Building family holiday traditions: Nutcracker

Between the Lines: Build your own family tradition

Sunday, 30 December, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

I love the Christmas season and find comfort and joy in welcoming the same things every year, such as a fragrant fir tree in our living room and a turkey lunch at home with my family on Christmas Day.

Two years ago, we had a family lunch at The Peninsula and saw its beautiful display of Santa's village, complete with a chugging train and a large gingerbread house. It was such a happy day that we made a repeat visit last year. Being a fool for tradition, I envisaged an annual family pilgrimage with the obligatory photo in front of the gingerbread house to see how our children were growing through the successive years. So imagine my dismay recently when I saw that the open area that housed the display had been converted into a cafe.

Not to be disappointed again, I've decided that from now on we will resort to the fail-safe tradition of seeing The Nutcracker ballet. This year is the inaugural mummy-daughter outing to see this show, and we shared this experience with my childhood friend and her daughters. This is meaningful because my friend and I went to The Nutcracker together when we were growing up in Canada.

My daughter's first book on this subject is Alison Jay's The Nutcracker, which is based on the Balanchine ballet. It is the only version I have in which the lead character is named Clara. All the other versions are based on the original 1816 story by E.T.A. Hoffman about a young girl named Marie and the seven-headed Mouse King that she meets. Jay's distinctive crackle-varnish technique gives her illustrations an antique look.

I have two versions that are English translations of Hoffman's longish short story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, which was originally written in German. The first one is illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, a self-taught artist in Italy who has also masterfully illustrated The Adventures of Pinocchio, A Christmas Carol and other classics.

No collection of Maurice Sendak's storybooks would be complete without his version, created as a result of his collaboration with then artistic director Kent Stowell to design the sets and costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of Nutcracker in 1983. Even today, this company's annual Christmas production is known as Stowell & Sendak's Nutcracker.

The dark overtones of Hoffman's original story are beautifully rendered through Sendak's art. From the weird seven-headed king of the mice to the 11 consecutive pages of full-page illustrations of Candytown from different perspectives, I am again captivated by Sendak's genius. Seeing the Pacific Northwest Ballet of Nutcracker has been added to my bucket list.

I also have two versions that are more appropriate for reading aloud in one sitting. Lisbeth Zwerger has been accorded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for lifetime achievement, and her interpretation of the Hoffman tale borders on surreal. The ominous watch face replaces the grandfather clock, and is an image that is reproduced in other parts of the storybook. She also chooses to illustrate aspects of the Hoffman story that may be unfamiliar in the ballet story, and uses unconventional perspectives of such scenes.

The version that I have been reading with my daughters is written and illustrated by Susan Jeffers. In her "author's note", Jeffers says the reasons she wants to attempt her own version are to produce a book that follows the ballet story, and to create a read-aloud version for picture-book-age children. Her version is one of the rare ones which portrays ballerinas in mid-dance, and makes the perfect accompaniment to our mummy-daughter outing.

Best wishes for your family's tradition-building this holiday season.

Annie Ho is board chairperson of Bring Me A Book Hong Kongbringmeabook.org.hk a non-profit organisation devoted to improving children's literacy

My Daughter Loves Jesus - Bible Stories, Todd Burpo's Heaven is For Real

Between the lines

Sunday, 23 December, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

In the summer, I bought my elder daughter a chic pair of silver gladiator-styled sandals. When I showed them to her, she exclaimed, "Oh I looove them!" As visions of a budding fashionista danced in my head, she said, "I love them because Jesus has sandals just like these!"

My daughter loves Jesus. Her exposure comes from her kindergarten, which teaches Christian values. I find this amusing because I hold Buddhist beliefs, so I never expected my daughter to embrace Jesus in the way that she has, and especially at such a young age.

I never really thought about my own connection to Christianity until I realised that I know many of the Bible stories and songs my daughter is learning at school. That's because I grew up attending Sunday school.

My immigrant parents had no second thoughts about my brother and me attending Sunday school even though our family was not Christian. Vancouver is ethnically diverse today, but in my primary school years there were only four Chinese children in our student body. Sending us to church was a part of my parents' efforts to assimilate in their new community. Our family participated in Halloween trick-or-treating, Canada Day backyard barbeques and such, so joining Sunday school seemed a natural extension of these neighbourly activities. As a result, what I got out of Sunday school was the comfort of belonging rather than any connection with God.

Despite my own feeling about Christianity, I'm proud that my daughter has developed an interest in something that was not initiated or influenced by me. (Of course, I'm also proud when she has interests in things that are heavily influenced by me.)

The Jesus Storybook BibleTo encourage both of us to explore Christianity further, I have been reading bible stories to my daughter from The Jesus Storybook Biblewritten by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago. Published by evangelical publisher Zondervan, this award-winning book also comes in a large format keepsake edition. My daughter's favourite story is the birth of Jesus. She loves to revisit this story in the different storybook editions, including The Christmas Story. Written by Jane Werner Watson and illustrated by Eloise Wilkin, this is a classic edition first published over 40 years ago. The artwork is beautiful and the story of Jesus's birth is retold to a younger audience while staying true to the bible.

Someone at my daughter's school gave me a copy of Todd Burpo's Heaven is for Real. It is an honest and inspiring account of a near-death experience by the author's son, Colton. Colton told his parents that, during his emergency appendectomy, he visited heaven and met long-departed family members. What is astonishing is that his recollections are so vivid and his descriptions so detailed. For non-believers, it is food for thought. For believers, Colton's account is an affirmation of what awaits them.

Heaven is for Real for Kids is a new edition of the original bestseller that has been adapted for children. I haven't shared it with my daughter yet because I foresee an onslaught of metaphysical questions and I want to wrap my head around how I might answer them. In the meantime, I'm busy with her day-to-day questions like why God doesn't need a raincoat when it's raining.

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong

Books for Budding Artists - David Wiesner, Peter Reynolds, Louise Yates, Bruce Degen

Artistic books for children with inspiring messages

Sunday, 16 December, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

My daughter has been taking weekly art classes for more than a year. In the beginning, her favourite thing about going there was that those who arrived early could watch cartoons in the waiting room until class started. Then she entered painting competitions and started to win the occasional prize, and her interest in drawing was piqued by her growing confidence and her gushing parents.

Neither my husband nor I are artistically inclined. We appreciate art but cannot create it. And so, to give my daughter a further boost in her artistic endeavours, I read her books about budding artists' first encounters with art and what constitutes art.

Art & Max is the latest offering from the brilliant visual storyteller David Wiesner. Arthur is a great painter and Max is a keen beginner who thinks that he, too, can paint. Max's enthusiasm stems from his lack of awareness of his own shortcomings, and therein lies the humour. When Max is at a loss for what to paint, the great Art suggests that he be Max's subject. He generously offers, "Well … you could paint me." Max complies by spraying paint all over Art. The adventure begins and the story gets crazier and crazier.

The banter between these two unlikely friends reminds me of Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller in the film Meet the Parents, where the prospective son-in-law believes himself to be a decent fellow, until he comes under the disapproving eye of the prospective father-in-law.

While I am blown away by the gorgeously illustrated lizards in Art & Max, my daughter is more enthralled by the two art books of Peter H. Reynolds, The Dot and Ish.

The Dot is the story of a reluctant art student whose teacher patiently nurtures her interest in art while helping to change her perception of what art is. For example, when the student hasn't produced anything by the end of class, the teacher looks at the blank paper and offers, "Ah! A polar bear in a snow storm."

The story is well told and the pencil drawing style of Reynolds is simple and direct. I also love the fact that the student's name is Vashti, a distinctly ethnic name.

In Ish, Ramon is a boy who loves to draw. One day his older brother looks over his shoulder at one of his new creations and laughs, "What is that?" After that, Ramon starts and then crumples many sheets of paper because he no longer feels that any of his drawings look "right". Later, he stops drawing altogether.

Ramon's passion for drawing is rekindled after his younger sister takes all his crumpled drawings and shows him how the vase he was supposed to draw looks "vase-ish" and the tree he was trying to draw looked "tree-ish". With this new viewpoint, Ramon realises he loves making his special "ish" drawings.

Both of Reynolds' stories see the child artist change his or her perspective of what constitutes art, although one starts with a little girl reluctant to even try, and the other starts with a little boy who draws everything all the time. The message in these stories is inspiring.

Louise Yates' Dog Loves Drawing is a companion to Dog Loves Books. Dog Loves Drawing follows the development of book-lover turned bookshop owner Dog's interest in drawing. The illustrations become increasingly complex and complement the story well.

I Gotta Draw is a new book by Bruce Degen, an illustrator best known for hisJamberry storybook full of rhymes that flow so easily from the lips.

In I Gotta Draw, Charlie is described as "the pup with the pencil, the mutt with the marker, the dog with the drawing pad, the chap with the chalk!" He loves to draw but trouble looms when his strict teacher discovers that Charlie has doodled all over his homework.

Parents and children alike will be able to relate to the story's interplay between creating free-flowing art at home and producing neatly written homework at school.

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation devoted to improving children's literacy through reading aloud to them and providing easy access to the best children's books for underserved communities across Hong Kong.bringmeabook.org.hk

Book Gift Ideas for Children's Book Lovers - Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book (Anita Silvey)

Picture books that speak volumes

Sunday, 09 December, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

I always enjoy the challenge of finding the right book gift for my friends. This year, I think food aficionados will enjoy Melanie Dunea's My Last Supper,which comprises interviews with 50 great chefs about their choices for a last meal on earth.

For fashionista friends, there's Andrew Bolton's Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. The cover was created with lenticular printing, so that the image changes from a haunting headshot of the clothing designer to his signature skull motif when viewed from different angles.

I have a cache of staples for lovers of children's books, and I am always delighted to discover new works. Here is a selection of anthologies.Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book is a collection edited by former children's book publisher Anita Silvey and is subtitled Life Lessons from Notable People from All Walks of Life.

Each double page comprises the notable person's own written account of the book that deeply influenced their life, plus an image of the cover with a description of the book and its author, and a 500-word excerpt from that book. Contributors include actor Kirk Douglas and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Leonard Marcus, a professor of children's literature who has written extensively about children's books and their illustrations, compiled and edited Show Me a Story: Why Picture Books Matter. I picked up a copy as soon as I saw that my beloved Mo Willems provided the illustration for the cover.

In this book, Marcus presents a question-and-answer format for his extensive and in-depth interviews with "21 of the world's most celebrated illustrators". The conversations are entertaining because they delve into the childhoods, creative processes, and personalities of these artists.

The big bonus is the rare display of full-colour plates in the middle of the book that reproduce the illustrators' sketches and drafts. The plates show how much attention and effort goes into each drawing.

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art's Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children About Their Art also features the perspective and sketches of children's book illustrators. There is some overlap between the artists featured here and those found in Marcus's Show Me A Story.

The difference is that, in Artist to Artist, the illustrators give advice to aspiring illustrators in the form of a letter to the reader. In addition to the letter, each artist also provides a photograph of himself as a child, as well as a photograph of his art studio. The most amusing contribution is each artist's self-portrait. Eric Carle, best known for The Hungry Caterpillar, conceived the idea for this anthology. It is a wonderful resource for aspiring artists.

One of the tips that I learned from read-aloud workshops is to read out the title and author of books. That helps children make the connection to other books by the same author.

When I became more diligent about reading aloud the names of authors and illustrators, I discovered how many of my children's favourite books, fromMother Goose Nursery Rhymes to Tiddler, are illustrated by Axel Scheffler. How could I have not noticed that the bulbous noses of Scheffler's characters are common to all these books?

The great joy of giving prominence to an author's name in a read-aloud session is to hear it repeated by toddlers.

My two-year-old generally only sings out the monosyllabic rhymes of a storybook. So it's endearing to hear her proclaim the words, "written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko".

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation devoted to improving children's literacy through reading aloud to them and providing easy access to the best children's books for underserved communities across Hong Kong.bringmeabook.org.hk

SCMP - Famous Illustrators of Classic Stories

From Sunday December 2, 2012 edition of South China Morning Post