Christina

Christina Nhek, the graduate student in library sciences I met at the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association award ceremony, sent me this photo and caption:

Here is Christina, reading "A Path of Stars". As a future librarian, hoping to continue to help others find their paths by providing library resources to enrich their futures.

Christina writes:

I read (A Path of Stars) and immediately felt a connection as the story mirrors what my family experienced as they escaped the genocide and settled in America. I was the only "American" born child, the baby of five. I've heard the stories and that is one of the main reasons why I am pursuing my masters in Library Science. I want to piece together tangible artifacts, especially photographs that survived the war, of Cambodian people, and help continue to preserve the culture of what was almost destroyed... We are such a small minority group in the vast ocean of immigrants here in the U.S. that people generally don't know where we are located on a map. 

Meeting Christina and hearing a tiny bit of her story - and knowing she's a future librarian! - is the kind of experience that makes writing and illustrating children's books across difference so rewarding.

ALA

 

The ALA Convention was jam-packed with highlights: 

• Presenting I'm Your Neighbor at the Diversity Fair and
• stopping by every publisher's booth to look for new titles; 

I'm Your Neighbor Director Kirsten Cappy 
and Project Assistant Delanie Honda

• Schmoozing with Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) members and friends over Sri Lankan food; and

• attending the APALA award ceremony where I received the Honor Book citation of the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature for my book, A Path of Stars.

Here is an excerpt from remarks by Susan L. Minobe, chair of the Picture Book Award committee, 2011/12, in presenting the award:

"There are very few picture books about Southeast Asians, and Cambodian Americans in particular. Young readers are gently introduced to Cambodian customs, culture, and history through Anne Sibley O'Brien's sensitive and gradually unfolding tale with its vibrantly colored and diffuse illustrations.

"She also touches upon, but does not delve deeply into the trauma of war, genocide and starvation during Cambodian Civil War. However, readers will certainly glean a hint of the tragedy through Lok Yeay's eyes and her story of escaping that horror to come to the United States.

"A 'path of stars' carries Lok Yeay from her happy childhood stargazing with her family, through the trauma of her young motherhood following the stars West with her brother to escape war and death, through her new life and future in the U.S. with her daughter's family, especially with her granddaughter Dara -- whose name means 'star.'

"Congratulations to this year’s Picture Book Honor book, A Path of Stars, written & illustrated by Anne Sibley O’Brien."

Awardees and APALA members at the ceremony.

I also had a memorable encounter with a young woman named Christina who had won the APALA Student Scholarship to attend the convention. In my remarks about creating A Path of Stars, I included this reflection:

"Communities of Cambodian Americans, such as ours here in Maine, began taking root in the U.S. in the late 1970's. The oldest American-born Cambodians--in any significant numbers--are in their 30s. What it means to be Cambodian American is being defined now, in all its variety, by these young people, creating a brand-new, unique piece of the American mosaic. I look forward to the day when books about the Cambodian-American experience will be written and illustrated by the people who are living that story."

Afterwards, Christina approached me to say, "I'm Cambodian! You were talking about me!" and to share that she has an intention of telling stories about her own experience. I was so moved and delighted to meet her.   

signing a book for Christina

                                                                                  

And finally,

• Attending a panel, "Latino Books for Youth: An Honest Conversation," with speakers including Kathleen Horning, Director of the Cooperative Children's Book Center; librarian Oralia Garza de Cortes, consultant with Latino Children’s Literature and Family Literacy; and Lee & Low publisher Jason Low. It was an invigorating discussion with a fierce and rousing call to action  (more in a following post).

Chicago Bound

I head for Chicago this weekend to attend the American Library Association Convention. On Saturday, director Kirsten Cappy, intern Delanie Honda and I will present our project, I'm Your Neighbor Books, at the ALA Diversity and Outreach Fair:

... the ALA Diversity and Outreach Fair is an opportunity for libraries and member groups to share their successful diversity and outreach initiatives with ALA Annual Conference attendees, celebrate diversity in America’s libraries and exhibit “diversity in action” ideas. The Fair highlights library services to underserved or underrepresented communities, including people with disabilities; poor and homeless populations; people of color; English-language learners; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people; new Americans, new and non-readers; older adults; people living in rural areas; incarcerated people and ex-offenders; and mobile library services and bookmobiles.

Our display will be across from the Coretta Scott King Awards and the Chinese American Library Association.

Saturday night I'll be attending a dinner hosted by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), and Sunday morning I'll be at the APALA Awards Ceremony to receive an Honor Book citation for my picture book, A Path of Stars.

Celebrating

Lovely to get the news that my latest book, A Path of Stars, received recognition as:

- The Honor Picture Book of the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature 2013;

- and a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People 2013, a cooperative project of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council (CBC).

Skills for Welcoming Difference, Part I

During our "New Neighbors" presentation at International Reading Association (see previous post) we discussed skills for welcoming new arrivals. Such skills can be

• consciously chosen as effective strategies for interacting across culture, race and other difference; 
• adopted as guidelines for individuals or groups; 
• used as evaluation criteria for projects and events; and
• modeled for others.

Here are a few:

1. "How Fascinating!"

When author Margy Burns Knight and I present our book, Africa is Not a Country, to young elementary students, we frequently hear a similar response when we get to the entry describing three girls walking to school in Cairo, Egypt. Because she's always running late, we explain, one of the students has stopped to pick up breakfast on the way: beans in pita bread. Predictably, we hear a chorus of "Ewwww!"

We recognize the opportunity for a teachable moment. Stopping the presentation, I call attention to the response and discuss how we sometimes feel anxiety when we encounter something unfamiliar, and  react by labeling it "weird."

"But that's like taking a big step away from the new situation or person," I point out, "and you might miss discovering something wonderful, maybe a new friend." I challenge the students to notice whenever they feel that "Weird!" response coming on, and substitute the phrase, "How fascinating!"

We resume the slide show, and soon the entire class is responding with enthusiasm to their first encounters with the daily lives of children in African countries - "How fascinating!"

At this point, of course, it's just a silly exercise, but with practice, we can actually retrain our brain's responses to welcome new ideas, experiences and people.



2. Cultural Humility


The practice of yoga often includes an introduction to the concept of "Beginner Mind," in which one assumes a complete lack of knowledge and approaches a situation with a completely open mind. This is a useful choice to make when interacting with people whose backgrounds are very different from yours.

Especially those of us raised as members of dominant cultures may unwittingly harbor assumptions of our culture's superiority, and unbeknownst to ourselves, make comparisons and judgments about a different culture. As the host culture, we may think of ourselves as the ones with the most to give. An attitude of cultural humility allows us to suspend these evaluations and simply be open to receiving and discovering the newness in front of us.

3. Examining Difference through the Lens of Commonality

When planning connections between diverse communities - in this case long-term residents with new arrivals - it's useful to start with what we have in common. For example, in a discussion following a shared book such as A Path of Stars, we can start talking about relationships with grandparents, family stories, journeys, the love of the natural world - all universal aspects of the human experience.

This approach sets up important understandings that foster a respectful exchange among equals:

• Everyone has a story; every story matters.
• We have far more in common than we do differences.
• We can explore and appreciate our differences without making anyone alien or exotic.

Welcoming New Neighbors

Woke up this morning excited about a project I'm helping to develop: "I'm Your Neighbor: Reading Projects that Build Bridges Between New Arrivals and Longterm Communities."

I’m Your Neighbor is a project which promotes the use of children’s literature featuring “new arrival” cultures and groups to engage the entire community in a discussion of commonalities and differences. 

The project features a recommended list of books and an evolving list of engagement projects for educators, librarians, and community organizations who seek to build bridges.

The goal of the project is to both support communities as their cultural makeup evolves and to create opportunities for children’s literature featuring refugees, immigrants, and “new” marginalized groups.

I'm headed to Chicago tomorrow to speak about the project at the International Reading Association Convention, with co-creators Kirsten Cappy (Curious City), book engagement consultant; and author Terry Farish. Our panel will address these questions:

How do we welcome new arrivals in a manner that truly makes room for them in the classroom, school or larger community, particularly when their cultural, language, religious and/or racial identities are unfamiliar to long-term community members? 

How do we ensure that everyone in the community is engaged and appreciated so that resentment is diminished and learning can flow both ways? 

We'll be presenting three titles as examples of the books and activities that "I'm Your Neighbor" will promote. All three are set in Maine.

The Good Braider by Terry Farish is a young adult novel featuring a South Sudanese girl making a new home in the U.S.

Moon Watchers: Shirin's Ramadan Miracle by Reza Jalali, which I illustrated, is an older picture book about an Iranian-American Muslim family.

My own just-released A Path of Stars is a picture book told in the voice of a young Cambodian-American girl.



Please join us in building this project. Sign up to stay informed as the project develops: ImYourNeighborBooks. Share

• book titles 
• questions and challenges 
• suggestions for languages to include for buttons and t-shirts
• organizations we should know about
• possibilities for funding

More information in my post about A Path of Stars and the New Neighbors projects, on IRA's ENGAGE: Teacher to Teacher Blog

Announcing My Newest Book

 I'm happy to announce that A Path of Stars, a picture book I wrote and illustrated under commission from the Maine Humanities Council, has just been released from Charlesbridge.







From the jacket copy:  
"Dara's grandmother, Lok Yeay, is full of stories about her life growing up in Cambodia, before she immigrated to the United States. Lok Yeay tells her granddaughter of the fruits and plants that grew there, and how her family would sit in their yard and watch the stars that glowed like fireflies. Lok Yeay tells Dara about her brother, Lok Ta, who is still in Cambodia, and how one day she will return with Dara and Dara's family to visit the place she still considers home. But when a phone call disrupts Lok Yeay's dream to see her brother again, Dara becomes determined to bring her grandmother back to a place of happiness."

And from Kirkus Reviews: "... this moving depiction of the special relationship between a grandmother and a grandchild has broad appeal. The Cambodian particulars are intriguing, but the satisfaction that a child can also help a grieving adult is what readers will take away from this sympathetic story."