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(art by Christopher David Ryan)

All I could do yesterday was follow the news and try to contact my friends in Japan. Now, more than ever, I have Asia in the heart and the world on my mind. I pray for all the people and countries affected by the earthquakes and tsunami, but most especially for Japan.

Stay safe, everyone.

* CONGRATULATIONS to the master storyteller Rukhsana Khan for winning the 2011 Charlotte Zolotow Award for her outstanding writing in the picture book Big Red Lollipop (illustrated by Sophie Blackall and published by Viking Juvenile in 2010).


* The Filipino-British children's book Tall Story by Candy Gourlay (David Fickling Books, 2011) is now available in the U.S. Buy now!


* Watch out for the Feb. 22 release of Orchards, a young adult novel in verse about a Japanese and Jewish American girl, by Holly Thompson (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2011). I have an advance reading copy and the book is so lovely!



* New on my wishlist is Anya's War by Andrea Alban (Feiwel & Friends, 2011). Anya's War is a young adult novel set in 1930s Jewish Shanghai. JEWISH SHANGHAI!


* Click here to read my interview with Sarah Darer Littman, winner of a Sydney T

My brothers JP and Brian, along with their teammate Tonek, won the gold for the men's team event at the World Poomsae Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan!!!

Congratulations, JP, Brian, and Tonek!!!

(Those are JP and Brian's medals in the picture. =D)

At the Summer Solstice Rockwell Bazaar, I discovered Thingys Accessories by Cessa Gaston. There are lots of cute and quirky Thingys Accessories, but I zoomed in on the children's book necklaces! There were necklaces for Grimm's Fairy Tales, Harry Potter, and other children's books. I bought the necklaces for The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss and Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman. I *loved* those books as a child. I read them over and over and over again.




I'm not really a necklace person though. So I'll use the necklaces as bag accessories. :o)

On Saturday, my beautiful, fabulous poet friend Chloe (I fondly call her Chloebellabelles LOL) invited me to watch a dance show with her at the PETA Theater. (A note about the PETA Theater: I was appalled to see that the theater chairs were plastic chairs and that the stage was all scratched up / beaten up. It's a shame because the rest of the building is so clean and beautiful!) The dance show was the grand evening show of Bellyfest 2010. It was a recital of professional and amateur belly dancers. The very talented belly dancers were beauties of all different ages, shapes, and sizes. They were exuding a lot of confidence and it looked like they were having a lot of fun. I wanted to get up and dance, too!

Unfortunately, in one part of the recital there was an attempt to string together dance numbers using a narrative. It was a story about a man searching the world for a priceless gift to give his beloved. There was a dance number for each country he visited (Spain, Brazil, China, Egypt, etc.). The dance numbers were charming, but the story was trite and felt very forced. The narrator didn't enunciate his words well and there was no passion or any other kind of feeling coming from the actor playing the man who was traveling the world.

Still, I thought it was an excellent recital. Click here to read Chloe's review of the show. Her review includes a video of one of the amazing performers balancing a sword on her head while belly dancing!


Disclosure:

I bought my ticket to Bellyfest 2010, but I did get freebies from one of their sponsors, Slenda. The people from Slenda were so nice and they gave me a lovely gift bag. Thank you, Slenda!

* I want to read Snakes Can't Run by Ed Lin (Minotaur Books, March 2010). It's a mystery for adults set in New York’s Chinatown in 1976.

Click here to watch the book trailer for Snakes Can't Run. It's one of the best book trailers I've ever watched. Love the music. Love the old photographs. Love how everything is so gritty.


* I want to read Edinburgh by Alexander Chee (Picador, 2002). It's a novel for adults - adults who are not faint of heart. I read that it's a story about child molestation and its effects. I also read that it features some Korean folk tales.


* Check out Multiculturalism Rocks!, the blog of children's and young adult fiction writer Nathalie Mvondo. Multiculturalism Rocks! is a blog on multiculturalism in children's literature.

Click here to read Nathalie's interview with me. I explain why I have two blogs. =D

* Check out Zoe Toft's blog Playing by the book. Zoe puts so much thought and care and research into her blog posts. She doesn't just review children's books, she suggests songs, crafts, and other activities to go with the books!

Click here to read my guest blog at Playing by the book.

* Oh, and to mix the personal with the literary =P ... My older brother just got married!

Here I am with my mom, uncle, brothers, and sister-in-law:


Here I am (right smack in the middle) with family and some relatives. Yes, SOME relatives. A lot of my relatives couldn't make it to the wedding. We're a big clan. =D

2 Comments on More Miscellany, last added: 2/25/2010