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Newsletter Three
February 2009
Thank you for being part of the Small World Books newsletter. Read about a Mongolian poet’s oxcart literacy trek, the art of translating poetry, AC/DC songs for babies, baking from books and the real story behind the nursery rhyme The Grand Old Duke of York . . . or, just enter our competition!
MY VILLAGE - UK BOOK DEAL
We were thrilled to see My Village, Rhymes from Around the World as number two on the UK’s fantastic Outside In Organisation’s Christmas Wishlist for under 5s. outsideinworld Number one was The Big Book for Little Hands, which originates from France and looks like a beautiful book encouraging children’s love of drawing. My Village was also chosen to be on the New South Wales (Aus) Premier’s Reading Challenge Booklist for 2009. Gecko Press has also sold the book to a UK publisher (more in the next newsletter) and it is scheduled for UK release in April 2010. We’re working on book number two and would love to hear from anyone with rhymes – particularly USA, Spain, Korea, Sweden, England, Mexico, Poland and Finland.
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Working with the many translators on My Village opened my eyes to the special art of translation. It’s not enough to translate literally from one language to another; translators are artists in their own right. This Japan Times article tells of the translation of the famous Japanese poem “Ame ni mo makezu” by Kenji Miyazawa. It shows how poetry (sometimes thought to be ‘untranslatable’) is translated. There are many translations of this beautiful poem (not dissimilar in sentiment to Rudyard Kipling’s ‘If’), which was found in a black notebook in a pocket of Miyazawa’s favourite trunk, after his death.
Caption: Miyazawa Kenji stamp
BAKING FROM BOOKS
That morning Pippi was busy making pepparkakor--a kind of Swedish cookie. She had made an enormous amount of dough and rolled it out on the kitchen floor. "Because," said Pippi to her little monkey, "what earthly use is a baking board when one plans to make at least five hundred cookies?"
Find the recipe for Swedish Pepparkakor biscuits here . Baking from books is a great way to ‘book stretch’ with your kids.
Caption: Pippi Longstocking biscuits
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MONGOLIAN OXCART LIBRARY
After the fall of communism in 1990, Mongolian children’s author Jamba Dashdondog outfitted an oxcart (later upgraded to a van) as a mobile children’s library. He drove it across frozen tundra offering children’s literature to Mongolia’s remotest villages. He has just been named a finalist for the Astrid Lindgren Award. His story, “the Mobile Library”, will be published in an upcoming issue of Cricket Magazine. Read more here
Caption: Jamba on his way across Mongolia with his SCBWI newsletter
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Rockabye Baby!
Nirvana songs as lullaby renditions? Sounds just the thing to get dads to become more involved in the bedtime baby routine! Choose from the likes of the Beatles, the Pixies, Coldplay, No Doubt, Bjork and Bob Marley. Even AC/DC songs can be turned into beautiful instrumental lullabies. These CDs even won the ‘Greatest Product’ award at the 2007 iParenting Media Awards. Trust me, your baby will love it and you’ll be humming something other than ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ for a change. rockabyebabymusic
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THE GRAND OLD DUKE OF YORK – THE GREATEST SCANDAL NEVER TOLD
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At its centre was a man who is still a household name – Frederick Augustus Hanover, that Grand Old Duke of York who had ten thousand men. The nursery rhyme commemorates his disastrous record on the battlefield. His statue can be seen on a column 123ft high, near the Mall, just off Trafalgar Square in London. The Duke was Commander in Chief, and the favourite son of King George III – the only one of that monarch's numerous children who showed any talent for anything. Find out more here
Enter Our Competition
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Send us your favourite children’s rhyme from around the world (in both English and the original language) and you could win a Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of the Beach Boys CD – Wouldn’t It Be Nice! (hello@itsasmallworld.co.nz)
DID YOU KNOW?
About 40 percent of the protagonists of world children's stories, which have been written in other nations, are Asian. For more click here.
Feel free to forward this newsletter to people you think might like it. Thanks!