Chart a course to the world's best book museums

Between the lines: Explore interesting book museums around the world

Tuesday, 02 July, 2013

Annie Holife@scmp.com

Eric Carle is the famed author and illustrator of The Very Hungry Caterpillarand Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? as well as 70 other picture books for the very young.

His collage technique, using bright colours, is instantly recognisable. After a long and successful career, Carle could have settled into a comfortable retirement. Instead, in 2002 and at the age of 73, he and his wife founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The Museum Book is a good introduction to the history of museums and what museums are for

Located midway between Boston and New York City, the museum houses an extensive collection of more than 10,000 picture book illustrations, as well as three art galleries, an art studio, a theatre, and picture book and scholarly libraries.

It also organises educational programmes for families, scholars, educators and children.

The picture book library has more than 3,000 picture books from around the world. But the big draw is the bookshop, where visitors can buy contemporary and hard-to-find picture books.

If your family holiday takes you to that part of the United States, then you must try to visit the museum's special exhibition this month called "Seriously Silly: A Decade of Art and Whimsy by Mo Willems".

Willems is one of my favourite children's book creators, and he will be signing books on specific dates during the exhibition.

The Pioneer Valley area where the museum is located is also home to a number of other museums suitable for family fun: the Dr Seuss National Memorial and Springfield Museum, the Norman Rockwell Museum, Amelia Park Children's Museum, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory.

If you are on the other side of the Atlantic this summer, then you may consider heading to northern England to visit Seven Stories, the national centre for children's books.

Located in Newcastle upon Tyne, the centre is housed in a seven-storey building, and its special archives contain draft illustrations, and handwritten author's notes and correspondence.

With a mission to make books an essential part of every child's life, the existence and accessibility of Seven Stories is especially meaningful in this northeastern region, where the number of children living in poverty is double the average in England.

Meanwhile, The Museum Book: A Guide to Strange and Wonderful Collections by Jan Mark is a good introduction to the history of museums and what museums are for.

And for those staying in Hong Kong, the summer months bring plenty of book-related activities.

The Hong Kong Book Fair runs from July 17-23 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and there will be special activities and events for children and young adults. Besides stocking up on picture books from Taiwanese publishers and speciality books such as those on religion or cooking, it's also the best one-stop shop for stationery and art supplies.

Another annual summer event is the Hong Kong Public Libraries' "Summer Reading Month", with music and puppet shows, storytelling sessions and parent-child reading activities.

A book-themed summer vacation awaits!

Annie Ho is the board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong, a children's literacy charity (bringmeabook.org.hk)

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Chart a course to the world's bestbook museums

Hong Kong Public Library

Lessons in shelf awareness

Tuesday, 18 June, 2013, 9:34am

Annie Holife@scmp.com

My daughter and I are now proud card-carrying members of the Hong Kong Public Library. My plan to get library cards for us last year got as far as completing the form and queuing at the registration counter because I had forgotten to submit proof of address. I'm ashamed to admit that it took us six months to get around to returning with all the necessary documentation.

This is especially momentous for me because I grew up in public libraries in Canada. Both my parents worked during the week, and most shops were closed on Sundays back then. So every Saturday afternoon, my parents would drop off my brother and me at whichever public library was nearest to where they were planning to shop, because this was the safest place they could think of to leave two primary school-aged children. They would pick us up hours later, after they had finished their errands.

In those early years, I remember reading books only while at the library and participating in the librarian's circle time reading. By the time I reached the age of nine or 10, an afternoon at the library always ended with struggling to decide which books to take home, and being rushed by my parents because I could not edit down my choices for the coming week to the maximum I was allowed to borrow at one time.

There is a wide variety of picture books about going to the library, Don Freeman's Quiet! There's a Canary in the Library is a favourite in our home, with elegant sentences about animals causing a rumpus and giraffes reading tall tales.

Famous siblings Charlie and Lola make a trip to the library in Lauren Child'sBut Excuse Me, That Is My Book. Precocious Lola doesn't quite understand the concept of borrowing when she sees another girl walk by with the book that she wants.

In contrast with Lola, a character from another book series is too earnest about book borrowing. In Alexander Stadler's Beverly Billingsly Borrows a Book, Beverly Billingsly is horrified to learn that the first library book she checks out is two days overdue and imagines terrible consequences for this misdeed.

Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom's The Best Book to Read is a good introduction for preschoolers who want to learn about the experience of going to the library. For older children, The Shelf Elf Helps Out by Jackie Mims Hopkins explains the Dewey decimal system.

On the Sunday morning that we took my daughter to the Central Public Library in Causeway Bay, I was delighted to see the children's library filled with clusters of families: parents and toddlers, children with their grandparents, older groups of siblings and friends.

The first book that my daughter pulled from the shelves was Jerry Pinkney'sThe Lion and the Mouse. I was impressed with her award-winning choice, and we happily found a spot to cuddle and read together. She liked it so much that she asked us to read it again. I reminded her that this is a library book, so we can check it out of the library and read it many more times at home. Then my husband pointed out that the book came from the "special award winners" shelf and could be enjoyed only at the library. How cruel!

We grudgingly moved on and were careful to guide our daughter to shelves containing books that could be borrowed.

The Central Public Library has a wonderful children's book section, and the government was clever to design a large indoor play gym to encourage toddlers to associate the library with fun and joy.

Our next stop will be the branch library at City Hall in Central, with hopes of visiting a few other branches in the coming months.

Annie Ho is the board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong, a children's literacy charity bringmeabook.org.hk

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Lessons in shelf awareness

Moody Kids

'Pete's a Pizza' book offers tips on easing children's mood swings

Tuesday, 04 June, 2013 [UPDATED: 9:17AM]

Annie Holife@scmp.com

When my daughter is eager to relate news back to her teachers, she has a habit of interrupting them at inconvenient times.

Once, after she told me the street that her teacher Miss K lived on, I mentioned that I used to live on the same street before getting married. My daughter exuberantly told poor Miss K about it as she was trying to corral a dozen five-year-olds for morning exercises.

One Monday morning as my daughter was getting ready for school, I recount with her all the fun things we did at the weekend. I tell her gently that if she wants to regale Miss K with these tales, she can do so after morning exercises - or better yet, when she is asked about it.

Much to my surprise, my daughter's eyes cloud over and she looks terribly offended. She crawls under our coffee table, declaring that she will never go to school again.

I lovingly explain that she shouldn't react this way. When she refuses to budge, I give up on cajoling and turn to reverse psychology, shrugging my shoulders and telling her it's perfectly fine with me if she never sees her teachers or plays with her friends at school again.

This tactic fails and I suddenly realise that we're late for school. In the end, I resort to scolding and threats.

After dropping her off at school, I return home in a mood. In my mind, moody parents are bad parents, so I escape to the internet and trawl for answers about my daughter's sudden mood reversal.

After briefly considering whether my daughter has "oppositional defiant disorder" or is a "chronically inflexible child", I stop the madness and turn off both the computer and my neurotic thoughts.

I decide to stick to the logical strategy I forgot that morning: listen and lighten up. The next time my daughter gets surly, I should simply pay attention and care about what she has to say. I mustn't be so quick to dismiss her words and judge her actions.

I take inspiration from William Steig's homonymic children's book, Pete's a Pizza, wherein the father responds to Pete's moodiness by picking up the boy as if he were a big ball of dough and setting him on the kitchen table. Pete's mother joins the father in "kneading" and "garnishing" Pete, who giggles as they sprinkle flour (talcum powder), tomatoes (draughts game pieces) and cheese (pieces of paper) on him.

Although the story was written and published after Steig's 90th birthday,Pete's a Pizza is based on a game he used to play with his daughter.

In any event, as with those seemingly endless nights of late-night milk feeds, I take comfort in knowing that moody episodes also don't go on forever.

Annie Ho is the board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong, a children's literacy charity bringmeabook.org.hk

This article first appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition on Jun 04, 2013 as Light-hearted read makes dealing with a moody child easy as pie