Posted on: Sunday, February 6, 2005
Having a heart-to-heart with nature
By Jolie Jean Cotton
Every spring, publishers roll out their first big batch of children's books for the year. To jump-start the season, publisher's catalogs and advance copies of books start to fill reviewer's mailboxes in January. We're still working our way through the stacks, but here are two we've found so far that are worth looking forward to:
Seattle artist Aaron Jasinski illustrates "The Heart's Language." The book, for children 4 to 8 years old, will be published in May.
For ages 10 to 14, Linda Sue Park's upcoming "Project Mulberry" is a must-read. Newbery Medal-winner Park is known for meticulous research and attention to detail in her historical fiction. Here, she brings those qualities to a cleverly conceived, expertly executed contemporary novel: Korean-American Julia Song and her best friend, Patrick, are trying to come up with an idea for a project that will win at the State Fair for their community eco-farming club. When Julia's mother suggests raising silkworms, as she did as a child, Julia fears that the idea might be too "Korean."
What makes "Project Mulberry" unusual actually comes between the chapters: short vignettes of dialogue between the author and the character Julia, introduced at the end of Chapter 1.
According to Park: "Every story has another story inside, but you don't usually get to read the inside one. It's deleted or torn up or maybe filed away before the story becomes a book; lots of times it doesn't even get written down in the first place. If you'd rather read my story without interruption, you can skip these sections. ... But if you're interested in learning about how this book was written — background information, mistakes, maybe even a secret or two — you've come to the right place."
Here's a snippet of the first conversation between character and author:
Me: Why am I named Julia?
Park: You're named after my sister. Sort of. Her name is Julie.
Me: Do you know what's going to happen in the story? Do you already know the ending?
Park: I have a general idea of how I want the story to go, but nothing definite yet. Really just you and Patrick and the Wiggle project i that's all I've got so far.
Me: Hmmm. It looks like you could use some help. Good thing I'm here. And I have one more question. That part about the friends who thought the house smelled awful. Did that really happen?
Park: To me or to you?
Me: To you, of course. I know it happened to me.
Park: Yes. But it happened to me in third grade, not fourth grade.
Me: Is that, like, legal? To change stuff like that?
Park: It is if you're writing fiction. ..."
These playful interludes between character and author reveal the inner workings of how a story comes to be.
Spiced with surprising facts, vivid, well-rounded characters, and themes of family, friendship and racism, "Project Mulberry" will be arriving in April.
Jolie Jean Cotton is a mom and a writer in Honolulu. She and James Rumford alternately review children's books on the first Sunday of each month.
Hawai'i's Lois-Ann Yamanaka, author of five books for adults and one young-adult novel, will see the release of her first picture book from Hyperion Books for Children. "The Heart's Language" is about a small boy who speaks with his heart to animals, trees and creatures of the sea. But people, including his own parents, cannot understand him. Hyperion calls the book "a story of love and understanding that will speak to anyone whose life has been touched by an exceptional child."
Lois-Ann Yamanaka, top, who has written five novels, ventures into children's picture books with "The Heart's Language." And Newbery-winning Linda Sue Park inserts unusual vignettes of author-character dialogue into her tween-age book "Project Mulberry."
