Gazzetta

Hooray for "Soldier Bear"

2012-01-26T14:14:00.004-05:00

With the annual announcement of the American Library Association's Newbery and Caldecott prizes, January is always an exciting month for anyone interested in children's literature, and even more so for those of us who write, illustrate, translate, edit, publish, or have any connection with this vibrant field of literature. But what many people don't know is that the ALA awards other prizes each year as well. One of them is the Mildred L. Batchelder Award. Yesterday, I was thrilled to learn that Laura Watkinson's translation of "Soldier Bear,"written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman, translated by Laura from the Dutch, and published in the United States by Eerdmans' Books for Young Readers has been awarded the 2012 ALA Batchelder award for translation of an outstanding children's work from a foreign language. Only the very best translators receive this award, and Laura is more than deserving: the story is beautifully and seamlessly rendered in English. When I read it last December, after happening upon it at the Eerdmans' booth at the NCTE conference in Chicago, I was both moved and delighted. BRAVO, Laura! And Bravo as well to Eerdmans' Books for taking a chance on a story from outside our sometimes very insular American borders!
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Erica Silverman's visit

2012-01-05T16:22:00.008-05:00

She came.
She read.
She conquered.

Children's author Erica Silverman recently visited our school. Erica's books, from "Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa" to "The Halloween House," from "Liberty's Voice: Emma Lazarus" to "Big Pumpkin," are well known and loved by the children at Rochambeau. The CE1 students were particularly lucky to have two hours with the author at the library where Madame Domenge graciously welcomed us. During the first hour, Erica explained how, after growing up in New York in an apartment and never owning a horse, she was able to imagine the latest story in the "Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa" series: "Spring Babies." She talked abou ther love of the library, mwhat fun it is to do reserach about subjects she knows very little about, and how reading (and writing) books allow us to travel to faraway places and enjoy some "make-believe." After an eye-opening Question + Answer, Mrs. Paul's and Mrs. Ermler's students performed a Readers' Theatre of "Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa," which Ms. Silverman thoroughly enjoyed and applauded. She was especially thrilled when she got her "surprise!": The students sang Cocoa's lullaby… in French.

After the recess break, during which students from all grades crowded around Erica for a quick chat, it was back to the library for her presentation of the story behind "Big Pumpkin." She explained that as a child, her grandmother would take her to the most wonderful place in the world: the New York Public Library, where there was an entire room just for children's books. Erica's love of books as a child, and in particular, her of of an old Russian folktale called "The Turnip" were an inspiration for "Big Pumpkin." After playfully reading the book all together (…and that pumpkin just sat!), there was again time for a Q+A, followed by another surprise: Jules, a student from Ms. Dorit's ESL class, read "La Nuit de Halloween," in French, to Erica, who doesn't speak more than a few words of la langue de Molière. When the bells rang at the end of the school day, we all wondered how the time had passed by so quickly.

Eagerly Awaiting Erica's Visit

2011-11-03T15:51:00.003-04:00

My second graders at the French International School are eagerly awaiting the visit of author Erica Silverman. They adore Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, those two sparky and tender friends. They've come up with questions for the author, they've prepared a Readers Theatre performance for the author, and they will all wear bandanas on the day of her visit to show how we psyched we are, and how we'd all like to live on a ranch. They will even sing a French version of Cocoa's Lullaby!

Our school librarian, Elodie Domenge, has prepared a display to make Erica feel at home. We can't wait! Yee-haw!

Children Love Poetry

2011-10-16T12:15:00.009-04:00

The first graders I teach at the French International School in Washington, DC, love poetry. Every year, I am thrilled to see that no matter what anybody says about memorizing poetry, kids lap it up! And they adore the freedom of expression that it gives them once a poem is learned by heart.

Last week, these 6-year olds joyfully and raucously recited Dorothy Aldis's poem "Everybody Says." It goes like this:

Everybody Says

by Dorothy Aldis

Everybody says

I look just like my mother

Everybody says

I'm the image of Aunt Bee

Everybody says

my nose is like my father's

But I want to look like ME!

Dorothy Aldis (1896-1966) was a children's literature author and poet.

Summer Flowers

2011-08-08T11:34:00.001-04:00

Kinda groovy, this stop-motion video of a still life…
Click the link below and see it happen…
http://www.vimeo.com/27130532

Pippi Longstocking

2011-07-08T17:44:00.002-04:00

I've just finished reading, for the first time ever, Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking. Wow, am I flabbergasted! Wishing now that I would have read this earlier in life, I can only guess how much I would have enjoyed this as a girl. Irreverent, strong, eccentric, subversive - she's a girl's role model, and a woman's delight. Refusing authority to those whom we never dare disrespect, ie, teachers and policemen, Pippi delights in being her own person, her own nine-year rebellious, natural, wonderful self.

Pippi Longstocking came out in 1945 in Sweden, but it wasn't until the book's translation into English by Edna Hurup in 1954 did it become a worldwide sensation, and with it Pippi, a classic, trans-cultural archetype of children's literature.

She reminds me of characters from Roald Dahl's world, of creatures from Dr. Seuss's crazy galley. She is as good as Alice in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, turning us all on our heads, making us totally topsy-turvy.

For years, Pippi has been available to my students in my classroom, but it's just one of those books I never took the time to read. Lately, when I heard that Lisbeth Salander, aka The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, was based more on Pippi than on anyone else, I was intrigued. What an eye-opening and fun read it's been.
2007 Oxford University Edition with cover illustration by Lauren Child

I wonder… what editor would take a chance on Pippi today?

Prix « Coup de Pouce »

2011-07-07T15:42:00.025-04:00

Quelle bonne surprise ! Je viens d'apprendre que Combinaison gagnante, publié dans la collection « Livres et égaux » des Éditions Talents Hauts, a été sélectionné pour participer au seizième Prix Coup de Pouce décerné par la ville d'Eaubonne, catégorie ROMANS. Ce prix de littérature jeunesse est décerné par un jury d'enfants des établissements scolaires de la ville et récompense l'auteur d'une première ou seconde œuvre jeunesse publiée entre le premier janvier 2010 et le 31 décembre 2010.

Les votes auront lieu début mars, ainsi faudra-t-il attendre la semaine du 13 mars 2012 pour en savoir plus…

J'ai été ravie de voir que le livre Philo mène la danse, écrit par ma consœur aux Éditions Talents Hauts, Séverine Vidal, a également été sélectionné.

Le genre des mots composés, ou…

2011-05-22T15:32:00.001-04:00

Depuis toutes ces années que je parle le français (j'en ai commencé l'étude à 14 ans), il reste toujours des difficultés que j'ai du mal à maîtriser. Par exemple, jusqu'à l'été dernier, le genre des mots composés me donnait du fil à retordre. Quelques exemples :

le repose-tête

le porte-documents

le pense-bête

le porte-monnaie

Je n'arrivais pas à utiliser ces termes sans me tromper sur leurs genres : à chaque fois que je disais : « Mais où est passée ma porte-monnaie » mon entourage français me disait : « C'est UN porte-monnaie ! »
Mais comment est-ce possible ? « Une » porte-monnaie serait tout de même logique : une porte, c'est féminin, la monnaie, c'est féminin, ne serait-ce pas logique que ce terme composé soit, lui aussi, féminin ? Eh bien, non !

Pour moi, il était temps d'en venir au bout de cette faiblesse et de vaincre cette difficulté de la langue française.
Et c'est là que Philippe (mon entourage français, voir quelques lignes plus haut) me dit : « Mais tu sais, ce sont les mots dont le premier est un verbe d'action et le deuxième son complément. Et c'est toujours masculin. »

Puisque nous faisions une longue route de Washington vers le Maine pour nos vacances, j'avais le temps d'en faire la liste. J'ai pris mon calepin, mon crayon, décidée à mettre par écrit les mots-composés qui m'enquiquinait depuis si longtemps. J'en ai trouvé un paquet.

Avant de vous faire voir la liste, permettez-moi une petite remarque : les francophones dont le français est la langue maternelle auront peut-être du mal à comprendre à quel point ceci est une énorme difficulté pour ceux qui ont dû l'apprendre en deuxième langue, après l'enfance. Ces derniers (dont je fais partie) vont savoir de quoi je parle ! Avec chaque nouveau mot composé que je rajoutais à la liste, je jubilais à la pensée de pouvoir bien l'utiliser dans mes propos futurs, que ce soit à l'écrit ou à l'oral. Et depuis, je ne me trompe plus ! (Si, de temps en temps, mais je me corrige immédiatement !)

Voici la liste :

Un accroche-cœur
Un amuse-guele
Un appui-tête
Un attache-remorque
Un attrape-nigaud
Un baise-main
Un brise-glace
Un cache-cœur
Un cache-misère
Un cache-nez
Un casse-croûte
Un casse-noix
Un casse-tête
Un chasse-neige
Un coupe-vent
Un croche-patte
Un emporte-pièce
Un épluche-légume
Un garde-boue
Un gratte-ciel
Un lance-pierre
Un lave-linge
Un lave-vaisselle
Un lèche-frites
Un lèse-majesté
Un marque-page
Un monte-charge
Un ouvre-boîte
Un ouvre-bouteille
Un pare-brise
Un passe-montagne
Un pense-bête
Une perce-oreille
Un pèse-lettre
Un pèse-personne
Un pique-fleur
Un porte-clé
Un porte-bonheur
Un porte-document
Un porte-feuille
Un porte-manteau
Un porte-plume
Un porte-serviette
Un pousse-café
Un presse-ail
Un presse-citron
Un presse-purée
Un protège-matelas
Un rabat-joie
Un ramasse-poussière
Un repose-cuillère
Un repose-tête
Un rince-doigt
Un sèche-linge
Un serre-tête
Un soutien-gorge
Un taille-barbe
Un taille-crayon
Un taille-haie
Un tape-cul
Un tire-bouchon
Un tire-fesses
Un tourne-vis
Un vide-poche

Évidemment, il y a quelques exceptions à la règle (mais pas tant que ça, curieusement) :

Une garde-robe…
Une pince-monseigneur…

Y a-t-il une raison à cela ? Quelqu'un peut-il expliquer ? Auriez-vous d'autres contre-exemples ?

J'attends vos commentaires !

This is Just to Say…

2011-05-06T16:11:00.010-04:00

that I love the poetry of Williams Carlos Williams. Through teaching, I have come to know Williams and his poetry better than I ever did before, and I am in love. Even more, I have been able to transfer some of this passion to my third and fourth grade students. They love this poetry, too.

Although I've been introducing students to Williams' poetry now for years, I have just recently started using a wonderful book about his life to enhance their experience. It is Jen Bryant's A River of Words, The Story of Williams Carlos Williams. This wonderfully illustrated, mixed-media picture book / biography (ill. Melissa Sweet) helps my young students understand a bit more about how Willie broke out of traditional poetry forms to find his own voice. They understand that although he was a medical doctor who delivered babies, set broken arms, and tended to the sick in his community, he was first and foremost a lover of words, of sounds, of images, that he was atuned to everyday, commonplace happenings. He followed his innermost calling by writing poetry throughout his life… as a family doctor! My students particularly love the picture of Willie up in his attic, late at night, with his typewriter, surrounded by pieces of paper filled with interesting words and phrases, tacked up on the walls. They love that from these bits and pieces, he pulls out the one or two or three words and ideas, and distills them into a pithy poem.

Children are natural philosophers, and the Williams' poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" opens up discussions that make them think, and ask "Well, what really depends on what?"

The Red Wheelbarrow

So much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens.

And while studying the following poem, the students and I talk about relationships, complicity between people who know each other well, temptation, pleasure, and trust.

This is Just to Say

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet and

so cold

After studying and memorizing this poem, the students use it as a model for writing their own "This is Just to Say." Here's one by Sami (8 years old):

I have taken

the soccer ball

that was on

the field

and which

you were probably

saving

for the big game

Forgive me

it was incredible

so bouncy

and so hard

SUR MES BORDS LES QUERELLES

2011-04-28T11:43:00.006-04:00

Allez voir cette expo à Brooklyn… ça en vaut le détour.
Mago Crêperie, 464 Grand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Quartier du « Clinton Hill »
Vendredi 29 avril à partir de 18h
Qui sait trouver la référence littéraire du titre… ?

Festival de la Francophonie 2011

2011-04-20T15:28:00.022-04:00

Living in DC can be great fun: it's a city where international happenings occur sans cesse, all throughout the year. March and April were months during which one could enjoy the kinds of francophone treats – films, music, performances, literary salons, storytelling – which otherwise, one would have to travel far and wide to attend. I made it to only a few of them… The festival celebrates the French-speaking world present on all continents, and as Hubert Haddad so rightly reminded us: Les français sont francophones, mais la francophonie n'est pas française, meaning that the French language and culture is not the reserve of France, in fact, French speakers from France represent only 40% of French speakers worldwide!

I attended the opening reception at the Belgian Embassy where I was delighted to meet the francophone contingency from Lafayette, Louisiana, a place where I have deep roots (on my mother's side - another blogpost about that later). The next week, I spent an evening listening to Hubert Haddad, franco-tunisian writer, at a literary salon where he was interviewed by Sarah Diligenti-Pickup. Unfortunately, I missed the one with Yannick Lahens, from Haïti. A few days later, I was thrilled to experience a live music concert by Les Nubians, those two Grammy nominated international singers and recording artists who just happen to be sisters.

It was, however, the evening of La Nuit du conte that I did not want to miss. Four storytellers both captivated and enraptured the audience at La Maison Française: Mimi Barthélémy with stories from the West Indies, Bienvenu Bokian from West Africa, Myriame El Yamani from Acadia, Quebec, and Maghreb, and Barry Jean Ancelet from Louisiana. It was the Louisiana storyteller who caught my attention. I wanted to hear my compatriot tell folktales in French. I wondered if they would be the same I had heard growing up in Louisiana. His voice, his tone, and the stories, tales, and legends from the Cajun world all brought me back to where I come from.
I haven't lived in Louisiana for over 35 years, but I feel closer to it now that I ever have. Vive la francophonie!

Super, la classe de CM2B !

2011-04-05T21:14:00.006-04:00

Jeudi dernier, le 31 mars, j'ai eu le plaisir de rendre visite à la classe de CM2B au Lycée Rochambeau, dans la région de Washington. La maîtresse de la classe leur a fait lire mon livre Combinaison gagnante, et ensuite, elle et ses élèves m'ont invitée à venir leur parler un petit peu du livre, du processus d'écriture, et de bien d'autres choses. Les élèves étaient prêts. Non seulement avaient-ils lu le livre avec attention, ils avaient réfléchi à des questions concernant les garçons et les filles. Que ce soit Tom, Théotime, Léa, Théodora, Marie, Gabriella, Yasmin, Stephen, Abigail, Antoine, Emilio, Imane, ou Prunella… chacun percutait avec ses questions.

« Pourquoi les filles ne font-elles pas plus de sport de compétition ? »
« Qui est votre personnage préféré ? »
« Avez-vous fait du kart quand vous étiez jeune ? »
« Qu'est-ce qui vous a donné l'idée d'écrire cette histoire ? »
« Aimez-vous écrire ? »
« Combien de fois avez-vous révisé votre texte ? »
« À quand le tome 2 ? »

Cette dernière question m'a bien étonnée ! Tous ses élèves avaient envie de savoir ce que deviendrait Axelle par la suite. La connaître à douze ans ne leur suffisait pas ! Voilà de la matière à réflexion.

Chaque élève est venu me parler individuellement, muni de son exemplaire du livre. Et ce fut le moment des dédicaces, et des conversations. Merci à Lycia, merci aux élèves de la classe de CM2B.

Dans le « Cahier de vie » de la classe de CM2B (où chacun prend son tour), l’élève Léa a écrit :

« La visite de Madame Paul :

Ce jeudi, 31 mars, Jane Singleton Paul est venue dans la classe pour faire des dédicaces et parler de son livre. Le titre de son livre est Combinaison gagnante, c’est un livre qui raconte l’histoire d’une fille nommée Axelle, son rêve, c’est de devenir une championne en Formule 1, mais ses parents ne veulent pas… Guillaume, son frère est un rêveur, il aime lire et écrire des poésies mais il n’aime pas faire du kart, c’est là que Guillaume a l’idée de changer de vie… »

JSP avec Léa, Imane, et Théodora.

Encore un grand merci !

Parse Gallery & Artist Situation in NOLA

2011-02-27T18:33:00.003-05:00

Last week, while Philippe and I were visiting family and friends in Louisiana, we encountered Parse Gallery & Artist Situation in downtown New Orleans.

Parse Gallery is a three-story building where two young artists are establishing a progressive and playful art community. The directors, Ricardo Barba (originally from Chicago) and Margot Walsh (originally from Richmond), run the space and invite diverse artists to come together to live and work, a kind of artist collective and community. The gallery is at 134 Carondelet Street, just on the fringe of the French Quarter, right past Canal Street.

The first floor serves as a gallery. Up until yesterday, Parse was showing two young artists' works: Brooke Inman and Jess Laskosky, whose collective pieces are called "Still Life with Bombs." Up next is a show of Ricardo's works slated to begin in April. On the second floor, there is a residential space for the artists who join them for a time. On the spacious third floor is the studio space which is already operational, where the artists do their thing, but more space is on the way: Ricardo and Margot are expanding studio space and living quarters so as to welcome even more artists.

Wishing them much luck, and a few breaks! C'mon New Orleans!

Bonne chance à Ricardo, à Margot, et à Parse !

The Batchelder Award?

2011-02-10T15:56:00.012-05:00

Every year, we await the announcement of the Newbery and the Caldecott awards. "Moon Over Manifest," by Clare Vanderpool, is the 2011 Newbery Medal Award winner for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature, and the Caldecott Award for the most distinguished American picture book has been awarded to Erin E. Stead for "A Sick Day for Amos McGee."

But the American Library Association bestows many other awards for children's literature: among others, the Printz Award, for excellence in literature written for young adults; the Coretta Scott King Award, for an African American author of outstanding books for children and young adults; the Alex Awards, for the ten best book that appeal to teen audiences; the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, for the most distinguished beginning reader book… and the Mildred L. Batchelder Award…

What was that last award?

One of those "other awards" receiving very little attention and even less press is one that interests me particularly. It is the Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children's book first published in another language other than English, and then translated and subsequently published in the United States. I was extremely pleased to see that this year's winner was for a book originally published in French, and then translated from French to English.

This year's Batchelder selection is "A Time of Miracles," released in France in 2009 and entitled Le Temps des Miracles, written by Anne-Laure Bondoux and published by Bayard Jeunesse Millézime, translated from the French to English by Y. Maudet, published in English in the US by Delacorte Press Books.

Despite the glowing reviews the book received in France when it was published in 2009, American publishers are still leery of taking on the risk of a book translated from another language for American readers. "A Time of Miracles" is not the first book Delacorte Press has taken a risk on, and this publisher is to be commended for expanding young readers' horizons by offering them literature that speaks to the universal heart, yet through the prism of a culture other than our own.

Bravo, Anne-Laure Bondoux!
Bravo, Y. Maudet!
Bravo, Delacorte Press Books!

School Visit in Paris

2010-12-03T02:07:00.001-05:00

What fun! Yesterday, I visited a class of fourth and fifth graders at the École 109, avenue Parmentier in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Their teacher, Fabien Pacilly-Gamboa, had prepared them for my visit, and as a result, we all had a fabulous time. Not only had every single student read Combinaison gagnante, they were prepared with questions and comments about character development, whether it was difficult to imagine a fictional story and create a plot, and why I wrote in French instead of English. Many thanks to Fabien and his lively students for a wonderful visit.

The front door to the school

109, avenue Parmentier, Paris 11e

Questions and Answers

The CM1 / CM2 class with the visiting author

Fabien and a few of his students

Kids Euro Festival Q & A

2010-11-18T11:31:00.016-05:00

Speaking at the Kids Euro Festival was a lot of fun. It was the first time I was presenting my book and meeting readers, so I was a tad nervous. But both the children and the parents who turned out on a gorgeous fall day to hear about Axelle and Guillaume, the heroine of Combinaison gagnante and the brother with whom she exchanges her identity in order to race, were extremely warm and enthusiastically receptive. The questions they asked were apropos as well as amusing! Kids wanted to know how long it takes to write a book (months and months with countless revisions), if I had done the illustrations (no, it was Sébastien des Déserts, someone I'll be meeting for the first time in two weeks), if being a teacher helps me write books (yes, because of all the observations I make), and if I was already writing another book (just finished it and mailed it off… last night!). They also wanted to know how a person born and raised in Louisiana is now a French writer (that's too long of a story for one blogpost). It was enjoyable to share not only the story of how Axelle and Guilluame were created, but my own as well. Thanks to all who showed up!

Here's a picture after the presentation with a young reader…

…and later, with one of my biggest fans!

Kids Euro Festival 2010

2010-10-08T18:44:00.008-04:00

Dans le cadre du Kids Euro Festival, je présenterai mon livre "Combinaison gagnante" à la Maison Française, à l'Ambassade de France, 4101 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC. Cette présentation se termina par une séance dédicace pendant laquelle je me ferai un plaisir de rencontrer les jeunes lecteurs et leurs familles.

À dimanche, 17 octobre, à 15h !

Combinaison gagnante! C'est aujourd'hui!

2010-08-19T10:35:00.007-04:00

Mon premier livre, Combinaison gagnante, sort aujourd’hui même ! Écrit pour des enfants de 8 à 12 ans et publié par les Editions Talents Hauts, le livre fait partie de leur collection Livres et égaux. Il est illustré par Sébastien des Déserts.

Combinaison gagnante raconte l’histoire d’Axelle Blanchard, une fille de 12 ans originaire du Mans qui ne rêve que de devenir pilote de course ! Sa famille baigne dans la tradition du sport auto : son père était pilote de Formule 1, et ses deux frères s’entraînent pour perpétuer la tradition familiale. Évidemment, Axelle a envie de courir, comme tous les hommes de sa famille, malheureusement, ses parents s’y opposent : « Le sport auto, ce n’est pas pour les filles ».

Qu’à cela ne tienne. Avec Guillaume son frère qui, lui, aimerait bien être dispensé de s’entraîner pour la course, ils échangent leurs rôles jusqu'au moment où Axelle ne peut plus cacher sa vraie identité.

Que se passera-t-il quand les parents découvriront la ruse ? J’espère que votre curiosité est suffisamment piquée, et que vous lirez le livre qui est dès maintenant disponible en librairie et chez l’éditeur. Pour en savoir plus sur Axelle, sur les femmes et la Formule 1, sur comment j’en suis venue à écrire cette histoire, et sur mes projets d’écriture, visitez mon nouveau site.

Today's the day! Combinaison gagnante!

2010-08-19T10:27:00.010-04:00

Today’s the day! My first book, Combinaison gagnante, is being released by Editions Talents Hauts. The book, written entirely in French for children ages eight to twelve, is part of their gender-equality collection Livres et égaux, and is illustrated by Sébastien des Deserts.

Combinaison gagnante is the story of Axelle Blanchard, a 12-year old girl from Le Mans who has big dreams – racing dreams. The Blanchard family is steeped in the tradition of automobile racing. Axelle’s father was a Formula 1 pilot, and her two older brothers are being groomed to take up his mantle. Naturally, Axelle wants to get into the act. Unfortunately, her parents are opposed to the idea of her getting involved in automobile sports… all because she’s a girl.

No matter. With some help from her brother Guillaume, who would rather be writing poetry than getting ready for the next race, Axelle is able to train and in an ingenious exchange of identities – Twelfth Night style – she races until she can no longer keep hidden her secret identity.

What happens when her parents discover the scheme? I’m hoping that your curiosity is sufficiently piqued, and that you will read and enjoy the book which is now available in Europe in bookstores or directly from the publisher, and soon to be available in bookstores and online in North America. To find out more about Axelle, about women in Formula 1, about how I came to write the book, and what future projects I’m working on, visit my new website.

There's a show in Brooklyn…

2010-08-07T08:05:00.010-04:00

called "Drift," from August 1 to August 30th. The works are by a young artist named Vianney Paul, someone I happen to know very well #'-), and this is his first solo show since moving to New York last spring…

It's at the Fiona & Ryan Gallery, 362 Atlantic Avenue.
.
.
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Check out my new website at…

2010-08-04T15:00:00.008-04:00

www.janesingletonpaul.com

Jane Singleton Paul

Combinaison gagnante...

2010-07-10T07:09:00.005-04:00

paraîtra le 19 août 2010 chez Editions Talents Hauts, dans leur collection Livres et égaux.

Axelle Blanchard ne rêve que d'une chose : être pilote de course ! Toutefois, sa famille ne voit pas son avenir de la même façon. Le sport automobile est réservé aux garçons. Le frère d'Axelle, lui, aimerait bien en être dispensé d'aller à l'entraînement toutes les semaines. Mais Axelle est une jeune fille bien déterminée à suivre sa route, et Guillaume a une idée. Ainsi décident-ils d'échanger leurs rôles. D'intrigue en intrigue, de quiproquo en quiproquo, Axelle revêtira la combinaison et le casque de son frère pour affirmer sa vraie identité, celle d'une championne. C'est la combinaison gagnante !

Editions Talents Hauts

2010-06-01T19:09:00.029-04:00

I am very pleased to annonce that in just over two months, Editions Talents Hauts will publish my first book, Combinaison gagnante. This relatively young, decidely dynamic, and entirely original French publishing house has built its reputation on collections linked to two principle themes - gender equality and bilingualism. Created in 2005 by Laurence Faron and Mélanie Decourt, Editions Talents Hauts publishes illustrated books for children and teens in which text and image leap from the pages to catch your interest, hook you, and hold you there until you ask for more.

Their collections include:

Filles = Garçons (gender equality)
   Picture Books, for children 3 to 7
     Livres et égaux, for children 8 to 10
Français / English (bilingual... no translation!)
   DUAL Books
   Mini-DUAL Books
   DUAL Books +
   Oops & Ohlala
   Filou & Pixie

Combinaison gagnante will be released in August 2010 in Talent Hauts' collection, Livres et égaux.

More to follow
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No Need to "Pardon My French"

2010-05-13T22:03:00.013-04:00

The expression "Pardon my French," which I have never liked, should be replaced with "Admire my French!" Someone uses some sort of profanity, and in a show of false embarrassment or pretended regret at having used such language, asks to be forgiven. Why would anyone want to apologize for using one of the world's most eloquent languages, and I might add, a very difficult one to master. Is it because French language speakers are considered more libertine, more risqué in their use of language, and that consequently, if one swears, one was only being a bit French, since the equivalent word or expression, were it to be used among French speakers, would not raise an eyebrow? Perhaps French speakers are more permissive, more tolerant, more naughty? I wonder if we are all just a bit envious.

I was lately reminded of the expression by an excellent article that appeared in the New York Times written by Michael Kimmelman's and entitled "Pardon My French," only here, the expression wittily suits the author's purposes. Kimmelman is razor sharp in his theory of how the French language will carry on in the future, even prosper, thanks to populations of peoples outside the Hexagon, explaining that France's proprietory relationship to the French language cannot continue, and that the French must get a grip on reality, ie, he writes, "French is now spoken mostly by people who aren't French. More than 50 percent of them are African. French speakers are more likely to be Haitians and Canadians, Algerians and Senegalese, immigrants from Africa and Southeast Asia and the Caribbean who have settled in France, bringing their native cultures with them."

Kimmelman goes a step further in raising the question, "So what does French culture signify these days when there are some 200 million French speakers in the world, but only 65 million are actually French?" He relates the story of Andrei Makine, a Russian-born novelist who has not only written novels in French for the past three decades, has been awarded France's highest literary honors for his works. Writing in French has allowed Makine to belong to a culture which is not that of his mother tongue. And Kimmelman reminds us that although France lays claim to non-French born French-language writers such as Beckett (Irish), Ionesco (Roumanian), and Kundera (Czech), it virtually ignores what comes out of the Carribbean or North Africa.

Albert Camus once said, Ma patrie, c'est la langue française. "The French language is my homeland." After more than four decades of an ongoing love affair with the French language, now there's an expression I can live with.

Delphine de Vigan me parle, ou La naissance d'un roman

2010-03-14T18:24:00.003-04:00

Vendredi soir, Delphine de Vigan m'a parlé. Pas personnellement: simplement, je me trouvais dans l'assistance à une conférence qu'elle donnait à l'Alliance Francaise de Washington, au sujet de son livre No et moi. Tout comme son écriture m'avait plu lorsque que j'avais lu ce livre il y a un an, cette femme m'a plu. Finesse, délicatesse, force, clarté, simplicité, complexité : ce sont ces mots qui me viennent en tête lorsque je me remémore sa causerie. Elle a parlé du processus d'écriture et bien qu'elle soit un écrivain établi, publié déjà six fois depuis dix ans, écrivant des romans pour adultes, et connaissant un grand succès en France et à l'étranger, eh bien, moi, je me suis sentie de tout cœur avec elle lorsqu'elle a parlé de la démarche d'écriture, car je suis écrivain aussi, débutant certes, écrivant pour les enfants avec une toute première publication prévue pour août 2010, mais malgré ces grands écarts, je me suis reconnue complètement dans sa démarche. Elle m'a tenue en haleine dès le début de sa causerie grâce à ces deux remarques-ci : elle tenait un journal dès son adolescence jusqu'à 29 ans, et elle n'a arrêté cette pratique qu'avec l'arrivée de ses enfants et la vie de mère très prenante. Elle porte un noyau d'idée très longtemps en tête avant d'écrire le premier mot.

Voici ses livres :
Jours sans faim 2001
Les jolis garçons 2005 (Prix littéraire Saint Valentin)
Un soir de décembre 2007
No et moi 2007 (Prix des libraires) (Prix Rotary International)
Sous le manteau 2008
Les heures souterraines 2009 (Prix Darcos)

Pendant l'écriture de ses premiers romans, elle exerçait un métier de cadre dans un institut de sondage, donc, elle travaillait le jour et écrivait la nuit. Mais le succès de No et moi a tout changé. Aujourd'hui, elle peut vivre de sa plume : plus de 100.000 exemplaires de vendus, No et moi a été traduit en vingt langues, et un projet de cinéma est en cours. Cette histoire raconte la rencontre entre Lou, une adolescente de treize ans, précoce et surdouée, vivant chez des parents qui ont vécu la mort d'un enfant, et No, une jeune femme de 18 ans, sans domicile fixe, que Lou essaie d'aider. A travers le personnage de No, Delphine de Vigan nous oblige à regarder en face nos attitudes envers tout ceux que nous rencontrons au fils des jours qui sont marginalisés par la perte de domicile, mais plus largement et plus profondément par la perte d'identité.

Vendredi soir, elle a cherché à répondre à la question : comment naissent les romans? On brasse des idées, on retient une phrase, on note un titre. La nuit, à tout moment, on est en éveil, c'est un mouvement perpétuel, une façon particulière d'absorber les choses. Pour l'histoire de No et moi, il y a eu un moment déclencheur. Sur son chemin pour aller au travail tous les jours, Delphine voyait des gens sans abri, et au fil du temps, la presence de femmes très jeunes l'a interpellée. Leur image l'a hantée et l'idée est née : c'était le point de départ. Elle fait ensuite une recherche sur la précarité et sur le phénomène du rajeunissement et la féminisation des personnes sans domicile fixe. Entre la naissance de l'idée et la rédaction, il y a l'incubation. Les questions suivantes se posent : quel point de vue, quel narratif. Ensuite, ça se "débroussaille" et les choses s'éclaircissent. Elle a imaginé la rencontre entre Lou, précoce et surdouée, et en conséquence marginalisée, dont la maman est dépressive, et No, la jeune SDF. Et en cherchant la voix, elle trouve la voie. Elle veut que son texte soit simple, musical et singulier, tout à la fois. Ecrire, dit Delphine de Vigan, c'est comme tricoter. On démarre, on monte ses mailles. On travaille mais parfois le tricot prend des formes tout à fait inattendues. Quand on écrit un livre, c'est la même chose : on démarre, on monte ses personnages, son intrigue, mais on ne sait pas toujours où l'écriture nous mènera. La construction d'un roman, c'est comme monter des Legos, une brique après l'autre. Une fois la construction faite, un auteur a envie d'accompagner son livre, aller au devant des lecteurs. C'est vraiment un travail de cœur.

Delphine de Vigan a mentionné que souvent la presse et le monde de l'édition aiment bien cataloguer. Elle serait ainsi une romancière "intime", "sociale", "engagée" mais elle ne veut pas être limitée par ces étiquettes. Ce qui est sûr, c'est que son écriture est lyrique, féminine, élégiaque. Je n'ai pas osé lui demander quelle était l'idée qui mûrissait actuellement dans sa tête, mais je m'attends à ce qu'elle nous étonne encore. C'est une femme à la pensée originale qui n'a que faire de ce qui "se vendrait". Heureusement pour nous, ses lecteurs.

Quelle douce bavarde ! Quelle fine raconteuse ! Quel plaisir de l'écouter bavarder et raconter ! Cette soirée a passé bien trop vite : je l'aurai bien écoutée davantage.

2010 SCBWI Conference in New York

2010-02-02T20:22:00.021-05:00

From Washington DC, I took the bus up to New York with my friend and colleague, Marie-Isabelle Callier, French-language children's author and illustrator (published by Alice Editions in Brussels), for my very first SCBWI national conference. (If you weren't there, you can read all about it at the Official SCBWI conference blog.) It's difficult to sum up the wealth of information, encounters, new contacts, and inspiration that I received while there. I found it so encouraging to be with creative and determined people from all over the country. I liked the friendliness. I soaked up the stories of perserverence I found there. Jane Yolen's keynote address on Sunday was high on encouragement never to give up. I loved her line about networking: not only is it key, but she noted that the editorial assistant sitting next to me today just might be tomorrow's publisher! She added that if the publishing world is struggling, the work of storytelling is alive and kicking. The message - whether it be from Libby Bray, Alvina Ling, Allyn Johnston, or Jane Yolen - was that a writer, an illustrator must be true to himself or herself, that we write and create our art for children and young people by, as Jane Yolen put it, pouring our heart out on the page (only one of her twenty rules!). I loved meeting Ashley Wolff, an experienced and wonderfully creative illustrator from San Francisco, who chatted with Marie-Isabelle and me as if we were all old friends, as well as her friend, Louise Borden, a wonderful writer from Cincinnati, whom I would have loved to have had more time with, once I found out about her chronicling the escape of the Margret and H.A. Rey as the Nazis were approaching Paris. I feel sure she would have told me her whole story, had we had the time! I loved the collaborative spirit, the "we're in this together" attitude, the camaraderie and solidarity amongst artists.

I had waited too late in registering for the Writers' Intensive, but since I was in New York by Thursday, I had the idea of showing up anyway, thinking someone out in the Midwest would surely be snowed in, and that I could fill in for him or her! Well, five other people - Joan Juttner from Wisconsin, Trela Caler from San Francisco, Joanna Sullivan from Pennsylvania, and Debbie Guthery from Nashville, and Karen Robbins from Seattle (who astounded us with her creativite spirit) - all had had the same idea. When, at 9am, we were told by the organizers that the intensive session really was full, well, qu'à cela ne tienne, we created our own group, and spent three hours in a critique session in the morning, and three more hours in a critique session that afternoon. These women were amazing and their stories even better! Never give up? That's the spirit.

One slight disappointment I felt was in ascertaining from talks with other attendees that children's literature in translation (something that I am totally passionate about - see blogpost from October) is not yet hot... in fact, it conjures up yawns more than anything else. But legendary agent Sheldon Fogelman said, after I approached him with a question about translation, "You write in French? You're going through the editorial process with an editor in Paris? You have a book coming out in France? My dear, you have your work cut out for you! What are worrying about?" During his lecture that morning, he had noted that as writers, we mustn't stop at book one. Or book two for that matter. Keep writing, he said. The profession is difficult, but if you choose it, writing is your job. He's right. And since I do have a book with an editor in France with an expected publication date of end 2010... well, I just have to keep on writing - in French, in English, however the story comes to me - and to send my work out as much as possible in the hope that it is good enough, written from the heart enough, to be picked up by an editor who wants that story told. The realities of the publishing world can be discouraging, but being informed helps. How lucky we are to have SCBWI to help us chart our course.

Le mot de la fin? I have my work cut out for me. Marie-Isabelle - whose heartfelt stories I've been translating into English with more pleasure than I can say and which I feel sure will one day find their way to an editor who will at first glance fall in love with them - felt the same way as we talked endlessly on our way home Sunday afternoon. Back in DC, we are excited, discouraged, renewed, unsure of ourselves pehaps, but exhilarated... and yes, ready to continue the adventure.

The Sanga Equation

2010-01-24T11:51:00.034-05:00

John Xavier Paul, Mahesh Somashekhar, Lena Seikaly, Ethan Foote

With this blogpost, I'm taking a bit of a detour away from my usual subjects to write about music. The story of the Sanga Equation's most recent performance must be told!

First, a bit of history.The Sanga Equation was formed in early summer 2005 when John Xavier Paul, on the lam after a stint with an AU-based indie rock group, asked several local DC musicians, including now-rising jazz vocalist Lena Seikaly, to form a small, experimental combo with the following line-up: pianist, vocalist, bassist, drummer. The idea was to create an original sound that was steeped in the tradition of jazz innovation, and with that as a foundation, do some experimenting. Enthusiam ensued: Lena signed on, Ted Hamilton would do drums, and a bassist was found. The group practiced, played a few gigs in the DC area, but after initially getting things off to a brilliant start, John was scheduled to leave for France for his Masters degree while Lena remained in the DC area to finish her BFA and continue her ascent to jazz greatness... so the group was "on hold." John Xavier, however, was so excited about what the group had accomplished in such a short time that, during his flight to Paris in October 2005, he began to plan a tour for Sanga in France the following summer. Lena was easily persuaded, Ted signed on immediately for the adventure, and bass prodigy Ethan Foote was recruited to complete the equation. And they were off. The tour was a great success. In keeping with French tradition, France adored the Sanga Equation. Since then, the group has been seasonal, but everytime they get together, everytime they perform, there is a groove and an excitement that just won't go away.

The halllmark of the Sanga Equation is originality, freshness, and that je ne sais quoi that is sparked when creative spirits come together. Although many people enjoy being entertained with songs they know or are familiar with, there are those who are turned on by funkiness and innovation, and a little experimentation. The set list (see below) from Friday night's gig is proof that the Sanga Equation does all of the above. Eight of the 18 tunes performed were originals composed by members of the group: four by Ethan, three by John Xavier, and one by Lena. And in this latest line-up, with newcomer drummer Mahesh Somashekhar intertwining energy and sensitivity, the beat goes on. The jazz tunes they performed were not standards, they were pieces created by innovators in the field: Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock.... along with a tune by the eclectic French singer-songwriter and poet Serge Gainsbourg. The arrangements were fresh and inventive, and the communication and pleasure among the musicians was palpable. The crowd at this private gathering was unanimous: the Sanga Equation exudes verve, freshness, outrageousness, energy, pizazz, innovation... and in jazz parlance, they were tight. Many of us are hoping that we'll see and hear more of them in the months to come. Some of us pray for a recording. Affaire à suivre...

Set 1
Speak No Evil - Wayne Shorter - instrumental
Reincarnation of a Love Bird - Charles Mingus - instrumental
Les Valseuses - Ethan Foote
Valse Encore - Ethan Foote
Ces Petits Riens - Serge Gainsbourg
Tune Up - Miles Davis
Interplay - Bill Evans - instrumental
Litha - Chick Corea
What the Paper Says - John Xavier Paul

Set 2
Wall to Wall - Herbie Hancock - instrumental
Bring your Handkerchief - John Xavier Paul
Pray to the WInd - John Xavier Paul
Lost in Thought - Ethan Foote
Inception - McCoy Tyner - instrumental
Song of Youth - Ethan Foote -instrumental
Here Again - Lena Seikaly
La Fiesta - Chick Corea
Nica's Dream - Horace Silver

A Blissful Snowstorm

2009-12-29T09:16:00.018-05:00

Ten days ago, in Washington, we got snow. It started falling around midnight on Friday night, the first evening of my two-week school break. It was bliss. There's something about magical about a first snow. There's something so quieting about snow (especially if you don't have to go to work the next day). As a friend from Brittany wrote recently when they got an unexpected snowstorm, La neige a suspendu le temps... ce silence blanc me fait penser à toi... I especially like to be tucked away snugly at home, which we were since it was the first day of school vacation. When I go back to teaching on January 4, my students will get a full dose of snow poems. The first graders will learn Snow by Mary Ann Hoberman. For the second graders, we'll learn Dust of Snow by Robert Frost. The third graders will learn The Snowflake by Walter de la Mare. The fourth graders will learn The Frost Pane by David McCord. The fifth graders will learn Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. I am lucky to be their teacher. I am lucky to be able to immerse myself and them in these wonderful poems.

Here are the poems.

Snow by Mary Ann Hoberman

Snow
Snow
Lots of snow
Everywhere we look and everywhere we go
Snow in the sandbox
Snow on the slide
Snow on the bicycle
Left outside
Snow on the steps
And snow on my feet
Snow on the sidewalk
Snow on the sidewalk
Snow on the sidewalk
Down the street.

Dust of Snow by Robert Frost

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

The Snowflake by Walter de la Mare

Before I melt,
Come, look at me!
This lovely icey filigree!
Of a great forest
In one night
I make a wilderness
Of white:
By skyey cold
Of crystals made
All softly, on
Your finger laid.
I pause, that you
My beauty see:
Breathe; and I vanish
Instantly.

The Frost Pane by David McCord

What's the good of breathing
On the window pane
In summer?
You can't make a frost
On the window pane
In summer.
You can't write a
Nalphabet
You can't draw a
Nelephant:
You can't make a smudge
With your nose
In summer.

Lots of good, breathing
On the window pane
In winter.
You can make a frost
On the window pane
In winter.
A white frost, a light frost
A quick frost, a thick frost
A write-me-out-a-picture frost
Across the pane
In winter.

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are, I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

It all began with poetry

2009-11-21T18:51:00.023-05:00

In the picture above: Walter Dean Myers, Ralph Fletcher, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Jane Yolen, J. Patrick Lewis, Georgia Heard, Sylvia Vartell, Janet Wong.

I'm blogging from the NCTE Annual Conference in Philadelphia where for me, things have begun with a bang, a poetry bang. I have become connected to that genre late in life, thanks mainly to my teaching (see April 2009 blogpost), consequently, I feel I have much to catch up on. But back to the poetry bang. I was undecided as to what session to attend with when a "Poetry Party" listed as an early Friday morning session caught my eye. If anyone reading this went to that party and is wondering who I am: well, I was the lady in the burnt orange coat rolling in the aisle. What is it about poets? They are witty. They are pithy. They are droll. They make words come alive. They are irreverent. They are, dare I say, eccentric... and this poetry shindig was proof. The Poetry Party was celebrating poet Lee Bennett Hopkins about whom, I am ashamed to admit, I knew far too little (incredible but true). He was to receive the 2009 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Bobbi Katz I know, Georgia Heard, ditto. Jane Yolen, Dean Walter Myers, Douglas Florian, Mary Ann Hoberman, Paul Janeczko, all these folks and their poetry have become familiar to me. How, o how, could Lee Bennett Hopkins have been such a stranger? Fortunately, that gap has now been filled: he is forevermore before me. (Jane Yolen read an hilarious riff on "The Raven" that she had composed for the occasion.) I heard delightful stories about Lee: "Have you heard?" is how he starts his telephone calls and conversations with his dearest associates, for here is a man who loves to gossip. To all those lucky friends of his, he begins his letters and emails with "Dear One." Several of the poets and collaborators speaking there to celebrate his accomplishments admitted that they thought "Dear One" was reserved just for them. But this man has many dear ones. Yes, he was lovingly ribbed and playfully teased by his colleagues and friends who obviously adore him. I learned that he's infamous for his red pen and editing slashing, that he banishes the ands, buts, and any superfluous words from poems he edits. At this, his 40th NCTE convention, some wondered why he was receiving this award so late. Sylvia Vartell (whose blog Poetry for Children is a must for all poetry lovers) compiled a book with poems by friends (all poets) of Lee called "Dear One" and all the party attendees received a copy. We also heard the poets read their own poems celebrating, teasing, loving Lee. Was I glad I choose to attend! I walked out of the session happy, feeling light-hearted, young, encouraged, delighted. Happiness comes in wonderful little packages. This package contained a gift: that of revival, envigoration, balm, hope, encouragement, humor.

Children's Literature in Translation

2009-10-27T14:16:00.065-04:00

Try to imagine for one minute how impoverished the children of the world (and we as adults) would be if certain works of literature had never been translated. We would be deprived of some of our richest and most interesting imaginative literary friends: Collodi's Pinocchio, Jean de Brunoff's Babar the Elephant, Hergé's Tintin, Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking, Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, Aesop's animal creatures,

and all of Charles Perrault's fantastical Mother Goose Tales, including Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss 'n Bootos, and Cinderella. We would be unaware of the Arabian Nights: Schererzade's telling of Aladdin's Lamp, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, and the many colorful and intriguing characters from the Thousand and One Nights. We would not know the Grimm Brothers' Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, Snow White, and Hansel and Gretel. Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, Red Shoes, Ugly Duckling, and the Princess and the Pea would be strangers to us! The adventure of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the delight of Joanna Spyri's Heidi, and the sleuthing of Erich Kästner's Emil and the Detectives would have passed us by. Yet, these stories and characters have inhabited our minds since we were young, and it is thanks to translators and translations that they have.

Despite these familiar authors, much loved characters, and compelling stories, fewer than 2 percent of titles currently on our bookstore or library shelves here in the USA are translations. In France, translated works count for 23 percent. If it's true that English-language works for children are among the most beautiful, vibrant, and creative, it is also true that without world literature, we cut ourselves off from a source of

enchantment, wisdom, and knowledge. The dominance of the English language worldwide is often a sore sticking point in the current debate on translation. Why should one language dominate the global cultural landscape, detractors argue. Others say, why bother to translate when we have such a wealth of our own literature?

Philip Pullman, author of the award-winning fantasy triology, His Dark Materials, expressed it well in his introduction to Outside In: Children's Books in Translation by Deborah Hallford and Edgardo Zaghini: "You never know what will set a child's imagination on fire... but if we don't offer children the experience of literature from other languages, we're starving them. It's as simple as that." I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment. This book aims to celebrate and actively promote an interest in international children's literature has generated some badly needed enthusiasm as well as an organization, Outside In World, dedicated to promoting and exploring world literature and children's books in translation. I like to think that John Newbery, often viewed as the first publisher of children's literature and whose leitmotiv was to "combine instruction with delight," would have been a big supporter.

The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) was founded after WWII with the objective of promoting international understanding through children's literature. In 1956, it established the Hans Christian Andersen Award for a living author and illustrator whose works have made a lasting contribution to children's literature. In 1978, it added an Honour List to include a category for acknowledging excellence in translation. It also publishes a journal, Bookbird, a journal of international children's literature, which reviews and recommends books for translation.

Stateside, the American Library Association (ALA) established the Mildred Batchelder Award in 1966, to be given to the American publisher of the most outstanding translation into English of books originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States. The award promotes the translation of children's literature, seeking "to eliminate barriers to understanding between people of different cultures, races, nations, and languages." The 2009 Award winner was for Arthur A. Levine Books' Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, written by Nahoko Uehashi, translated from the Japanese by Cathy Hirano. And the two 2009 Honor Books were translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett, and from the German by Anthea Bell.

A propos, ever heard of Asterix? Of course you have. Ever heard of Anthea Bell? Probably not. In the world of translation of children's literature, she's the equivalent of a rock star! In 1996, 2003, and 2007, she received United Kingdom's Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation, an honor that goes to the translator rather than to the author. In her vibrant translation of the Asterix bandes dessinées, she did an phenomenal job of keeping the original playful puns intact, receiving high praise for her creatively innovative translation. When interviewed, she once said that a translator becomes another author while at the same time having to get under the skin of the original author. She has translated the wildly popular Inkworld triology by Cornelia Funke. Her translations have won for her publishers the Batchelder Award four different times, and the Batchelder Honor three different times to date, most recently in 2009 for Amulet Books' Tiger Moon, written by Antonia Michaelis, translated by Ms. Bell from the German.

As an advocate for the translation of children's literature, I believe the purpose of books in translation - besides the sheer pleasure of discovery and reading - should be to acquaint children with other cultures. As Anthea Bell put it in a 2006 interview with Writer Unboxed, "The more widely children read, the more open-minded they will surely get to be." An arduous yet exhilirating task, translating children's literature is what I love. Seeking the words and phrases that will convey original meaning is better than solving the most challenging puzzle. If the work of translators breaks down barriers of language and race and geography leads to a greater understanding of other peoples and their culture, might translators be working for world peace?

Complete Idiots

2009-09-27T11:24:00.025-04:00

Wow. The SPX (Small Press Expo - an independent cartooning and arts festival), took place this weekend in Bethesda, and once again, it blew me away, just as it has done every year that I've attended. These people are not jaded! They are not blasé! Au contraire, they are fresh. They are alert. They are open-minded, hopeful, witty, fun, quirky, independant, eccentric (everything I dreamed of being when I was a little girl). The atmosphere is friendly, even cozy, it's like all the kids have gotten together with no repressive bosses or overprotective parents hovering over their shoulders. A breath of fresh air. I came away feeling playful.

In this vibrant ambiance of eclectic creativity, I met two idiots. I'm not kidding, these are real people: their names are Robbi and Matthew and they are the creative force and the elbow grease behind... Idiots'Books. After only 10 minutes chatting with them, I felt like we were partners in crime. What had first caught my eye (so many stands, so little time) was one of their collaborative creations, a small, almost tiny, book entitled The Baby Is Disappointing. I casually picked it up and to my utter delight, I discovered an irreverant work that is at once hilarious and totally true. Wait! Did they really, in this age of The Child We Must Fear, dare write and illustrate such realities as "The baby is disappointing. It lies about and yowls. There are moments of minor satisfaction, but frankly we had expected more." (And that is only page 1!) I laughed out loud. I howled out loud. Keep in mind that I am the mother of three children (all older than 21 and whom I adore) as well as a teacher of 6-, 7-, 8-, and 9-year olds.... and that I write for children. What I often find lacking in the world of children-adult relationships is a healthy dose of deprecation, a dash of satire, and a pinch of irony, ie, let's not (we adults) take ourselves and them (the kids) so seriously - they'll turn out OK, and no, it's not necessary to micro-manage every second of a child's life, and yes, it's OK not to be "in love" with your progentiure at every turn. It's also possible to continue being an adult even after becoming a parent.

The playful wickedness of Roald Dahl comes to mind, the radical snarkiness of Lemony Snicket comes to mind, Amélie Nothomb and her subversive childhood antics come to mind, the guilt-free practicality of French parents comes to mind!! (From the vantage of the American cultural landscape, Judith Warner's book Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety, warning of falling into the trap of "total parenthood" and becoming slaves to one's children, also comes to mind.)

The entire book is a hoot. The last two pages are very funny and recounts the moment when the baby is finally asleep... but only for so long. "...We cross our fingers and hold our breath and watch the clock as the baby sleeps. We count the seconds as they pass, bracing ourselves for decades to come."

Conclusion: Check out their Baby book and check out the others. I bought several (After Everafter, Ten Thousand Stories, and Nasty Chipmunk) and am planning to use them with my first graders who are more than capable of understanding the complexities of the human conditon, of discussing subjects we usually shy away from - subjects that these two idiots address in their funny and irreverant books.

Their logo, if it is indeed a take on "out of the frying pan into the fire," is competely à propos. You'll either hate these guys or adore them! So, here's to the idiots, to Robbi who draws the pictures, and to Matthew who writes the books. I believe they're on to something. Check out their website at www.idiotsbooks.com. Even though it is only a homeopathic dose of irony in a bland world of treacly sweetness, it may be enough to start a revolution.

Multicultural Children's Book Festival

2009-09-13T21:32:00.029-04:00

The 14th annual Multicultual Children's Book Festival, sponsored by the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, is intent on celebrating diverse cultures. From the look of yesterday's enthusiastic throng of children, families, teachers, and children's book lovers, the festival was a huge success. Attendees met favorite and featured authors, participated in workshops, listened to readings, and saw illustration demonstrations. The cultures of African, African-American, Arab, Arab-American, Asian, Asian-American, Latin American, Latino, and Native American peoples were all represented. With my ties to all things French, I asked one of the organizers if next year, European countries, with their wide array of languages and cultures, might find a place at the table: Why not share with American children the literature of Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Spain, England, and more... wouldn't that make a fine addition to multiculturism?

I was lucky enough to hear Linda Sue Park read from her delightful picture book "Bee-bim Bop!," a poem about a dish every Korean child enjoys, consisting of rice, egg strips, vegetables, and meat. The joy expressed in her poem made me want to run out to my local market, buy the necessary ingredients, and whip myself up a batch of bee-bim bop. You can imagine how pleased I was when, later that evening, I discovered the recipe at the end of the book. She also presented "Yum! Yuk!," a fold-out book of people sounds expressing sentiments such as distaste, laughter, and surprise. As she pointed out, we say things one way in English, but in other parts of the world, the same human exclamations are voiced very differently. Her first presentation had the audience eating out of her hand while the second had them squealing with delight! I can't wait to share these two books with my new class of first graders at the lycée. When I finally got the chance to chat with her, she signed a copy of her work of a more serious nature for middle grade children, "The Single Shard," winner of the 2002 Newbery Prize. With its unforgettable characters, timeless theme, and vision of artistic endeavor, this quiet but forceful story is one of my favorites for young people.

If my encounter with Linda Sue Park was lighthearted and fun, meeting and speaking with Anne Sibley O'Brien, illustrator, writer, and peace activist was just as much a treat, but on a whole other level. Anne spent her childhood in Korea and has long been passionate about multiracial and multicultural subjects. I choose to purchase "The Legend of Hong Kil Dong, The Robin Hood of Korea," a picture book in graphic novel form, which I have now read and adored! Hopefully, my school will let me order 20 copies for my fourth graders. Stories such as this one are ageless and children need to read of other children whose courage is tried and tested.

Of all the beautiful books I saw on Saturday afternoon, the one that moved me the most was the book Anne has co-authored with her son, Perry Edmond O'Brien, "After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance," published by Charlesbridge. This work contains profiles of fifteen activists and movements for social justice in the spirit of Gandhi's nonviolent resistance. In a presentation at the end of the day, she read to us the passages concerning César Chávez and Aung San Suu Kyi. In the book, we also find Mohandas Gandhi (of course) as well as Rosa Parks, Thich Nhat Hanh, Charles Perkins, Muhammad Ali, Mairead Corrigan and Betty Willams, Wangari Maathai, Nelson Mandela, Václav Hav, all of whom were inspired by Gandhi, his words, and his deeds, and all of whom have worked through peaceful ways, to fight injustice and better the world (and some of whom, I am not proud to say, I had never heard). The Madres de Plaza de Mayo and the Student Activists of Tiananmen Square are also presented. Most importantly, she raises the question of nonviolence in shaping our future. My questions now are: how do I share these profiles with my students? Beginning at what age? In what context? How does one learn tolerance? How does one teach tolerance?

End of Summer

2009-08-28T21:21:00.028-04:00

The weather is stiffling hot in Washington DC. After eight weeks off from teaching, I must go back to school on Monday. No complaints, just an ambiguous feeling of wanting this humid mugginess to end while, at the same time, wanting summer to last forever. Crickets chirp loudly and incessantly outside my study window, tempting me to believe that summer will never end. These two poems remind me otherwise.

End of Time

Late August heat,

before the dregs

of a Gulf hurricane

drags its rain

and a chill Canadian breeze

over us,

has the crickets singing

end of time songs.

by Kathleen M. Tenpas

End of Summer

The little songs of summer are all gone today.

The little insect instruments are all packed away:

The bumblebee's snare drum, the grasshopper's guitar,

The katydid's banjo, the cricket's violin,

The dragonfly's cello have ceased their merry din.

Oh, where is the orchestra? From harpist down to drummer

They've all disappeared with the passing of the summer.

by Rowena Bennett

Meandering With a Mazy Motion

2009-07-13T10:11:00.015-04:00

On a lovely Saturday evening in June, I attended an opening at the Hamiltonian Gallery at 1353 U Street in one of Washington DC’s contemporary art districts. As the gallery quickly filled up with folks, chatting, visiting, viewing, I felt lucky that I had had a chance, by arriving early, to view some of the works unimpeded by the large and noisy crowd that followed.

The show is called “new. (now).” and it introduces the Hamiltonian Gallery’s five new Fellows, recipients of its fellowship program designed to promote new and innovative visual artists not yet represented by a gallery. This year’s five Fellows are young artists, recent graduates, all of whose work is distinctly different. One artist’s work caught my attention, and pulled me in, and held me: that artist’s name is Katherine Mann, and her Filigree, an 80-inch by 30-foot work on paper using acrylic, watercolor, and sumi ink, from 2009, was a joy to behold.

I’m not an art critic, and do not have the knowledge or the vocabulary with which to take apart and analyze works critically, but as an art lover, this is what I felt when viewing Katherine’s large work: There is something organic, something playful, something fantastic, something real about it. The sensuous lines conjure up detailed landscapes and messy maps, interconnections and intersections. The undulating shapes take surprising twists and turns. The images seem to be alive with feeling, and thought, and purpose, and the work literally took my breath away. Best of all, permeating every square inch of the immense work is color: gorgeous, vibrant, breathtaking, energetic color!

You can learn more about Katherine Mann at: http://katherinemann.net

Read about the Hamiltonian Gallery at: http://hamiltonianartists.org

Une soirée à moi avec un roman parfait

2009-06-04T21:23:00.039-04:00

Récemment, j'ai eu la chance d'avoir une soirée à moi pour la lecture d'un roman parfait. Il s'agit de L'Elégance du hérisson de Muriel Barbery.

Ce roman pétillant et incisif relate la merveilleuse et mystérieuse histoire de Madame Michel, concierge d'un immeuble parisien très chic que tous les occupants croient banale, car pour eux, elle ne peut être que la concierge typique sans intérêt. Ce qu'ils ne savent pas, ce qu'ils ne voient pas, c'est que derrière ses airs revêches et mal fagotés se dissimule un esprit lumineux, une philosophe, une savante même, une critique non seulement littéraire mais aussi musicale, cinématographique, et en plus, sociologue qui sait décortiquer au couteau aiguisé les moeurs de société, une femme qui lit Marx, Husserl, et Kant, une métaphysicienne au coeur! Les familles qui vivent au 7 rue de Grenelle passent devant elle, jour après jour, année après année, et ne la voient pas. Ils ne la verront jamais car ces grands pontes industriels, ces députés importants, cette élite sortie des meilleures écoles, tous imbus de leur propre importance, n'en sont pas capables. En parallèle de l'histoire de Madame Michel, une autre voix raconte la sienne : il s'agit de Paloma, une petite fille de 12 ans d'une maturité précoce qui habite le même immeuble. Les deux récits s'entrecroisent lors de l'arrivée de Monsieur Ozu, le grand perturbateur du status quo. La lecture de l'histoire de Madame Michel, de Paloma, de Monsieur Ozu ainsi que de tous les autres personnages qui respirent tout au long de ces pages, m'a entièrement ravie. J'ai ouvert le livre à 17h et je l'ai fermé à minuit. J'en ai oublié de manger! A la place, j'ai dégusté un livre écrit dans un français élégant comme l'on déguste un délice raffiné, et sa lecture m'a procurée une sensation de bonheur, de légèreté, et de satisfaction. J'y ai trouvé d'autant plus de bonheur que Madame Michel, Paloma, et Monsieur Ozu sont des méticuleux, des tâtillons, des scrupuleux - des amoureux - de la beauté de la langue de Molière. Un petit détail qui m'a fait plaisir : tous trois comprennent que la grammaire n'existe pas pour que nous parlions et écrivions bien, mais plutôt pour nous montrer la beauté de la langue que nous adorons. Je me suis particulièrement régalée avec l'histoire de la virgule et celle de "pallier à ça". D'ailleurs, ces trois personnages sont unis par une sensibilité à la Beauté ainsi que par une réflexion constante sur le sens de la vie : "...beaucoup de désespoir, mais aussi quelques moments de beauté où le temps n'est plus le même...un toujours dans le jamais...", dira Paloma.

Tout au long de ma soirée, je dégustais ce livre comme un mets savoureux tant il y avait des références qui trouvaient écho en moi :

-Je suis amatrice de thé ainsi qu'une grand fan de cinéma.

-Faire rentrer les camélias au coeur de l'histoire était pour moi une note pleine de grâce car mon grand-père louisianais les cultivait.

-Comprendre un peu plus les complexités des strates de la société française est d'une grande utilité car naviguer ces eaux périlleuses n'a jamais été chose facile pour l'américaine-née que je suis.

-"N'ayez qu'une amie, mais choisissez-la bien" : cette belle phrase limpide, prononcée par Madame Michel, reste inoubliable.

-En littérature comme dans la vie, j'aime les filles intelligentes voire surdouées à qui l'on ne raconte pas d'histoires. La scène avec le psychothérapeute vaut, à elle seule, le prix du livre !

-Après avoir (enfin) lu Anna Karénine de Léon Tolstoï il y a deux étés, ma vie de lectrice est plus riche. Ma lecture de L'Elégance du hérisson en a été rendue plus profonde par le simple fait de connaître (et d'aimer) l'histoire et les personnages de Tolstoï.

Pour conclure, ce roman émouvant et drôle me fait jubiler. Aux réflexions de Madame Michel lorsqu'elle embroche ceux qui l'entourent par ses observations acerbes mais toutefois pleines d'humour, je ris et j'applaudis. Aux angoisses et tâtonnements de Paloma, j'approuve et je compatis. A la délicatesse et à la sensibilité de Monsieur Ozu, je suis émue et je pleure. Conte de fées? Pas vraiment, car le "happy ending" n'est pas au rendez-vous. Roman parfait? Oui, car Muriel Barbery y rassemble humour, intelligence, poésie, culture, personnages, et belle histoire avec une élégance de grand écrivain.

A Few Things I Love About Paris

2009-05-30T05:20:00.038-04:00

Last week, I was in Paris where I spent a week lending a helping hand to my son who was moving. Couldn't he have done it by himself? Bien sûr que oui. But then, any excuse to spend a week in Paris is a good excuse! There was work to be done, but afternoons of putting things in boxes gave way to evenings at sidewalk cafés and mornings of packing suitcases were followed by strolls in the streets where I lost all notion of time and began to live in the present moment. Besides the pure pleasure of a week in Paris, I was lucky enough to be staying in a graceful 2-bedroom apartment with high ceilings and impeccably soothing interiors in one of Paris' most pleasant neighborhoods, a pied à terre lent to me by friends, a serene oasis in the middle of a hustling bustling city. My short 7-day stay in Paris reminded me of a few things I love about France - a place I lived for almost twenty years and for which I often yearn, despite the fact that there are many things about living in the States that energize and please me - and so I made a list.

-The sound of church bells ringing.

-The aroma of coffee and chocolate.

-The accessibility to an entire city through the métro, a means of public transportation used by old and young, rich and poor, little old ladies with their shopping bags and pierced punks wearing outrageous makeup, traveling side by side in a vehicle which contributes to a certain social cohesion among classes. For residents and visitors alike, all you need to explore Paris is a metro ticket.

-Music in the métro, whether it be the strains of an accordeon playing a traditional French waltz that makes one want to embrace the moment and sway to the music, or a saxophone wailing a loud lonely air that can be heard through the long winding hallways underground.

-People in the streets.

-Waiters in restaurants leaving me alone once I've been served, not expecting me to make way for the next patrons, and the subsequent feeling that everyone around me knows it is completely and utterly normal not to be rushed when eating, whether alone or sharing a meal with friends.

-The omnipresence of history. One tiny example: As I prepare to go to a friend's flat in the 15th arrondissement, my son casually says, "Get off at Dupleix. He was the French governor of India in the 18th century right before the Seven Years War (known in the States as the French and Indian War but which was actually an earlier world war fought in North America, India, and Europe!) reputed for his intelligence...." Take any metro stop, any landmark, any coin de rue, it is steeped in history.

-Women everywhere, of every age, of every socio-economic level, displaying a sense of style.

-The scent of perfume. For women, luscious or spicy. And for men, crisp or woody.

-Andouillettes! And so much more!

-Need I mention the ubiquitousness of excellent wine?

-The pervading smell of fresh bread and croissants.

-Having breakfast, alone, in a small café.

-Taking my time in Les Galeries Lafayette.

-Lingering in bookstores.

-The cool air of Paris by night.

-Seeing the Eiffel Tower, again.

-My favorite tea shop, Mariage Frères, on the rue du Bourg-Tibourg.

-Visiting L'Artisan Parfumeur, and finally, after all these years, daring to buy a circus-inspired perfume I fell in love with 15 years ago called Dzing!

-The custom of the handshake as an everyday, everytime greeting, with its accompanying warmth and sensuality.

-The metallic and musical sound of horns honking, although, due to recent French laws, horn-honking has been curbed!

-Shops and businesses closing for an hour at noon, closing on Sundays. American efficiency is wonderful, but isn't it civilized to pause, and not just rush headlong in life without ever stopping?

-A certain je ne sais quoi in the fresh smell of new tobacco.

-Having an entire evening to myself to read L'Elégance du hérisson by Muriel Barbery, and being thoroughly enchanted. (This will soon be the subject of another blog entry.)

-The pleasure of being immersed in my adoptive language, of hearing it spoken not just at my home and at work (as I do in the US), but all over, by everyone.

All these things - plus the excitement of meeting with the founder and editor of a young and vibrant publishing house whose collections represent concepts dear to my heart: bilinguism and girl power - were a few of the things that struck my senses during my week in Paris. Nostalgia? I chalk it up to the enjoyment of a culture, a country, and a language I like to call my own.

Memorizing Poetry

2009-04-07T17:23:00.013-04:00

A fellow children's literature blogger, Chicken Spaghetti, brought to my attention John Holt's essay Got Poetry? which appeared online in the April 2 New York Times Book Review. The essay expounds on the benefits of memorizing poetry... from the point of a baby boomer. I thoroughly enjoyed the article and felt encouraged about my secret sideline. On the sly, I have been memorizing poetry for about ten years now. It all started when I began teaching English at the French lycée where primary school students are required, in their French language classroom, to learn, memorize, and recite poetry on a regular basis. I'm talking 6- to 10- year old kids! Every year, they began class with a new poetry cahier, and to my observation, they never question that poetry is part of their school work, just like math, or geography, or science. Even the requirement of reciting in front of their classmates doesn't seem to faze them. Memorizing poetry is just something they do. For me, it was beginning teacher's luck, a gift handed to me on a silver platter, for it was quite an easy thing to transfer this poetic rigueur into their English class. And so, I included the memorizing of a poem per trimester during my first year of teaching, and ever since, it's been a poem a month. The amazing and wonderful thing is that not only do the children do it almost effortlessly, they lap it up, they love it, and poetry time is a happy and relaxed time for them. (And anyone who knows the French system of education knows that there's not much relaxing going on!) Refreshingly, no one speaks of how horrible it is to have children learn by rote! The memorization frees them from the shackles of bad speech (and the incessant use of the word "like"), and the enjoyment that ensues has everyone feeling as pleased as punch.

Mais revenons à nos moutons: As my students memorized their monthly poems, I too would memorize the same one I was requiring them to learn, and was surprised at how utterly empowered it made me feel. From that point on, I began to learn poems on my own on a regular basis and I continue to this day. At first, I went out and bought Committed To Memory, 100 Best Poems to Memorize, edited by John Hollander, and just dove in! Since then, I've continued to buy wonderful anthologies, but I've also branched out and bought books of individual poets. There is something absolutely wonderful about being able to declaim beautifully crafted words. There is something absolutely invigorating about making one's brain crunch the words before getting to the place where the words free themselves within the brain and you just run with it. I am hooked. I don't write poetry, but the discovery that I can memorize and enjoy it has been a wonderful new avenue of awareness for me.

And speaking of poetry for children: Of course, my primary school students adore the poems of Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky, Douglas Florian, Nikki Giovanni, and Bobbi Katz - that goes without saying. But get this: they also adore Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Walter de la Mare, Christina Rossetti, Ted Hughes, Ogden Nash, William Carlos Williams, Dorothy Parker, and Lewis Carroll - not too shabby, n'est-ce pas?

I recently came across Norman Shapiro's fabulous La Fontaine translations, The Complete Fables of Jean de la Fontaine. Because the fourth graders had already learned La Cigale et la fourmi in French, I took advantage of this opportunity to introduce the idea of the translation of great works of literature and I had them learn and memorize The Cricket and the Ant. It turned out to be a good bilingual project and one that got many of them thinking about interpreting not only words but meaning and pleasure. What a declamation there was the day we recited! Might we have some budding poets in our midst? Aspiring translators? Future interpreters? I can only hope so.

March Madness

2009-03-31T22:07:00.015-04:00

The month of March has flown by. When I think back and wonder what I have accomplished, nothing comes to mind. I had hoped to write a blogpost per week, but there you have it - my first one is on the last day of of the month! A busy end of the teaching trimester, a few translation projects taking up my out-of-school time, and the three stories I'm working that seem to be going nowhere in spite of continued efforts... and March is gone. Through it all, the tug of the writing life refuses to leave me! The good news is that I've had a companion during this crazy month, Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott, and this small volume has helped me get through what has turned out to be an uneven season. Introduced to me by Marlys Hershey - a woman I've yet to meet in the flesh - Bird by Bird is a meaty, chewy, main-course kind of book. It continues to nourish my soul and is proving to be truly inspirational with respect to the writing life. This book tastes good. Its smells earthy. It speaks volumes to me. It touches my spirit. It enlightens my obscurity and offers vision. A five-senses-kind-of-book! As I now read it for a second and third time, I am taking note of how I can implement some its lesson on life and writing.

The book is witty and real. It's gritty and down to earth. It's unsentimental and practical. Anne Lamott says over and over again that the writing life is a life of discipline, yet she encourages writers to be not so hard on themselves. OK, Anne, I'll try to follow that advice. Writers who feel discouraged? Well, that's alright: it's part of the human experience. This book has been my March experience - the end of winter and the beginning of spring - so I guess things haven't been so bad after all. Besides, tomorrow is the beginning of National Poetry Month, so things are definitely lookin' up!

Why I Love Teaching First Graders

2009-02-24T18:17:00.026-05:00

Mouhamad is boisterous

Aglaé is sweet-tempered

Lily is as smart as a whip

Inès is endearing

Patrick has a voice to sing opera

Claudia is perspicacious

Santiago loves color

Brayden is coquin

Nayla is blissfully happy

Situ Coralie's the boss

Alexandra is playful

Cool Kenan takes it all in

Justin bright as a new penny

Colombe is as sweet as a dove

Eric sees everything and gets it

Alara? She is Turkish delight

With sixteen students and twelve nationalities ranging from French to Turkish, from Mexican to Lebanese, from Belgian to American, from Spanish to Senegalese, from Togolese to Brazilian, and from Korean to Burundian, why wouldn't I love teaching first graders? Well, there's always the bouquet of languages that I love, too.

I'll name a few:

French English Arabic Spanish

Fula Kirundi Korean Turkish

Did I mention that we also

Hear Portuguese and Togolese...

Do you still wonder

Why I love teaching these?

Marblelous Marvels...

2009-02-17T12:19:00.022-05:00

Marbles fascinate me. Although I was vaguely aware of their existence during my childhood and youth, it wasn't until I lived in France that I discovered how amazing they are. There, marbles are significant both as objects that people collect and play with as well as vocabulary that colorfully and abundantly enriches the French language. I observed with amusement when my three sons, without any guidance or input from their American mother, became interested in playing marbles, collecting marbles, trading marbles, and becoming marble experts by the time they trod up the hill to our neighborhood école. I wondered what all the excitement and fuss were about until I took the time to discover that marbles embody a world of color, beauty, history, fun, and... language.

Two expressions using the word "marble" exist in English - think of "pick up one's marbles and go home," indicating that someone doesn't want to play or participate anymore, or "lose one's marbles," meaning that a poor soul is suffering from either a nervous breakdown or just can't think straight and has lost his or her bearings. The French word for marble, bille, however, crops up in so many ways and so frequently, that expressions abound. Let's start from the top:

bille en tête - head-on

avoir une bonne bille - have an honest face

faire une drôle de bille - look weird

bille de clown - have a funny face

bille de billard - bald

avoir les yeux plus ronds que des billes - naïf, even stupid, definitely clueless

Continue with intelligence or ability:

toucher sa bille - to be darn good at something, to know a thing or two about something

avoir des billes pour - to have some clues about something

Or on the contrary:

ne me prenez pas pour une bille - I'm not stupid!

And finally, in life and in love:

retirer ses billes - get out of the game, pull out

rendre ses billes - to turn it all in and quit

placer ses billes - to invest, to bet, to take a risk

à billes égales - level playing field

I'm pleased to note that every September, on the playground of the école primaire where I teach, students come back to school with their marbles: they play, they trade, they admire, they collect, they categorize, they win, they lose. When I tell them that the ancient Greeks and Romans played marbles, the children are pleased. When they realize that their teacher has her own marble collection, they beg me to bring it to school so I can "show and tell." In 2009, boys and girls alike are true enthusiasts when it comes to being experts. When it comes to marbles, ils touchent leur bille!

Amélie Nothomb est choquante!

2009-02-09T18:23:00.020-05:00

Hier, j'ai eu un choc. Pendant plus d'une heure, en présence d'une centaine d'autres personnes rassemblées à l'Alliance Française de Washington, j'ai joui en écoutant l'auteure belge Amélie Nothomb. Hier, je ne connaissais rien d'elle. Hier, j'ignorais tout de cette femme qui depuis 15 ans publie un roman par an et qui est actuellement une des plus grandes auteures à succès de la langue française. Hier, lorsque j'ai serré la main d'Amélie Nothomb et me suis fait dédicacer un de ses livres, je n'avais encore rien lu d'elle. Je me suis jurée sur place de tout lire d'elle tant le choc qu'elle m'a procuré fut vivifiant. Où puise-t-elle donc sa capacité de parler avec tant de clarté, de drôlerie, et d'irrévérence ? Comment fait-elle pour manier ainsi la langue française pour être à la fois fraîche, subversive, gaie, percutante, impertinente, amusante, inattendue ? Quelle magie opère-t-elle pour qu'un homme de très grande culture lui avoue devant tout l'auditoire " Vous m'avez redonné le goût de la lecture." ? Cette remarque - belle et émouvante - en dit long sur son talent d'écrivain. Ce qu'elle disait était à la fois sensé et fou, profond et léger, grave et humoristique. Son intervention avait la forme d'un entretien : le journaliste Claude Porsella lui posait des questions, elle répondait. Ses réponses furent comme elle : tour à tour comiques, justes, graves. De retour à la maison, j'ai eu le plaisir de goûter à son "Stupeur et tremblements" - j'ai tout avalé en un seul morceau - et je ne me suis pas trompée... Je dois tout lire d'elle.

Belge, fille de parents diplomates, née à Kobe au Japon, elle ne met les pieds dans "son" pays, la Belgique, qu'à 17 ans. Mais est-ce son pays ? Difficilement. Son Japon natal lui tient encore plus à coeur; cependant, son retour au pays du soleil levant après des études universitaires en Belgique lui réserve bien des surprises. Heureusement pour nous, ce sont ces expériences là, aussi désastreuses que fécondes, qui sont à l'origine d'une oeuvre littéraire dont nous nous régalons aujourd'hui. Sa recherche d'identité, sa soif de comprendre la vie, ses observations d'un écartèlement vécu entre les langues, les cultures, et les valeurs nous valent, à partir de ses 23 ans, une auteure pour le XXIe siècle. Ses étonnements, ses déceptions, ses découvertes, ses blessures, et son coeur qui chavire entre son pays natal et le pays de ses ancêtres sont à l'origine d'une oeuvre immense : d'ailleurs, son parcours fait penser à d'autres, celui par exemple d'Edith Wharton, elle aussi tiraillée entre sa culture d'origine et celle qu'elle choisit, en prise continuelle avec une quête d'identité au thème universel d'appartenance. Tant de personnes peuvent s'identifier au déracinement qu'a vécu Amélie Nothomb. Son histoire lui donne autant un regard extérieur empreint de douleur et de pathos qu'un regard intimiste lui permettant des observations pertinentes sur la vérité humaine. Tous ceux qui expérimentent un statut d'excentrique peuvent comprendre d'emblée, mais tous ne sont pas capables de l'exprimer comme le fait Amélie Nothomb.

Je suis arrivée à l'Alliance portant un chapeau. Elle est arrivée en chapeau. A mon insu, elle est connu pour ses chapeaux. Lorsqu'elle dédicaçait mon livre, j'avais l'impression qu'elle remarquait le mien. Mais elle a simplement dit "Jane : c'est un prénom que j'aime beaucoup. Good-bye, Jane, and thank you so much for coming." C'est moi qui vous remercie, Amélie. Quel choc !

Mary Amato is funny.

2009-02-09T06:32:00.031-05:00

Mary Amato is funny. I've discovered this in the last few weeks as I've participated in an "Adults Writing For Children" class she's teaching at the Writers' Center in Bethesda, Maryland called "What's So Funny?" She's trying to impart to the eclectic group that we form how to introduce levity, clarity, wordplay, and some humor into our writing. She claims she's not funny but the peals of laughter coming out of our classroom would make any passer-by wonder why those people are having so much fun. When one hears her big voice and her spontaneous laugh, when one listens to her examples of wordplay and fun in her own writing, one knows: This woman gets it. She knows that in life, as in writing, you have to "lighten up." The titles of her books are proof enough - The Riot Brothers, Take the Mummy and Run, Please Write in This Book. Thanks, Mary, for making us laugh and for making us funnier!

2009 Newbery Medal

2009-01-27T23:10:00.018-05:00

Neil Gaiman's novel "The Graveyard Book" has won this year's Newbery Medal, the American Library Association's highest honor for children's literature. Complaints were voiced last year that "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From A Medieval Village" by L.A. Schiltz was unreadable, and that children wouldn't like it. It hasn't sold particulary well. There were those who thought that previous year's recipient, Susan Patron's "The Higher Power of Lucky" was both unduly harsh and unpalatably saccharine (I personally loved Patron's book) and that her main character, Lucky, came off as under-developed and without much consistency. When compared another to Newbery winner written 40 years ago, "Up A Road Slowly" by Irene Hunt, whose main character is complex, not easily pegged, and who matures through both difficult and joyful challenges, Patron's character Lucky might indeed seem as wispy and thin as a sheet of paper. But perhaps that's just the difference 40 years make. I have yet to read Mr. Gaiman's honored work, so until I do, I will reserve judgement. It promises to be interesting: it is, after all, the story of a boy raised by ghosts (!) after his family is killed. What I do know is that "The Graveyard Book" has been on the New York Times bestseller list for weeks, that the author himself doesn't consider it to be a "children's" book, and that he found inspiration for the work in Kipling's "The Jungle Book" and was encouraged by his son's interest and hunger to know the end of the story.

More later, once I've read the book. I wonder if it will be appropriate for my fourth grade students? The boys will probably love it.

Why I Call Obama "Black"

2009-01-27T14:50:00.033-05:00

Much has already been written about Obama and whether he should be called African-American, white, black, mixed race, post-racial, or just.... Mr. President. More intelligent and better educated people than I have written extensively on this question, yet I'd like to find a way to answer those who ask me, "Why call him black when he is as much white as he is black?"

My wanting to qualify our new president as "black" stems in part from my personal experience with race in America. I grew up in the segregated South and did not encounter a black person who was not a servant, a janitor, or a gardener before I was 14 years old. It was then that I came to know Mrs. Lamotte, my 8th grade French teacher. She was also the very first black teacher at our school. I loved her enthusiasm and I loved learning French. The year was 1968. I didn't think much about her "blackness," I was simply interested in French. As I moved on to high school, there were no more black teachers, yet I did not question why there were no black people in my world. My segregated life continued throughout my teens in Baton Rouge and in Houston, and then for a large part, during my four years at Louisiana State University. I majored in French (thank you, Mrs. Lamotte), went on to do graduate work in France on a scholarship, married a Frenchman and stayed in France for 18 years. When my husband and our three sons moved to Washington DC in 1995, my experience of "blackness" had deepened through living abroad, but I was not prepared for what happened next. The black people I met in Washington resembled neither the few black people I had known in my youth nor the few Africans I had met in France: my new black acquaintances and friends were for the most part highly educated, articulate, wealthy professionals who had, against many odds, done extremely well in their endeavors, had "suceeded" in life more than I had. The feeling I experienced in knowing these African Americans was one of satisfaction, of happiness, and of relief. During the past ten years, as I have taught English to primary school students at the French lycée in Washington, I have learned of heroes of whom I had previously known nothing: Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth. I learned about the Civil Rights movement, I learned about Brown vs. Board of Education, and I learned about Ruby Bridges. Ruby entered first grade at William Franz Elementary School in New Orleans the same year I entered Broadmoor Elementary in Baton Rouge. We were exactly the same age, we lived 60 miles apart, we knew nothing of each other. But Ruby's entrance into first grade was nothing like mine. Ruby was ordered by a federal judge to enter the school, and she and her teacher Mrs. Henry spent many long months alone because the white folks boycotted Ruby's very presence and refused to send their children to school with her. I learned of Ruby the year I turned 50. Awareness of her and what she went through was an epiphany for me. I felt that I must, in any small way possible, become connected and in solidarity with my black brothers and sisters, that the American society of which I and they were a part had set them aside in a way that I could no longer tolerate or bear. That same year, during the summer months, as I watched the Democratic Convention on television, I heard a young man give a speech. As I listened in rapt attention, the words he spoke connected me to our history, and I knew that he spoke of what was to come: "There is not a liberal America and a conservative America... there is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America... blue, red, straight gay, we are all one people, the United States of America...."

If Mrs. Lamotte was black, then President Obama is black. He must be black. We need him to be black. His blackness contributes to the healing of our country's racial injustices and wounds. African-Americans calling themselves black are a mixture of races just as other Americans are a mixture of races (as I am too but I'll save that story for another time). As Americans, we are mongrels, mixed, - mutts, as Obama once qualified himself - and therefore connected. We choose to call ourselves what we think we are, we are free - to a certain extent - to define ourselves. Obama's blackness is living proof that America can continue its journey of leaving past injustices behind and renewing itself. Obama's blackness embodies that hope.

Beginning Blog

2009-01-27T14:47:00.021-05:00

Friends have encouraged me to try my hand at blogging, and although this format feels unfamiliar and scary at the outset, I've decided to launch the "Gazzetta." Although I plan to muse about reading, writing, teaching, and translating, I begin my blog with... with politics. Just a week ago, I stood on the South Lawn of the Capitol and witnessed history with my own eyes as Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44th president. I was with my sister Susan who had traveled from the Big Bend area of southwest Texas to write an article for her regional newspaper. (Check out her article at www.bigbendgazette.com.)

It was an absolutely unforgettable moment. The joy, the relief, the hope, and yes, the satisfaction, were palpable. I can't think of a better way to start my blog posts than by rejoicing in the fact that President Obama is now at the helm of our nation! Enfin!