BHE (27): Launch of Bimonthly Theme for November/December – Stream of Stories and Whispering Water Tales – Project Splash! Asia

While I am a trifle sad that we have just concluded our bimonthly theme on Books about Books, I have to admit that our new theme brings a different kind of excitement and energy altogether.

Welcome to the launching of our “Stream of Stories and Whispering Water Tales” until the end of December.

One of the reasons why we specifically chose this theme is that it is in keeping with the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) 2013’s Project Splash! Asia. The goal is to publish a bibliography and collection of favourite water-themed children’s stories from or about the region for AFCC 2013. It is particularly timely as 2013 is UN International Year of Water Cooperation. Corinne from Paper Tigers has written about this initiative here.

I am very privileged to be part of the Selection Committee that would gather together fabulous picture books that celebrate water-themed stories from and about Asia. Other members of the Selection Committee include the ladies from Paper Tigers (Corinne and Marjorie), National Library Board Singapore, NBDCS, inputs from SCBWI, AFCC Board of Advisors, and Book Council. The very hardworking, passionate, and committed Evelyn Wong has also been keeping us in check so that we are right on schedule for this project. We actually have much of our work cut out for us, thanks to Marjorie who came up with this wonderful list in PaperTigers.

I am inviting the kidlitosphere community to share their recommendations of book titles that you think would best fit our dream for Project Splash! Asia:

Picture books with water featured in the story

Stories that happen in or about Asia/being Asian

Stories in a universal context by Asian writer and/or illustrators

English or bilingual, or well-illustrated stories in Asian languages

Here are a few titles that I managed to borrow from our public libraries here.

Water-themed books from the NIE Library

My Life with the Wave based on the story by Octavio Paz written by Catherine Cowan and illustrated by Mark Buehner, So Far from the Sea by Eve Bunting and Chris Soentpiet, Grandpa’s Boat by Michael Catchpool and illustrated by Sophy Williams, Landed by Milly Lee and Pictures by Yangsook Choi

Since our bimonthly theme here in GatheringBooks is not restricted to water-themed books about Asia, here are a few other titles that I borrowed from the library: Hattie and the Wild Waves and Island Boy by Barbara Cooney, Turtle Bay by Saviour Pirotta and Neesh Mistry, Our Home is the Sea by Riki Levinson and Pictures by Dennis Luzak.

Seaside Dream by Janet Costa Bates and illustrated by Lambert Davis.

Water-themed books from the Public Library

The Last Kappa of Old Japan: A Magical Journey of Two Friends by Sunny Seki, Urashima and the Kingdom Beneath the Sea by Shiro Kasamarsu and Ralph F. McCarthy, Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema and pictures by Beatriz Vidal, The River Dragon by Darcy Pattison, Jean Tseng and Mou-Sien Tseng.

Down to the Sea in Ships by Philemon Sturges and Giles Laroche, Pirates by David L. Harrison and Dan Burr, Jan Pienkowski’s A River of Stories: Tales and Poems from Across the Commonwealth compiled by Alice Curry.

So you want to be an Explorer by Judith St. George and David Small, Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling Clancy Holling, Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg and Swan Song by J. Patrick Lewis and Christopher Wormell.