Despite the Odds: Getting Books into the Hands of Children

Finally I attended a keynote panel that featured people who have made it their lifetime goal to bring books to children around the world. It was an interesting session that brought me back to the school library that I work in. We are so fortunate to have so many resources, books, a budget... Thank goodness for people like this who work so hard for those who have so little.

Yohannes spoke about Ethiopia Reads and gave some background on himself and his organization. Since I had lunch with him and we had talked about project ideas, I was especially interested in his background and ways to help. I shared this information with my students to get them more excited about our project. Read my lunch entry on this blog to find out more about our project.

The ideas of these speakers all connected towards the difficulty and expense of bringing books to children around the world. They also agreed that it is an important mission and all children deserve the opportunity to read and look at books. Bringing books and libraries to developing countries is quite a challenge especially as the world economy is suffering at this point in time.

As I finished my day at this conference, I began to think about what I can do. Encouraging children to look at international books is a start. Organizing projects with a global perspective has been my theme these last 2 years. Starting our project with the 5th graders and bringing stories to other parts of the world is another way for the students at my school to see that we can help. Many projects and ideas came from this conference and have already affected many children. This iBBy conference was an amazing experience. There's so much to learn and do!!!!

The Joys and Challenges of Publishing Books from Abroad

This breakout conversation was led by Arthur Levine, a leading American publisher. Levine is a very funny speaker but tells the story from the publishing world. There aren't many companies that take on the challenges of providing translated books to their readers. I was amazed at his recall of books and his description of the process.

He has a group of readers that he uses when reading books in other languages. Levine has a close connection with these people. They need to know what his criteria is and understand what he likes and dislikes in books. Levine discussed how hard that is to let someone else judge a book, but it has to be done. He also stressed the importance of accuracy verses literal translations which makes for a good book.

Levine said that some of the countries he has the most trouble with is Finland, Russia, and China. He is having a hard time finding people who speak Finnish and are qualified to judge and write good literature. The language itself is very challenging. Russia and China just aren't producing many books at this point.

He attends the Bologna, travels all over the world, and has many connections with agents. The American market is asking for translated books but he emphasized that it is the librarians and book sellers that need to ask for them. The large store book sellers are pushing out the independent book stores, and this changes what is being published. Also, the American market censors its books more frequently, wanting less nudity and violence than other countries in the world.

There are many struggles publishing translated books, but I could see that Levine is committed to this work. When asked to name some of his favorites, he struggled but then came up with these two: The Book of Everything and The Fabulous Feud of Gilbert & Sullivan.

Hans Christian Andersen Award-winning Authors Speak Out

After lunch I attended a keynote panel with Ana Maria Machado and Katherine Paterson. Machado showed her work on the screen and discussed her book, What a Party! It has not yet been translated into English, but she roughly translated it to give us an understanding of the story. It was a delightful book that nicely described many cultures. I found it interesting when she showed how the book had been translated into different languages and how the illustrations changed for each country. I never expected that when the book gets translated, that the illustrations would change and the general look of the book would be so different.

Katherine Paterson spoke next. I was unaware that she was born in China and all the experiences she had as a child. She was very enjoyable to listen to and quite funny. Paterson explained that her childhood experiences helped shape her into the author she is today. Paterson said that she has a good emotional memory. I found that statement interesting. Her books are very descriptive, serious, and full of emotion. I look forward to her next book, The Day of the Pelican.

Lunch and Making Connections

The connection I made at lunch has affected my entire school! I sat at a table with Yohannes Gebregeorgis, the founder of Ethiopia Reads. I didn't know who he was, so through our conversation, I learned how he began Ethiopia Reads and his involvement in creating schools in his home country. I explained my district's initiative this year which is to make connections around the world and provide opportunities for our students to think globally. It was a perfect match.

We discussed connecting our 2 schools and partnering up the children for pen pals. We exchanged cards and the process has already begun. We will be partnering up my 5th graders with his 5, 6, and 7th graders for pen pals. He said the older children in his school have had enough English to be able to write letters to the students in my school. I talked to all the 5th grade classes when I got back from the conference and they loudly gasped when I told them the news!!

After discussing Ethiopia Reads with Johannes, we developed another project to send to his students. My students have selected a picture book that they would like to read to a student in Ethiopia. We are going to film every 5th grader reading their picture book and create a DVD of 67 stories being read. This will be our contribution to their country - bringing American literature to them without the cost of buying and sending the books. My students are so excited about the project and can hardly wait to begin taping next week.

My principal feels so strongly about this project that she would like to see every child in our school get the chance to read a book and then we can distribute the video to many organizations all over the world. This all came from my lunch with Yohannes!

Found in Tranlation: Batchelder Books

Off I went to my next session. I attended the Batchelder Book Award conversation to find out more about the process and the difficulties of getting books translated. This conversation was led by Annette Goldsmith who did her thesis on this subject.

Initially, she gave a quick overview of the award and its history. She discussed the barriers that editors encounter when making decisions. It is difficult for them to rely on others to read books in different languages. These editors need to have a close relationship with their readers and an understanding of their tastes and criteria.

The editors attend Bologna Book Fair, make connections with agents, and keep track of award winners in other countries. They expressed that there is very little training opportunities out there today, so very few people take on the challenge of publishing translated books or know how to go about it.

The conclusions that can be drawn are the following: 1) Editors can learn more about publishing translations, 2) The industry should address the lack of training, 3) Editors should consider learning another language, 4) Chain bookstores should carry more translations, 5) Children's book professionals should promote these books more often to young readers.

So, I began to think about my role as an LMC Director and what I can do. It takes an effort to learn about translated books and order them for your library. Also, it takes enthusiasm for that book to get children to want to read it. An example that is happening at my school this year is the introduction of Chinese with the 4th graders. My school has begun teaching Chinese in 4th grade and will then move it to 5th grade next year. The librarians in my district are talking about ordering more books about China, but it was my suggestion to order translated books and search for books published in China to give our students the chance to see authentic literature from another country. This is where it begins. If I say to my representative of Follett that I want more books like this, she can pass that along and begin the pressure. Publishers will never go in this direction if the public doesn't ask for them. As I develop my book collection, it is my duty to provide rich, authentic books that don't always appear in the large chain bookstores.

Exploring the Visual Narrative

My first session was one of my favorites of the entire day. I attended the Keynote session called "Exploring the Visual Narrative" with Shauen Tan, David Wiesner, being led by Arthur Levine. Large screens were used to display pictures of the authors' work and process when developing their wordless books.

Wiesner showed his thumbnail sketches and described them as minimal. This is where he organizes his thoughts and develops the story. They were pencil/charcoal sketches that reminded me of storyboarding when creating a movie.

Tan had a similar process. He admitted to being a perfectionist and that became evident as he spoke. He uses sketch books to record ideas and he showed the audience the development of his ideas into what became the final product in his books. He does a lot of research and uses old photographs to help him with his drawings. Tan described old photographs as visual fossils, a description I take pleasure in. His newest book, The Arrival has many pictures of families. He used old photographs to aid with the development of his drawings.

I was most amazed that both of them used models and staging when developing their drawings. Wiesner showed clay models of his animals and mentioned that his next book will be about lizards. They both mentioned the importance of these small models to help them understand lighting and shadows. For example, Weisner said he needed to know what the shadow of a pig would look like on the side of a barn. He basically built a miniature set.

Tan uses quite a bit of staging when getting ready for his drawings. He asked neighbors to come over and sit at a dinner table within his set. He used a video camera to record their conversations with each other and then took segments of the video to use as his model. He painstakingly researches the era, buys pieces of furniture and objects to place in the picture, gets the proper clothing and then takes pictures of himself or others within the set. I never imagined that this much work went into their drawings and the time and preparation that it took.

Tan expressed philosophical ideas when he had the floor. He felt that historical fiction and science fiction are close to the same thing. They are both displaced time periods. Quite an interesting idea. He discussed the format of a wordless book and his thoughts on adding text. Having no text slows the reader down and encourages the reader to look more closely at the details in the illustration. He felt that words make the reader go too fast through the book. A picture book to Tan is a map of experiences.

My favorite thought was expressed by Tan when he said that if he feels strongly about something, others will too. That idea grabbed me immediately and made me think about my job as an LMC Director. I have already seen in my second year that if I'm enthused about something, I can get students and teachers to be enthused as well. Spreading excitement over something like books, authors, something on the internet, a research project, etc. is a huge part of my job - not to mention fun!! So, if I feel strongly about something, I'm hoping my students will to.

8th IBBY Regional Conference Sponsored by USBBY

Last weekend I attended the iBBY conference in St. Charles, IL. The theme of the conference was "Children's Books: Where Worlds Meet." It was an amazing day, leaving me with ideas to take back to my school that would involve my general attitude when selecting books and project ideas for the grades I collaborate with. I attended Saturday, October 3rd.