings of fear or grief are suppressed in interrupted friendship between the two girls. They him by the proud combat tradition of the youth met in Bergen-Belsen only two months before movement he avows. Similar characters of “adult- Anne’s death. There is also a less well-known diary like children” deprived of the usual attributes of written by a Polish girl, Wanda Prybylska, from childhood and facing danger and death with a rather age twelve until her premature death in 1944. It implausible courage and composure were typical was published under the title Czastka mego serca: of the literary production of the above-mentioned Pamietniki z lat wojny /Part of my heart: Diaries from national literatures especially in the 1950s. the war years (1964). Here there are uncensored pictures of the fragile world of girl adolescence in Lives in hiding and the threat of death contrast with the cruelties of war (e.g., only a few In the next phase, demythologization and days before her own death, Wanda digs out her desacralizing of war events takes place. The war is depicted more from the perspective of the child who does not understand all that is happening Human solidarity plays an around him or her. The picture of the child dying important role, creating barriers in war is transformed, too. The emotionally strongest depiction of death is now that which is to war hatred and saving human allusive and whose terrifying irreversibility must be lives. reconstructed by the child recipient himself/herself on the basis of his/her own reading experience and mortally wounded girlfriend from the ruins after social-historical knowledge (Ottevaere van Praag, a bombardment). There is also sad evidence of 1999). war in the literary works of the children interned Authentic documents have a special position in in concentration camps, escaping the depressing this literary sphere. The diary of Anne Frank first reality through their writing and drawing, but also served only as a distraction written by a twelve- expressing their fear; e.g., the works by the children year-old girl for her own needs. However, given the from the Theresienstadt concentration camp unusual character of the time in which she lived, (Stargardt, 2005). the diary gradually turned into a historical record The feelings and experiences of children growing being stylized by the author with regard to potential up in ghettoes or extermination camps and in the

No. 4 – 2009 | 5 WHEN CHILDREN DIE IN WAR occupied territories were convincingly depicted Polish Jewish friend Shmuel, separated from him by a number of authors (Uri Orlev, Chaim Potok, by barbed wire, are unimaginable for him because Hubert Mingarelli, Aranka Siegal, Alki Zei). Many he only compares them with his own experience. of them returned to their own childhood experiences Thus, the prison stripes change in Bruno’s naïve and memories for these literary works. In these interpretation to be innocent striped pajamas. The narratives, human solidarity plays an important role, relationship of the boys, symbolically expressed by creating barriers to war hatred and saving human them sharing the same day of birth, culminates in lives. Hans Peter Richter gives an example of such their common death in the gas chamber. The tragedy a friendship in the novel Damals war es Friedrich / of their lives is intensified through the narrative Friedrich (1961), a story of the friendship between perspective of Bruno’s trusting view of the world. It two boys, one of them being of Jewish origin. A is the view of a child who has not experienced evil similar motif appears in the book, Zakázané holky / and is not able to admit the failure of the world in Prohibited girls (1995) by Hana Bořkovcová which which his father partakes. The child reader even has retrospectively describes the friendship of an Aryan to deduce the death of Bruno and Shmuel from the girl named Jana with three Jewish sisters. Gradually, hinted context. Jana ceases to see her Jewish friends – they cannot No matter how well written, nearly any fiction is go to school or to the park. Jana then risks her life surpassed by authentic testimonies and true stories. visiting them secretly at home until her girlfriends The book Hana’s Suitcase: A True Story (2002) by end up in one of the transports to a concentration Karen Levine was borne out of a scratched suitcase from Auschwitz inscribed with the girl’s name No matter how well written, “Hana Brady” and placed in a Tokyo museum. The story of its child owner was reconstructed as a result nearly any fiction is surpassed by of the interest of child visitors to the museum for authentic testimonies and true whom the mystery of the empty suitcase provoked a lot of questions. The suitcase, as a symbol of stories. traveling, thus connected three parts of the world: a Japanese schoolteacher, Fumiko Ishioka, searches camp. The child protagonist does not have an idea for information about Hana getting to Terezin in of the horrifying conditions, whereas the child the Czech Republic, where she manages to find reader with elementary historical knowledge already Hana’s brother George who survived the holocaust guesses the unhappy end. The narrator is Jana who and now lives in Canada. Karen Levine made a returns in memories to the unfinished lives of her documentary about the whole search, which – Jewish girlfriends half a century after the end of the together with George Brady’s memories – became war. The author herself experienced and survived the material for the book. an extermination camp, but when writing about In these narratives, authors depict the fate of the viewpoint of a child condemned to death, she child characters-- their desire for life, their dreams dealt with that topic in prose aimed only at adults and plans-- and then they disappear, not only from (Soukromý rozhovor /Private conversation, 2006). the framework of the narration, but from life itself. In the novel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas This leaves a chilling impression on the reader. (2006), John Boyne shows the cruelty of war This kind of death is not an absurd play like many describing the fate of two boys connected to each of the protagonists in the works about the First other by their childlike desire for pure friendship. World War experienced. Children now become real They are divided, though, by their origins resulting victims of conflicts that they are frequently not able also in different life situations. Nine-year-old Bruno to understand. The more euphemistically death is is the son of the commander of the Auschwitz depicted, the bigger the contrast between life and extermination camp; and the grim conditions of his death. Here death turns out to be a synonym for

6 | BOOKBIRD WHEN CHILDREN DIE IN WAR emptiness – permanent and without boundaries. Death is an analogy for alienation and annihilation; despite all the tribulations experienced by the child characters, it cannot be taken as liberation.

Testimonies of current war childhoods The second half of the 20th century also witnessed a number of armed conflicts in which children suffered. Testimonies of the war tribulations of children are provided by their diaries that – similar to Anne Frank’s diary – were not originally meant for a wider readership. These diaries become not only important historical, but also psychological, documents as the writers have to give up their original lives (school, friendly contacts, traveling) due to war events, retreating to real shelters as well as imaginary ones in their own ideas and memories. The Bosnian native Zlata Filipović lived in Sarajevo when it was besieged by war in 1992-1993. The twelve- year-old girl gradually gets used to material deficiency and social isolation, but cannot cope with cruelty and dying. The death of her child friend Nina, hit by a bombshell in a park, is the first but not the last painful experience for Zlata. “Slaughter! Massacre! Horror! Crime! Blood! Crying! Tears! Despair!”-- are one-word exclamations that she uses to describe one of many days of her war childhood. She clings more to all that reminds her of her former life, mourning over a dead budgie (bird) and a pussycat. Taking her cue from Anne Frank, whose diaries she read before the outbreak of the war, she gives her diary a name and the salutation “Dear Mimmy” at the beginning of each entry, which gives the impression of a dialogue with an intimate girlfriend. Filipović, nicknamed “Anne Frank from Sarajevo,” published her diary through UNICEF and - thanks to that organization - she managed to escape with her parents from Sarajevo to Paris. The diary of Zlata Filipović later became part of the whole collection of war-child diaries written in the period from the First World War to the present, Stolen Voices: Young People’s War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq (2006) edited by Filipović and Melanie Challenger. The Iraqi girl Hoda bravely faces everyday danger and fear, but she cannot cope with the death of innocent civilian persons. The death of her closest girlfriends drives her into depression, depriving her of any enjoyment in life. The war invisibly marks her forever and the writing of the diary becomes a form of psychotherapy. Naturally, war shakes the belief of children and adolescents living in a clearly ordered world and the values and ideals that have been instilled into them from their youngest years. It is certainly not a coincidence that many fictitious literary characters and actual writers of war diaries clung so much to their pets, taking care of them and mourning their loss. The care of a pet was an attempt to create one’s own micro-world in which solidarity, love and respect for the life of every creature holds true. The depiction of war in literature for children and youth

No. 4 – 2009 | 7 WHEN CHILDREN DIE IN WAR is often linked with the motif of separation from Children´s books cited home, wandering, and entering into a group Amicis, de E. (1886). Cuore (published in English as of elders (men and women, comrades-in-arms, Cuore: The Heart of a Boy, Peter Owen Publishers, or fellow-prisoners) among whom the minor 2004). protagonists find their patrons and guides. These Bořkovcová, H. (1995). Zakázané holky. Praha: features resemble the structure of the novel of Albatros. Boyne, J. (2006). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. initiation typical of youth literature. In accordance London: David Fickling Books. with its genre conventions, the literary characters Cuenca, C. (2005). Camarades. Édition Labor. Dickinson, P. (1992). AK. New York: Delacorte Press. For children who spend their Filipović, Z. & Challenger, M. (2006). Stolen Voices: Young People´s War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq. entire childhood in war, New York: Penguin Books. however, war is unfortunately an Frank, A. (1947) Het Achterhuis (newest edition in English - The Diary of Anne Frank: The Critical inseparable part of their identity. Edition. New York: Doubleday, 1989). Gaidar, A. (1926) R.V.S. (published in English as RVS,1927) frequently experience a symbolic death (injury or Gold, A. L. (1997) Memories of Anne Frank. New York: danger when they find themselves at the boundary of Scholastic. life and death) and return to life as newly born with Levine, K. (2002) Hana´s Suitcase. Toronto: Second new identities. For children who spend their entire Story Press. childhood in war, however, war is unfortunately an Morpurgo, M. (2003) Private Peaceful. London: inseparable part of their identity. In the novel AK Collins. (1990), Peter Dickinson describes a twelve-year-old Neverov, A. (1923) Taskhent – gorod khlebnyi (published African boy who has lost his family in a civil war and in English as City of Bread. New York: George H. is adopted by the leader of the opposition troops. Doran Company, 1927) The boy undergoes everyday risk in the midst of PEF (1998). Zappe la guerre. Voisins le Bretonneux, France: Rue du monde. fighting, which changes his mindset – “The war is Przybylska, W. (1985). Czastka mego serca: Pamietniki z my mother,” he says. lat wojny. Warszawa: Czytelnik. The literature dealing with modern war conflicts Richter, H P. (1961). Damals war es Friedrich (published is dominated by the image of the child as a martyr in English as Friedrich. New York:Scholastic. 1970) and innocent victim. Children’s desire for life and Sosnar, J. (1951). Jurášek. Praha: SNDK. their tenacity in protecting the lives of loved ones Ténor, A. (2007). Mémoire à vif. Nantes: Gulf Stream. contrasts sharply with the extent of mass destruction Ténor, A. (2004). Il s´appelait le soldat inconnu. Paris: and the slaughter of war. Gallimard. References Praag, van, G. O. (1999). Histoire du récit pour la jeunesse au XXe siècle. Bruxelles-Bern-Berlin-Frankfurt/M. New York-Wien: Peter Lang. Stargardt, N. (2005). Witnesses of War: Children´s Lives under the Nazis. London: Jonathan Cape. Šubrtová, M. (2007). Tematika smrti v české a světové próze pro děti a mládež. Brno, Czech Republic: Pedagogická fakulta MU.

8 | BOOKBIRD Croatian War Experiences War Croatian Together: Children and Books Bringing

In this article, Stričević reports on the valuable role libraries played during the difficult war years in Croatia. She shares details and insights on how libraries helped children, families, and communities cope with the most difficult of circumstances.

dults who work with young people and care for them are not usually in a position to stop the wars or disasters in A their environment, but they can help children cope with the consequences of these atrocities. Adults can provide information and equip children with experiences that empower them to view themselves as strong persons who think positively and act in a productive way. Librarians have a special place in this process because their essential role is to be information providers and there are many ways they accomplish their tasks. Information and books are their powerful tools. by IVANKA STRI EVI According to results of a research study of 353 school children Č Ć conducted in Croatia after the war, those who were exposed to various types of war suffering (such as a family member fighting on the front, the wounding of a person close to one during the war, running for shelter, and being a refugee or a displaced person) “ … also experienced a larger number of stressful events in the family, school and medical context. Generally speaking, they were prone to judge the other events as more stressful than those subjects who did not experience war suffering…. In that respect, subjective stress evaluation turned out to be a critical indicator of a child’s Ivanka Stričević teaches in the Library and reactions to a stressful event and its vulnerability” (Vulic-Prtoric, 2003, Information Sciences Department at the University of Zadar in Zadar, Croatia.

© 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. No. 4 – 2009 | 9 BRINGING BOOKS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER Those who were exposed to various p. 247). Children and families who have suffered during the war clearly need additional support and types of war suffering (such as a resources. family member fighting on the front, the wounding of a person Child rights to information and the role of reading close to one during the war, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of running for shelter, and being a the Child (1989) guarantees to every child a right to information and it relates to all aspects of the child’s refugee or a displaced person) … life. Special attention should be given to the right also experienced a larger number to important information for living – sometimes called real-life information – that enables children to of stressful events in the family, understand themselves and others and provides help school and medical context. when coping with all the challenges that surround youth. International Guidelines for Children’s Libraries Services, produced by IFLA, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (Guidelines for Children’s Libraries Services, 2003), state that every child has a right to access information in his/her library and stresses that libraries must offer services to all. Children’s librarians are perceived as those who have a responsibility to enable free access to information and they do it in two basic ways: by providing appropriate reading material and by promoting reading and organizing other activities in which children learn about themselves and others, practice tolerance and mutual understanding, and empower their capacities necessary for a healthy social and emotional development. “Children have the right to acquire the information they need in order to be competent citizens in a violent world that adults have created,” says Virginia Walter (2007, p. 11), who also stresses that “The role of the child shifts from children’s information needs to information rights. The role of the child shifts from passive recipient of information to active agent with entitlements.” But one should be aware that children don’t always know how to express their needs and that there are some so-called “unspoken But one should be aware that questions” that should be addressed. It is necessary that adults know children’s needs and rights very children don’t always know well and can mediate information no matter if a how to express their needs and particular need is expressed or not. What does it mean for librarians? To mediate information means that there are some so-called to ensure access to reading materials and offer reader “unspoken questions” that should development services because reading has a twofold role: to provide information and to facilitate social be addressed. and emotional healing. There is no doubt that books andreading can help children cope with stress and heal from trauma, enabling them to engage their imaginations and better understand themselves and others as they build capabilities for surviving disasters.

10 | BOOKBIRD BRINGING BOOKS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER Children in war circumstances In comparison with other possible disasters, war creates an environment where people try to stay human in inhumane circumstances and often for long periods of time. Also, conflict is always present, not only physically, but also emotionally. There are at least two opposing sides which can breed hate. Very often parents, other The first is that insufficient adults, and the media serve as models for developing preparation for unexpected negative attitudes toward others, causing intolerance and a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. Children circumstances and any disaster are exposed to tragedies in real life, but they are also requires professionals to function exposed to tragedies through television and other media that report on war atrocities. in the best way just when they are One of the problems is that nobody is ever not able to function at all. prepared for war. The war puts people in situations where they must act and react spontaneously, many times very emotionally, and learn along the way just to try to survive. Very often in attempting to survive everyday developments, adults do not think enough about the consequences that war brings to children’s lives. Professionals should be aware of this and be well prepared, so they are able to help children not only to survive physically, but to face stress and trauma, and most importantly, to believe that not only evil is around them. During the war in Croatia, professionals, including librarians, learned along the way and very often through their own horrible experiences. Nobody expected that a war was possible at the end of 20th century in the middle of Europe. Considering those times today after 15 years, we can identify three lessons to be learned. The first is that insufficient preparation for unexpected circumstances and any disaster requires professionals to function in the best way just when they are not able to function at all. Librarians have also learned that it would have been much easier for them to cope with the situation if they knew more about trauma healing programs and how to include them in their daily libary work, knew more about bibliotherapy, and more about working with refugees and children in shelters. And finally, they learned that networking and cooperation were essential for organizing programs for children and their parents.

War in Croatia – the context There was and still is a lot of information all around about the war in Croatia and there is no need to explore the reasons and describe war operations in this text, but some facts can facilitate better understanding of the overall context.

No. 4 – 2009 | 11 BRINGING BOOKS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER Croatia is neighboring Italy and Hungary, and some former Yugoslav republics, including Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The total Croatian population is 4.5 million. Zagreb is the capital with 800,000 citizens. During the war, from time to time more than 1.2 million people lived in Zagreb, and it was full of refugees and displaced families. The war started in 1991 and ended in 1995, and some parts were returned to Croatia in 1998, thanks to the process of so-called peaceful reintegration. Not all territories during that period were exposed to the direct war operations and bombing in the same way and with the same intensity. This was a twofold situation. One third of Croatia was occupied from 1991 to 1995, and in those parts there were war operations and these regions were more or less destroyed. In the other areas there were many air raids, but direct attacks occurred from time to time, sometimes in the places which were closer to the front line for more than a few months continuously. There were altogether more than 400 air raids in Zagreb, lasting from 20 minutes to 10 or more hours, and there was one bombing from the air and one from land, as both hit the city center. In those not so exposed parts of the country there were more than 1 million refugees, including those from Bosnia and Herzegovina who arrived in 1992 and 1993. Some of the refugees have never returned to their homes, and some were just in transition to foreign countries. It is estimated that more than four hundred thousand children in Croatia had become direct or indirect victims of the war. During the intense war in 1991/1992, and prolonged war activities in areas along the borderline of the country lasting until 1995, children were exposed to various forms of suffering, from being wounded or killed to separation from parents and living in refugee camps.

Children, reading, libraries and librarians during the war in Croatia Why did the rate of books read per child per year increase from 13.3 to 18.6 during the first year of the war and why did the number of library users in Zagreb increase more than 50% (Stričević, 1992)? It was impossible to conduct scientific research during the war in order to get exact data about reasons for an increasing number Why did the rate of books read of readers and library users, but based on librarians’ per child per year increase from experiences and anecdotal information gathered from 13.3 to 18.6 during the first library users, it is possible to identify two main reasons. The first is that libraries, which were not located in year of the war and why did the places of direct war operations or destroyed, were the number of library users in accessible and open all day, even when some other public institutions were closed, and offered a nice place for a Zagreb increase more than 50% whole family to go. Very often parents would say, «I feel so good here because it looks so normal, like everything is normal. My child enjoys being here and feels relaxed here.“ The second reason was that librarians were engaged in many campaigns to promote

12 | BOOKBIRD BRINGING BOOKS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER reading as a leisure and creative activity. Television Christian Andersen. In the school named after her, was watched all the time and everywhere because children were in shelters for days and nights. The of the need for news, and those repeated messages school librarian together with teachers read to them given by librarians -- to take a book to the shelter, Ivana’s beautiful fairy tales. They spontaneously to read, to read to the child and with children, to started to paint the basement walls with scenes think less about the inhuman environment -- were from the stories. Afterwards, children continued to very well accepted. Librarians went to the TV and paint all the walls in the school. Once the project radio stations and talked about reading and the was presented in the media, 14 other towns started need to have something to read always in the bag. the same project – reading Ivana’s fairytales and Children’s librarians were especially active. A series painting the walls to make the environment more of TV commercials for parents was made, such human for children and to engage them in creative as: “Play with them,” “Take a book to the shelter,” activities during air raids and bombing. It was a “Read to them…” etc. Those commercials were strong message from children – «We want to live in recorded in one public library and in some shelters. a better world»-- and a world of fairy tales seemed They showed parents how they could read and to be a better world than the real one. help children cope with the situation; why, what and how to read; and how to play with children and have fun. Children’s librarians went to refugee The library is situated in the city camps, read to children, organized book talks, center, in an old building with a and talked to parents about the importance of reading. Libraries and librarians were included in good basement. That basement was humanitarian aid too. They collected books, toys, used as an official shelter during puppets, and drawing materials, and sent them to the camps and to other less equipped libraries. the war, not only for library staff That humanitarian work made them very aware of and users, but also for pedestrians the importance of networking. In the early 1990s, just when the war started, from the street who would have The Croatian Reading Club was established. The passed by there during the air first issue of its journal was published with the messages focused on the need for preserving books raids. as cultural heritage, on reading as an essential human need, and on the importance of reading The Medveščak Public Library case as a tool to survive in difficult circumstances. The Medveščak Public Library is one of the public Croatian Reading Club produced a poster which libraries in Zagreb and joined the networked was distributed through public libraries. The institution of Zagreb City Libraries in 2007. The poster showed two dinosaurs with the books in library is situated in the city center, in an old their hands (or legs) saying “Let us read to survive.” building with a good basement. That basement was Everybody understood that humor because it was used as an official shelter during the war, not only obvious what kind of surviving was implied. for library staff and users, but also for pedestrians School librarians were active too, especially in from the street who would have passed by there schools in the area hit by war. One of the biggest during the air raids. Because of its many innovative projects was in Slavonski Brod, the town which was programs and projects – especially for preschool directly exposed to war. It is the place where at the children, their parents, and school children – that beginning of the last century Ivana Brlić Mažuranić library was often viewed as a role model for library lived. She was the author of marvelous fairy tales services in Croatia. and has often been referred to as the Croatian Hans Unfortunately, during the war there was a lack of

No. 4 – 2009 | 13 BRINGING BOOKS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER attention given to documentation. Photos and video recordings from that time are very rare. Obviously there were some other priorities and almost nobody took care of taking pictures of children and parents in library activities. Today such testimonial materials could be valuable to others to be better prepared in similar situations. It seems to be a warning that even if human lives are in danger, professionals should take care of documentation and its future importance. And there were lot of activities organized for children and parents that could serve as examples of good practice. To identify some of them, written records and anecdotal information from librarians and parents can help. There were many activities for children, parents, and entire families offered by Medveščak Public Library before the war. It was a tradition to serve as a community information, education, entertainment, and meeting place. During the war, all of these activities continued, although they sometimes had to be organized in the basement. Some new programs were introduced too. The programs and activities that continued during the war and the new ones that were introduced include the following: • School children kept coming to the library to participate in workshops, book talks, meetings with authors and illustrators, exhibitions, drama and puppet theatre groups, quizzes, etc. • Special programs, so-called playroom activities for preschool children and parents, had been organized since 1976, and during the war they attracted even more users. Children and parents gathered in sessions held three-to-four times daily to participate in various games and creative activities, storytelling, performances, etc. • A lot of material was produced for publicity and reading promotion, as well as a leaflet called Reading diary in which children recorded what they read, gave their comments, and then brought them back to the library when they were full of notes and comments on books. It was also produced for preschool children for reading with parents. From time to time a special event would be organized to talk about those diaries. • During the war, in 1993, a new program for parents of babies and toddlers was carried out. It changed library work as well as the perception An exposition of children’s Reading diaries of the library as a place for the whole family. A lot of parents, sometimes together with grandparents, were coming to the library and asking for programs for babies and for themselves. They just needed a safe place in the neighborhood to meet other parents, to talk to someone, to share books, and to learn about raising a child. The social role of the public library was extremely important then.

14 | BOOKBIRD BRINGING BOOKS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER Although regular programs continued with the same intensity as before the war, a lot of things were changed. Programs were of higher intensity and frequency and involved more children and parents. For example, before the war in 1990, there were 800 preschool and 3,500 elementary school children who were members of that library. In 1993, there were 1,200 preschool children and over A lot of parents, sometimes 5,000 school children. But, there was not only an together with grandparents, were increase in the number of users and readers; ways of library operation also changed. There were three coming to the library and asking basic factors affecting the changes of programs: for programs for babies and for • The context and the environment changed the themselves. They just needed a safe contents of programs and activities; place in the neighborhood to meet • There was a greater need for “training the trainers” work and training of librarians; other parents, to talk to someone, • There was a greater need to work in partnership, to share books, and to learn about at first with parents as partners who normally raising a child. were not percieved as possible partners, and then with many other partners by establishing a network.

The changes on the contents of programs and activities War is not only a threat to physical integrity. It causes a lot of tension among people. There is an “enemy” to contend with, “the other side,” and a lot of hate is palpable in the environment. And children learn this from adults. The role of books in the war is not to give children a nice pseudo-picture of the world, but to enable them to understand what’s going on with them and others around them, to provide information they can understand, and to maintain their confidence in goodness, love, and trust in the future. Those were the reasons why the focus of library programs changed. Librarians looked for literature that was fun: offering pleasure, talking about good people, altruism, tolerance, etc. But in the workshops and book talks with older children some “dark themes” were discussed because childrens wanted to talk about them. Bibliotherapy work in the book talks and workshops went in two directions: • Reading for fun to escape and forget everyday problems; and • Facing and coping with problems through reading and discussions. Activites for babies, toddlers and parents

No. 4 – 2009 | 15 BRINGING BOOKS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER The basic duty of librarians is to provide access to information, to choose and offer books and themes, and to organize activities to stimulate book talks and discussions. In some libraries, there were attempts to organize bibliotherapy treatments, but as librarians were neither therapists nor psychologists, after some time such attempts failed. The only bibliotherapy programs that were sucessful were those that focused on free reading and discussions, as well as those in which librarians closely cooperated with psychologists. Children were interested in books on war, especially those written by children or talking about them. The most popular were those written and/or illustrated by children in the form of diaries because they could identify with the characters. There is a great need to create children’s library environments in which children, young people, and adults can practice tolerance, co-operation, Workshop with kids and nonviolence, and where child rights are ensured and parents after the storytelling promoted. That was why many workshops on human rights, child rights, session conflict management, communication skills, tolerance, cultural diversity, and cooperation were organized, both for children and their parents. At that time, librarians didn’t know much about conflict resolution and similar topics, and good communication skills were not considered essential for a librarian’s work. That was why librarians needed further training.

Training the trainers There was a great need to work with librarians, because they were also in a stressful situation and needed trauma healing programs for themselves, but also they needed training to learn how to work with children and parents. Right after the beginning of the war, some “training the trainers” programs were organized and offered by university professors from the psychology and pedagogy departments, NGO’s, and IGO’s. A few teams consisting of university professors, volunteers, and some other people working in public services were trained to The only bibliotherapy programs work with teachers and librarians. Those first training that were sucessful were those sesions were organized by UNICEF, UNESCO that focused on free reading and – through the Croatian UNESCO Commission – and some international non-governmental discussions, as well as those in organizations. Those teams worked with teachers, which librarians closely cooperated preschool teachers, and librarians and produced a lot of manuals and other materials for them. Many with psychologists. are still in use, such as those on child rights, conflict management, mutual understanding, tolerance, and cooperation, etc. An example of how it worked is the three-year project for children’s and school librarians called “Education for development, cooperation, and tolerance in school and children’s libraries.” Seven three-

16 | BOOKBIRD BRINGING BOOKS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER

They killed my house • My Dad is sleeping with angels • My 32 wartimes days • Zlata’s Diary

There is no doubt that the need reading appropriate books and talking about them. In the second phase, called “A way to future,” the for partnerships increased during training was more appropriate and offered a lot of the war, and very often those who creative workshops based on the books’ contents. Those workshops were very appealing to children. didn’t even think of themselves as Experiences gained in some of the projects library partners discovered the were used as a starting point after the war when the Croatian government published a strategy benefits of networking. document about human rights education on the preschool, primary school, and secondary school day seminars were organized during three years, levels (National Program of Human Rights and 32 librarians from the war-affected area were Education, 1999). included and trained. They were trained for work with parents and children, but also to transfer Partnership and networking their knowledge and skills to their colleagues on Librarians always seek partners in their environment local levels. Their libraries were equipped with the in order to respond better to the needs of children literature for children (some 200 books for each in their local community. There is no doubt that library) and some materials for art workshops. the need for partnerships increased during the A bibliotherapy project was also undertaken war, and very often those who didn’t even think for children’s librarians entitled “Step by step to of themselves as library partners discovered the recovery,” led by one librarian from the central benefits of networking. Beside those well-known library in Zagreb and one psychologist, a university partners like media -- particularly TV and radio professor from the Medical Faculty, also as part of -- then UNICEF and UNESCO, the best partners the training the trainers program. It faced some were non-governmental organizations like the problems mentioned above when talking about Red Cross, Amnesty International, human rights librarians’ roles in bibliotherapy. Librarians were organizations, the Croatian Reading Club (which trained to lead children through the bibliotherapy later became the Croatian Reading Association, phases, but did not know how to finish the process then Organization), “Children First,” Save the and deal with children when they started crying Children, and many others. It was not always a or were very traumatized. The problem with that matter of getting aid or money for the library, since project was that librarians were expected to play the only some of these agencies had money. However, role of psychologists because the project was more they helped with expertise, information sharing, oriented toward therapy led by an expert, than on distributing library materials, or providing books

No. 4 – 2009 | 17 BRINGING BOOKS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER and other materials that were interesting to library users. Some of them kept coming or sending volunteers to the Medveščak Public Library to talk with children and youth. The topics discussed at the meetings, book talks, or other programs always turned to the issues As all activities were intended to of child rights, tolerance, successful communication skills, mutual understanding, and faith in a better be fun for children, playing was future. As all activities were intended to be fun for considered a basic method of work children, playing was considered a basic method of with youth. work with youth. UNICEF as a partner had a great role during the war in Croatia, and its contribution was enormous. The projects supported by UNICEF were offered and implemented by local experts. Only the initial training sessions were conducted by international experts, but local experts decided the needs and ways to use the resources. This meant that teams of librarians and other experts were set up and organized, they prepared projects and proposals, approached UNICEF who agreed with those ministries, and then those projects were implemented. The projects offered by children’s libraries were mostly oriented toward training of librarians, providing books and materials for the workshops, and on providing publicity materials for children and parents.

Conclusion Is it possible today to estimate or document the results of children’s librarians’ efforts and work done during the war? Or to evaluate the outcome of activities organized for children and parents in libraries, or just in Medveščak Public Library (MPL)? It is impossible to be sure about the results because it is impossible to know how things might have been had these activities NOT been carried out. Those who were children during the war are now grown-ups, and there is a need for further research to explore their aims, beliefs, attitudes, and concerns. Further research is needed to investigate and identify not only the consequences of the war, but also some strategies related to books and reading that could help in coping with these stressful situations. Beside the figures that indicated increased interest in books and reading during the war, there are many anecdotal stories from children and parents about the impact of libraries. When she was leaving and going back to her hometown, one refugee mother in MPL who had lost her husband in the war and kept coming to the library with her 5-year-old boy said, “This library was the best what has happened to me and to my child for many years. I will insist to have a library like this in my place back home.” This expresses how a traumatized person feels when being banished from her home and environment and being forced to live in a big town surrounded by unknown people. She found in Medveščak Public Library a friendly place for her and her child. One could expect that for such a person, the library, books, and reading may become an inseparable part of her future life because they recall nice moments she has spent in a friendly place at a

18 | BOOKBIRD BRINGING BOOKS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER critical time. Many activities that were initiated during the war continued after the war as well, just as a The realization that a children’s focus on information and books always help make an individual and a community stronger. The library is a place where vital realization that a children’s library is a place where problems are solved has had an vital problems are solved has had an impact on users and librarians, and it also changed the perception impact on users and librarians, of the library in the community. Those librarians and it also changed the perception who experienced the wartimes say they are more aware of the strength of books because they see of the library in the community. them helping in healing traumas-- something that matters in real life.

Children’s Books Cited Kusec, M. (1991). Ubili su mi kucu [They killed my house]. Zagreb: Mladost. Tomas, S. (2002). Moj tata spava s andjelima: Mali ratni dnevnik [My Dad is sleeping with angels : Small war diary]. Zagreb: Mozaik knjiga. Vikovar, P. (1992). Moja 32 ratna dana [My 32 wartimes days]. Zagreb: PPEBL. Filipović, Z. (1994). Zlatin dnevnik [Zlata’s diary]. Zagreb: Znanje.

References CIA: The World Factbook. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index .html Convention on the Rights of the Child. (1989). UN, General Assembly. Retrieved from: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/ law/crc.htm Guidelines for Children’s Libraries Services. (2003). The Hague: IFLA. Retrieved from: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s10/pubs/ ChildrensGuidelines.pdf National Program of Human Rights Education. (1999). Zagreb: Government of the Republic of Croatia, National Committee for Human Rights Education. Stričević, I. (1992). Children’s Reading During the War. SCL News : Newsletter of the IFLA Section of Children’s Libraries, 40, 13-15. Vulic-Prtoric, A. (2003). Ratna iskustva i subjektivni doživljaj stresa djece i adolescenata: 10 godina kasnije (War experience and subjective experience of stress in children and adolescents: 10 years after: Summary). Dijete i društvo 2-3, 235-248. Walter, V. (2007). War & Peace: A Guide to Literature and New Media, Grades 4-8. Westport, CT, London: Libraries Unlimited. The World Book Encyclopedia. (1994). Chicago, London, Sydney, Toronto: World Book, Inc. Vol 4.

No. 4 – 2009 | 19 ON L DO This true story traces Gervelie’s and her father’s N

escape from the war-torn Republic of Congo to 2008

the Ivory Coast, then to Ghana, and eventually

.

K .

across Europe to their current home in Norwich,

England. Gervelie’s candid prose conveys the fear U and uncertainty of refugee life without an excess of drama or sentiment. The grim horror of soldiers Anthony Robinson and guns are countered by more personal hard and Annemarie Young ships that children will understand, such as being- Illus. June Allan unable to say goodbye to her friends or receive phone calls from her mother. Full-page watercolor Gervelie’s Journey: illustrations are supplemented by smaller photo A Refugee Diary graphs of Gervelie and her family. Two pages of- historical information and a map are also included. London: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2008 32 pp. ISBN-10: 1845076524; Tanja Nathanael ISBN-13: 978-1-84507-652-8 (Nonfiction picture book, 8+)

Many children around the world, both in the last century ERVIL M L and this, have spent all their young lives surrounded by war. O E

S

Michael Foreman, acclaimed international illustrator, here

pays tribute to the human spirit in a simple, beautifully 2009

U

S illustrated tale of healing and renewal experienced through A the eyes and heart of a young boy. The child’s home has been reduced to rubble. A barbed-wire fence separates him from the streams and hills he once visited. Seeing a tendril of green Michael Foreman peeping up from the ruin, the boy nourishes it until a sturdy grapevine spreads across the fence. Soldiers tear down the A Child’s Garden: vine, but in the spring it sends forth new shoots that mingle A Story of Hope with growth from seeds planted by a child on the other side Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2009 of the fence. “Roots are deep and seeds spread,” thinks the boy. “One day the fence will disappear forever; and we will be 32pp. ISBN:: 9780763642716 able to walk again into the hills.” Rendered delicately in pencil (picture book, 4-8) and watercolor, the sepia of the ruined landscape is gradually transformed by the green growth of hope. Glenna Sloan

20 | BOOKBIRD in Books for Children for Books in Peacemakers Peaceand

This Indian author writes about her own experiences as a child growing up in a country struggling for freedom, her work as a writer within that context, and about peacemakers like Gandhi and how they are depicted in books for children.

he saga of Indian freedom is full of heroism, recounting the story of the mobilization of the inner strength and will of the Tmasses driven by truth and ahimsa (nonviolence) toward a common goal of freedom. This backdrop remains as powerful as the lives of the individuals who emerged as great martyrs, endowing writers like me with inspiring material for fiction, such as Kamala’s Story: The Saga of Our Freedom, or the stories of unsung heroes from different walks of life as in Together We Marched. by IRA SAXENA

This backdrop remains as powerful as the lives of the individuals who emerged as great martyrs, endowing writers like me with inspiring material for fiction

As a co-author of these books, I have felt a strong sense of fulfilment, Dr. Ira Saxena is a child psychologist, due in part to my upbringing influenced by my mother, Kamala critic, and writer of children’s books spe- Chaudhri, a Gandhian freedom fighter who later won a seat in the Indian cializing in realistic stories, novels and nonfiction about the nonviolent struggle for India’s independence. She is also a © 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. founding memberNo. of4 –the 2009 Association | 21 of Writers and Illustrators for Children in New Delhi. PEACE AND PEACEMAKERS IN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN Parliament. The entire family was swayed by her progressive determination, self-discipline and unrelenting faith. This became even more apparent to me when I started writing, through my interviews with other leaders of the freedom struggle. Two words, “nonviolence ” and “peace,” became absorbed into my psyche as I grew, eventually pouring out in my Hindi novel for children, Gajmukta Ki Talaash (Quest for Two words, “nonviolence” the Jumbo Pearl), set in the developing phase of the nonviolent struggle for independence and recipient and “peace,” became absorbed of the Shankar’s Medal for Writing. I dwelt upon the into my psyche as I grew, compelling images of real people motivated by sheer eventually pouring out in my force of will, courage, and patriotism, capturing the spirit of the nonviolent movement. The jumbo Hindi novel for children. pearl, a sacred heirloom, left in the custody of the little heroine by her grandfather as he is led away by the soldiers, slips away from her possession. In the search, she experiences a trail of adventure, an encounter with enemy soldiers, violent revolutionaries active in the struggle for freedom, and the peaceful brigade of nonviolent marchers. As the drama unfolds, the impact of the Gandhian movement gradually grows upon the little heroine juxtaposed against the prevailing violence of repression by foreign rule. Through this story, I have lived my mother’s childhood, her developing conviction in nonviolence as expressed in the heroine’s letters to her grandfather in jail and learning the practice of hand spinning cotton. The energy of actions climaxing to a happy solution asserts the final supremacy of nonviolence. The spirit of freedom and nonviolence underline many adventure stories (Adventure before Midnight) that record real episodes and real people, such as the brave act of a bunch of school children, resolute to hoist the Indian flag on their school building and sacrifice their lives on the altar of freedom in doing so. Even fictionalized history in A Pinch of These books carry the message of Salt Rocks an Empire, the story of Gandhi’s famous tolerance-- the requirement for Salt March, rings with the profound message of nonviolence and unyielding faith in peace. peaceful coexistence among people These books carry the message of tolerance-- the and races of the world. requirement for peaceful coexistence among people

22 | BOOKBIRD PEACE AND PEACEMAKERS IN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN and races of the world. The ideals of tolerance and freedom are epitomized in UNESCO’s vision of a “Culture of Peace” and the UNESCO Prize for Children’s and Young People’s Literature in the Service of Tolerance, created in 1995. The notion of a “Culture of Peace” is not to be equated with abstract pacifism. It originates in the commitment to the building of a world that is acceptable to all. The notion underscores the ideals of Jella Lepman in enlisting support for tolerance and understanding through children’s books – books that open children’s minds to other cultures and ways of life, thus helping them to overcome fear based on ignorance, which all too often leads to intolerance, conflict, and war. Tolerance is closely linked to freedom, solidarity, and justice. Gandhi articulated a vision of peace in which justice is inherent; peace requires not only absence of violence but also presence of justice. “There is no way to peace; peace is the way.” Later Martin Luther King Jr. reiterated the demand for justice to complement freedom in his dream for equality through nonviolence in the U.S.

Peacemakers The perception of peace has a direct impact on the lives The struggle for liberation and of real heroes. The struggle for liberation and devotion to devotion to peace, as well as peace, as well as the revolutionary ideas of the peace icons the revolutionary ideas of the of the world speak out from the pages of many books for young people. The universally acknowledged twentieth peace icons of the world speak century idol of peace, Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma out from the pages of many Gandhi: A Biography), carried the tenet of nonviolence beyond mere cessation of war into an unflinching faith, books for young people. the realm of ahimsa - absolute nonviolence as a way of life and the law of civilized species opposed to brute force. Nonviolence impacts directly upon strengthening of will, purifying the inner self through the all-absorbing power of love.

UNESCO Prize for Children’s and Young People’s Literature in the Service of Tolerance

1997 2001 Something else by Kathryn Cave (Penguin, 1994) La guerre by Anaïs Vaugelade (L’école des Neun leben by Chen Danyan, translated by loisirs, 1998) Barbara Wang (Baobab, 1995) Isthage Mir by Violet Razeghpanah (Ayeneh 1999 Asar, 1999) Sosu’s call by Meshack Asare 2003 (Sub-Saharan Publishers, 1997) La composición by Antonio Skármeta A different kind of hero by Ann R. Blakeslee (Ediciones Ekaré, 2000) (Marshall Cavendish, 1997) Because Pula Means Rain by Jenny Robson (Tafelberg, 2000)

No. 4 – 2009 | 23 PEACE AND PEACEMAKERS IN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN Gandhi pledged his commitment to peace, Everywhere in Martin’s hometown, he saw the fighting a unique battle for India’s independence signs, White Only. with the weapons of truth and nonviolence. His mother said that these signs were in all His Experiments with Truth, an autobiography, Southern cities and towns in the United encouraged many writers to recount his life’s States. message in biographies, essays, and treatises. His Every time Martin read the words, he felt bad, biography and biographical sketches range from short stories of his life to enchanting picture books. until he remembered what his mother told For young adults, Louis Fischer’s Gandhi offers a him: penetrating and comprehensive understanding of “You are the subject, tackling the deep layers of Gandhi’s as good thoughts with subtle, sensitive nuances. as anyone.”

The expression on his face came from his soft and The directness and simplicity of this portrayal of gentle eyes, the sensitive lower lip which combined King transcends the meaning poetically, complete self control with strength and showed suffering, with the spiritual strength and peaceful visage of and ever-present smile revealing naked gums…. the great fighter of human rights. Outwardly he had nothing remarkable about On another continent, peacemakers contended him; perhaps his lower lip. His personality was in with apartheid, the rule of law in South Africa. what he was and what he had done and what he With its roots in colonization, it was a system of institutionalized racial segregation and white said. I felt no awe in Gandhi’s presence…. domination that stripped people of their civil rights and sparked a widespread movement for liberation Gandhism was tested and fashioned in many a and human rights in modern times. The story of struggle; his message and his philosophy live today Nelson Mandela’s struggle against apartheid echoes in any country as an active force, not merely as the spirit of Gandhi and King in Nelson Mandela, a thought that dwells in one’s head. An effective proclaiming the culture of peace. Mandela brought methodology of protest, satyagrah (affirmation of a peaceful change to a country on the verge of civil truth) and nonviolent resistance aroused the masses, war and struggling under the oppression of unfair culminating in a nonviolent campaign for freedom and peace that is captured in Our Gandhi: Child of Fear to Man of Freedom and The Story of Dandi The story of Nelson Mandela’s March. Political freedom took a new shape then struggle against apartheid echoes and acquired a new content. The essence of his teachings remained persistently peaceful resistance the spirit of Gandhi and King. and freedom, as in The Story of Gandhi. “Without Gandhi…there can be no world of discrimination as depicted in Peaceful Protests: The tomorrow…” the words of Raja Rao in The Great Life of Nelson Mandela and Tree Shaker: The Story Indian Way – A Life of Mahatma Gandhi resound in of Nelson Mandela. the lives of other important figures, including the The modern approach to biographies conceived great American voice of nonviolence and justice, the subjects’ actions as a result of environment, Martin Luther King Jr. In Martin’s Big Words: The minimizing individuality and giving more emphasis Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Martin’s intense to early years of the personality, so that the telling of expressions and oft-repeated phrases are woven the story became a form of therapy for the readers. throughout the text to create a captivating and The conventional concept of national heroes and completely accessible book for young readers. narratives of success fades in the psychological

24 | BOOKBIRD PEACE AND PEACEMAKERS IN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN exploration of personality. Fictional biographies, articulation of the story of a life and idealist analysis of individual achievements has expanded the popularity of biographies. In India, biographies constitute a favorite genre in modern publishing. Nearly every publisher has a series of biographies of great people in literature, science, and, above all, the heroes of modern Indian history, the leaders of the freedom struggle. These include the first Prime minister of India and a world leader devoted to the peace process, Jawaharlal Nehru, the noble first President Rajendra Prasad, and the row of Gandhi’s followers-– Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Jai Prakash Narain, Sarojini Naidu, Vijayluxmi Pundit, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Aurobindo, Raja Ram Mohan Roy-– to name but a few, all figuring prominently in the catalogues of publishers.

Conclusion The subject of peace has often been the thread for uniting varied writers on common projects. A pantheon of renowned artists and authors like Lois Lowry, Katherine Paterson, Jerry Pinkney, Maurice Sendak, Yoshiko Uchida contributed to The Big Book of Peace (El Gran Libro de La PAZ – Spanish translation) offering stories about the roots of war, about princes struggling over a piece of turf, a letter from a concentration camp, and an everyday story of rivalry between two friends. The varied traumatic experiences related by many Indian writers in There’s Another Way, weave logical explanations to conflicts and chaos to illustrate complex truths of life that often defy analysis. The Road to Peace…Stories that Show the Way provides another mosaic of stories by eminent Indian writers, describing the way through thorny terrain The place of peace extends beyond across time, people, and places, but with the same goal of peace and friendship. the limits of war, freedom, The place of peace extends beyond the limits philosophy, and spiritualism to of war, freedom, philosophy, and spiritualism to peace in day-to-day occurrences in peace in day-to-day occurrences in family, school, and social exchanges. Unfortunately, terrorism has family, school, and social exchanges. seeped into society like cancer, threatening and striking fear among one and all irrespective of nationalities and race. The current reality paints images in colors of blood and hopelessness. However, literature continues to be a mechanism for peace. In the picturesque valley of Kashmir, young terror victims gathered in a workshop supported by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (1999), aimed to revive their confidence.

No. 4 – 2009 | 25 PEACE AND PEACEMAKERS IN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN Their harsh truth prompted a grim and stressful There comes the morning with the golden basket tale, No Guns on My Son’s Funeral, and also Weed, a in her right hand bearing the wreath of bleak story of a suicide bomber shrieking for peace beauty, silently to crown the earth. throughout the rough ride into terrorism. And there comes the evening over the lonely On the printed page, the truth assaults fiercely, meadows deserted by herds, through trackless ravaging the hurt, arousing a painful fury from the paths, carrying cool draughts of peace in her innermost recesses of human sensibility, simply pleading for a solitary assertion-– let me live in golden pitcher from the western ocean of rest. peace. A belief in the innate goodness of human But there, where spreads the infinite sky for the beings endures in darkness, a force for hope and soul to take her flight in, reigns the stainless peace. Stories show readers a way to cope with harsh white radiance. There is no day nor night, realities of life and to prevail in spite of them. nor form nor colour, and never, never a word. (Gitanjali Verse 67) Rabindranath Tagore

References Fischer, Louis. (1982). The Life of Mahatma Gandhi. London: Granada Publishing Limited. (First published: London:Jonathan Cape, 1951). Nanda, B.R. (1989). Mahatma Gandhi: A Pictorial Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press (First published, 1958). Schaaf, V. Mylo.(2000). Our Gandhi: Child of Fear to Man of Freedom. Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press. Rao, Sandhya. (2002). The Story of Dandi March. Illus. Ranjan De. Chennai: Tulika Publishers. Shankar, Rajkumari. (1969). The Story of Gandhi. New Delhi: Children’s Book Trust. Raja Rao. (1998). A Great Indian Way: A Life of Mahatma Gandhi. New Delhi: Vision Books. Rappaport, Doreen. (2001). Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Illus. Bryan Collier. New York: Hyperion Books. Finlayson, Reggie. (2005). Nelson Mandela. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications. McDonough, Yona Zeldis. (2002). Peaceful Protest: The Life of Nelson Mandela. Illus. Malcah Zeldis. New York: Walker Books. Keller, Bill. (2008). Tree Shaker: The Story of Nelson Mandela. Boston: Kingfisher. Saxena, Ira, Panandiker, Surekha, & Sinha, Nilima. (1997). Kamala’s Story: The Saga of Our Freedom. New Delhi: Children’s Book Trust. Saxena, Ira, Panandiker, Surekha, & Sinha, Nilima. (1990). Together We Marched. New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. Anand, Paro. (2005). No Guns at My Son’s Funeral. New Delhi: IndiaInk. Anand, Paro. (2008). Weed. New Delhi: IndiaInk. Sachs, Marilyn, & Durrell, Ann, eds. (1990). The Big Book of Peace. New York: Dutton. El Gran de La PAZ – Published by Edebe, Spain. Agarwal, Deepa, ed. (1998). There’s Another Way!: Stories of Peace, Love & Friendship. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House.. Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children. (2008). The Road to Peace…Stories that Show the Way. New Delhi: Radical Books.

26 | BOOKBIRD The War Inside Books Inside War The

Acclaimed artist and illustrator, Roberto Innocenti, writes about his experience as a child growing up in Italy during World War II, as well as his thoughts about representing war in books for children.

eing born in a place, a time, a social and civil context means being consciously educated to be part of it in the most conventional B way, suiting the community of origin. This includes the family, group, tribe, nation, language, sect, social, political, and religious systems, rules in force, customs, and culture. The newly arrived must fit into the system, through an educational by ROBERTO INNOCENTI path, in order to become part of it. The more the surrounding society TRANSLATED BY LUANA VIAGGI is free and open, the more the age of learning, playing, and dreaming is respected, or at least not strongly used as a hot iron to be shaped according to the established standard model. I would like that age of innocence to be universally considered as sacred, and spared from wars, hunger, ignorance, propaganda, standardization, and also advertisement addressed to children, under any form or aspect. All of this would not be allowed by some regimes, but it would even be discouraged by some formal and paternalistic components of democracies. Roberto Innocenti is an Italian artist and illustrator of books for children and the 2008 recipient of the Hans Christian © 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. Andersen awardNo. 4 –for 2009 illustration. | 21 THE WAR INSIDE BOOKS A civil society usually educates in a nonoppressive for taking part in a victory parade planned by his way; better it be playful, helping children learn the former pupil, Adolf Hitler. It was an absolutely rules of living together, in the name of respect and tragic and devastating experience for any child, but honesty, and to be treated the same in return. If the it left important marks on my cultural education, educated show a bent toward target shooting, he is right from the uncertain beginnings, and not all of free to practice in special gyms, rather than on the them were negative. street against his fellows. At home in Italy, everybody hoped for Victory: The educational values that we never question not simply of the Italians or the German allies, but during peacetime are completely reversed in case of over the Enemy: the English, Americans, Russians war, and what we consider “human” becomes just and the allies. I was not yet school-aged, so I was an obstacle or inadequacy. A serial killer, during not submitted to a “pseudo-patriotic” education as war, has many chances to become a hero. A ruthless imposed by the Fascists. The educational group person does not usually attract the liking of other surrounding me, the only one, was made up of my people, but in wartime, being ruthless is the rule. family members who were against war and Fascism. Remember this famous quote from Mussolini, My first elementary notions made me guess that addressed to the Italian troops in Yugoslavia: “Here distant and different “friends” would have arrived, you will never be thieves, rapists, and murderers bringing us freedom and peace. Useless to say that enough!” I did not understand such words, but I hoped they were accompanied by something to eat. The educational values that we When Fascism fell, even many of those fierce and applauding crowds were resigned to waiting, never question during peacetime but only because the arrival of the allies would are completely reversed in case have meant the end of the war, which had been closer and more brutal than expected. I haven’t of war, and what we consider yet understood if it is the dictators who move the “human” becomes just an obstacle crowds, or the crowds who make the dictators; or inadequacy. A serial killer, however everyone can appreciate that they feed on very simple concepts, preferably shouted, and they during war, has many chances to get very excited, in a mutual, reciprocal way. become a hero. As a child, I had different impressions. Someone whispered about the partisans, “ours,” and I imagined invisible and invincible warriors on the The “evil” bombing pilot knows that below mountains. Children strongly feel the sense of there are also women and children, and the power redemption, or revenge, even in their play. I had to decide on their death excites him. The “good” pilot tries not to think about it, and after some missions, he stops crying to himself, and tries to I haven’t yet understood if it is the survive by concentrating on enemy-hunting and dictators who move the crowds, or anti-aircraft artillery. As for women and children, his first thought goes to the ones waiting for him the crowds who make the dictators. at home. Something inside me is still in protest against been set free by soldiers who would have rather my first ten years of life spent in war and hunger, as stayed home, instead of decorating the hills of our was decided by a tragicomic dictator. He was much land with funerary stones and white-marble crosses. acclaimed by excited crowds when he declared war I will always be grateful to them. to almost the entire world, as if it were a game When I started going to school, the teacher,

28 | BOOKBIRD THE WAR INSIDE BOOKS following the educational rules of a State suspended between a past regime, a temporary reign, and a future democracy, talked to us about our Country, the love of our Country, including the defense of the Sacred Ground; I felt wary. It is difficult to understand such distrust for a reader who is born later or elsewhere. Such teaching meant considering the ones who set us free -- not only from the German occupants, but also from ourselves, from our excessively patriotic Fascist regime -- as complete strangers. History should be rewritten to I’ve preserved this “inside front” or border within focus less on the geopolitical me. It passes through me, it crosses me, but I do not consider it as loss, but rather as knowledge. Thus, upheaval due to wars, and more it is not difficult for me to conceive of or illustrate on what happens during the books on war, which I sometimes feel is necessary. Obviously my “non-war” books are more numerous, “breaks.” We would appreciate but they are not defined as “peace-books,” because that during peace everything peace is a wide and many-sided concept, not recognized as a “genre.” happens, while during war everything stands still or regresses. The war “genre” One of the weaknesses of the word “peace” is that it is understood almost as a “standstill,” a period when nothing happens. History should be rewritten to focus less on the geopolitical upheaval due to wars, and more on what happens during the “breaks.” We would appreciate that during peace everything happens, while during war everything stands still or regresses, except for patents and improvements on the weapons that will be used for the following war. The “war” genre is very wide, ranging from illustrated books to comics, cinema, fiction, and painting. It almost always originates from propaganda or a celebration and usually contains a story narrated by the protagonists with the aim of praising the side it is addressed to or that supports it. There are many examples of this, far more than I can address here. Let’s just think about certain Italian films or comics of the war period, where ironic and funny heroes mocked the soldiers of the Perfidious Albion (as Mussolini used to call the British Empire) in exotic and colonial settings, or defeated overwhelming communist hordes in Spain and Russia. Even Mickey Mouse has been used to unmask Nazi spies and destroy secret, fictional weapons. Many American post-war films pleased a public that was a winner without having fought a single day on their own soil. The appeal of such entertaining “war” products can be summed up as follows: you can never see the enemy, if they appear through stupid or evil masks. Usually they appear as a hidden threat, an aircraft flying behind (at 180 degrees), a circle of Indians galloping around the wagons of the pioneers. I’m sure there were other hagiographic productions of Hitler and Stalin, but I don’t remember having seen them as a child. However, there are other war productions that show a different perspective. Books like If This Is a Man by Primo Levi, The Sergeant in

No. 4 – 2009 | 29 THE WAR INSIDE BOOKS the Snow by Mario Rigoni Stern, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, or the brutal, antimilitaristic film “Paths of Glory” by Stanley Kubrik, or the exhilarating “Doctor Strangelove” also by Kubrik, or “Open City” by Roberto Rossellini cannot be included in this same genre. These represent a kind of culture, knowledge, and portrait of power that causes a certain stomachache, even to democratic governments. In other words, I see war as a violent, barbarian intrusion into life, into human life, which interrupts any project, deviates, upsets, breaks dreams, relationships and affections, and often destroys them. I know that usually, the one who declares a war is someone who is bored, a gambler betting every means he has. He is sure that this is enough to win, and his crowd acclaims his actions, thus hiding his own flimsiness behind a six-figure loss of victims. Therefore I know that the one who speaks my own language and lives beside me could also be an enemy, and that somewhere else there is someone whose hand I cannot shake because of a war, a border, or a regime, even though he is not an enemy. A story about or against war must be seen from outside, as if we were witnesses who are unable to intervene. But you cannot be neutral or impartial. The kind of book I am thinking about shows events, moments, relationships, evidence, details -- indicating and charging the reader to become a judge, to think for one’s self.. However, one must be careful of creating a sermon, another form of morality that I distrust, leaving it to Therefore I know that the one who the preachers. speaks my own language and lives A second liberation beside me could also be an enemy, and I experienced a second kind of “liberation” that somewhere else there is someone when my first book project sat waiting for four years and was refused by the best Italian whose hand I cannot shake because publishers (1979), but accepted by a foreign of a war, a border, or a regime, even press. The title, Rosa Waiss, was taken from the name of a group of young people from though he is not an enemy. Munich who dared to say no to war, unlike the other crowds excited by the Führer. It was a story conceived for Italy, to help children, parents, and teachers communicate about a major issue of contemporary history and historical memory. I think this is necessary for everyone, especially for the people who made the mistakes, so as not to repeat them. It was John Alcorn, my friend and colleague who brought Rose Blanche to life. At the time, John and I shared a studio in Italy, and it was he who introduced me to Swiss editor, Etiénne Delessert. Etiénne was looking for

30 | BOOKBIRD THE WAR INSIDE BOOKS an illustrator for a Cinderella retelling and in the process of considering my work he reviewed other projects I was working on. When I queried him about Rose Blanche he replied, “This book cannot be done, it must be done.” This lucky coincidence made me choose my publisher, Creative Editions, not for money, but for freedom. They have also remained my publisher to this day—this company located in a prairie with a Sioux name, in the middle of the United States of America. Thus it is extremely ironic to me that now an Italian publisher who wants to publish my work has to import it from abroad, instead of the other way round, as would be normal. Thus, I cannot understand the reason why the Ministry of Education of the Italian Republic has decided to cancel the teaching of Modern and Contemporary History in elementary schools. I can only figure out two possibilities: • spare children the stories of crimes and violence in order to “protect” them • let children ignore Fascism and its extreme consequences Could Fascism be, once again, one of the many possible political opinions, among the many other opinions, allowed by democracy? I’ve wondered more than once what effect war books can have on children and I’ve personally witnessed it during visits I’ve had in schools with children ages 10 to 13. Such experiences reassure me totally. Not only do books about war excite their desire for information and knowledge, but they also help children express their best emotions.

No. 4 – 2009 | 31 What should we teach children about war? Hans Christian Andersen award-winning illustrator Roberto Innocenti firmly believes that children should be afforded access to history and, more importantly, that the child’s place in history should be acknowledged. This article analyzes Innocenti’s What Do We Tell the Children? War in the Work of Roberto Innocenti illustrations depicting the experiences that children have of war in Rose Blanche, Erika’s Story, and Leda e il mago.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. Edmund Burke (1729-1797) by LINDSAY MYERS ar has always been a central theme in children’s books. Battles between good and evil, whether real or imaginary, Ware a fundamental part of the human psyche, and books that feature heroic soldiers, powerful weapons, and graphic battle scenes make for exhilarating reading. J. K. Rowling’s highly successful Harry Potter series, J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy all revolve around epic battles, and there is little doubt that a large part of the appeal of these texts stems from the Lindsay Myers is a lecturer in Italian manner in which they enable children to become intellectually involved and director of the BA with Children’s Studies in the National in issues of warfare ordinarily reserved for adults. But what should we University of Ireland, Galway. 32 | BOOKBIRD © 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. WHAT DO WE TELL THE CHILDREN be teaching children about war? Is But what should we be teaching children it enough for children to experience war metaphorically in fantasy, to about war? Is it enough for children to learn about right and wrong, justice experience war metaphorically in fantasy, and persecution, victory and defeat through the struggles of characters to learn about right and wrong, justice and such as Harry Potter, Bilbo Baggins persecution, victory and defeat through the and Lyra Belacqua, or do children need to read stories about real wars struggles of characters such as Harry Potter. which took place in the past? Roberto Innocenti, winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Illustrator Medal in 2008, firmly believes that children should be afforded access to history and, more importantly, that the child’s place in history should be acknowledged. Wars have never spared children, and the experiences that children have of war can provide valuable lessons for young and old alike. Among the many children’s books that he has illustrated, three deal specifically with the events of the Second World War: Rose Blanche (1985) by Christophe Gallaz, Erika’s Story (2003) by Ruth Vander Zee, and Leda e il mago [Leda and the Wizard] (2002) by Ermanno Detti. Rose Blanche is the moving tale of a German girl who brings scraps of food to the prisoners in a local concentration camp, only to be shot by mistake when the war draws to a close. Erika’s Story is the true story of a Jewish girl who survived the Holocaust because of the selfless actions of two people: her mother who threw her from a train headed for a Nazi death camp and a Gentile woman who found her near the tracks and raised her as one of her own. Leda e il mago is the story of a ten-year-old Italian girl’s struggle to cope with the confusing and tragic events of the Italian Civil War. Rose Blanche and Erika’s Story have been translated into a multitude of languages, and both works have earned the artist international recognition. Rose Blanche won the Golden Apple Award in Bratislava in 1985 and was named an American Library Association Notable Book and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book in 1986. Erika’s Story, meanwhile, was voted the most successful nonfiction title in the UKLA Children’s Book Awards in 2006. Born in Bagno a Ripoli, Italy, in 1940, Innocenti grew up during the Second World War. He thus has a very personal understanding of what it is like for a child during, and immediately after, a war. Illustrating subjects such as armed conflict and persecution in a children’s book is, however, no easy task, especially when it comes to approaching material as horrific as the Holocaust. The fact that Rose Blanche and Erika’s Story have both been the recipients of prestigious international awards and that Leda e il mago has been singled out by staff of the International Youth Library for

No. 4 – 2009 | 33 WHAT DO WE TELL THE CHILDREN inclusion in the White Ravens Catalogue, an international list of books that display exceptional artistic and literary style, is a testament to Innocenti’s skill as an artist.

Visual details How does Innocenti manage to convey the truth about war without alienating his young audience? To begin with, he goes about it in much the same way as he would any children’s book; that Innocenti grew up during the Second World is to say he employs techniques that are particularly effective at catching War. He thus has a very personal the attention of young readers. Unlike understanding of what it is like for a child their adult counterparts who are always anxious to turn the page, children love during, and immediately after, a war. studying the minutiae of a picture, and when it comes to depicting the hustle and bustle of village scenes, Innocenti is an expert. Both Erika’s Story and Leda e il Mago include full-page illustrations which depict village life in photo-realistic detail, and at least half of the illustrations for Rose Blanche are of street scenes bursting with vehicles, people, and animals. Hunting for individuals in a crowd is something at which children are particularly adept, and the protagonist in Rose Blanche often appears as an incidental character rather than as a protagonist. By making his child readers identify the principal character(s) in a busy scene, Innocenti is able to to convey a wealth of historical detail, safe in the knowledge that none of it can be overlooked. He is also able to ensure that his readers take an active role in the reading process, something which works to great effect in Rose Blanche when the protagonist disappears; rather than convey the girl’s disappearance by depicting Rose Blanche’s mother desperately searching, Innocenti offers his readers another busy street scene. This time, however, the protagonist is nowhere to be found. Providing very few details is often as effective a way of arrousing curiosity as is providing many, and Innocenti employs this opposing technique to great effect in Erika’s Story. Of the nine illustrations contained in the book, five depict nothing more than the back of a train moving down the tracks into the distance, and two or three show mostly empty train tracks. By keeping the details of the illustrations in Erika’s Story as minimal as possible, Innocenti encourages his readers to ask questions of those around them and to flesh out the story for themselves, thereby learning in a more active manner about the past.

34 | BOOKBIRD WHAT DO WE TELL THE CHILDREN Innocenti encourages his readers to ask questions of those around them and to flesh out the story for themselves, thereby learning in a more active manner about the past.

Visual distance Engaging young readers in war stories is, however, fraught with difficulty because of the disturbing nature of the content. Innocenti thus always employs complementary distancing strategies in his works for children which serve to separate his readers emotionally from the subject matter being portrayed. In Erika’s Story, he distances his readers from the full horror of the deportation scene by placing a fence in the foreground of the image. This fence not only closes off the scene, it also cleverly obstructs the faces of the characters, sparing readers the fear and horror of the victims. Raw emotions such as grief, impotence, and hatred are very dificult for young readers to process, and Innocenti often avoids depicting the faces of both victims and oppressors in his illustrations for children. The Nazi Guards in Erika’s Story are portrayed with their backs to the viewer, and all we see of Erika’s mother when she throws her child out of the carriage are her pale hands reaching out of the window. Making the reader imagine what a character’s face might have looked like is often as effective a technique as is portraying the emotions directly; the scene in Leda e il mago in which the young girl runs into the woods to escape being caught by a truck full of German soldiers powerfully conveys Leda’s fear even though all we see of her are her legs. War is all about deprivation, suffering, and death, something which Innocenti’s illustrations for Mario Rigoni Stern’s adult war novel, Il sergente nella neve [The sergent in the snow] (1993), make abundantly clear; over half of the illustrations in this book feature wounded and dead bodies, and several do so in great numbers. Death and suffering never feature, however, in Innocenti’s illustrations for children. Rather than portray death directly, Innocenti prefers to mark the demise of individual characters by focusing on what they have left behind. In Leda e il mago, we only become aware that an Italian soldier has lost his life when Leda is given his blood-stained army jacket to wash, while in Rose Blanche, Rose Blanche’s tragic fate is conveyed by the girl’s marked absence from the scene on the final page, a scene in which she had figured prominently two pages previously. Events that are portrayed in sepia or black and white always seem less immediate than those depicted in color, and Innocenti’s use of a monochromatic palette to depict the deportation of the Jews in Erika’s Story is another very effective distancing device. Sandwiched between two full-color illustrations, the traumatic events of the Holocaust appear to

No. 4 – 2009 | 35 WHAT DO WE TELL THE CHILDREN belong to a completely different world than that of the older Erika. In all of the aforementioned cases, the emotions of the characters are never experienced directly by the reader, but rather are implied through Innocenti’s various distancing techniques. His readers The emotions of the characters can thus empathize with the anguish of Erika’s mother, the horror of Rose Blanche, or the fear of are never experienced directly by Leda, on their own terms, to the extent they feel the reader, but rather are implied comfortable. Knowing that fear or anguish is present through Innocenti’s various is sufficient; there is no need for child readers to delve into the raw and accurate depth of these emotions as distancing techniques. experienced by the characters in history.

Visual pauses Innocenti’s ability to bring the events of the Second World War to life for his readers while at the same time providing them with the necessary distance to cope with the emotional content is, of course, only a part of what makes his wartime illustrations so outstanding. There is little doubt that Rose Blanche, Erika’s Story, and Leda e il mago would not be the eloquent and evocative works they are without Innocenti’s skill as a storyteller. Through his mastery of pace, movement, contrast, and repetition, Innocenti provides his readers with the analytical tools to transcend mere observation of history and to contextualize the events of World War II relative to their contemporary reality. Getting the right momentum is essential in any good story, and if they are to be effective, illustrations need to convey meaning collectively as well as individually; that is to say, they need to have their own internal rhythm. Knowing how to lead the reader from one frame to the next is something in which Innocenti is particularly skilled; Through his mastery of pace, almost all of his frames contain paths, roads, rivers, movement, contrast, and steps or train tracks which carry the protagonist and the reader along. This page-turning element is what repetition, Innocenti provides his makes these books compulsive reading on the first readers with the analytical tools sitting. It is Innocenti’s ability to freeze the story when necessary, however, that makes his works about to transcend mere observation of war so powerful; for it is only when the reader pauses history and to contextualize the to reflect on the historical events portrayed that their full significance can be appreciated. events of World War II relative to In Rose Blanche, Innocenti gets his readers to pause their contemporary reality. and consider the awful truth of the Holocaust by trapping them in between Rose Blanche’s gaze and the gazes of the prisoners. Both groups are looking at each other in the story, but in the illustrations (one of which depicts Rose Blanche and one of which depicts the prisoners) they are looking directly at the viewers, a device which positions them right in the middle of the exchange. A similar interlocked gaze can be found in Leda e il mago; and here, too, it causes the reader to pause in the pace of the story and reflect on the significance of

36 | BOOKBIRD WHAT DO WE TELL THE CHILDREN

the scene. The fact that the face-off between Leda and the SS soldier takes place on the top of a cliff further enhances the potential and precipitous nature of the moment.

Visual contrasts Making a decision necessarily The focus of Rose Blanche, Erika’s Story, and Leda e il mago, however, is not on the war, but on the decisions involves choosing a direction, made by individuals; and the major dichotomies that and Innocenti often uses the characters face are represented visually by Innocenti through the use of several contrasts. Making a crossroads or junctions to convey decision necessarily involves choosing a direction, and the turning points in the lives of Innocenti often uses crossroads or junctions to convey the turning points in the lives of the protagonists. In the protagonists. the scene just before Rose Blanche decides to follow the Nazi truck into the forest, the girl is portrayed descending a flight of stone steps in the middle of a double-page spread. On the viewer’s right there is an idyllic village scene and the curve of the steps is directing the young girl down this way towards the village. On the viewer’s left, however, there are soldiers, guns, army vans, and war slogans painted onto the walls.

No. 4 – 2009 | 37 WHAT DO WE TELL THE CHILDREN

We do not know in this scene which way the young the contrast between nature and industry. Innocenti, girl is going to turn once she reaches the bottom of however, manages to draw the viewers’ attention to the steps. It is clear from Innocenti’s skillful page the fundamental messages of hope in these books layout, however, that the girl is poised between two by contrasting color symbolically. Rose Blanche is different worlds, and that her decision will be of almost always depicted wearing a red ribbon in her tremendous significance. While the path at the hair; and this red material, which is later associated bottom of the steps seem to draw the young girl with the poppies growing on the land once used for inexorably towards the village and away from the incarcerating the Jews, serves as a powerful symbol reality of what is happening to the Jews, there is no in the book of the life, bravery, and sacrifice of the physical barrier preventing her from turning left. young girl. The colors that Innocenti uses to depict One of the best ways to show the brutality of the baby Erika in Erika’s Story also have symbolic war is to contrast it with the beauty of nature, and significance. When we first meet the baby, she is Innocenti’s illustrations for Rose Blanche, Erika’s hidden in a white pram (a color that conveys both Story, and Leda e il mago all set the machinery and weaponry of war against the peaceful harmony of the natural world. The air-raid scene in Leda e il mago takes place in a beautiful verdant valley, and the unruly fighter planes roaring in the sky above appear all the more ugly because of the idyllic setting. Nature is respectful and sustaining, while industry is invasive and destructive, and the railway scene in the frontispiece of Erika’s Story makes this contrast abundantly clear. Behind the metal cattle train which is transporting prisoners to the death camps, Innocenti has included several donkeys pulling carts of hay across a wooden bridge, symbolic and subtle reminders of the perversity of warfare and persecution. Conveying the relative importance of individual and collective actions is not as easy as is conveying

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the baby’s innocence and the cold future that awaits her at the camps). When Erika’s mother throws her from the train, however, she appears wrapped in a pink blanket (a color which conveys the new life and hope that the mother’s selfless action has given the child). Sometimes the contrasts that Innocenti establishes are so subtle that the reader only becomes aware of them on the second or third reading. The star that is featured on the front cover of Erika’s Story, for example, appears on first glance to be the Star of David worn by the Jews during the Second World War. The star, however, has five points instead of six; it is thus not a symbol of the Holocaust, but a bright star that symbolizes Erika’s vitality. The true meaning of the star only becomes apparent when the reader reaches the last page of the book, for here after the very last line Innocenti has replaced the black-and-white Star of David employed throughout the text as a line-divider with a yellow five-pointed star. Suddenly on the last page it all becomes clear; Erika’s mother may have worn a Star of David, but it is not this star that now defines her daughter.Her daughter’s star – the star that is depicted on the cover – is a star of light, something which is reinforced by the book’s last lines: “my star still shines.”

Conclusion All of these contrasts employed by Innocenti in Rose Blanche, Erika’s Story, and Leda e il mago force child readers to think, to look very closely at what they are reading, and to process the information for themselves. They are

No. 4 – 2009 | 39 WHAT DO WE TELL THE CHILDREN thus extremely effective devices when it comes to Children’s books cited teaching children about war. How many books for Gallaz, Christophe. (1985). Rose Blanche. Illus. Roberto children can be said to involve child readers to this Innocenti. Mankato, MN: Creative Education. extent? The answer, I fear, is very few. Detti, Ermanno. (2002). Leda e il mago [Leda and Now that almost all the adult participants of the the wizard]. Illus. Roberto Innocenti. Florence: Second World War have passed away and children Fatatrac. Vander Zee, Ruth. (2003). Erika’s Story. Illus. Roberto can no longer hear about the war from parents or Innocenti. Mankato, MN: Creative Editions. relatives, it is more important than ever that they Rigoni Stern, Mario.(1993). Il sergente nella neve. Illus. be introduced to these topics through literature, Roberto Innocenti. Trieste: Einaudi. and that the books that address these issues do not oversimplify or sentimentalize the facts. If they References are made with the right care and attention, books Meeker, Amy J. (1995) Roberto Innocenti. In Anita Silvey can be powerful agents of social change. Teaching (Ed.), Children’s Books and Their Creators. New York: children about war, however, is not so much about Houghton Mifflin Company. explaining the past as it is about inciting questions, Smurthwaite, Nick. (2003). Drawn In: Illustrator Roberto and Innocenti’s illustrations have all been carefully Innocenti Puts Nick Smurthwaite in the Picture. Design Week, November 27, 2003, p. 19. designed to make the young reader curious about Roberto Innocenti (1940-). Biography - Personal, the past. By actively involving the young reader in Addresses, Career, Honors Awards, Writings, Work the history-making process, they convey in a very in Progress, Sidelights. Retrieved July 13, 2009, from tangible way the importance of love, responsibility, http://biography.jrank.org/pages/1533/Innocenti- peace, and truth. Roberto-1940.html

IGAN H Four-year-old Kim’s poignant story, based on a true IC

event, tells of a child orphaned by the Vietnam War.

M

Hundreds of thousands of children of that war and

others have shared a similar fate. When her village 2008 U

S is bombed and Kim is so injured that her vision is A hazy, her mother dies, leaving the child with her words: “I will always be with you.” American soldiers take the child to an orphanage in Da Nang, Vietnam, where she is nurtured by kind caregivers. She is Ruth Vander Zee a fortunate survivor but, as the text asks, “How Illus. Ronald Himler do you feel secure when the dreams of your mama disappear into the dawn of the day?” Strangers help and the child is sustained by her mother’s Always With You words and the memory of her loving touch. Himler’s realistic drawings in pencil and watercolor detail the Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books horrors of war even as they capture the power of for Young Readers, 2008 love and hope to heal. This picture book is probably best shared with older children. As with many 32 pp. ISBN-10: 0802852955; books dealing with war, children need support in ISBN-13: 9780802852953

confronting horrifying realities. Glenna Sloan (picture book, 8-10)

40 | BOOKBIRD An Interview with Marie-Louise Gay Marie-Louise with Interview An Words: and Pictures with Ways Her

Marie-Louise Gay is one of Canada’s premier authors and illustrators of children’s books, with more than sixty books to her credit. Here, she agrees to an interview about her work, her process, and her views about the children’s book publishing arena.

can really think in both languages,” said Marie-Louise Gay. And so began my fascination with prolific Canadian author “I and illustrator, Marie-Louise Gay. In the summer of 2008, at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, Gay shared with students how her stories unfold in either French or English, how she simply writes in the language that comes to her. Author of Stella and Sam. Extraordinaire. Readers from around the world can enjoy her work in twenty different languages, from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, to Slovenian, Serbian, and German. I definitely wanted to know more about her. by S. REBECCA LEIGH Marie-Louise Gay is one of Canada’s premier authors and illustrators of children’s books, a four-time winner of the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature, three-time nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Award, and two-time nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. With more than sixty books to her credit, she knows how to create visual worlds with extraordinary aplomb. Stella’s whimsical, adventurous, and magical tales transport us much like Peter Sis’ Madlenka or Kevin Henkes’ mouse heroine Lilly. Precocious characters such as these make us reach deep down within ourselves to rediscover all the words and colors to which we feel affectively connected. Gay Rebecca Leigh is Assistant Professor of Reading and Language Arts at Oakland reminds us that the impact of good writing and illustration on people’s University in Rochester, Michigan, USA. [email protected] No. 4 – 2009 | 41 HER WAYS WITH PICTURES AND WORDS lives is a remarkable one, for books can “open children’s minds and make them see out of themselves. You recognize yourself but you also recognize that someone in Africa can have the same emotions as you do. Books open doors to what is happening around the world, the door to literacy, but universal literacy.” Through her use of evocative watercolor and relatable stories she has tapped into the emotional terrain on which we traverse whenever we openly take in the power of story through pictures and words. In the following discussion, I invite you to traverse with Marie-Louise Gay as she talks candidly about how she got started in the children’s book business, the process by which her characters come alive, and new projects to come.

Question: Could you describe your studio to us? Marie-Louise Gay MG: It’s lovely that you ask that because it’s the first thing I do when I talk Photo by Gilbert Duclos with children. I describe my studio to them to sort of anchor the idea of an author. Where do authors live? How do they make books? What do you think is in my studio? What tools do I use in my studio? My studio is an extension of my home. It’s a relatively big double room, very bright with windows that give onto a garden. I have a huge drawing table in the middle and shelves overflowing with books, art materials, and found objects. When I am working on a book it tends to get quite chaotic - but if you come right after I have finished a project you’ll see a really clean studio!

Question: Do you start writing your books in French or English? MG: I can really think in both languages. I wrote Rainy Day Magic in French and then again in English; I wrote the Stella series in English and then in French. It’s not thought out; I just start writing in a certain language. Stella and Sam are translated into twenty languages. Publishers want to keep the same character names but, depending on the language, that’s not always possible. For example, in Spanish Stella is Estela, in Portuguese it’s Estella, and in German it’s Sophie. In the Sam series, Sam is Sacha in French, Marcos in Brazilian, Theo in German, and Samuel in Spanish. Voilà.

Question: With some of your books translated into different languages, have you been asked to change an illustration to fit those cultures? MG: Changing a color illustration is very costly. In Stella, Fairy of the Forest, there is a scene where Stella picks up a snake. In Australia, where this book was published, there are unimaginable beasts, scorpions, and

42 | BOOKBIRD HER WAYS WITH PICTURES AND WORDS poisonous snakes. What are you going to do, change the illustration? No. You’re going to change the text. Stella explains that this type of snake is okay. It’s very rare to change an illustration unless the picture is offensive. For example, in the States you can’t show a child partly naked in a book. Publishers will get I can really think in both very upset about that because parents will get very upset. languages. I wrote Rainy Day In Canada you can, but the publisher in Canada will say, “Okay, we’re going to have problems with the States. Magic in French and then Let’s dress this kid.” again in English; I wrote the In Rainy Day Magic, the mother calls the kids for dinner and the publisher says, “Oh no, no, no, we want Stella series in English and then the mother to call them for tea.” I think that is really in French. ridiculous because every child is going to understand that the mother is calling them to eat something. They’ll figure out that the book is not from England. Publishers are so afraid to let go.

Question: Which of your books are you the most proud of? MG: I have secret favorites which I will tell you - don’t tell the books though. Mademoiselle Moon was, for some reason, really important to me because it was a different type of book compared to what I had done before. I think I had emotional feelings wrapped up in it with my kids. I’d have to say the Stella books are my favorites, too.

Question: When you decided to illustrate and write Stella, did you know it was going to be a series? MG: Non, non. When I wrote Stella, it was supposed to be a one time book. What happened is that I fell in love with the characters. When I finished Stella, Star of the Sea and sent it off to the publisher, my main characters, Stella and Sam, didn’t disappear. I saw them everywhere. One day, I was walking in a snowstorm in Montréal saying, “This is so beautiful.” I felt those words had come out of Stella’s mouth. I wrote Stella, Queen of the Snow in less than three days - which never happens to me. I write very slowly. But now, I’m not going to wonder, “What could book five be about?” No, the ideas have to appear without forcing them.

Question: How do you think of all the questions to ask in the Stella series? MG: I wrote series and series of questions. I’d imagine the ocean and say, if I’d never seen the ocean, what would I ask? Is it deep? Are there any sea monsters? Why is it so noisy? If snowflakes are falling and I’ve never seen snow, what would I wonder about? What do you do with snow? Is it cold?

No. 4 – 2009 | 43 HER WAYS WITH PICTURES AND WORDS Is it soft? I don’t know since I’ve never touched it. I’d imagine the ocean and say, So maybe that’s a question. if I’d never seen the ocean, what Question: Have you ever considered continuing would I ask? Is it deep? Are there the Stella series through adolescence? any sea monsters? MG: Non. That does not interest me. But, two years ago, I had this idea to write about Stella when extraordinary ideas which she imparts to Sam. she was very small. I’m going backwards in time to And a very tiny Sam does appear at the end of the when Stella was a baby and how she becomes the story. Stella of today, how she saw the world then and where her imagination came from. That’s what I’m Question: We were wondering if you ever working on next. thought of making Caramba into a series? MG: I have an idea for the second book and now Question: Can you talk to us about Stella it’s a question of will I do it or when will I do it? becoming an animated series? There are so many projects I want to develop. In MG: There is a small production company in this second story, Caramba would have a new baby Toronto, Radical Sheep Productions, which has brother, who, to Caramba’s dismay, can fly. So I finally bought the rights to do that. I’m lucky to be will be writing about a sibling relationship again. with a publishing house that is, contrary to a lot of publishing houses, not pushing me to accept any Question: When you decided to write your offer. So we did refuse quite a few. own text for your illustrations, were publishers You see, for me, it was a priority that the Stella reluctant to accept your own writing? stories not be dumbed down. I also wanted to MG: In the beginning there was reluctance but retain the publishing rights so that books could not now there are more illustrators that write their own be made from the stills of the animated series and text. I remember my first text was really written I wanted to be a creative consultant for at least the over and talked about and discussed. Yes, it was beginning of the series. difficult. Radical Sheep convinced me that they would do as best they could. They have really studied my drawings and are trying to make Stella and Sam look like the books, only animated. They’re scanning the paper I use in my collages and they’ve found ways to make Stella’s hair move. There’s a real process to respect the drawings as well as the characters and stories.

Question: You mentioned that you’re going to write about Stella when she was a baby. Do you think the story will lose some elements because Sam won’t be there? MG: It might, but the way I see it is that it is part of an oeuvre, you know? All the books are based on their sibling relationship. It might lose in that sense, but I think it will gain in the understanding of where Stella found her imagination and her

44 | BOOKBIRD HER WAYS WITH PICTURES AND WORDS read bandes dessinées, which are illustrated stories I remember my first text was really like long cartoon strips. The most well-known written over and talked about and being Tintin, Babar, Bécassine or Astérix; but, less well-known, at least in the English world, are the discussed. Yes, it was difficult. works of F’Murr, René Gotlib, etc., which were featured in the magazine Pilote. The drawings were Question: Have you ever considered doing a surrealistic, crazy, extraordinarily avant-garde. The picture book without text? design was to die for. The texts were very exciting, MG: I think the closest I came to that is On My intellectual, funny, and ironic. Island. I’m not sure about picture books that have These illustrated stories had their roots in no words. They don’t always work; sometimes it’s French culture, history, and tradition. I was like an too much of a graphic trip. Words are reassuring. addict of these bandes dessinées and Pilote. When There’s something magical about hearing someone the magazine came out each month, I would wait read a book to you. at the store to buy it. It inspired me. When I started illustrating and studying art, I was also influenced Question: When you started working on your by European and American illustrators. book On My Island, did you come up with the illustrations first or did you start with the text Question: How do you stay connected to the design? world of a child? MG: Actually, it had to be the illustrations first MG: My connection with kids is mainly my because the text is really part of the illustration. connection with myself and with my childhood, The text is very short, twenty lines maybe. I but also my feeling of not having quite left it. I still divided it into sentences throughout the book and feel that I can see the world with fresh eyes. Imagine then worked on the illustration, leaving room for there’s a tree over there. If a child has never seen a the text to enter the illustration and become an tree before, he or she has no idea that it can’t move integral part of it. At the same time, I pondered or that the tree can’t talk. As an artist, I must be on how the text would occupy the space and give able to see the tree and the world in that way. a sense of movement? How would it illustrate what the words are saying? These illustrated stories had their Question: You worked with your husband on roots in French culture, history, Travels with My Family. Can you tell us the and tradition. I was like an addict benefits and challenges of working with another author? of these bandes dessinées and MG: One mainly works alone as an author so it Pilote. When the magazine came is interesting to see how another one works, how out each month, I would wait at the mind works. The communication aspect is very interesting, to be able to talk about what you’re the store to buy it. It inspired me. working on and voice your doubts. In Stella, Fairy of the Forest, the children go Question: You mentioned not being interested looking for fairies. At the very end, little Sam says, in art as a child. What or who are your largest “I see one, I see one.” And when I finish reading the influences or mentors? book I ask the kids, “Did anyone see the fairies in MG: Since I wasn’t drawing as a child, I was reading the book?” Usually, half the kids have seen them. a lot. In my preteen and teenage years I mainly The trick is not to ask where because I haven’t

No. 4 – 2009 | 45 HER WAYS WITH PICTURES AND WORDS drawn them. That’s how I stay in the childhood realm. You leave all the possibilities open. Maybe you can see fairies, maybe you imagined them, maybe you invented them, and maybe there aren’t any. Leave everything wide open. If you pause when you’re reading Question: When you speak with children, do they comment on the absence of parents in your books, when you’re looking at work? books, you get a child involved in MG: Non, non. It’s always the adults who do. Always. the story. When that happens, For example, teachers will write with their students and send me giant-sized letters with questions and it changes everything; they enter comments and often at the very end a teacher will the book. Voilà. write: “My students want to know why Stella and Sam don’t have any parents?” It’s obvious that it’s the teacher who wants to know. It worries adults when children seem free and immersed in a world without parents.

I have done hundreds and hundreds of readings over the years and in all this time, only one child asked that question, “Where are the parents?” And I answered the question with a question, “Where do you think they are?” and another student said, “Oh, well maybe they’re dead” and I said, “Well, maybe they are.”

When you let them answer, it’s really easy. That’s what books do; they open that type of conversation. Maybe the parents are dead. That’s a reality; parents die. I think we shy away from these subjects. If you pause when you’re reading books, when you’re looking at books, you get a child involved in the story. When that happens, it changes everything; they enter the book. Voilà.

Question: Shadows appear to be very important to your illustrations. Were you always conscious of shadows in your work? MG: Shadows give a depth and a perspective that is really interesting. You can also play with shadow shapes to evoke other images. In Please Louise! the little girl is angry and stomps her feet. On the wall behind her we see that her shadow is an elephant’s shadow stomping. It adds depth, and another level of meaning to the story.

Question: All of your illustrations portray feelings with no words. Have you done any research on body language? MG: When I went to San Francisco I attended an illustration school. That’s where I learned about body language. Now I notice these things all

46 | BOOKBIRD HER WAYS WITH PICTURES AND WORDS the time, the way kids sit, the way they listen, the Question: What disappoints you most about way they hang their heads. I take mental notes and children’s literature today? I also make sketches. It all means something. MG: Good question. A lot of what is being published today disappoints me. There are too many Question: Would you consider using technology conventional, unoriginal, and politically correct to create your illustrations? books. Most publishers are in it for the money. MG: Illustration on the computer is fabulous if When children’s book publishing started, publishers you are a good technician and a good artist. I think were very passionate about children’s books, even there is too much computer created illustration though nobody really saw the importance of that really has no artistic talent behind it. I could children’s literature. Now, I think they don’t take learn it, but I like working with materials. I prefer the time to choose good books, interesting books, working hands-on. books that bring children together, books that

Question: What does it feel like when you When I went to San Francisco I complete a project? MG: In the beginning, I’m very enthusiastic. When attended an illustration school. I’m in the sketching stage or when I’m looking for That’s where I learned about body colors, it’s great. When I’m starting the book, I language. Now I notice these things do a lot of research. The first sketches are usually terrible and then eventually I get into the rhythm of all the time, the way kids sit, the the book. I think, ah, this is fantastic! Then there’s way they listen, the way they hang this spot I arrive at when I am about three quarters through the book. I get up one morning and I look their heads. I take mental notes at the book and I say, “What in the world have I and I also make sketches. It all been doing? This is so horrible.” I put them all on the wall in my studio so I can just see the rhythm means something. of the drawings. And still I think, “What have I done? What have I done?” When that happens, I open children’s minds. Now, there are way too take the day off. I’ll ride my bicycle, wash all the many books! When a publisher puts a book out floors, and work in the garden. Then I go back to they are already pushing for an animated series and the book; I’m not going to stop at three quarters. merchandising: a glitter book and then a bigger I finish it, send it off to the publisher, and I’m glitter book. Little girls like lockets? Okay, let’s biting my nails until the publisher calls me up and put a locket on a book and a pink pony! Too many says, “Ah! It’s marvelous, the best thing you’ve books for children are published, approved, and ever done” or “That’s nice,” depending on the developed by the marketing departments. personality of the publisher. Then I clean up the I’m sad for young artists and authors starting out, studio and then the sadness starts because where because publishers are looking for the big names, are the characters I created? I miss them. When the celebrities, and what will become a commercial you send your drawings and your manuscript to success. For someone starting out, it’s really difficult the publisher and they have it printed and bound, to break into the market. There are a lot of lovely it takes at least a year and a half for the book to stories that will never be told. As well, I’m sad about come out, if not two years. So you won’t see your the demise of independent bookstores. They’re the characters again for a long time. But when the book best booksellers because they are passionate about finally comes out, it seems so far away because transmitting a love of reading and they are very you’re already halfway through another book. knowledgeable about their books. I think I came into the children’s book world at

No. 4 – 2009 | 47 HER WAYS WITH PICTURES AND WORDS exactly the right time, in Canada anyway, because Books written or retold and we were just starting to create our own literature. illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay Canada always has had a problem of being close to The garden. (1985). Toronto: James Lorimer and the United States. We are a very creative country. Company. We have a lot of things to say, but if you have a big Moonbeam on a cat’s ear. (1986). Toronto: Stoddart. neighbor that keeps on saying, “I can say it louder Rainy day magic. (1987). Toronto: Stoddart. Angel and the polar bear. (1988). Toronto: Stoddart. than you,” you get quieter. But when I started, Fat Charlie’s circus. (1989). Toronto: Stoddart. everybody was saying in Québec and in the rest of Willy Nilly. (1990). Toronto: Stoddart. Canada, “It is time to publish our own literature Mademoiselle moon. (1992). Toronto: Stoddart. and art, with our own creators.” The publishers were Rabbit blue. (1993). Toronto: Stoddart. open to everything then, they took risks, they were Midnight Mimi. (1994). Toronto: Stoddart. passionate, and I was able to get my feet in there. The three little pigs. (1994). Toronto: Groundwood Now it is very difficult to get in, very difficult. Books. Rumplestiltskin. (1997). Toronto: Groundwood Books. Question: What would you still like to write Stella, star of the sea. (1999). Toronto: Groundwood about? Books. On my island. (2000). Toronto: Groundwood Books. MG: Probably traveling, exploring the visual Stella, queen of the snow. (2001). Toronto: Groundwood landscape of the different places I’ve been to-- but Books. with the characters I have created. Stella, fairy of the forest. (2002). Toronto: Groundwood Books. Good night, Sam. (2003). Toronto: Groundwood Books. Good morning Sam. (2003). Toronto: Groundwood Books. Stella, princess of the sky. (2004). Toronto: Groundwood Books. Caramba. (2005). Toronto: Groundwood Books,. What are you doing Sam? (2006). Toronto: Groundwood Books. With Homel, D. (2006). Travels with my family. Toronto: Groundwood Books. With Homel, D. (2008) On the road again! Toronto: Groundwood Books.

48 | BOOKBIRD HER WAYS WITH PICTURES AND WORDS Books illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay Books in French by Marie-Louise Gay Gillmor, D. (1994). When vegetables go bad! Toronto: De zéro à minuit. (1981). Montréal: La courte échelle. Doubleday Canada. La sœur de Robert. (1983). Montréal: La courte échelle. Gillmor, D. (1996). The fabulous song. Toronto: Rond comme ton visage. (1984). Québec: Ovale. Stoddart. Petit et grand. (1984). Québec: Ovale. Gillmor, D. (1998). The Christmas orange. Toronto: Blanc comme neige. (1984). Québec: Ovale. Stoddart. Un léopard dans mon placard. (1984). Québec: Ovale. Gillmor, D. (2001). Yuck, a love story. Toronto: Le potager. (1985). Québec: Ovale. Stoddart. Voyage au clair de lune. (1986). Montréal: Héritage. Howe, J. (2006). Houndsley and Catina. Cambridge, Magie d’un jour de pluie. (1987). Montréal: Héritage. MA: Candlewick Press. Angèle et l’ours polaire. (1988). Montréal: Héritage. Howe, J. (2006). Houndsley and Catina and the birthday Le cirque de Charlie Chou. (1989). Montréal: Héritage. surprise. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. Bonne fête, Willy. (1990). Montréal: Héritage. Howe, J. (2008). Houndsley and Catina and the quiet Mademoiselle Lune. (1992). Montréal: Héritage. time. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. Lapin Bleu. (1993). Montréal: Héritage. Lee, D. (1984). Lizzy’s lion. Toronto: General Qui a peur de Loulou? (1994). Montreal: VLB. Publishing. Pas encore des légumes! (1994). Montréal: Héritage. Musgrave, S. (1998). Dreams are more real than bathtubs. Midnight Mimi. (1994). Toronto: Stoddart. Victoria: Orca. Mimi-la-nuit. (1994). Montréal: Héritage. Singer, M. (2000). Didi and daddy on the promenade. Princesse Pistache. (1996). Montréal: Héritage. New York: Clarion Books. Sur mon île. (2000). Toulouse, France: Milan. Wishinksy, F. (2007). Please Louise! Toronto: Les malheurs de princesse Pistache. (2007). Montréal: Groundwood Books. Dominique et Cie. Wynne-Jones, T. (1993). The last piece of sky. Toronto: Groundwood Books. Wyse, L. (1998). How to take your grandmother to the museum. New York: Workman.

No. 4 – 2009 | 49 HER WAYS WITH PICTURES AND WORDS Books in French illustrated Leblanc, L. (1993). Sophie part en voyage. Montréal: La by Marie-Louise Gay courte échelle. Duchesne, C. (1994). Berthold et Lucrèce. Montréal: Leblanc, L. (1994). Sophie est en danger. Montréal: La Québec-Amérique. courte échelle. Duchesne, C. (1999). Julia et le chef des pois. Montréal: Leblanc, L. (1995). Sophie fait des folies. Montréal: La Boréal. courte échelle. Duchesne, C. (1999). Julia et les fantômes. Montréal: Leblanc, L. (1996). Sophie vit un cauchemar. Montréal: Boréal. La courte échelle. Gauthier, B. (1976). Hou Ilva. Monréal: Tamanoir. Leblanc, L. (1997). Sophie devient sage. Montréal: La Gauthier, B. (1978). Dou Ilvien. Montréal: La courte courte échelle. échelle. Leblanc, L. (1998). Sophie prend les grands moyens. Gauthier, B. (1980). Hébert Luée. Montréal. La courte Montréal: La courte échelle. échelle. Leblanc, L. (1999). Sophie veut vivre sa vie. Montréal: Leblanc, L. (1990). Ça suffit Sophie! Montréal: La courte La courte échelle. échelle. Leblanc, L. (1999). Sophie court après la fortune. Leblanc, L. (1991). Sophie lance et compte. Montréal: La Montréal: La courte échelle. courte échelle. Leblanc, L. (2002). Sophie découvre l’envers du décor. Leblanc, L. (1992). Ça va mal pour Sophie. Montréal: Montréal: La courte échelle. La courte échelle. Nicolas, S. (1997). Le beurre de Doudou. Montréal: Héritage. Papineau, L. (1997). Monsieur soleil. Montréal: Héritage.

Growing up in contemporary Baghdad, Ali likes soccer, YO EW R loud music, and dancing. However, his greatest love is N K

creating Arabic calligraphy. Inspired by his hero, Yakut, a

2008

thirteenth century calligrapher who took solace in his art

U A during the Mongol invasion, Ali calms himself with the S beauty and discipline of calligraphy when the bombs fall. Presenting a view of everyday life and survival in wartime James Rumford Baghdad, the lyrical text does not dwell on politics or conflict, but simply on one boy’s efforts to use art to find Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad comfort and understanding. Rumford’s mixed-media illustrations are reminiscent of the collage work of Ezra New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2008 Jack Keats and his calligraphy nearly soars off the page. unpaged ISBN-10: 1596432764; ISBN- This is a “must-have” for every picture book collection. 13:9781596432765

(picture book, all ages) Jeffrey Brewster

50 | BOOKBIRD for Young Adults Young for Fiction Greek Contemporary in Alterity Other: the Understanding

The author considers the depiction of alterity, or the “Other,” in contemporary Greek fiction for young people to analyze the image of the expanding multicultural reality of Neo-Hellenic society.

lobalization appears to threaten the power of the nation-state via its influence on institutions and traditional structures; G migratory movements create insecurity within indigenous populations that manifests itself through xenophobia. In combination, these two phenomena give rise to questions that focus on positions and attitudes toward the “Other,” identity and alterity. Literary and critical discourse are ever more interested in these issues: the right to by VASSILIKI LALAGIANNI respect cultural identity, how institutions defend this right, the limits of tolerance toward others, and the relationship between multiculturalism and domination, among many others. Present-day migrations combined with the erosion of geographical and cultural boundaries have given way to a multifaceted world, as Paul Ricoeur’s Oneself as Another (1992) affirms, where the various forms of alterity and difference are involved in the process of identity formation. In literary discourse, this confrontation with diverse worlds inevitably provokes a questioning of and reflection on ourselves and the Vassiliki Lalagianni is an associate world around us. Within the scholastic context, reading multicultural professor in European literature at the works affords an opportunity to engage in a discussion concerning the University of Peloponnese in Greece. Her research interests focus on women’s © 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. writing, migrant No.literature, 4 – 2009 and | 51literature for young adults. BY Vassiliki Lalagianni is an associate associate an is Lalagianni Vassiliki people published in the 1990s focus on the the racial, national, identity- collective on and difference focus of 1990sthematics the through “Other” the of the meaning in published people humanity. and tolerance greater creating to view a worldwith the contemplateto ways other imagine to and self, the of reflection affirmative/conflicting an as “Other” UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER 52 oneanother, between frontier the demarcation and to identity one from another, to region one shifting from of experience the in also but Other, the of differences inherent the in only not inspiration its finds general, in art and children’sfiction, contemporary more and More sexual. and linguistic VASSILIKI LALAGIANNI confrontation withdiverse worlds | of andreflection onourselves and Numerous works of Greek fiction for young young for fiction Greek of works Numerous inevitably provokes aquestioning

BOOKBIRD Un- der-

stand- In literary discourse,this In literary

ing the worldaround us. the increasingly more in multicultural and universal universal and multicultural in more increasingly us. among indeed alterity the Other by definition,is close the immigrant, by, of question because inhabitants its the for pressing more becomes while country, the of of phenomenon landscape alters the cultural migration increasingly polymorphic and intense refugees. The and immigrants of influx recent the to due past the solid in Hellas and characterized homogeneous that identity the of consists longer no which Greece, of inhabitants the of identities a different the of image heterogeneous surfaces and multiple there consequence, In trends. and critical forms literary new creating by next the and the by produced companyL’écolepublishing loisirs. des series special the example, forsee, -- area this in consciousness raise to aim the with published been have books numerous France By extension, refugees. in political and immigrants of number great a hosts that country a of example promotion diversity.of cultural France as an stands the and differences of acceptance themes the concerning with preoccupied been has young fiction and children’sadult years, ten past the least at for production literary European Within 25). p. 1993, (Rochman, cultures other towards openness beyond and cultural national barriers and differences advocates for allows people young for literature people of Multicultural backgrounds. coexistence cultural diverse from the for and opportunity differences, the of acceptance the the for exchange, occasion cultural for forum a offers issues, of differences andthe promotion of production foratleastthepastten Children’s and young adult literature, which deals e none a iia pouto i other in production similar a encounter We themes concerning theacceptance themes concerning fiction hasbeenpreoccupied with years, children’s andyoung adult Within European literary cultural diversity. UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER multicultural societies such as Germany, the on questions that attend the emigration process, Netherlands, and Great Britain. While the when the sentiment of alterity is intense and its publishing of books that specialize in cultural diverse manifestations are exhibited in various specificity and the symbiosis of culturally diverse manners: interpersonal relations, interrelations communities flourishes in Europe, Neo-Hellenic among social groups, lived experiences. publications for young readers remain limited, given the context of a society that is still fairly Exploring alterity through fiction homogeneous from a cultural and ethnic standpoint Certain novels explore the alterity of the immigrant despite the recent massive migrations, and one that and his/her multiple and multidimensional has yet to develop an intercultural perspective. In relations with other social groups through the spite of these features, some works of Greek fiction use of either dramatic emphasis or the literary focus on the rehabilitation of the literary image embellishment of situations. These fictional of other ethnic groups (that were characterized as works accentuate the positive aspects of the negative until today) as the “Roma,” migrants or foreigner’s character via pertinent thematics and refugees, as well as the rehabilitation of references appropriate narrative strategies that appeal to to national stereotypes, for example the “neighbor- young readers through familiarity: this unknown enemy.” and misunderstood figure who is the Other. And As a result of the effort to create literary works such literature ultimately contributes to the waning that sensitize readers to social issues, the figure of preconceived ideas and stereotypes – until of the immigrant, the foreigner who comes to their eventual eclipse. To an extent they distance our country to cohabit with us, comes on the the text from a programmed reading that can scene of contemporary Neo-Hellenic fiction for only reinforce stereotypical images (Amossy & young people. Consequently, interest is taken in Herschberg-Pierrot, 1997). Of all literary genres, the historical novel proposes itself as an ideal locus Of all literary genres, the historical for the experience of alterity (Abdallah-Pretceille, 2002). The social realism novel is also the site of novel proposes itself as an ideal “encounters” with the Other. This literary genre locus for the experience of alterity. exposes young readers to a complex universe, a world crossed by superstition and clichés that are the domain of racism and cultural differences, conveyed in the roles and actions of the characters stereotypical images of the Other, the outsider who who personify the Other. Cultural by-products hails from a different culture, in other words, the as well as the locale for pattern-forming, these stranger. As Landowsky explains (1997, p.10): “the novels are sometimes subversive, displaying the figure of the Other is above all that of the stranger, characteristics of the “interrogative text” (Stephens, defined by his otherness.” Migration implies a 1994). Likewise, they help sensitize the young rupture with the familiar social surroundings in public to social and collective issues by presenting which one was socialized. This severing constitutes a means for reflection while they encourage readers a crisis situation for the personal identity, it being to take a stand. In Greece, as early as the 1990s, a change “of such magnitude because the identity literary production for young adults was influenced is simultaneously emphasized and endangered.... by certain novels that were singled out for their It’s an event of such critical importance because insights into the condition of alterity from the the individual is continually confronting loss – viewpoint of ethnicity, race, religion, and culture. possessions, people, language....All of which is In these works, the immigrant comes from abroad, associated with memory and attached to the lost most often from former Soviet countries, the homeland” (Grinberg & Grinberg, 1986, pp. 42- Balkans or Asia, including: Maria Kokkinou, Ena 43). Literary constructions of the immigrant focus paidi, dyo patrides (One Child, Two Homelands);

No. 4 – 2009 | 53 UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER even earn the respect and friendship of their peers, Manos Kontoleon, Mia historia tou Fiodor (A like Eurydice from Tashkent (in Once There Was a Fiodor Story); Katerina Mouriki, Gasmed, o fygas Hunter). For the little Kurd Ekrem, school becomes me ti flogera (Gasmed, The Fugitive with a Fife); a welcoming place where he can express his feelings Stratis Tragkis, Sarakiniko (The Saracen). about his new country: The immigrant may also be of Greek origin, descending from the region of southern Albania “With great enthusiasm Ekrem took out where Greek minorities continue to exist, such as: his notebook and started drawing. The Sotiris Dimitriou, Na akouo kala to onoma sou (May page became an immense sea upon which Your Name Be Blessed); Maroula Kliafa, O dromos two boys stood hugging each other, as if gia ton paradeiso einai makrys (It’s a Long Road to they were dancing.” Paradise); Nitsa Kiassou, Mia nona gia tin Denada (A Godmother for Denada); Vangelis Iliopoulos, (The Saracen, p.66) Kafé aïdiastiko balaki (Disgusting Little Brown Ball). Or the “other” could also be the descendant Alterity and acculturation and assimilation of Greek political refugees who fled the country In Greek novels for young adults that explore after the Civil War (1945-1949) to live in exile in the subject of migration, invariably the migrants the Soviet Union: Eleni Sarantiti, Kapote o kynigos of Greek origin appear to vacillate between two (Once There Was a Hunter). countries and they are greatly affected by this In the above-mentioned novels discrimination painful state of being “in-between” [l’entre-deux], against immigrants and their subsequent which author Nancy Huston so aptly describes in marginalization involves personal attitudes as much her book Lettres parisiennes: Autopsie de l’exil [Paris as the politics in state institutions. Immigrants are Letters: Autopsy of an Exile] (1986). These novels often portrayed as weak, voiceless and without the relay various experiences of acculturation, in other will to revolt. For Michel Foucault, otherness refers words how a minority member lives or endures the to those who have been excluded from positions of encounter with a dominant culture. In certain works power, marginalized, and denied a voice (Michel of fiction, relationships with the Other play out not Foucault, 1980). It need be mentioned here that in the spirit of respect of differences, but rather in the reaction against alterity is usually collective in a climate of clash and confrontation that ends in character and tends to incite xenophobic sentiments assimilation-- meaning the foreigner fusing with the and attitudes and racist postures. In the novel The Saracen, Leonidas fears he has caught lice from a young Kurdish immigrant, Ekrem; in A Godmother for Denada, Kyra-Aggela describes a young Albanian immigrant in extremely negative terms who, according to the woman, is the incarnation of delinquency, malevolence, and Atheism-- to cite a few among many other examples (May Your Name Be Blessed). In the work place, the Greeks don’t speak out against the injustices suffered by migrant workers, but neither do they conceal their compassion and silent solidarity (Once There Was a Hunter; Gasmed, The Fugitive with a Fife). At school, however, the young immigrants experience marginalization and exclusion, particularly when they first arrive; but they eventually integrate and

54 | BOOKBIRD UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER dominant culture. Other works question the small village community. The action takes place intercultural context where evidence of alterity on a remote Greek island – a metonymy for the attests to an intersubjective practice that favors a marginalization and abandonment the immigrant proximity between the Other and the self without is exposed to. As with all the novels in our corpus, forcing a fusion – friendship and love play a leading the narration is situated in the historic present, role in these case scenarios. easily recognizable for the young reader; it is also Maroula Kliafa’s novel It’s a Long Road to Paradise signalled by instantaneity after the fashion of speaks of immigrants and their adaptation to Greek contemporary narratives for young readers that society. The theme is treated in epistolary form, a tends to undermine time as perceived by the child correspondence exchanged between two girls, one or the adolescent (Nikolajeva, 2000). A stranger Athenian and the other Albanian. In her letters, in her host country despite her Greek heritage, Veronika questions her situation of imposed exile Denada must accept the new cultural practices and as well as the society at large: the country she adjust to her new situation. Thus, she has to put aside properties and components of her self: this In Greek novels for young means changing her first name so she can adopt the Christian name “Mary” in place of her given adults that explore the subject of name, Denada. Under pressure from the small migration, invariably the migrants community that has little tolerance for difference, the young immigrant must forget her former points of Greek origin appear to vacillate of reference in order to integrate into Greek society; between two countries and they thus she moves on to the enculturation stage (Todorov, 1980). are greatly affected by this painful In the narrative, the ideology of assimilation is state of being “in-between.” conveyed by specific characters. One Child, Two Homelands presents the young hero writing in his left behind; her political and economic status; diary: the working conditions of migrants in her host country, Greece; racism at school; surviving “Mother said that we had to forget our first in her adoptive country. A reciprocal rapport names... My God, we’ve changed our given gradually establishes itself between the two names. I’m going to be called Antonis and female characters, their complicity expressed in Valmyra will be called Eleni, Mother will be the narrative discourse. Without resorting to Anna and Father, Yiannis. We’ll all have the traditional models of foreignness, the writer evokes same last name, Filippou...God, I know there’s the figure of the “emigrant-other” through the no difference between Ferit and Antonis but medium of friendship, a dynamic that overcomes it’s still not right to want a first name like Ferit all obstacles, where she encounters the Other, only and be forced to accept the name Antonis. to find through this stranger the self. Well, my God, I’m going to keep writing in Eliminating prejudice and negative social our language and thinking like Ferit...” constructions of the Other by way of friendship (pp. 68-69) constitutes the thematic center around which the Nitsa Kiassou’s novel A Godmother for Denada Alterity, friendship, and love turns. A Greek girl relates the difficulties her The friendship shared between the young friend has adapting to life in Greece after leaving immigrants and other children is also a her home in southern Albania where she had lived predominant motif in the novels Disgusting Little among a Greek minority. The young narrator Brown Ball by Vangelis Iliopoulos and The Saracen also describes how foreigners are perceived in her by Stratis Tragakis. However, love is the medium

No. 4 – 2009 | 55 UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER par excellence by which we can gain access to In the novel A Fiodor Story, the marriage between another. According to Wierlacher (2000), love is the immigrant Elona and an elderly Greek appears a social constant that allows for the discovery of to be more of an arrangement than a love match. affinities that are passed down through the basic Elona resigns herself to marrying an old man in institutional functions of human civilization. order to inherit his house and ensure her daughter, In her novel Once There Was a Hunter, writer Liuba, a brighter future. Eleni Sarantiti addresses the alterity problematic from a feminine perspective. Young Eurydice, born Conclusion The novels considered here focus primarily on Love is a social constant that human relations and almost never refer to the image of the expanding multicultural reality of Neo- allows for the discovery of affinities Hellenic society; a society that typically lacks any that are passed down through the organized system for the reception of immigrants, that does not even have a broad plan for coping basic institutional functions of with the phenomenon of political and economic human civilization. refugees. Nevertheless, the writers deliberately address immigration issues in a realistic manner in Moscow, recounts the migratory experience of by presenting all the facets of alterity: xenophobia, a family of political refugees, Greeks repatriated ethnocentrism, racism. Today these narratives ask from Tashkent. The heroine misses her native land new questions and attempt to familiarize the young and feels rejected in her new home. She feels like a public with an image of the Other, the foreigner, the stranger in her own country, since her parents were different. The writers focus on the positive aspects forced to flee after the Civil War. Her first love, a boy of multiculturalism in contemporary societies in from a well-to-do family, is forbidden by his parents hopes of destroying stereotypical images of the to have any further contact with her because she’s an Other that continue to prevail in the collective immigrant. The discrimination and demarcations imagination, to sensitize the public and ultimately that characterize the bipolar opposition of “Others/ to abolish the fault lines of bigotry. This is a vital Us” is now steeped in gender as well; the feminine effort in this age of globalization; multicultural voice is doubly complex because it simultaneously existence challenges another conception of and issues from feminine experience and echoes ethno- attitude towards the Other. cultural difference. The painful double alterity of being both a foreigner and a woman gives the young protagonist an opportunity to find herself, The writers focus on the positive to understand her family’s history since the Greek aspects of multiculturalism in Civil War, and ultimately, to create her own identity from the twofold loss of her birthplace and her first contemporary societies in hopes of love. destroying stereotypical images of Our corpus of books offers only rare glimpses at the theme of love; there are no romances to the Other that continue to prevail speak of, nor are there marriages between Greeks in the collective imagination, to and immigrants. Only in the book One Child, Two Homelands do we find mention of an attraction sensitize the public and ultimately between the Greek Eleni and the Albanian Ferit. to abolish the fault lines of bigotry.

56 | BOOKBIRD UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER Children’s books cited Dimitriou, Sotiris. (2000). Na akouo kala to onoma sou. Athens: Kedros. Dimitriou, Sotiris. (2002). May Your Name Be Blessed, tr. by Leo Marshall. Birmingham: University of Birmingham/Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies. Iliopoulos, Vangelis. (2003). Kafé aidiastiko balaki [The Little Disgusting Brown Ball]. Athens: Patakis. Kiassou, Nitsa. (2000). Mia nona gia ti Denada [A Godmother for Denada]. Athens: Patakis. Kliafa, Maroula. (2003) O dromos gia ton paradeiso einai makrys [It’s a Long Road to Paradise]. Athens: Kedros. Kokkinou, Maria. (2002). Ena paidi, dyo patrides [One Child, Two Homelands]. Athens: Minoas. Kontoleon, Manos. (2004). Mia historia tou Fiodor [A Fiodor’s Story]. Athens: Patakis. Mouriki, Katerina.(2003). Gasmend, o gygas me ti flogera [Gasmed, the Fugitive with the Fife]. Athens: Papadopoulos. Sarantiti, Εleni. (1996). Kapote o kynigos [Once There Was a Hunter]. Athens: Kastaniotis. Tragakis, Stratis. (1996). Sarakiniko [The Saracen]. Athens: Kedros. Trivizas, Evgenios. (2001). I teleftaia mavri gata. Athens: Ellinika Grammata. Trivizas, Eugene. (2005). The Last Black Cat. London: Egmont Publishing.

References Abdallah-Pretceille. (2003). Former et éduquer en contexte hétérogène: Pour un humanisme du Divers [Form and Educate in a Heterogeneous Context: For a Diverse Humanism]. Paris: Anthropos. Amossy, Ruth. (2002). Introduction to the Study of Doxa. Poetics Today, 23:3 369- 394. Amossy, R. & Herschberg-Pierrot, Α. (1997). Stéréotypes et clichés. Langue, discours, société [Stereotypes and Clichés. Language, Discourse, Society]. Paris: Νathan. Foucault, Michel. (1980). Power/Knowledge, ed. by Colin Gordon. London: Harvester Press. Grinberg, L. & Grinberg, R. (1986). Psychanalyse du migrant et de l’exilé [Psychoanalysis of the Migrant and the Exile]. Lyon: KLE. Huston, Nancy. (1986). Lettres parisiennes: Autopsie de l’exil [Paris Letters: Autopsy of an Exile]. Paris: Barrault. Landowsky, E. (1997). Présences de l’autre. Essais de socio-sémiotique II [Presences of the Other. Socio-semiotic Essays II]. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. Nikolajeva, Maria. (2000). From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children’s Literature. Lanham: Children’s Literature Association/Scarecrow Press. Ricoeur, Paul. (1992). Oneself as Another, trans. Kathleen Blamey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Rochman, H. (1993). Against Borders: Promoting Books for a Multicultural World. Chicago: ALA Books. Stephens, J. (1994). Language and Ideology in Children’s Fiction. London: Longman Todorov, Tzvetan. (1996). L’Homme dépaysé. Paris: Seuil.

No. 4 – 2009 | 57 Khan, award-winning author of books featuring the Middle RONTO O East and Muslim themes, was born in Lahore, Pakistan. Her T

protagonist in this novel, Jameela, lives in a poor, war-torn

village in Afghanistan. Surrounded by war her entire life, unable 2009 C

A

N A A to attend school, her extended family wiped out by a bomb, born D with a disfiguring cleft lip, Jameela is sustained by her faith and Mor, her mother. When Mor suddenly dies and Jameela’s father succumbs to drugs and alcohol, she has only memories of her mother and her own positive attitude to sustain her. When they Rukhsana Khan move to Kabul, her father marries a widow who treats the child as a slave. Finally, the couple abandons Jameela at a market. Rescued and placed in an orphanage, this brave child’s life Wanting Mor improves: she attends school and her lip is corrected through Toronto, Canada: Groundwood Books, 2009 surgery. Western children, reading Jameela’s story and realizing that it is based on true events, are likely to consider 192 pp. ISBN-10: 0888998589; ISBN-13: 978- their personal troubles slight in comparison. The first-person 0888998583 narrative, delivered unemotionally, is poignant and powerful. (fiction, 9-12) Pushto words used throughout are defined in a glossary. Margaret Rennie

An award-winning Italian author of 12 books, Cali teams EW Y with Bloch, recipient of a Gold Medal from the Society N O R

of Illustrators, to create a simple, direct and powerful K

2009

statement, a fable for our time, about the pointlessness

A of war. Two lonely soldiers face each other across a

S

desolate battlefield from their respective foxholes. U The speaker, having crept stealthily into the enemy’s hole even as the enemy has crept into his, discovers that it contains the same items as his own: photos of Davide Cali friends and family, even a war manual identical to his that portrays him as a monster. But he sees that the The Enemy: manual is full of lies. If the enemy, clearly a person just A Book About Peace. like him, were to say, “Let’s end the war right now,” Illus. Serge Bloch the enlightened speaker would agree. Simple text and inventive drawings in khaki express with dramatic New York, USA: Random House, frankness the futility and irrationality of war. A reviewer in 2009 the Wall Street Journal of April 25-26, 2009, comments, “Think of it as a kind of “All Quiet on the Western Front” 34pp. ISBN: 9780375845000 for the elementary-school set. (picture book, 8+)

Glenna Sloan

58 | BOOKBIRD Books on Books on Books

Read about the history of two decades of children’s book publishing in the Netherlands, contemporary Korean picture book illustration, the work of acclaimed Swedish author Peter Pohl and Australian author and artist Graeme Base, and postmodernism in children’s picture books from multiple scholarly perspectives.

NETHERLANDS

BREGJE BOONSTRA Wat een mooite! Hoogtij in het kinderboek in acht portretten.

[What beautiful books! The heyday of children’s literature in eight portraits] Amsterdam: Querido 2009 239 pp ISBN 9789021435411 (Euro) E 24 Edited and compiled by CHRISTIANE RAABE The last two decades of the twentieth century were of particular Translations by NIKOLA VON MERVELDT importance to Dutch children’s literature in terms of creativity and productivity. They were the golden years, which marked the rise of literary children’s books. In this study, Bregje Boonstra, long-time children’s literature critic for one of the most important newspapers in the Netherlands, the NRC Handelsblad, gives a lively picture of these two decades. She begins with a description of the situation of children’s literature in the early 1980s and the contemporary discussion surrounding the rise of the more literary children’s books; at the time, several critics thought that literary books would not be read by the Christiane Raabe is director of the Internationale Jugendbibliothek (International Youth Library) in Munich. © 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. BOOKS ON BOOKS children themselves, but were rather aimed at a SOUTH KOREA very select group of readers (mostly adults). On the other hand, the 1980s and 1990s saw the LEE HO BAECK / JEONG BYUNG-KYU (ED) emergence of serious literary criticism of children’s / KIM YOUNG-SOOK (TRANSL) literature and the foundation of a national award Bound treasures: Graphic art in Korean for the best literary children’s book (Woutertje children’s books of the mid-20th century. Pieterse Prijs, which is still the most important award in the Netherlands). At the end of this By Yi Ki-ung: 2009 183 pp ISBN 9788960320581 introductory chapter, Boonstra justifies her choice price not indicated of the eight authors that she considers to be most representative of this time (all winners of the Theo Korean Publishing Association (ED) Thijssenprijs, the former “State prize of children’s Round and Round in a Circle: Illustrations from and youth literature”): Paul Biegel, Imme Dros, Korea. Seoul: 2009 231pp ISBN 9788985231701 price not indicated At the time, several critics thought that literary books would not be Korea was this year’s 2009 guest of honour at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. The exhibition read by the children themselves, featured nearly one hundred illustrators with a total but were rather aimed at a of 330 originals. The accompanying catalogue, Round and Round in a Circle, displays the wide very select group of readers variety of styles and impressively demonstrates the (mostly adults). high quality of contemporary Korean children’s book illustration. Recent years have witnessed an Wim Hofman, Peter van Gestel, Els Pelgrom, impressive comeback of Korean illustration that Guus Kuijer, Toon Tellegen and Joke van Leeuwen. has aroused attention on both the national and The following eight chapters give detailed portraits international level. The picture book Waiting for of these authors. Although the selection is personal Mama, illustrated by Kim Dong-Seong, for example, and other authors could have been included, these enjoyed considerable success and was published in portraits, together with the introductory chapter, bilingual editions in Germany, France, and the offer an excellent survey of a time that some critics, United States. Readers were especially touched by discouraged by the growing commercialization of the delicate blend of whimsical sobriety. Overall, the children’s book the catalogue features a number of interesting market today, would artists, but also includes all those technically skilled consider the heyday illustrators of average talent who still have to find of Dutch children’s their own voice. literature. In Korea, illustrations are considered at least as important as the text. Internationally high-ranking Toin Duijx festivals such as the CJ Picture Book Festival or the Nami Island International Children’s Festival have recently sprouted from the ground; no other Asian country acquires as many foreign rights of picture books. Sok-ghee Baek, president of the Korean Publishers Association, recently observed that illustrations not only bring texts to life and enhance them, but also tell their own stories and promote learning. Korea has become a paradise of children’s

60 | BOOKBIRD BOOKS ON BOOKS book illustration. One reason for this success is SWEDEN that illustrators have worked hard at establishing and expanding a truly original tradition. MONICA NORDSTRÖM JACOBSSON The Art Center for Children’s Books at Peter Pohls litterära projekt. En tematisk Pajubookcity and the National Library for Children studie med utgångspunkt i debutromanen and Young Adults have published the catalogue Janne, min vän Bound Treasures that documents the beginnings and turbulent history of Korean children’s book [Peter Pohl’s literary project. A thematic study illustration using a wealth of artwork. The survey based on his debut novel Janne, min vän] goes back to the 1920s, when the first magazines for Umeå: Umeå universitetet, Institutionen för children were published, including the magazine kultur- och medievetenskaper 2008 272pp ISBN Eorini (Children), which was repeatedly banned 9789172646469 price not indicated during the years of Japanese occupation. The cover designs of the issues between the liberation Peter Pohl is one of today’s most highly recognized in 1945 and the beginning of the Korean War in authors of children’s and youth literature. The 1950 are especially convincing and compelling. Swede has won several awards; his debut novel, Typical for these years is a balancing act between Janne, min vän [Jonny, my friend], earned him, Western aesthetics and the Korean national among others, the Nils-Holgersson-Medal and the tradition. The well-annotated catalogue presents a German Youth Literature Award. In her doctoral selection of those historical children’s magazines, thesis, Monica Nordström Jacobsson explores Pohl’s which are currently being restored and digitized. understanding of literature and his strategic use of Originally they were printed on low-quality paper poetic devices. She bases her study on paratextual that threatens to disintegrate. Following the statements, on a close reading of Janne, min vän armistice of 1953, Korean illustrators were left to fend for themselves, completely cut off from the This endows the process of Western world. The production of these decades is truly astounding given the extremely poor storytelling not only with a material conditions of the time. More than one commemorative but also a hundred pages show reproductions, which exhibit a surprisingly independent visual language. Among therapeutic and even existential the most impressive illustrations are those that function by allowing extend Korean folk art into the realm of the abstract. Leafing through this documentation will leave no the protagonists to accept reader unmoved. It is their identities. a testimony to the fact that times of political in particular, but also on subsequent stories and oppression and social novels. This leads her to identify four parameters: hardship often bring firstly, Pohl always chooses child protagonists in forth the greatest art. order to demonstrate the mercilessness of family and/or societal structures. Secondly, the children Christiane Raabe attempt to compensate for these failings by striking up friendships with others the same age. These friendships are no guarantee of security, however; rather – this is the third characteristic – the stronger friend lends a voice to his or her more fragile companion. In Janne, min vän, for example, it is

No. 4 – 2009 | 61 BOOKS ON BOOKS Krille, Janne’s friend, who relates Janne’s tragic fate. career step by step – or book by book. She provides Finally, this endows the process of storytelling not detailed background information about each of his only with a commemorative but also a therapeutic various masterpieces and invites Base himself as and even existential function by allowing the well as several of his friends, colleagues, and family protagonists to accept their identities. By the same members to add their personal memories about the token, the narrative act itself is focused, opening creation of the works. In addition, sections entitled up an implicit metaliterary dimension. Pohl’s “Beyond the Book” reveal extra information, e.g. books all follow a similar structure, but experiment how new dragon research led to an 11th- anniversary with various narrative perspectives, which allows edition including US-dragons, or the versatile for nuances and serves different functions. artist’s musical and cinematic endeavours, or how Monica Nordström Jacobsson’s study convincingly The Sign of the Seahorse was turned into a musical demonstrates that Pohl squarely situates his plots and a movie. The wealth of full color illustrations, within specific social black-and-white sketches, and photographs – many contexts without of them available to the public for the first time and considering his novels headed by Base’s own captions – aptly portray this as a mere medium illustrator’s unique trademark style of bright colors for social critique, and pages brimming with innumerable details. but rather as literary This lavishly designed retrospective catalogue works that explore a makes readers aware of how Base sees each of sophisticated array of his projects as a new challenge that goes beyond literary devices. “normal” children’s books. Julie Watts’s homage to one of Australia’s Ines Galling most famous author- illustrators is a must- have for old and new Animalia-lovers alike. UNITED STATES / AUSTRALIA Claudia Söffner JULIE WATTS The art of Graeme Base UNITED STATES / UNITED KINGDOM New York: Abrams 2008 230pp ISBN 9780810971431 US $60 LAWRENCE R. SIPE and SYLVIA PANTALEO (EDS) As the author and illustrator of such outstanding Postmodern picturebooks: Play, parody, and picture books as Animalia, The Waterhole, and self-referentiality Uno’s Garden, Graeme Base is loved by children and adults, not only in his home country of Australia, New York/London: Routledge 2008 268pp ISBN but all around the world. Twenty-five years after 97804159262100 US $95 his professional career took off with the publication of the distinctly Australian My Grandma Lived Sipe and Pantaleo explore the contemporary in Gooligulch, his former publisher at Penguin world of picturebooks by bringing together a books, Julie Watts, now offers Base-fans a special group of scholars who explore, question, and treat. Starting with his childhood in England and analyze the world of postmodernism in children’s his early fascination with dragons of every kind, literature. They consider the fact that within the she chronologically traces Graeme Base’s life and larger context of literature and the arts, the term

62 | BOOKBIRD BOOKS ON BOOKS “postmodernism” has met with a lack of consensus scholars conducting critical analyses (e.g., Susan and with vagueness, which they attempt to clarify Lehr’s study of how Lauren Child manipulates for the picturebook world through various means. the elements of postmodernism in illustration), The introductory chapter begins with Barbara and researchers who have studied the responses of Kiefer’s reflection on classic definitions of a children to postmodern literature (e.g., Lawrence picturebook, followed by an exploration of what is Sipe, Sylvia Pantaleo, Evelyn Arizpe, and Morag meant by the term “postmodern picturebooks,” both Styles). comparing/contrasting it to “modernism” as well This important book is as defining it on its own. Particularly informative a welcome addition to the in Panteleo and Sipe’s introduction is their use of body of scholarly writings Sipe and McGuire’s synthesis of the characteristics that help us come to newer, of postmodern picturebooks to offer a “continuum deeper, and ultimately of postmodernism” on which individual works can better understandings of be characterized rather than a binary postmodern/ children’s literature. not-postmodern classification. Subsequent chapters in the volume present Junko Yokota multiple perspectives on postmodern picturebooks, including that of an illustrator as creator of Junko Yokota, Professor at National-Louis University and picturebooks (e.g., Martin Salisbury), literary Director of the Center for Teaching through Children’s Books in Chicago, Illinois, held a research fellowship at the International theorists (e.g., Maria Nikolajeva and Eliza Dresang), Youth Library in 2009.

In separate introductions, the editors present opposing opinions about war. Campbell considers OMER war cruel, deceptive and just plain wrong. Aronson S V I claims that war is inevitable; we, meaning all of us, L

crave combat. “Hating war makes it too easy to avoid L

2009 E

really looking at war itself.” Campbell argues that

just because people have always waged war doesn’t A

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mean that they must: “[War and other] antisocial U impulses must be overcome before we can live together in civilization….” Both agree that young adults need to take an honest look at the varied Marc Aronson and and complex issues surrounding war. The result is Patty Campbell, Eds. this provocative collection of diverse pieces on the subject - essays, newspaper articles, fiction, memoir, a soldier’s miliblog - all by writers who have had War Is…: Soldiers, Survivors, direct experience in some aspect of war. Contributors and Storytellers Talk About War include Ernie Pyle, Mark Twain, Fumiko Miura and Margo Lanagan. Suggestions for further reading are Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2008 provided. (pb 2009)

Glenna Sloan 277 pp. ISBN: (hardcover) 978- 0763636258; (paperback) 978-0763642310 (nonfiction, 13 +)

No. 4 – 2009 | 63 Focus IBBY

President Patsy Aldana updates us on IBBY and national section activities, particularly regarding promising steps taken towards creating a reading culture in Afghanistan and Tajikistan, plus read about nominations for the prestigious IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award for 2010, and book fairs held this year in Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Santiago de Chile, and Buenos Aires. Check out further details about the upcoming World Congress in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and learn about Compiled and edited by ELIZABETH PAGE the 60th anniversary celebration of the International Youth Library.

Message from the President mid-year 2009 (extract) t the halfway point of the year, Patsy Aldana, IBBY’s president shared news with members and friends about IBBY’s current A activities. Despite the present crisis in the world, the 71 national sections are coping as best they can. For the most part, they continue to do their day-to-day work of reading promotion, training, publishing, and selecting of quality books and bringing them to children. Our Elizabeth Page is IBBY’s Executive Director. Dutch and Irish sections are actively twinning with the Uruguayan and

© 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. FOCUS IBBY Zimbabwean sections, respectively. IBBY South Since the IBBY-Yamada program began, IBBY has Africa has also been supporting the work of our supported 26 projects in 20 different countries! fledgling Zimbabwean section. IBBY Sweden not We are working on our joint project with IFLA/ only nominated the Tamer Institute in Palestine IRA to create a database for Reading Promotion for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), projects. This is a very broad and ambitious project, which they won, but is also involved in what we but one that we hope will be of great importance hope will soon be a Cambodian section. Other and use to everyone working with books and sections have been actively considering twinning children around the world. It has also been agreed and how to get involved in working with another and will be put into action that IRA, IFLA and section in a way that can be mutually rewarding. IBBY will work more closely with each other at our Our US section has continued to generously representative national sections level. support the work of a number of other sections. Meanwhile, IBBY Mexico will be hosting a Latin Biga meeting America meeting later this year for all the countries In May IBBY held a meeting in Biga, Turkey for a in the region. Looking further into the future, variety of people from the Farsi-speaking countries IBBY Mexico has been selected to host the 2014 of Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, as well as a Congress – an ambitious undertaking for any member of IBBY Turkey, and the president of national section as we know! IBBY Pakistan. For four days, there was intense The IBBY Children in Crisis program continues discussion of what strategies might best be suited to to be one of our most important priorities. the creation of a reading culture in Afghanistan and Generous donations have been received from Tajikistan. Examples of what has been achieved in authors and private persons. IBBY Haiti section is Iran, Mexico, Pakistan and Brazil were presented. about to begin a project that will use the healing Apart from the organization Ainaworld, an NGO power of storytelling and books to help reduce the based in Paris and founded by Reza Deghati, a trauma brought on by the deadly hurricanes that well-known National Geographic photographer, hit Haiti last year. The project will help children no NGO has put any consistent money into and young people who lost their homes, families, publishing materials for young Afghans. Up to and everything they knew. now, Ainaworld has collected funds for the excellent Funding for the IBBY Palestine libraries in Gaza children’s magazine published in Afghanistan: has been renewed allowing the purchase of more Parvaz, that is packed with stories that promote books and further training for the librarians. These children’s rights, the rights of girls, information on libraries are some of the few places that children health and nutrition, and is wonderfully designed can go and feel safe, so young adults up to age and illustrated with cartoons and photographs. eighteen are also benefiting. Sadly, this is now published very infrequently The Colombian Children in Crisis project because lack of funds from interested donors. Book to establish reading clubs for children is in its donations are sent in inappropriate languages, such second year. We hope that results will enable the as in English and Korean, which are of no use at all production a manual to help other sections as they for child readers there. consider how to work in this field. We came away moved by the courage and The 2009 IBBY-Yamada program is moving determination of our Afghan colleagues and feel ahead. Seven workshops will take place over the committed to help. We hope the fact that all these course of the year in Cuba, Guinea, Indonesia, people met each other will result in some steps being India, Mongolia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. taken. Of course, our dream is that we have brought The IBBY-Yamada scholarship will support a young together the basis for IBBY sections in Afghanistan Venezuelan as he takes part in the online M.A. on and Tajikistan, though this may take some time. In books and literature for children and young people. the meanwhile, we will work to find some external

No. 4 – 2009 | 65 FOCUS IBBY support for the reading promotion projects that will emerge from this meeting and beyond, and try to find more outside funding to support an increase in the production of high-quality children’s reading materials within and for Afghanistan. Patsy Aldana, IBBY President A full transcript of this letter can be found on the IBBY website at www.ibby.org

Participants at the IBBY workshop in Biga

IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award 2010 The 2010 nominations submitted by the IBBY National Sections are: Alola Literacy & Reading Programme, Dili, Timor-Leste, nominated by IBBY Australia. Indigenous Children’s Literature Writers’ Meeting, Brazil, nominated by IBBY Brazil. Osu Children’s Library Fund, Ghana, nominated by IBBY Canada. Visible Readings for Invisible Children, Medellín, Colombia, nominated by IBBY Colombia. Room to Read, an international organization based in USA, nominated by IBBY Germany. Kamishibai – To build a culture of peace in the world, Japan, nominated by IBBY Japan. Justita Arenas Reading Room, México City, México, nominated by IBBY Mexico. Mama, Tata & … Myself Campaign, Nowa Iwiczna, Poland, nominated by IBBY Poland. Roma People, invited to the library, Metlika, Slovenia, nominated by IBBY Slovenia. Convenio de Cooperación al Plan de Lectura, Mendellín, Colombia, nominated by IBBY Spain. White Elephant / Domrei Sor, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, nominated by IBBY Sweden. Akili Trust, Kenya, nominated by IBBY UK. Every two years, two projects are selected by the jury to receive the Award. The 2010 jury comprises Executive Committee members Anastasia Arkhipova, Nikki Gamble, Jehan Helou, Ahmad Redza Ahmad Khairuddin, and James Tumusiime, under the leadership of jury chairperson, Hannelore Daubert. Each winning project receives a diploma and US$10,000 generously donated by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper company of Japan. The winners will be announced at the IBBY press conference on the opening day of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on Tuesday, 23 March 2010. The award-giving ceremony will take place in September during the IBBY World Congress in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

66 | BOOKBIRD FOCUS IBBY IBBY sections participate in national book fairs During each year, many IBBY sections present their work at national book fairs around the world. Recent fairs where IBBY has been present include those in Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Santiago de Chile, and Buenos Aires. Here are some of our members’ reflections.

Santiago de Chile Once upon a time … It has been 23 years since the opening of the first book fair for young children in Santiago. Ever since then, the fair has been taking place year after year in the month of May – both delighting and surprising its visitors – organized by the Cultural Corporation of the Providencia City Hall. During the twelve days María Luisa Silva and Valerie Moir at the IBBY of the fair, more than 150 cultural activities take Chile stand place in the centre stage as well as in the “room of wonder.” There are theatre presentations, dances, workshops and various contests and music, as well IBBY’s presence has been constant in the fair as book signings, meetings with authors, readings, throughout the years. The Chilean section has a and book presentations of both national and stand where it exhibits a selection of both recently international authors. Storytelling and puppets all published and recognized quality children’s books. come together to pay tribute to our silent friends, Members also take part in workshops, book the books, also known as “hideaways” of dreams, presentations, book signings, storytelling, and magic, and adventure. Children and adults are all meetings with young readers. invited to browse and take part and enjoy the book Valerie Moir fair. Cape Town The excitement at the IBBY South Africa stand at the Cape Town Book Fair from 13 to 16 June 2009 started even before the Fair did! The reason for this was a brand new stand of our own, the result of a generous donation from a staunch supporter of IBBY and Jella Lepman medallist in 2006, Mr. Hideo Yamada of the Yamada Apiculture Center in Japan. So, we stood by in wonder as the crew erected the stand. We rather tentatively offered to assist, but the real purpose of our being there at all was to learn how to erect and disassemble it ourselves. We can now use this stand in various configurations for other events. In what felt like no time at all, the Father and daughter relaxing with books at the stand was up, complete with its kid-size beanbags IBBY South Africa stand. and lockable seating-&-storing cabinets. The

No. 4 – 2009 | 67 FOCUS IBBY panels were designed by Inge Paulsen, a member of the IBBY SA Executive Committee. So, it was no surprise, once the Cape Town Book Fair got under way, that everyone coming along our aisle “oohed and aahed” at the beauty of the IBBY SA stand. We had lots of interested visitors, we handed out masses of our brochures and pamphlets (the 100 Representative South African Books for Children and Young People and the 100 South African Children’s Picture Books), and we raked in quite a few new members with the lure of a competition with book and book-voucher prizes from generous bookshops and book organizations. This year we also ran a number of events at the stand, one at 11 a.m. each day and another at 3 p.m. Lona Gericke was on hand to tell moms and dads what to read to their infants and early toddlers; while members of the Praesa literacy group displayed their Little Books for Little Hands series for Aerial view of Rio fair with its hundreds of young early readers. Young tween visitors themselves read visitors. from my just-launched book Sonny Jim and His During the book fair, publishers can only sell Sister; Gary Hirson did some aspirational exercises literature and nonfiction books. Text and reference with listeners from his new self-published book The books, as well as religious books are not exhibited Power That’s Ours; while librarian Kathy Dennehy nor sold. Also, there are no storytellers taking part, persuaded young readers that it is cool to chill out only readings by authors and performances by in the library these days. Author Patricia Schonstein illustrators. The best of the Brazilian publishing read from her prize-winning novel for young adults market was presented to the visitors, stimulating Skyline; and I ran a quiz-game around my A – Z of new generations to read for pleasure. In the African Writers. So, all went really well for IBBY SA new venue, the fair received a larger number of at the Cape Town Book Fair! [If anyone would like publishing houses (70) than in the former years an emailed copy of the two pamphlets mentioned with better spaces for activities with children and above, please email [email protected] young adults. and we’ll be happy to send them to you.] This year, besides the usual children’s library, Robin Malan, Chair, IBBY SA a characteristic of Salão FNLIJ do Livro, two new libraries were built in the book fair grounds: one Rio de Janeiro that gave adolescents the opportunity to read The 11th Salão FNLIJ do Livro para Crianças e quality books and meet their favorite authors and Jovens – the Rio book fair where literature is the illustrators; and a second new library focusing main attraction for children, was held from June on teachers. The aim of this library is to advise 10th to 20th 2009. After taking place for 10 years educators, parents and teachers on the social value on the grounds of the Rio de Janeiro Modern of a library, not only as a place to read quality books, Art Museum - MAM/RJ, it has moved to a new but also where teachers can be in contact with a location in the historic 1870’s building Centro variety of carefully selected books. The first day of Cultural Ação da Cidadania, in the Rio de Janeiro the event was dedicated to the primary and high Docks Zone. The event is a fixed part of the Rio de school teachers from the public and private schools Janeiro cultural annual agenda. in Rio de Janeiro. They were given guided tours

68 | BOOKBIRD FOCUS IBBY throughout the Salão by specialists in children’s books were bought for distribution in 2009! literature. Elda Nogueira, FNLIJ, IBBY Brazil During the fair, new books are launched and the 2009 fair was no exception with 150 books from Buenos Aires the 70 participating publishing houses launched Two important books fairs take place every year during the 12 days of the Salão. Created 40 years in Buenos Aires. La Feria Internacional del Libro ago, Fundação Nacional do Livro Infantil e Juvenil de Buenos Aires runs for three weeks during April – FNLIJ, the Brazilian section of IBBY, believes under the title – From the author to the reader, or that it is possible to create readers through literary the “big one.” The fair is devoted to all types of readings and in 2009 approximately 140 authors books, but mainly literature for children, young participated at meetings with the public. Well- people and adults and is considered one of the more known and beloved personalities from Brazilian important cultural and editorial events in Latin children and young people’s literature were present America. Thanks to a special day when the books during the fair. Among them were: Ana Maria are offered for sale with a 50% discount, public Machado, André Neves, Bartolomeu Campos de librarians from all over the country attend to buy Queirós, Fernando Vilela, Lygia Bojunga Marina their books. Colasanti, Roger Mello, Rogério Andrade Barbosa, This year’s fair was the 35th, and was a huge Rosana Murray, Rui de Oliveira and Ziraldo, and meeting place for authors, editors, booksellers, many other writers and illustrators. distributors, educators, librarians, with more than Each year a specific country is honored during 1,200,000 readers from Argentina, and other Latin the fair and special attention is paid to the literature American countries. Visitors also come from as far of that country. In 2009, France was the honored away as the USA and Europe. Librarians from the guest country. In previous years Cuba, Germany, USA often come to buy books for their Spanish- Sweden and Italy have been the honored guests. speaking users. Four French authors and illustrators, whose books Approximately 1,500 events were scheduled have already been published in Brazil, participated during the fair and 1,586 exhibitors show their latest at the French Writers Caravan: Dorothée de books. Not only publishers, but also approximately Monfreid, Gilles Eduar, Timothée de Fombelle forty embassies and commercial groups that belong and Vicent Cuvellier. to the Trade Union of Spanish Editors are present. A three-day seminar accompanies the fair and The Argentine Section of IBBY – Asociación de this year the theme was The Colors and Letters of literatura infantil y juvenil – ALIJA, is one of the Children’s and Young People’s Literature both in organizers of the Reading Promotion Congress France and Brazil. The first day was dedicated to and the Annual Storytellers Meeting that take French literature, and Nathalie Beau, from IBBY place during the fair attracting between 400 and France presented an excellent overview of children’s 600 participants. This year ALIJA invited Michelle literature in France. Day two was dedicated to five Petit and Daniel Goldin amongst others, to the Brazilian authors who were celebrated for their 40 reading promotion meeting. years of work in the field of children’s and young The second fair, the children’s book fair – La people’s literature: Ana Maria Machado, Joel Feria del Libro Infantil y Juvenil – is known as Rufino dos Santos, João Carlos Marinho and Ruth the “little one.” It usually takes place during the Rocha. The third day is traditionally dedicated to month of July, when the children have their winter Indigenous literature: Indigenous Orality and New school holidays and it also lasts three weeks. Sadly Memory Technologies. the 2009 children’s book fair – the 20th – had to be Ever since the third Salão FNLIJ do Livro in cancelled because of the flu epidemic. 2001, every child and adolescent visiting the fair has In both fairs IBBY/ALIJA is given a free stand received a book as a gift. More than 35 thousand by the Fundación el libro. Members of the ALIJA

No. 4 – 2009 | 69 FOCUS IBBY World Congress: Santiago de Compostela, 8-12 September 2010 Have you registered for the 32nd IBBY Congress yet? The program is being finalized with speakers from Spain, Mexico, Norway, Nigeria already booked. This will be an event not to be missed. The early-bird registration with a 10% discount is still open. Full details are on the website at: www.ibbycompostela2010.org The theme for the 2010 Congress is The Strength of Minorities – A Forza das Minorías – La Fuerza de las Minorías and the list of seminars covering the theme is comprehensive: Helpers at the ALIJA/IBBY Argentine stand 1. Oral traditions: a huge minority Executive Committee and a couple of employees 2. Translation: bridge between minority and take care of the ALIJA-IBBY stand during both majority fairs. Having a stand is an excellent opportunity 3. Children’s and young people’s literature. to stay in touch with our associates, contact new Gender and sexual orientation minorities partners, as well as providing a place to give advice 4. Children and young people’s literature. and counselling to teachers, parents and librarians. Linguistic and cultural minorities The section also sells books from the publishers, 5. Publishing for minorities especially the small and new national publishers 6. Minorities, criticism and research that cannot afford their own stand. In the 2009 7. Minorities and promoting reading fair, it was decided by the ALIJA EC to exhibit and 8. Children’s and young people’s literature. The sell only books that have been honored by ALIJA media and globalization between 1998 and 2008 under the title Highlighted 9. Illustration: a minority sphere within art? Awarded Books – the best of the previous years’ 10. Children’s and young people’s literature against production. Our partners and the general public cultural invisibility warmly welcomed this as a guarantee of the quality of 11. Children’s and young people’s literature. the books exhibited and sold at the IBBY Argentina Literary creation for linguistic minorities stand. Among the international authors who attend 12. Children’s and young people’s literature and the big fair were: Enrique Vila Matas, Paul Auster, other minority forms Wilbur Smith, Ray Bradbury, Italo Calvino, Susan 13. Children’s and young people’s literature and Sontag, Camilo José Cela, José Saramago, Mario the Internet: new tools to help minorities Vargas Llosa, Muhammad Yunus, Brian Aldiss, 14. Minority literary genres I: poetry Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Ángeles Mastretta, 15. Minority literary genres II: theatre Rosa Montero, Fernando Savater, Roger Chartier, 16. Minority literary genres III: comics Julián Marías, Claudio Magris, Joan Manuel 17. Children’s and young people’s literature. Serrat, Isabel Allende, Arturo Pérez Reverte, Jorge Cinema and animation Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Silvina Bullrich, María Esther De Miguel, Marco Denevi, Roberto The call for papers closes on 30 October Fontanarrosa, Beatriz Guido, Manuel Mujica 2009. Láinez and Olga Orozco. The main IBBY activities at the Congress include Alicia Salvi, IBBY Argentina the ceremonies for the Hans Christian Andersen Awards, the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion

70 | BOOKBIRD FOCUS IBBY Awards and the presentation of the IBBY Honour world. Christiane Raabe, the director, thanked the List. The biennial General Assembly will take place sponsors and friends from around the world for on the final afternoon before the traditional closing their generous and manifold support. ceremony and gala dinner. The congress organizers This ceremony was followed by a two-day have also promised a farewell ball – so bring your international authors’ and illustrators’ forum dancing shoes! entitled “Twas bright as day, the night lay dark Other activities include exhibitions, roundtables, on the blue frosted ocean. Children’s Poetry and the IBBY Forum, meetings of professionals, musical Illustration.” Illustrators and poets from Germany and poetry events, guided tours of the historic city, and abroad discussed how figurative language can storytelling sessions and a reception generously be translated into visual images, for example, or the given by the City of Santiago. These are just a few various ways in which text and image can interact. of the reasons to book your trip to Santiago de Far from simply engaging in academic musings, Compostela next September! the artists explored these questions in a highly stimulating workshop setting. German author and illustrator Jutta Richter opened the forum with a passionate plea for the reading of poetry. In her captivating address, she remembered how her earliest encounters with ballads and other poems laid the foundation for a life filled with the love of poetry. Richter was followed by the British children’s poet Andrew Fusek Peters, whose funny and serious poems for International Youth Library 60th anniversary young adults are strongly autobiographical. In a The International Youth Library was founded in highly entertaining performance, he recited some 1949 as a symbol of peace and reconciliation. When of his own poetry, shared snippets of his life, and, Jella Lepman first opened its doors to children, drawing on both his literary and artistic talent, young adults, librarians, authors, publishers, and juggled with words and balls. bibliophiles from around the world, it held 8,000 books. Today, with over 580,000 books in more than a hundred different languages, the library boasts the most important collection of international children’s literature world-wide. At the end of June, the library marked its sixtieth birthday with several days of anniversary celebrations in the Munich “book castle.” Two-hundred-fifty guests, including representa- tives from political and cultural institutions as well as authors, illustrators, publishers, librarians, and scholars of children’s literature, gathered for the official opening ceremony. Several speakers looked back at the library’s beginnings in the post- war era and highlighted its seminal role in the domain of cultural and intercultural education; they celebrated the International Youth Library as a genuinely international institution, which allows Ted van Lieshout enthralls the audience young people to discover other ways of seeing the with his presentation

No. 4 – 2009 | 71 FOCUS IBBY On the second day, publisher Ulrich Störiko- These workshop-talks were interspersed with Blume and translator, author, and editor Uwe- several intermezzi. The language specialists of the Michael Gutzschhahn discussed the status of and International Youth Library and the American perspectives for children’s poetry on the book scholar, poetry columnist, and Bookbird co-editor market. Dutch author and illustrator Ted van Sylvia Vardell presented brief portraits of fourteen Lieshout captivated the audience with his humorous poets from different countries and read selected introduction to his unconventional, rich, and multi- poems in the respective original languages. faceted oeuvre. He was followed by author Gerda Another highlight of the jubilee celebrations was Anger-Schmidt and illustrator Renate Habinger – the vernissage of the exhibition “Gedichte, Poems, both from Austria – who reflected on their close Básnê, Shī. Children’s Poetry and Illustration,” collaboration on a number of imaginative, playful which featured illustrated poems and anthologies lyric anthologies. Lionel Le Néouanic, a French from around the world. poet, painter, and rock musician, talked about his The jubilee celebrations drew to a close with work and the creative process of his impressive a joyous poetry-feast, which invited children to collages with amiable modesty. The forum closed explore their own poetic creativity in the library with two German illustrators: Verena Ballhaus and the courtyard of the “book castle.” and Klaus Ensikat who reported on the joys and challenges of illustrating poetry classics.

Send us a book postcard from your part of the world!

Notices on international children’s books, appearing throughout Bookbird, are compiled from sources around the world by Glenna Sloan, who teaches children’s literature at Queens College City University of New York.

Have you got a favorite recently published children’s book — a picturebook, story collection, novel or information book — that you think should be known outside its own country? If you know of a book from your own or another country that you feel should be introduced to the IBBY community, please send a short account of it to us at Bookbird, and we may publish it.

Send copy (about 150 words), together with full publication details (use ‘postcard’ reviews in this issue of Bookbird as a model) and a scan of the cover image (in JPG format), to Professor Glenna Sloan ([email protected]).

We are very happy to receive reviews from non-English-speaking countries ~ but remember to include an English translation of the title as well as the original title (in transliterated form, where applicable).

72 | BOOKBIRD 73 |

Submission Guidelines 4 – 2009 No. for Bookbird is the followed by your initials in the [email protected] submission and is published every quarter, in January, April, July, Thename author’s and details should appear in the Please send two copies to: [email protected]; Bookbird Bookbird Articles are published in English, but where authors have

Word for Windows Word (Mac users please save your document in Up to 3000to Up words Please put lines describing your area work of in the body your of email. subject line. Please remember to include your full name and contact details (including postal address), together with your professional affiliation and/or afew [email protected] NB: six to nine months from the date refereeing of and the production process. submission, to allow time for Contact details: Deadline: October. Papers may be submitted at any time, but it is unlikely that ifyour acceptedpaper, publication,for would be published at for least Style and layout: email not only, in the paper itself. A stylesheet is available with more detailed guidelines. Format: rich text format — RTF) as an email attachment; send illustrations as JPG attachments. European languages. Please contact us first ifyou havequestion. a translation Length: Language: no translation facilities, we can accept contributions in most major the fieldof children’s literature.Please tryto supply illustrationsyourarticle. (Book coversare for sufficient, other but illustrations are also welcome.) Contributions are invited not only from scholars and critics but also from editors, translators, publishers, librarians, classroom and educators children’s book authors and illustrators or anyone working in (IBBY). Papers on any topic related to to children’s literature an and international of interest audience will be considered for publication. Bookbird: A Journal refereedjournalPeople Internationalthe of BooksYoung Board of on for International Children’s Literature “The Dubai Sonnet” “The Dubai

by TED VAN LIESHOUT

Author’s Note: This is “The Dubai Sonnet,” also called the “Holiday Sonnet of Dubai.” Instead of writing a poem about how wonderful my holiday in Dubai was, I picked up shells from the Dubai beach and used them for a picture sonnet. It is not a photograph, but a digital collage. As you can see, the “rhyme” is created by reusing the exact same shells. More than 30 picture sonnets appear in my new book, Hou Van Mij (Love Me) a 270-page collection of poetry and pictures, Ted van Lieshout is a Dutch poet, writer, and artist who was recently awarded the published in honor of my 25 years of writing for young people. Theo Thijssen Prize, given every three years to a Dutch author for a body of work, in addition to many other awards. © 2009 by Bookbird, Inc. Subscriptions consist of four issues and may Vol. 47, No. 4 october 2009 begin with any issue. Rates include air freight for all subscriptions outisde the USA and GST for Canadian subscribers.

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