Tuttle Stirs Up Its Childrens List

 

Good news from Publishers Weekly about a shift at Tuttle towards emphasis of more children’s books.

Tuttle Stirs Up Its Childrens List.

Art in Japanese Manhole Covers

Art is all around us. This is never more true than when walking down the busy streets of Japan. The Japanese have a connection to art and illustration that is unlike anything in my experience in America. They seem to make time to appreciate beauty in all things, even the most basic or seemingly uninteresting objects — like manhole covers.

As one who appreciates art and literature for children, I have made this observation numerous times throughout my time living in Japan. I look for things around me that inspire my creative mind and open up the pathways to invention and thought in my brain.

So, when a friend recently sent me a link to this website with photo after photo of beautiful, artfully designed Japanese manhole covers asking if I had seen anything like this, I chuckled. Because, in fact, I have taken my share of photos of these uniquely designed fixtures. Who would have thought that one should add beauty and interest to this unimportant metal disk? This view of life, this inherent ability to be concerned with beauty in even the most mundane aspects of life, is why I am continually inspired as a writer in Japan.

Harry Potter Traveling Exhibit

It’s really disappointing to discover a great event taking place in your city just after it’s over. That happened to me often when I lived in Seoul because it was such a challenge to find out about events in English. By the time I would track down some interesting book event or festival, often it would be over. As a new resident of San Antonio, I just had the same thing happen. I thought I’d post the information of this traveling exhibit right here so that others might have an easier time finding about it as it travels and visits a city near you.

Harry Potter is an important character in my house. My oldest daughter, to my great pride and joy, is a huge fan. She’s in middle school and is working her way through the series of books for the third time. She’s beyond excited about the upcoming release of the movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, and shows her Potter Pride by wearing her movie t-shirt as often as possible, complete with a Gryffindor scarf. She’s been Hermione for four Halloweens and hopes to start a HP fan club here in San Antonio. When she learned of the recent opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter this summer she started saving her pennies right away so that she can try every candy in Honeydukes. She’s vowed to get to the theme park and will basically do any household chore I ask of her in hopes of winning my favor and getting her dad and me to take her to the theme park. Now, that’s true magic if you ask me!

I recently asked some locals here in San Antonio about events in the city to coincide with the movie release and found two upcoming events at the local public library. These are geared for kids which works for me.

Wizard School of Fun TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010, 6:30 – 7:30PM

View Larger Map Branch Location Cody Library Address 11441 Vance Jackson San Antonio, TX 78230 Phone (210) 696-6396 Room Meeting Room Event Type(s) Family Fun Audience Kids, Family Additional Info Hogwarts School isn’t the only place to learn enchanting spells, and potions and wizardly things. Come to Cody Library and attend the Wizard School- a fun event for the whole family.

BeTween Time Harry Potter Party! SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010, 2 – 3PM Attention BeTween Harry Potter Fans! Come join us at the Thousand Oaks Library to celebrate the upcoming release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie! There will be crafts, potion making, prizes, movie trivia and food! Come dressed as your favorite character if you like or bring a friend but most importantly be ready to have some fun!

View Larger Map Branch Location Thousand Oaks Library Address 4618 Thousand Oaks San Antonio, TX 78233 Phone (210) 657-5205 Room Meeting Room Event Type(s) Other Contact Number/Email 210-657-5205 Audience Kids, Family Additional Info Exclusively for nine to twelve year olds.

Harry Potter’s World letterhead with owl

My big find was the Harry Potter traveling exhibit, Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine, which I’m disappointed to have missed here in San Antonio but which is still set to make several stops around the country through 2011.

With the American Library Association it will travel:

November 17–January 7, 2011
Charleston County Public Library/Medical Library of South Carolina
Charleston, SC

January 19–February 18, 2011
Dakota State University

Madison, SD

There are dozens of additional stops all around the country which can be found on the NLM website.
This fascinating exhibit was created by the National Library of Medicine to explore the roots of Renaissance magic, science and medicine that were brought to many people’s attention through the references made in the world of Harry Potter.

The Exhibition’s Facebook page goes on to say, “In 1997, British author J.K. Rowling introduced the world to Harry Potter and a literary phenomenon was born. Although a fantasy story, the magic in the Harry Potter books is partially based on the Renaissance traditions which played an important role in the development of Western science and medicine.”
Become a fan of the page, Exhibition Program at the Library of Medicine, if you want to stay connected to further updates of the exhibition.

Even though we missed the exhibit here in San Antonio, one good thing is that the website has some really interesting activities and links which add a fascinating new dimension to the reading of the Harry Potter series.

The Education Resources section has downloadable PDF activities about Harry Potter along with online links for further study.

The Exhibition link includes further looks into Potions, Herbology, Monsters, Magical Creatures, Fantastic Beasts and Immortality.

There’s also a section with Harry Potter Trading Cards that can be downloaded. Fun!

Trading Cards from Harry Potter’s World Exhibition Courtesy National Library of Medicine

All these resources are a great help as we gear up for the release of the Harry Potter movie coming out on November 19th. We’ll probably even order some fun Harry Potter party stuff from Birthday Express and make our own event of it.

We’ve already pre-ordered our tickets from the Alamo River Center Imax. They’re planning a few fun events to go along with the midnight showing. Costumes are recommended! Maybe we’ll even see you there!

 

Halloween and Yokai Monster Art

In a nod to Halloween, I thought it would be fun to share the work of an SCBWI member in Tokyo, Japan. Patrick Gannon is a cut paper artist. His latest gallery show, Night of the Yokai, takes place in Japan this weekend and runs through Sunday, November 7, 2010.

Check out Patrick’s amazing paper creations on his blog where you can see the progression of his projects as they take shape. His work is so colorful and intricate. I really love it!

If you’ll be in Japan over the next few days, take a trip to gallery enyen to see his work in person.

Yokai are monsters or spirits in Japanese folklore. I was first introduced to the idea of yokai when I watched a popular children’s cartoon in Japan called Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro while living in Japan a few years ago. I’m totally fascinated by the idea of yokai and the strange incarnations they take. For example, an umbrella, left abandoned at a train station can take on the spirit of a yokai.

There’s an interesting article about Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro here.

You can also check out these great videos on You Tube with clips of the opening and animations in the show.  It’s a really fascinating idea for a kids’ cartoon on so many levels. I think parents in America might be too disturbed by some of the images to let their kids watch this show. However, it has such a different reception in Japan, and after living there, I can see how this would appeal to kids there. Their idea of what is scary is so very different from the ideas of what constitutes horror or scary monsters in the U.S. It’s all a great education to me. I really enjoy learning about these kinds of new ideas. I hope you enjoy learning about the yokai too!

Japanese E-books Cause Book Store Woes

According to The Japan Times Online, the growth of Japan’s e-publishing market is having an impact on the number of small, local bookstores. The article states, “According to research by the publisher Arumedia, roughly a third of Japan’s bookstores have disappeared in the past decade — from a peak of 22,314 in 1999 to 15,314 in May of this year.”

Click here to read this interesting article, Hard times for bookstores [10.24.10] in its entirety.

 

PEN’s 2010 Lit Awards Announced

Henry Winkler and SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver will be presented with a PEN 2010 Lit Award honoring series of Hank Zipzer books.

Lin is a dynamic, intelligent, thoughtful and generous person. Words can’t communicate how impressed I was upon meeting and spending time with her and the other SCBWI staff at the summer SCBWI conference in LA this year.

You can read more about Lin on the SCBWI main site.

Here is a link to a wonderful interview with her by Anna Olswanger.

Also, check out Lin’s own fun website, Lin Oliver Productions.

To learn more about the Hank Zipzer series click here.

Here’s another great interview I enjoyed (on Indiebound.org) about Henry Winkler and his experiences working on this series with Lin.

Watch this funny and entertaining video with Lin and Henry on Amazon.com‘s Author Videos

Lastly, here’s a transcript of an interview with Henry Winker about the series by Just One More Book.

Congratulations to Lin Oliver and Henry Winkler!

Children’s Publishing in Korea

The Spring 2010 issue of _list Books From Korea focuses on the children’s book industry in South Korea. It’s worth a read  to understand the kidlit industry in this dynamic country.

In this issue, four articles focus specifically on books for children and give a wonderful insight into thoughts and directions of Korea’s concerns and directions with regard to children’s publishing.

Check out:

“Books That Children Live By About Family” by Kim Ji-eun

“Books That Children Live By About School” by Yu Youngjin

“Books That Children Live By About Folk Tales” by Park Suk-kyoung

“Books That Children Live By About Friendship” by Kim Ji-eun