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Session Spotlight: Confronting Difficult Life Events through Story II

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

 

I realized that the lowlands were always given to the poor, so naturally the Ninth Ward would flood.

“I’ll tell you what happened to me, but you have to promise never to use my name.”

. . . Kristallnacht was a blink in time . . .

Today’s blog continues the discussion between authors Ruta Sepetys, Jim Deem, and Jewell Parker Rhodes at the 2012 Tucson Festival of Books in March entitled “Confronting Difficult Life Events through Story.”
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Session Spotlight: Confronting Difficult Life Events through Story

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

Book cover for Between Shades of GrayToday’s blog begins a discussion by authors Ruta Sepetys, Jim Deem, and Jewell Parker Rhodes at the 2012 Tucson Festival of Books in March entitled “Confronting Difficult Life Events through Story.” The discussion will continue in the next two blogs. All three authors have published books, both fiction and non-fiction, that deal with terrible historical events and the resiliency of people to endure in the most horrific of circumstances.
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Session Spotlight: Monica Brown

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

Waiting for the Biliburro, Esperanto el Biblioburro

. . . the story also spoke to her because it contained the themes of finding your voice, of imagination and determination, of social justice and what we can do to spread literacy . . .

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Session Spotlight: Karen Lynn Williams

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

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Books can be very powerful, and be careful what you give your children to read!

Karen Lynn Williams

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I attended a presentation at the 2012 Tucson Festival of Books entitled “Picture Books as Global Passports” with authors Karen Lynn Williams and Monica Brown in March. Karen Lynn Williams has published 14 children’s books, many of them about children in other countries, including Africa, Haiti, and Pakistan.
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The Hero’s Journey from Another Point of View: Here Lies Arthur

By Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University, Texas Ambassador for USBBY

Book Cover for Here Lies Arthur
“Cei laughed off the slanders. ‘They’re only stories,’ he would say. ‘What do stories matter?’ But he wasn’t stupid. He knew as well as Myrddin that in the end stories are all that matter” (Reeve 204).

British author Philip Reeve uses the well-known legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable as a springboard for his novel Here Lies Arthur. Reeve offers explanations for the unexplained in the original tales, which may be part history and greater part folklore, and have been embellished by retellers since the late 5th and early 6th century when King Arthur supposedly performed heroic and even magical deeds. Along with his knights, Arthur has been credited with defending Britain from invading Saxons. He has embodied the virtues of loyalty, honor and chivalry. In his author’s note, Reeve provides historical and literary documentation for the novel.
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Healing Hearts with the Hero’s Journey: Heartsinger

By Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University, Texas Ambassador for USBBY

Book jacket for Heartsinger by Karlijn StofflesKarlijn Stoffels tells the story of two characters, Mee and Mitou, both born into difficult circumstances in relationship to their special storytelling gifts. As each one travels on a hero’s journey, readers grow more and more certain that their meeting is inevitable. Yet, Mee and Mitou are so different that one wonders if a fairy-tale ending is possible for the “singer of sorrows” and the girl with a sunny outlook on life. Continue reading

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A Hero’s Journey Guided by Hindu Deities: Tiger Moon

By Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University, Texas Ambassador for USBBY

In the theory of “suspension of disbelief” as suggested by British poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge, it is the storyteller or author who must spin such a compelling tale that the listener/reader will accept a fantasy as a plausible reality. In Tiger Moon, author Antonia Michaelis takes readers on a magical journey of love, deception, courage, fear, and sacrifice in India. Framed like the story of Scheherazade who told her tales for 1,001 nights in order to escape death, Safia tells her tale to Lalit, a servant who is supposed to be guarding her while she awaits her marriage night. On that night, her wealthy husband will learn she is not a virgin and will have the right to kill her.
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The Hero’s Journey in Global Literature: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

By Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University, Texas Ambassador for USBBY

Storytelling is fundamental to the human search for meaning. (Bateson 34).
Book cover for Where the Mountain Meets the MoonFolklore, fables, myths, and legends, stories that originated in the oral tradition are the indigenous literature in every society. Since people were first able to use language for communication, oral storytelling is the way we have passed on our culture and history, beliefs and values. Traditional literature themes reoccur across cultures. These stories explain the relationships between human beings and the animal, plant, and astrological or seasonal worlds. Although the stories may include different symbols and representations, these “folk” ideas center on elemental figures—mother, father, God, trickster, hero, old man, crone, witch, or devil, and on elementary concepts—creation, destruction, birth, death, initiation or coming of age, separation from parents or community, marriage, or the union of opposites. Continue reading

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Awards from other countries where English is the dominate language

by Barbara C. Thompson Book, Indiana University Southeast

While those of us living in the United States eagerly await a Monday in January for the announcement of the various American Library Association Awards, book lovers all over the world have their own days of wondering “who will win?” This week I will explore a variety of awards given in countries where English is the dominate language. Each country has its equivalent of a children’s writing award and an illustration award. However in most countries the award is given to books which have been pre-generated on a “short list” much like the National Book Awards in this country.
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