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Vol.
39, No. 3 2001 To the Reader / "The World Over" by J. Patrick Lewis Welcome
to Nowhere: Living in an Outpost of a Hungry Planet A
Small Country in a Shifting World: Changing Perceptions of Children's
Books in New Zealand New
Zealand Children's Literature (1970-2001) A
Question of Distance: Three Spanish Civil War Narratives for Children
Other
Voices Regular
Features Author
Spotlight: About Swallows and Flying Trees Rafik Schami International
Children's Books of Note Dear
Bookbird Reader, Bookbird's mission has been furthered most ably for the past six years by our predecessor as editor, Meena Khorana, and by other editors before her. We owe them all a large debt as we strive to continue their editorial work and this mission for the next three years. Who are we? We are four women who are first and foremost citizens of the world and secondarily citizens of our respective countries. We are all committed to the study and promotion of international children's literature. Three of us are from Ohio in the United States, and one is from Bulgaria, residing in Austria. Lilia Ratcheva-Stratieva has more than twenty years' experience in children's book publishing, working in foreign languages such as English, German, French, Polish and Russian, mainly with foreign literature in translation. Lilia says, I am an author of four works of fiction for children, of more than 100 articles published in magazines, newspapers, and books in numerous countries, and translator of over twenty-five books, mainly from Polish and English into Bulgarian. For twelve years I introduced new books for children on Bulgarian television. I have presented at many international conferences and congresses in the field of children's literature and twice was elected a member of the Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury (1996, 1998). I served as member (1987, 1990) and President (1998, 2000) of the Janusz Korczak Award International Jury, organized by the Polish IBBY Section. I am the first recipient of the International Award of the Polish IBBY Section for Promoting Polish Children's Literature Abroad. Evelyn Freeman, Barbara Lehman, and Patricia Scharer are professors of children's literature and literacy at the Ohio State University. Among us, we have had considerable international experience through living and traveling outside the USA, teaching and advising international students at the university, and working with professional colleagues from other countries. Our prior editorial experience includes four years as children's book review column editors for The Reading Teacher, the journal of the International Reading Association (IRA), which circulates to a worldwide readership in more than 100 countries. We also served as editors of the Journal of Children's Literature, published by the Children's Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English. Our scholarly expertise in children's literature has developed through fifteen years of collaboration, not only reviewing new children's literature but also investigating the role of children's literature in educational practice and critical literary analysis of specific works and genres. We have broadened and refined our knowledge and criticism of children's literature through professional service, such as the US nominating committee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award and IRA's Notable Books for a Global Society selection committee. Our work has been presented at professional conferences internationally and in the USA and published widely in scholarly articles and books. All four of us are excited about the opportunity to expand our horizons further, to increase our understanding of international children's literature, to work together as an international team, and to meet more individuals around the world who are committed to the ideals of international children's literature. We expect to learn as much as editors as do our readers. Specifically, our goals for Bookbird include: promoting a worldwide conversation on literature for children, encouraging the development and scholarship of children's literature around the world, increasing Bookbird readers' knowledge of the many dedicated individuals who promote literature and children's reading internationally, valuing cultural diversity, and fostering understanding among all peoples of the world. Our theme for this inaugural issue, "Sense of Place," reflects the importance of setting, style, themes, characters, events, and perspectives for conveying to readers an understanding and appreciation for the innumerable places around the globe portrayed in children's books. Our lead essay, by Canadian author Tim Wynne-Jones, "Welcome to Nowhere: Living in an Outpost of a Hungry Planet," sets the overall tone for this theme by drawing an analogy between the sense of place we gain from eating authentic foods from around the world and the one we gain from reading books with clearly defined global settings. In "A Small Country in a Shifting World: Changing Perceptions of Children's Books in New Zealand," Margaret Mahy, a New Zealand author, explains her lacking a sense of place as a young child. Nearly all the books she read were imports, primarily from the United Kingdom. Even her own early writing was curiously "placeless" until, in the 1970s, she began to discover and explore the power and potential of specific New Zealand settings in books such as The Tricksters and A Summery Saturday Morning. Wayne Mills's companion piece, "New Zealand Children's Literature (1970-2001)," strengthens readers' knowledge of this literature as it has matured and acquired its own voice in recent decades. In the process, he clearly identifies New Zealand's place today in international children's literature. Louise Salstad's article, "A Question of Distance: Three Spanish Civil War Narratives for Children," explores the different perspectives provided on that war by books written during different time periods, each of which contributes to readers' sense of place, both temporally and geographically. A trio of shorter pieces featured in Other Voices discusses ideas, feelings, and issues relative to a sense of place from a Cuban perspective and provides insights regarding the influence of setting on the writer's craft. As always, we will publish the Focus IBBY column in each issue of Bookbird to provide readers with current organizational news and features. Beyond that, we will include three regular columns on International Children's Books of Note, Professional Literature, and Author Spotlight and conclude with News and Announcements. Country Survey and Reading Promotion will appear as available. We particularly invite readers' submissions for these last two features, as well as regular articles and letters to the editors. We want to emphasize that although each issue will have a theme, we also invite the submission of manuscripts on any topic related to international children's literature. We will publish all worthy articles, regardless of focus, and new themes for journal issues may emerge from manuscript submissions. Together with you, our readers, we are committed to the vision of French critic Paul Hazard for children's books as international ambassadors that "keep alive a sense of nationality; but they also keep alive a sense of humanity" (Books, Children and Men Boston: Horn Book, 1944, 146). We eagerly anticipate our sojourn with Bookbird's worldwide audience as together we celebrate the whole world of children's literature. Let poet J. Patrick Lewis begin our journey. Yours
sincerely, |
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