Motorcycles, Moons and Making Friends- Week 3

16 November

Quite regularly, the Worlds of Words Library hosts authors and illustrators, and on Thursday this week I heard Isabel Quintero speak. She has recently had published a picturebook, simultaneously in Spanish and English called ‘My Papi has a Motorcycle/Mi Papi tiene una Moto’ which is based on her memory of her Dad taking her out for rides on his motorcycle after work. Quintero is a Mexican American author who has written a YA novel, a graphic novel, as well as poetry. She is very versatile, and was a delightful speaker to listen to. 

The text for her latest picturebook is beautifully written, with one of my favourite phrases about the smell of sawdust on her father, a cabinet maker, when he came home from work. Isabel explained the ways in which she and the illustrator worked together to make the illustrations of Corona in Southern Arizona where she grew up, authentic to an era before present day gentrified Corona. The colours of the illustrations are sensational, and the story perfectly paced.

Then on Saturday, I got to meet Stevie Lewis who came in for a World of Words Book Fiesta featuring the book she illustrated called ‘Moon, Earth’s best Friend’ written by Stacy McAnulty. After telling us about the animation work she has done, Stevie told us about the process of how she made her drawings for ‘ Sun, One in a Billion’ and ‘Moon, Earth’s best Friend’ . Then she had an activity for the children and parents to make an image of the Moon, using tinfoil and paint to make the texture on the moon on a round piece of white card which we glued onto a deep blue background. It was fun, and the children made some beautiful images.

Later that day the Teenage Reading Ambassador Programme (TRAP) was held at Worlds of Words, so I stayed on for that to hear a discussion of the featured book by the Tucson author Kathleen Glasgow called ‘How to Make Friends with the Dark’. This is quite a sad story about a 16 year old girl called Tiger (Grace) who lives with her unconventional Mum who suddenly dies. We then follow Tiger as she experiences the unbearable grief of losing a parent, which is further exacerbated by the state putting her in a series of foster homes until her half-sister comes to be her guardian, and even then things do not go smoothly. It is quite a challenging book at times, and it was very interesting to hear the young people’s responses to it, and their delight that it was set in Tucson with familiar referents. The next time the Teen Reading  Ambassadors meet will be at an event featuring the author (Kathleen Glasgow) herself, and in the meantime it is their job to advertise the event and to encourage other students at their school to come  along.

At the end of Week 3 I have already had many fabulous experiences, and am gathering ideas to bring home. I also gave a lecture to a group of preservice teachers about New Zealand children’s literature, and got them looking at bilingual books. Kathy and I have been working on details for our research project after Christmas. I am looking for bilingual books from a range of languages to use, and Kathy and I are working on a book proposal, so there are lots of balls in the air- just how I like it.