Today we are launching the celebrations of our 10th Anniversary with this stunning poster created by artist John Parra. Thank you, John!
John features in our Gallery as part of our celebrations over on the main PaperTigers website – and you will also find another Gallery featuring our talented web-designer Eun-Ha Paek, as well as new articles – one by me:
Looking Forward to the Next Ten Years of PaperTigers, and Beyond;
and another:
Celebrating PaperTigers 10th Anniversary: What a Smilestone!
by PaperTigers former Managing Editor Aline Pereira
There’ll be plenty more to look forward to over the coming month, including some Top 10s from a number of our friends around the Kidlitosphere so come on in and join the party!
Houghton Mifflin introduced its list of books for young readers in 1937. In December of 2007 the company acquired Harcourt Education, making the combined company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade and Reference Publishing Group the largest K-12 publisher in the world. An imprint of the company’s Children’s Book Group, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children currently publishes approximately 75-100 books a year. Ranging from picture book to young adult titles and everything in-between, its line-up of contemporary authors and illustrators includes Lois Lowry, Sy Montgomery, Claire A. Nivola, Allen Say, and more.
Kate O’Sullivan, Executive Editor at Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, answered our questions about James Rumford’s Rain School, one of the books selected for inclusion in the 2011 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set, and about the imprint Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and the children’s publishing industry in general.
Interview by Aline Pereira, former Managing Editor of PaperTigers and currently an independent writer, editor and editorial consultant specializing in multicultural children’s books.
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Please tell us a little bit about your path to becoming an editor.
A college course in mythology had me looking at ancillary interpretations of old texts; I came across illustrated versions of The Odyssey and Argonautica and was hooked by the merging of word and picture to relay narrative. I figured children’s books was where it’s at—not being a writer or artist myself, editor seemed like a good fit.
The publishing industry being as competitive as it is, I worked my first couple of years in college textbook publishing at St. Martin’s Press before getting through the door to children’s trade. That was thirteen years ago and I’ve never looked back!
What makes you passionate about the projects you acquire?
If I laugh, cry, or go goosebumpy, I’m sold. I’m always looking for convincing, authentic stories.
Rain School draws on the author’s experience of teaching in Chad, Africa to portray a village’s commitment to educating its children, against all odds. What first attracted you to Rain School when you first read it? Was the story already illustrated then?
Rain School is such a simple, spare story—but it packs an emotive punch. I love how it shows us that with hard work and determination, the rewards of an education can last a lifetime. And that it does this without ever feeling preachy or forced is no small feat. As with all of Jim’s projects, this one first arrived as a beautiful dummy with exuberant sketches.
Houghton Mifflin has published several of Rumford’s books. How long have you been working with James, and how is your relationship like?
I’ve worked with Jim since his longtime editor, Amy Flynn, left Houghton in 2003. Since then we’ve worked together on Dog-of-the-Sea-Waves, Sequoyah, Beowulf,
Chee-lin, and
Rain School. Jim is one-of-a-kind an
The deadline for submissions to the 2012 Scholastic Asian Book Award is just under a month away, on 17 October 2011 – 5.00p.m. Singapore time.
The National Book Development Council of Singapore and Scholastic Asia have jointly launched the 2012 Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA). The award will recognise Asians and writers in Asia who are taking the experiences of life, spirit and thinking in different parts of Asia to the world at large. SABA is awarded to an unpublished manuscript (original or translation) targeted at children of ages 6 to 12 years.
This year’s inaugural award was won by Uma Krishnaswami and we can’t wait to see the book. Former Managing Editor of PaperTigers Aline Pereira was one of the judges: read about her Personal View about the Award and the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, where the Award Announcement was made.
For more information, visit the SABA website.
Aline Pereira is an independent writer, editor and media consultant specializing in multicultural children’s books, and until January this year, she was Managing Editor of PaperTigers, a post she had held since 2004. So we are very happy to welcome her back with a Personal View she wrote following her attendance of the Asian Festival of Asian Content in Singapore in May.
Aline had a special part to play in the Festival as she was one of the judges for the inaugural Scholastic Asian Book Award, along with “Chief Judge Nury Vittachi, journalist and Hong Kong’s best-selling English language author; Anushka Ravishankar, award-winning children’s poet and author (India); John McKenzie, principal lecturer at the School of Literacies and Arts in Education at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand); and literary agent Kelly Sonnack (Kelly grew up in Singapore), from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency (US).”
In her article, Aline shares with us her impressions of the Festival as a whole, and gives us a peek behind the scenes of the award. You can read the whole article here - and here are a couple of extracts to whet your appetite.
The big picture
A consistent thread seemed to run through a good number of the panels and sessions, as well as through informal conversations: “There are plenty of valid ways to produce and deliver a book”. This naturally led to discussions about the enormous changes the publishing world has gone through in the last decade or so, and all the things that have played a part in these changes. And to think that there was a time, not long ago, when people believed the Internet was a passing fad… Now one can only ignore the internet, social media and digital platforms at one’s peril. Without a doubt, these new technologies have affected the way children’s books are acquired, published and marketed, but one of the many things I came away with from those sessions and conversations was that having these new tools, platforms and processes is simply a means, not the end goal. Without losing sight of readers’ needs, the end goal continues to be finding ways to foster the creation, reception, and dissemination of a diverse children’s literature in all genres, mediums and platforms. When it comes to bringing children and books together, it should never be an either/or scenario, but a “the more, the better” one. After all, why get territorial and deaf to voices (platforms, devices) that are not our own? With regards to Asian content, AFCC was a call to join forces in that effort.
One of my favorite sessions was presented by US publisher Neal Porter (Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press) on which types of books travel well to other countries, which don’t, and why. He calls himself an “intuitive publisher”, meaning he publishes what he loves, without worrying too much about the marketability of a project – a privilege most publishers these days don’t have, and one he’s earned after decades of hard work and a successful track record. I have always admired Neal’s imprint, so it was wonderful to learn about which of his books have traveled successfully to/from other countries, even if the majority of the examples given were of books that have traveled between the US and
If you have already read today’s earlier post, received our latest newsletter or taken a look at the latest issue on the PaperTigers website, you will know that there are exciting developments in the offing for PaperTigers, especially as regards our Outreach Programe - developments which will affect both the PaperTigers website and the blog; and you will have realised that for all of us who are involved in PaperTigers, there is also a thread of sadness running through the anticipation of what is to come, for we will very sadly be losing Aline Pereira as a member of our team. Here on the blog, we will certainly be celebrating all that Aline has achieved, before her departure for pastures new in January; in the meantime, here is her final editorial taken from the main PaperTigers website, in which she talks about “Changes Afoot in 2011″:
Who says a Tiger can’t change (or at least rearrange) its stripes?
Led by the desire to expand its outreach program and faced with financial constraints, PaperTigers is in the process of doing just that: reconfiguring its stripes. Some difficult decisions were made that will affect the way things work in the new year.
First, the not so good news…
Come February, sadly, I will be leaving PaperTigers. As a result of the economy downturn that is affecting so many in the United States and of a decision to redirect part of PaperTigers’ funds to the development of an additional outreach reality (as explained below), my Managing Editor role will cease to exist. Marjorie Coughlan, who has been PaperTigers Associate Editor on a part-time basis since 2005, and my partner in crime and good friend, will become PaperTigers only editor.
Since this is my last editorial, I’d like to take this opportunity to say goodbye and to express my gratitude to all the readers, friends, colleagues and contributors for their support, friendship, work and always helpful feedback these past six years. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to have worked/crossed paths with each one of you. Please stay in touch.
On a more positive note, let me be the one to tell you what other changes are afoot for PaperTigers in 2011. I won’t be in the picture after February (except for maybe the occasional article or book review), but the projects I’ve helped grow and, in some cases, establish, will continue to exist–even if in a slightly modified format.
As you know, over the last few years, in addition to offering rich and varied content on the website, we have also been developing our blog and outreach program. In an attempt to present these three realities more clearly, starting in mid-January, those going to papertigers.org will find a new landing page, where they can choose which of the three aspects of PaperTigers they want to read about/explore, i.e. the site, the blog or the outreach program.
On the site itself, topics will no longer be treated through bimonthly issues, as they have been until now. Themes and geographical areas will continue to be covered, but in a more flexible way that is not confined to a bimonthly rhythm. We believe that this will allow the website and blog to be integrated more fully.
We have intensified our outreach program in the course of the last twelve months. Through the Spirit of PaperTigers book donation project we have sent sets of books to schools in many parts of the world. This project will continue to exist, but in a simplified way that takes into account the
This month, on the PaperTigers website, we are highlighting a sample of the many and rich features from our previous issues and talking about some changes afoot in 2011.
In her last editorial, Aline Pereira explains what these changes are and how they relate to the fact that, come February, sadly and unfortunately, she will no longer be PaperTigers’ Managing Editor.
Aline’s presence at the helm of PaperTigers over the last six years has been critical; her contribution has been both extensive and immensely valuable for the site and for the blog – and she has also played an important role in helping us move towards a fuller outreach program. To say that she will be missed and that her absence will be a big loss for PaperTigers is an understatement. We are truly grateful to her for all she has done and wish her the very best in her future endeavors.
We hope 2011 will be a year of learning and growth for all of us, and as we prepare to ring in the new year and say farewell to Aline, we offer you these great features from the treasure-trove that is PaperTigers. May they warm your hearts and minds and keep you coming back for more.
