Wonderful School Visits and a Lively Cultural Fair!

The school year has started off with a bang. I've already visited a number of schools and have presented at the lively Chinese Cultural Faire held in Sacramento's historic Chinatown.  Now I'm packing my bags as I will soon head to Indonesia.  I'm presenting at and attending the Ubud Writer's Festival in Bali, doing school visits to Indonesian school and......(most importantly) spending time with my oldest son and his family and sharing in the arrival of their youngest child.  Whew! What a month! 

Below are pictures from my visit to the warm and friendly Dudley Elementary and from the lively cultural fair, as well some really sweet letters from the students of Dudley Elementary.

Thank you for the letters kids! I loved them all, even though I only posted a few!!!!! Remember, book can take you anywher.  If you send me an email about the kind of books you enjoy reading or what you are writing about and I'll promise to write you back. My email address is abowler@surewest.net.

Dear Ann Martin Bowler,
          Thank you for coming to our school today. I liked the story Adventures of the Treasure Fleet.  My favorite part is when the animals got to China. The one instrument I likes was from Java. I liked how the Emperor told us to say, "Yes, your magesty!" I also likes it when they had a celebration.
                                                              your fan,
                                                               Bensen
Dear Ann Martin Bowler,
           Thank you for coming to our school toady. I thought your story was very good! You are righht, book can take you anywhere you want to go. My favorite part was when you had my teacher Ms. Wosax on the stage playing a character. That was super funny, but she did a good job, don't you think? I am very happy you came. I am typing a story on the computer now. I'm more inspired to do my story.                                                                                    Your fan, Seraiyah

Dear Annie,                                                              Thank you for coming to our school today. We really liked the story. Er liked the way you let us play with the instruments.  And we all enjoyed the play you played. We want to hear that story again! Thank you for everything!                                            

                     Sincerly, Tania                                                                                                       

Two Asian Festivals & Some Food for Thought

It's been a busy week! I camped in Yosemite for five days with my son Jacob's sixth grade class. At left are the hearty 12-year-olds who made it to the top of Yosemite falls. It was a tough hike but the view was absolutely amazing!
Yosemite is spectacular this spring! I could feel the ground shaking at night from all the water falling down the mountains. I can't wait to go back!

On Saturday, I participated in the Asian Pacific American Authors Celebration in Foster City. Young and old, it was a delightfully enthusiastic  crowd. A special thanks to Sophie Wong, Mas Hongo and  Philip Chin for their help with this fun reading! 

I would like to acknowledge Florence and Mas Hongo for their tireless work encouraging multicultural understanding through literature. As the pair that created and has supported the Asian American Curriculum Project for more than thirty years, you are inspirations to me! Thanks to Leonard Chan, Martin Jung and all of the AACP's volunteers for your work as well!

Then on Sunday, I participated in Sacramento's Pacific Rim Festival. I was delighted to see so many folks in Old Town Sacramento enjoying Asian food and culture. I had many young readers fascinated by my books and musical instruments. I also enjoyed meeting Liz Wong, who recently traveled to the Treasure Fleet museum in Malacca: she was really excited to discover Adventures of the Treasure Fleet! 

      Now that I am home, I was really interested to read a post on bias and/or racism within children's literature. The post was by Tarie Sabido, a teacher, book reviewer and passionate advocate of Kid Lit. She currently lives in the Philippines, and she recently participated in an international Kid Lit event in Singapore. Her insights are definitely food for thought. More on this topic soon......

Adventures of the Treasure Fleet made "The 2009 Good Book List," Taiwan's Highest Children's Book Award!

Adventures of the Treasure Fleet recently received Taiwan's highest children's book award. The "Good Book List" is awarded each year by Taipei City Library for the year's most outstanding works of children's literature.
The committee stated, "the illustrator utilizes a soft, refined drawing style that results in elegantly detailed pictures, which in combination with the author’s concise, lively, and expressive writing deeply capture young readers' attention and stimulate their interest in learning history with pleasure."  

Click here to buy a copy of Adventures of the Treasure Fleet.
Click here to buy a copy in Chinese.

I'll be doing a reading of Adventures of the Treasure Fleet on Saturday, May 22nd at the Foster City Library .
Thanks to Sophie Wong 徐思平, the story will also be told in Chinese for the first time.  I will be just one of many authors presenting at the Asian Pacific American Heritage Authors Celebration.  In fact, this festival will be Northern California's Largest Gathering of Authors of Asian and Pacific Islander Books. I hope you will come on out! 
Saturday May 22, 10am - 6:30pm
My reading will be at 12:00.
Foster City Library, 1000 E. Hillsdale Blvd, Foster City, CA 94404

Here's the committee's full review of Adventures of the Treasure Fleet:

For generations, scribes from around the world have written about  Zheng He’s great voyages, utilizing various story lines to present different points of view.  In the “Adventures of the Treasure Fleet,” the tale is uniquely presented. The illustrator utilizes a soft, refined drawing style that results in elegantly detailed pictures, which in combination with the author’s concise, lively, and expressive writing deeply capture young readers' attention and stimulate their interest in learning history with pleasure.   This book represents a new art forum displaying the historical grand Chinese expeditions through glamorous images.

In the early 15th Century, a Ming Dynasty eunuch, Zheng He, made seven trips down the western oceans.  Over 300 enormous ships sailed off from China toward the South Sea, entering the Indian Ocean.  Many times, the fleet even reached as far as the east coast of Africa.  The images reflecting the magnificent expeditions undertaken during that time period are definitely breathtaking.

Looking at the voyage maps, it’s unthinkable that they managed to venture that far.  During the long journey, they had contact with many different people with various lifestyles.  They encountered all sorts of exotic animals and objects.  While they carried home these foreign commodities, they also exported world-famous Chinese porcelain and silk.  Such relationships helped to establish frequent trading in the southern seas.

Translated by Sophie H. Wong 徐思15世紀初，明朝太監鄭和七下西洋，三百多艘巨大船舶，從泉州出發航向南海，再進入印度洋，有好幾回，甚至抵達遙遠的非洲東海岸。光是遙想當年這等壯麗的航海行動，就教人動容。

從海圖上觀看，這般遙遠的里程，更是人類不可思議的成就，漫長的航海過程裡，他們接觸到了不同的族群的生活，邂逅了各種奇珍的異獸和器物，他們一方面利用船舶運回這些異國風物，同時輸出了中國著名的瓷器和絲綢，促進了南洋商業貿易的熱絡交流。

針對這一時代的航海壯舉，幾乎每個年代，都有古今中外的寫作者躍躍欲試，撰寫各種形式的故事，呈現嶄新的觀點。本書插圖畫家以細柔的筆法，此一淡輕的畫風，結合了潔淨而明朗的輕快文字，讓讀者輕鬆閱讀，進而對過去的歷史產生興趣。我們也看到一個新畫風，再次把那一個時代中國人航海的華麗，描繪出一個奇美瑰麗的想像。