How to use this Page

Some writers always knew that they were destined to tell stories, others came to the craft a little later. That was the case with new author Sharon Chriscoe. Her first picture book The Sparrow and the Trees is a retelling of a native folktale that explains why some trees lose their leaves in winter while others do not.

Find out why Sharon chose to retell this story:

What was your incentive to write this particular book?

I love the Native American folklore, Why The Trees Lose Their Leaves, and it was exciting to base my own story on that wonderful folklore. It was the story I was meant to write. I was thrilled when Arbordale agreed and offered publication.

Do you have any advice for parents of young readers and writers?

Read to your children every day. Make it a fun, memorable experience and they will become lifelong readers. One of my favorite quotes is “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” — Emilie Buchwald.

Get the full interview on the book’s home page, click here!

Don’t forget comment on this post to win a copy of The Sparrow and the Trees. And color to your hearts content with these fun pages.

Add a Comment

Just a quick reminder that I am blogging reviews from the 2015 Diversity Reading Challenge. Today’s picture book falls into category #2. I am sure to post more in this category as the year progresses. Title: The King Cake Baby Written … Continue reading →

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Well-told folktales are in short supply these days. So it's a happy occasion when one appears that's geared to beginning readers. Never Trust a Tiger is a Korean folktale that answers the age-old chestnut: Can a leopard change its spots? Only in this case it's a tiger's stripes. And the answer? Apparently not. 

Add a Comment

Hello all! I wanted to let you know about my latest work hanging at the very wonderful Moden Eden gallery in San Francisco, CA! I was lucky enough to be part of their latest group show, "Myth," and returned to a subject I find myself coming back to time and time again; the Japanese folktale The Crane Wife.

I didn't get to post about the opening reception back on July 14th, but luckily, there is a closing reception in conjunction with North Beach First Fridays on Friday, August 3, 2012.   The closing reception will be held at 403 Francisco Street from 6-9pm.

Facebook event invite here!
http://www.facebook.com/events/449331605088376/

Thanks everyone! : D <3
www.daisychurch.com

Add a Comment

LADY HAHN AND HER SEVEN FRIENDS
by Yumi Heo
Henry Holt, 2012

Who can resist a book with their name in the title?!

In this Korean folktale, Lady Hahn is a seamstress. Each of her sewing tools claims to be the most important. Lady Hahn overhears them and grows angry, claims to be more important than any of the tools, and throws them into a box. The tools feel mistreated and misunderstood, so they hide from Lady Hahn, who has a miserable time trying to sew without them the next day. In the end, they realize that they all need each other to get the job done.

This Lady Hahn is more likely my mom than me, though. The Lady Hahn who raised and clothed me with hand-sewn blue-ribbon-at-the-county-fair creations made on her little black Singer worked miracles with needle and thread and fabric. She made baby dresses with smocking down the front, recital dresses from purple crepe, baton twirling costumes of velvet with sequins hand-sewn on, a dirndl from a German pattern, and even BARBIE DOLL CLOTHES with buttons so tiny I'm not sure how she didn't go blind sewing them on!

Display Comments Add a Comment

 5 stars “The wolf is dead!” No sooner have thr Three ittle Pigs atarted celebrating the death of the Big Bad Wolf than a sheep decides to apply to be the wolf’s replacement. He’s barely slipped on the wolf’s skin when he starts to change before his friends’ very eyesa—becoming perhaps a bit more than [...]

Add a Comment

The Greedy Sparrow: An Armenian Tale by Lucine Kasbarian (Illustrated by Maria Zaikina)

Review by Chris Singer

About the author:

Lucine Kasbarian

is a syndicated journalist and Director-on-Leave from Progressive Book Publicity. A graduate of the NYU Journalism program, she is the former Director of Publicity for Red Wheel, Weiser and Conari Press, and previously was Publicity and Marketing Manager at Hearst Books. Kasbarian is also the author of Armenia: A Rugged Land, an Enduring People (Dillon Press/Simon & Schuster, 1998) and was a contributing editor for Cobblestone magazine’s special issue, the Armenian Americans (Carus Publishing, 2000). The granddaughter of Armenian genocide survivors, Kasbarian has held leadership positions in the Armenian Youth Federation and the Land & Culture Organization. Among other organizations, she belongs to the National Writer’s Union, the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, and the Women’s National Book Association.

The author and her husband, journalist David Boyajian, live in Belmont, Massachusetts and Teaneck, New Jersey. For the production of The Greedy Sparrow, the author served as the model for the illustrator’s rendering of the bride’s features. The bride’s wedding costume in the book bears a strong resemblance to that of the author’s own folkloric bridal gown.

About the book:

The Greedy Sparrow is an Armenian folktale that has been handed down orally in the author’s family for many generations. The tale has also been in the greater Armenian oral tradition for centuries. The story begins in old Armenia with a sparrow who catches a thorn in his foot. As he asks for help, he sets off an intriguing cycle of action that transports him through the Armenian countryside, encountering people engaged in traditional folkways. The Greedy Sparrow ends with a surprising twist and conveys moral messages about greed, selfishness, manipulation, and the use of one’s judgment.

My take on the book:

One of the reasons I started a Read Around The World Challenge

was because I wanted to share some of the fables and folktales from other countries I have read. Fables and folktales not only offer young readers an o

Add a Comment

With Korea being a focus for PaperTigers, I’ve chosen a book called In the Moonlight Mist retold by Daniel San Souci (illus. Eujin Kim Neilan)  published in 1999.  This delightfully illustrated picture book is a retelling of a folktale about a virtuous woodcutter who saves the life of a deer from hunters.  The deer rewards him with the knowledge of how to attain a wife.  There is a pond in which heavenly maidens bathe; if the woodcutter hides the clothes of one of the maiden’s, he will have her as his wife.  Troubled by having to commit such trickery, the woodcutter consults his ageing mother about what to do.  She advises her son to do as the deer instructs.  Luckily for the woodcutter, the heavenly maiden whom he selects falls in love with him.  But such a union, of course, cannot last and soon, the maiden begins to pine for home.  What will the woodcutter do?

Folktales like this one often illustrate culturally-related family dilemmas –  in this case, the woodcutter is faced with what he feels he must do for his wife and what he must also do for his aged mother.  What is the right decision?  What is the virtuous action?  Who does Heaven reward?  These are the many questions this simple folktale poses.  Folktales are rich cultural repositories of narrative wisdom from which the modern day reader can glean much knowledge.   Their retelling, therefore, is an important contribution to cultural understanding world-wide, especially for children.

Are there folktales you were fond of reading when you were a child?  Where did you find them?  What folktales have you read to your children?

Add a Comment

To celebrate the holidays we asked some of our favorite people in publishing what their favorite book was. Let us know in the comments what your favorite book is and be sure to check back throughout the week for more “favorites”.

Jaime Morganstern is an associate publicist at Planned Television Arts.

I remember asking my mom one day for a book she could recommend to me, preferably by an author with a few other books I would also enjoy. She handed me Love Story by Erich Segal. Little did I know that this would become my favorite book and I would soon read all the author’s other novels. (more…)

Share This

Add a Comment