Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Anthony Browne - A Walk in the Park vs Voices in the Park

A children’s classic, reimagined: Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park

PUBLISHED : Monday, 16 December, 2013, 11:47am
UPDATED : Monday, 16 December, 2013, 11:47am






Experienced artists who have mastered their craft can often come to view their early efforts critically. Obvious examples are an actor’s early films, or a musical prodigy’s first live performances. Regardless of how great the innate talent, artists often need time and experience to develop and mature their art.
This also applies to creators of children’s picture books. Award-winning author-illustrator Anthony Browne felt that dissatisfaction when he re-read A Walk in the Park, a book he had written and illustrated 20 years earlier. It nagged at him, and he didn’t know what to do. Just as actors and directors do not remake their own movies, Browne didn’t wish to rewrite his own picture book.
Instead, he created a unique variation on the story of A Walk in the Park, and the result was his best-selling picture book, Voices in the Park.
A Walk in the Park tells the story of a father and daughter, Mr. Smith and Smudge, who take their dog to the park. There, they share a bench with a mother and son, Mrs. Smythe and Charles, also on a walk with their dog. The neighbourhoods from which they embark, their manner of dress and their body language all indicate that these two families have very different backgrounds.
First the dogs run around together, and soon the children start to play together. However, the two parents never acknowledge each other, and eventually they call out to tell their children that it’s time to go home.
The voices of Voices in the Park refer to the four characters from the original story. The visit to the park is shown four times, but each time is seen from the perspective of a different character.
The text and illustrations created for each “voice” reveal a great deal about the characters. While haughty Mrs. Smythe gains nothing from her walk with her son and pedigree dog, dejected Mr. Smith is reinvigorated after being infected with his daughter’s vivacious play. Mrs. Smythe’s son Charles is similarly infected after playing in the park with Smudge. His quiet discontentment with his sheltered life is juxtaposed with Smudge’s colourful and carefree existence despite her father falling on hard times.
Browne’s signature use of anthropomorphic primates is complemented by varying colour tones and backgrounds to depict their moods and intentions. There are many layers to this story. The reader will see and learn something new with each reading.
The two children in Browne’s story remind me of the little girl in John Burningham’s Come Away from the Water, Shirley. Like Charles, Shirley has parents who are unable to view the world through their child’s eyes. However, Shirley uses her imagination to overcome the impediment of having uninspiring parents. Like Smudge, she creates her adventures for herself in her humdrum life.
I am impressed with the resilience and adaptiveness of children, both fictional and real. Browne and Burningham artfully capture this beautiful ability to rise above one’s circumstances to create one’s own happiness.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Christmas Books

Between the lines: Christmas stories can't come soon enough for some

PUBLISHED : Monday, 02 December, 2013, 9:17pm
UPDATED : Monday, 02 December, 2013, 9:18pm






Our Christmas tree has already been delivered and decorated. While many bemoan shopping malls for starting the festive season earlier each year, I like hearing holiday tunes and seeing Nativity scenes and Santa displays for as long as possible.

Here is a selection of Christmas stories for children. We got a head start in our home, and have been reading some of them since Thanksgiving, along with singing Christmas carols since Halloween.
Raymond Briggs' The Snowman is a classic tale about a snowman that comes to life and visits the home of the boy who created him. It is an easy book to "read" because it is wordless. Briggs tenderly conveys the emotions of the characters through his poignant illustrations and an ending that is open for interpretation.
Children who are knowledgeable about their nursery tales will be captivated by The Jolly Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. The postman delivers a variety of mail to well-known characters.
The picture book contains pages designed to look like stamped, addressed envelopes, with a bound-in pocket at the back, each containing a detachable piece of mail inside.
For the Three Bears, the postman delivers an apology letter from Goldilocks, in a little girl's handwriting complete with spelling mistakes. For Cinderella, there is a cover letter from her publisher about the first draft of her biography. The letter is typed like a business letter, and there is a mini-book telling the story of Cinderella.
The Ahlbergs' The Jolly Christmas Postman continues the interactive fun with holiday letters and gifts for a new coterie of nursery tale characters, including "Mr H. Dumpty".
Oscar-winner Emma Thompson tried her hand at writing a new story based on her beloved Beatrix Potter character Peter Rabbit, and her resulting TheFurther Tale of Peter Rabbit became a bestseller.
She has followed up with the newly published The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit. The story is inspired by a real turkey named William whom Thompson met on Beatrix Potter's farm in Britain's Lake District. The book includes a CD with a recording of the story read by Thompson.
Christmas Stories is a collection of four original stories by Michael Morpurgo, one of Britain's best-loved writers. Each of the master storyteller's tales is accompanied by illustrations by a renowned illustrator.
Morpurgo has written more than 100 stories for children and young adults. They are usually set in the mid-20th century, with children who grow up around animals and rural scenery.
This old-fashioned setting allows him to explore timeless values, which he executes superbly in Christmas Stories. The writing is simple and direct, but the messages contained in these stories are enchanting and philosophical.
Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol can be enjoyed year after year. A popular edition is the final volume in the Charles Dickens collection at the Everyman's Library, which has classic illustrations by Arthur Rackham. This charming volume contains four other Victorian Christmas tales from Dickens, and makes a beautiful keepsake.
Another well-loved edition of A Christmas Carol is the one with some richly emotional illustrations by contemporary artist P.J. Lynch.
Lynch is best known for his award-winning illustrations of another festive best-seller, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski.
Annie Ho is the board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving children's literacy by reading aloud to them bringmeabook.org.hk

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Anthony Browne

Between the lines: Kids go ape over shapes with award-winning illustrator

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 19 November, 2013, 8:42am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 19 November, 2013, 8:51am






Anthony Browne is a British children's book creator whose works are loved throughout the world. Bestowed with the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2000 and honoured as Britain's Children's Laureate in 2009, Browne is also the only author-illustrator to win the Kate Greenaway Medal twice.
He has published more than 40 books and is known for his illustrations of primates, from the hauntingly beautiful beasts in Gorilla to comically expressive chimpanzees in the Willy the Wimp series.
With more than a dozen books by Browne in our home, we we were excited to meet this creator of thoughtful and surreal picture books on his first visit to Hong Kong. We joined him at the Central Library for 90 minutes of storytelling and playing the Shape Game, which Browne and his brother "invented" and played in their childhood. Browne thought it was unique until he started playing the Shape Game with his fans and learned that children around the world have also played variations of it.
There were 30 children, accompanied by their parents, at the Hong Kong event.
Browne engaged the children in the Shape Game with just a whiteboard and some coloured pens. One child would draw an abstract shape, another would transform that shape into something recognisable, and all the children would try to identify the object. According to Browne, children are much better at the Shape Game than adults because they have that pure sense of imagination unfettered by self-consciousness and social norms.
As each child was given a turn at the whiteboard and parents chuckled good-naturedly at the children's drawings and guesses, I was able to distinguish children from local or international schools. For example, when presented with an inverted triangle with rounded corners, the local schoolchildren interpreted the shape more literally, as a stone or an ice-cream cone. Those from international schools, on the other hand, saw the shape as the side profile of a duck's head, or even "an upside-down princess in a ballgown".
I wondered if I was stereotyping local versus international school education by making such a distinction. After all, it could just be that those children with unconventional responses were raised by parents who valued and nurtured their creative development.
In any event, all the children were enthusiastic and eager to participate, which resulted in a highly interactive Shape Game session.
After playing, Browne read two of his stories, Into the Forest and Gorilla. Children and parents alike were enraptured. The biggest draw was having Browne pause to point out certain images and share his thought process and intentions when he created them. Often, the background to the main story illustrations held many hidden symbols and imagery.
The Shape Game, Browne's picture book, is different from the game. I expected the book to be a collection of shape drawings. Instead, the reader is treated to an intimate glimpse of the fictionalised Browne family going through their first visit to the Tate Britain museum.
When the family characters stop in front of Augustus Egg's painting Past and Present No1, they dissect the painting for its literal explanations as well as its metaphors. Through the rich narrative and introduction of a number of paintings, Browne succeeds in explaining how art is experienced through the eyes of adults and children.
In a way, Browne continues to play the Shape Game in his picture books, from a bicycle wheel that transforms into an apple in Changes, to a giant's leg among a forest of trees that is only revealed upon closer inspection inInto the Forest.
Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving children's literacy by reading aloud to them (bringmeabook.org.hk)



Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Books Transforms Lives (2)

Between the lines: reading aloud with children can transform their lives







If I were to ask you how important is it for a student to read well, you would say it was very important. But people seem less convinced when it comes to the importance of parent-child read-aloud. I suspect that reading aloud is viewed as a leisure activity on par with taking one's children to musical shows or going on a family nature walk.
It wasn't until I started working with Bring Me A Book that I learned that, the lower the socioeconomic class of the child, the bigger the impact of reading aloud.
Parent-child read-aloud will certainly enhance a middle-class child's development; but for underprivileged families, this activity transforms lives.
There have been many studies into how linguistic patterns used in middle-class homes differ from those used in low-income homes. One study found that parents in low-income homes used imperative statements, while those in middle-class homes used discrete interrogative questions.
Middle-class families use the same language patterns as schools, so their children develop the skills needed to learn the way that schools teach.
More than one study has reinforced the finding that children of professional parents hear 30 million more words by age three than children from low-income households.
Language patterns and vocabulary are connected to reading comprehension, so low-income children face increased challenges once they enter school and start learning to read.
When low-income parents spend a few minutes each day reading aloud to their children, they provide opportunities for vocabulary-building, questions and discussions.
English parish priest Jay MacLeod conducted detailed research on how poverty is perpetuated. Ain't No Making It chronicles his relationships with a dozen young men from the same public housing development that spanned 25 years.
One of his conclusions is that character and behaviour are greater determinants of success than academic achievement, for the simple reason that it takes a lot more than IQ to stay away from drugs and crime in that kind of neighbourhood.
Paul Tough's How Children Succeed is a more appealing read on a similar train of thought. Tough criticised early childhood education's emphasis on cognitive skills (reading, writing, arithmetic) as he pointed to extensive findings that children with good non-cognitive skills (self-motivation, self-control, self-awareness) were the ones who fared better in adult life.
One study that Tough shared in his book found a high correlation between childhood stress and trauma on the one hand, and depression and anxiety disorders in later years.
Another study showed the importance of parental attachment: parents who were responsive produced securely attached children, and such attachment created psychological effects that last into adulthood.
A third study concluded that any lasting impact of childhood stress and trauma can be erased by strong parental attachment.
When low-income parents spend a few minutes each day reading aloud to their children, they will be providing opportunities for cuddling and dissolving stress.
The philosophy behind parent-child read-aloud is about so much more than just books. It is about connecting families and communities. It is about how parents can help their children succeed in life in ways that are much more effective than making sure they get good grades.
All of this scientific research is humanised in Wes Moore's The Other Wes Moore.
The author is an exemplary contributor to society who discovered another Wes Moore languishing in prison. Both came from the same poor black neighbourhood, were the same age, and grew up in single-parent families.
He contacted the other Wes Moore and examined how their similar pasts led them down different paths.
The author believed it was his mother's attachment parenting that helped develop his character and keep him from a life of crime.
When it comes to school readiness, kindergartens need to focus less on drilling cognitive skills and more on developing non-cognitive skills.
Until kindergarten curricula are reformed to reflect this, parents need to be aware of how small changes in their daily home life can transform their children's future.

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving children's literacy by reading aloud to them bringmeabook.org.hk


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Books Transform Lives (1)


Between the lines: reading together helps families bond and grow








I regularly venture into parts of Hong Kong I would never see were it not for my work with Bring Me a Book. I visit kindergartens, primary schools and community centres.
When I see the sweet and earnest faces of the children, I can't help but wonder about their future. How many of them will break out of their economic class and stop the poverty that often gets passed from generation to generation?
Many parents in these communities can barely make ends meet, yet they will spend what little they have on after-school tutorial classes for their children. They do so in the misguided belief that more tutorials lead directly to better school grades and, ultimately, success in life.
The after-school classes to which I refer are not the fun-filled and stimulating activities that middle-class children enjoy. Tutorials in these communities often involve paying HK$50 for a child to sit silently for one hour, among rows of students, watching an instructor with a wireless microphone expounding academic theories.
This learning environment is hardly helpful for a child who is already struggling at school. Most parents want their children to read well, yet many are sceptical about their ability to help their children develop a lifelong love of books. Some parents don't believe they are educated enough or have sufficient language skills. Others blindly follow the masses; if the whole neighbourhood has signed up for English flashcard classes, they feel compelled to do the same.
I tell parents in these communities to save their money and take their kids to the public library instead. Through our read-aloud training workshops, they come to understand the tangible and intangible benefits of parent-child read-aloud sessions.
And after they put what they've learned into practice, they become true believers that something so simple as reading stories together can have a big impact on their family life and their children's development.
Middle-class families tend to spend quality time together and live in homes containing at least half a dozen books. This is not the case in lower-class families.
One parent told me that, before she started reading with her son, their interaction usually involved berating him about school homework and household chores. This parent went from a long day of work to an evening of cooking, cleaning and childcare. Her eight-year-old son rarely spoke to her, preferring to spend his time playing video games in his room.
Our training workshops comprise two classes one week apart. At the end of the first class, we give parents two books to take home, and ask them to read aloud to their children every night for one week.
By the time the parent with the eight year-old son returned for the second class, she was a devotee of reading aloud.
She revealed that her son was at first reluctant to sit down and listen to his mother read a picture book. When they finally sat down and read the story together, she suddenly realised that she hadn't cuddled with her son, not in months, but years.
By the end of the week, mother and son were having meaningful conversations, including her son sharing that a friend was being bullied at school.
She began to see her son in a new light, as the labels of irresponsible, ill-mannered and unresponsive melted away, and his sense of humour and endearing perspective on life came to the foreground.
By the end of the second class, she knew that their lives had been transformed.
This parent was aware that this transformation would improve the relationship, but what she had yet to learn was what had happened would lead directly to her son's improved cognitive and non-cognitive ability.
In the next column we will find out how. 

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving children's literacy by reading aloud to them bringmeabook.org.hk

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

"The Good The Bad and The Vocab"


Between the lines: children's books that celebrate the power of language

Tuesday, 08 October, 2013, 10:40am







My daughter loves to play with older children, and I enjoy spending an afternoon with families with older offspring, as it gives me a glimpse of what may be in store.
When my daughter was three years old, I witnessed my friend's five-year-old son doing something he wasn't supposed to. Rather than berate the boy, my friend calmly suggested that he think about the consequences of his action. And he stopped misbehaving.
I was greatly impressed with this feat of superior parenting. My friend advised that children can be conditioned to take, or refrain from, certain actions once they have suffered consequences.
Of course, the key is to carry through with the threatened consequences, or to allow the natural consequence to flow.
For example, if a child is jumping around while eating his ice cream cone, don't warn him that the melting dessert may fall onto the ground and then take it away to hold it for him.
If you warn him about the consequence, you must allow him to experience it (unsafe consequences excepted) for the lesson to be learned.
For weeks after that play date, I started to teach my daughter about actions and consequences. One day, she asked for a cookie without saying "please". I said, "What's the magic word?" to which she hesitantly replied, "Consequences?"
I realised that, while she had learned this new word, she was too young to grasp its meaning.
Since then, I have patiently waited for my daughter to be old enough to understand "consequences", as her daily life continued to be filled with instances of good and bad consequences. Now that she is five years old, we enjoy books about vocabulary, which explore concepts like "consequences".
Jamie Lee Curtis, the Hollywood actress, celebrates the power of language in her eighth children's picture book, Big Words for Little People. This picture book uses rhyming verses and humorous illustrations to introduce words such as consequence, privacy and inconsiderate.
Of the word persevere, Curtis writes: "To persevere is to try and to try, even though you might want to give up and cry. When doing a puzzle that puzzles your mind, you persevere until the right piece you find."
This word is accompanied by an illustration of children trying to put together a giant 60,000-piece puzzle.
Another of our favourite books is Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons. Children learn about what it means to have respect, be modest, feel compassionate, and a range of other feelings and concepts, all in the context of baking, eating and sharing cookies.
With beautiful drawings by acclaimed illustrator Jane Dyer, this book helps define grown-up concepts in language that children can understand.
For trustworthy, Rosenthal writes: "Trustworthy means, if you ask me to hold your cookie until you come back, when you come back, I will still be holding your cookie."
This book was so well-received that Rosenthal followed up with new words in the same cookie context in a whole series of books about going to school, love and Christmas.
For primary school children, Lee Bennett Hopkins' Wonderful Words: Poems about Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening is a poetry collection sure to inspire young wordsmiths.
Hopkins is a distinguished poet and anthologist, and this book includes poems by Emily Dickinson and Carl Sandburg. With poems titled Metaphor,Words Free as Confetti and How to Learn to Say a Long, Hard Word, language is celebrated as something that greatly influences our lives, externally and internally.


Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving children's literacy by reading aloud to them bringmeabook.org.hk

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Chen Chih Yuan


Taiwan author's modern fables teach kids to be themselves

Tuesday, 24 September, 2013








When it comes to tales about accepting and celebrating oneself, no one tells it better than Chen Chih-yuan. An author-illustrator in Taiwan, Chen created an international sensation when Guji Guji was translated into English. This beautifully written story of a "crocoduck" was an American Library Association Notable Children's Book and appeared onThe New York Times bestseller list.
Chen's ink drawings in muted grey and brown tones belie the riotous antics of a crocodile adopted into a family of ducks. The crocodile grows up as a duck, but upon meeting some crocodiles and seeing how similar in appearance he is to them, he is torn about what and who he truly is.
Guji Guji has the makings of a classic modern fable. I can read it again and again without ever tiring of it.
For bilingual children, I recommend the Chinese-language version of this picture book, which includes an English translation and bilingual CD at the back.
In his author's notes, Chen explains that the story was inspired by a Korean friend who was adopted by an American family. Someone who looks different from family members and the community must first embrace or overlook those differences before he can expect others to do so.
In Chen's The Featherless Chicken, the protagonist is shunned by his feathered peers. He is finally invited to join a boat trip when bits and pieces stick to his muddy body like beautiful plumage. Everyone on the boat learns the "beauty is skin-deep" message when the boat capsizes.
Chen's latest offering, The Very Slow Snail, comes with an English translation and bilingual CD, and is a 2013 Feng Zikai Chinese Children's Picture Book Award honours book. The snail talks slowly and moves even more slowly. One day it decides to go to a grapevine to eat grapes.
Along the way, it encounters creatures that ridicule its quest, teasing that all the grapes will be gone by the time the slow snail reaches the vine. Only one creature encourages the snail - a caterpillar who thinks eating grapes is a great idea. The snail offers to piggyback the caterpillar, and their friendship grows on their journey.
This adorable and funny story about the beauty of taking things slowly is a good antidote for my daughter. Her natural disposition is that of a cautious observer who is slow to react. As a result, she hears "hurry up" and "quickly, quickly" countless times a day.
At home, we are always rushing to finish the morning routine and head to school. At school, she is constantly told to eat her lunch or finish her worksheets faster.
Rather than share a tale about the misfortunes that await dawdlers, I comfort my daughter with this story of a snail and a caterpillar who are content with their lack of speed.
The Very Slow Snail reminds us to savour a slower pace. It is a wonderful allegory for enjoying childhood and not rushing the process of growing up.
Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving children's literacy by reading aloud to them bringmeabook.org.hk

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Feng Zikai Book Award


Chinese picture book award sparks hope for genre

Tuesday, 10 September, 2013, 9:38am








Yu Liqiong's A New Year's Reunioncarries the distinction of being a Chinese-language picture book that won accolades before and after its translation into English.
The Chinese-language version was winner of the Feng Zikai Chinese Children's Picture Book Award in 2009. Its English translation won The New York Times Top Ten Children's Books Award in 2012.
The Feng Zikai Award is important as it encourages authors, illustrators and publishers to create Chinese language children's books of a high standard, that are originally written in Chinese, rather than translated from English.
The vision of the award is to improve childhood literacy for the Chinese reading public.
From my perspective as a mother raising bilingual children in Hong Kong, I also appreciate this ready-made book list. Knowing that this selection comes from a panel of experts means I don't need to sift through the countless titles myself.
This year's award winners were announced last month. The winner and four honoured books were selected from 27 shortlisted works that were culled from hundreds of entries.
Liu Bole's I See a Bird (pictured) won the top prize for its meticulous illustration of a variety of species. Interestingly, this winning choice is completely unlike A New Year's Reunion, with its patriotic theme of how a modern family celebrates Lunar New Year.
In I See a Bird, a mother tries to guess the identity of a new bird her daughter saw for the first time. This story encourages children to get closer to nature and teaches them how to observe birds in their natural environment.
According to one of the judges, esteemed children's book editor Tang Ya Ming, texts such as these are especially relevant in today's world, where children increasingly live in urban settings where learning comes from electronic devices.
In the judges' notes, Tang says of creating quality picture books: "Illustrating a book is not about self-expression. It is not like creating a painting.
"Rather, it is a tool with which the artist can bring joy to children and allow them to discuss and connect with their feelings."
Keeping the child in mind is the essence of creating a good picture book. Furthermore, the greatest picture books transcend cultures and eras.
How exciting it is to create Chinese language picture books with timeless appeal that can be loved by children around the world. I hope that I See a Bird will follow the footsteps of A New Year's Reunion and have an English version published soon.
A full list of 2013 Feng Zikai Book Award winners and runners-up can be found at fengzikaibookaward.org
Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving children's literacy by reading aloud to them bringmeabook.org.hk

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

How Kids Grow, Who Has What?, A Guide to Puberty


From babies to puberty, creative books help with body talk for children

Tuesday, 27 August, 2013, 9:47am







In the months before my younger daughter was born, we made sure that my elder daughter would be prepared for this big change. In addition to "There's going to be a new baby" kinds of books, I also read with her Jean Marzollo's How Kids Grow.
With photographs of real children accomplishing age-appropriate tasks, this well-written non-fiction book is a good resource to help children understand developmental milestones from birth to seven years of age.
My daughter learned that a three-day-old baby mostly sleeps and enjoys being cuddled, while a nine-month-old baby can clap and use her fingers to eat. It gave her a good grasp of her baby sister's capabilities (or lack thereof) in those early months.
At the time, my elder daughter was two and was delighted to see that she could drink from a cup and walk up stairs like the two-year-old girl in the book. She was also excited to see what she had to look forward to from the photos and descriptions of older children.
I also shared How Kids Grow with my younger daughter when she turned two, and had just figured out that she was a girl. Before that, she thought she was a boy because everyone talked about how her bald head made her look like one. Going through the book, she was able to point and name each child in the book as a boy or a girl.
This made me curious as to how children identify gender, which then led me to consider how to talk to my daughters about what they can and cannot do in the company of boys.
One of my friends is conscientious about keeping her daughter's physical appearance as non-sexual as possible. I agree with her and have dressed my young daughters the same way. They do not wear nail polish, miniskirts or kid-sized high-heeled shoes. No bare midriffs, shoulders or thighs, ever. Short dresses are either layered with leggings or worn with double panties, or white boy-cut shorts over their underpants.
Robie Harris' Who Has What? is a neutral look at physical bodies. It describes not only differences between girls' and boys' bodies, but also similarities. Geared towards kindergarteners, it points out various parts of the body in a matter-of-fact way, without getting into any discussions about what's private or not.
For upper primary children, What's Happening to Me?:A Guide to Puberty by Peter Mayle is the definitive guide to answering questions about pimples, training bras and hormones.
I taught my daughters about private parts and who would be permitted to see those: immediate family members, grandmothers and domestic helpers. In other homes, this may vary.
I was proud to see my elder daughter follow my rules when she asked her friends to "guard" her bedroom door while she changed, even though she was merely putting on a Supergirl cape over her clothes. Yet a few minutes later, she used the toilet while some boys were washing their hands at the sink right beside her.
It seems it's not yet time to cross this lesson off my list of things to teach my children, and that I need to specify the whole range of situations where private parts may be exposed.
Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a charity dedicated to improving children's literacy by reading aloud to thembringmeabook.org.hk

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Grimms vs Hans


Grimm tales told the old-fashioned way

Tuesday, 13 August, 2013, 9:25am







I was filled with glee the moment I got my hands on a back-ordered copy of Philip Pullman's Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version. Glee turned to euphoria as I devoured this recently published collection of 50 stories retold by Pullman, a celebrated writer for young adults.
Pullman's source was Children's and Household Tales, written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm two centuries ago.
Through their study of philology and comparative linguistics - they worked on the first German dictionary - the Grimm brothers became preoccupied with German folklore. They collected fairy tales from oral and literary sources, and were careful to treat their material authentically.
Authenticity is a tricky proposition. I don't enjoy the Disney versions of fairy tales because they are mere caricatures of the originals.
Yet, I may not appreciate the antiquated oral stories shared in the 1800s among peasants sitting by the hearth in their family cottage. That's why I want to read Pullman's version. I love his writing, and I know that he will "tell it like it is", free of personal interpretations or modern influences.
Adults are constantly shielding children from anything deemed inappropriate or too damaging to their psyches. By contrast, it seems that worrying about causing psychological distress on children ranked low in agrarian families of the past, when there were famines, wars and epidemics to contend with.
Pullman's straightforward and authentic retelling reveals how scare tactics were employed in the original stories to teach moral lessons. Children in the Grimm tales get eaten by wild animals, abandoned by impoverished parents, and trapped by cannibalistic witches.
Parents can judge at what age to share the original Grimm tales with their children. Meanwhile, the versions reinterpreted for toddlers in Mary Englebreit's Fairy Tales are a wonderful introduction to these stories.
We also have Englebreit's Nursery Tales, much loved in our home for the stories, as well as Englebreit's vintage-style illustrations.
Many of the stories from Nursery Tales are gentle versions of Hans Christian Andersen's originals.
Unlike the Grimm brothers, who collected folklore, Andersen created all the characters and plots for more than 150 fairy tales. For a faithful English translation, older children will enjoy The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen: a New Translation from the Danish by Jeffrey Crone Frank and Diana Crone Frank.
These are timeless tales which are intended for children and adults alike.

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving children's literacy by reading aloud to them bringmeabook.org.hk


Thursday, July 25, 2013

Best Mother Goose


Between the Lines: Mother Goose picture books that top the pecking order

Tuesday, 16 July, 2013, 9:56am

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Chart a course to the world's best book museums


Between the lines: Explore interesting book museums around the world

Tuesday, 02 July, 2013






Eric Carle is the famed author and illustrator of The Very Hungry Caterpillarand Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? as well as 70 other picture books for the very young.
His collage technique, using bright colours, is instantly recognisable. After a long and successful career, Carle could have settled into a comfortable retirement. Instead, in 2002 and at the age of 73, he and his wife founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts.
The Museum Book is a good introduction to the history of museums and what museums are for
Located midway between Boston and New York City, the museum houses an extensive collection of more than 10,000 picture book illustrations, as well as three art galleries, an art studio, a theatre, and picture book and scholarly libraries.
It also organises educational programmes for families, scholars, educators and children.
The picture book library has more than 3,000 picture books from around the world. But the big draw is the bookshop, where visitors can buy contemporary and hard-to-find picture books.
If your family holiday takes you to that part of the United States, then you must try to visit the museum's special exhibition this month called "Seriously Silly: A Decade of Art and Whimsy by Mo Willems".
Willems is one of my favourite children's book creators, and he will be signing books on specific dates during the exhibition.
The Pioneer Valley area where the museum is located is also home to a number of other museums suitable for family fun: the Dr Seuss National Memorial and Springfield Museum, the Norman Rockwell Museum, Amelia Park Children's Museum, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory.
If you are on the other side of the Atlantic this summer, then you may consider heading to northern England to visit Seven Stories, the national centre for children's books.
Located in Newcastle upon Tyne, the centre is housed in a seven-storey building, and its special archives contain draft illustrations, and handwritten author's notes and correspondence.
With a mission to make books an essential part of every child's life, the existence and accessibility of Seven Stories is especially meaningful in this northeastern region, where the number of children living in poverty is double the average in England.
Meanwhile, The Museum Book: A Guide to Strange and Wonderful Collections by Jan Mark is a good introduction to the history of museums and what museums are for.
And for those staying in Hong Kong, the summer months bring plenty of book-related activities.
The Hong Kong Book Fair runs from July 17-23 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and there will be special activities and events for children and young adults. Besides stocking up on picture books from Taiwanese publishers and speciality books such as those on religion or cooking, it's also the best one-stop shop for stationery and art supplies.
Another annual summer event is the Hong Kong Public Libraries' "Summer Reading Month", with music and puppet shows, storytelling sessions and parent-child reading activities.
A book-themed summer vacation awaits!

Annie Ho is the board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong, a children's literacy charity (bringmeabook.org.hk)