Showing posts with label HarperCollins.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HarperCollins.. Show all posts
08 February, 2013
Of gendered tales
An article of mine, titled The Barbification of India has recently been published on Womensweb. What is it about?
For the past couple of years, my daughter has been struggling a lot with this business of what’s cool and what’s not, as far as my daughter’s peers are concerned: it had been proclaimed cool to be in the know about the latest movies, television programmes, Bollywood actors, pop singers, pop teen idols and Gangnam style - not necessarily in that order - along with sporting those Hannah Montana tees and neon tights. One child actually had a beach scene complete with figures lolling around in bikinis in as cake decoration in a beach themed party for her birthday. One can imagine the messages being given to these children. Yes, they are children at 11-12 years, never mind the self-possession and worldly airs. By these standards, my book-loving child, who has more sober tastes in music, clothes and everything else, who does not consider dancing to 'Sheila ki Jawani' as particularly desirable and who does reasonably well at academics is labelled uncool, a nerd!
These are the same peers whose idols were Barbie and the Disney Princesses not so long ago. Barbie might have been originally a teen icon for feminists at a time (the late 50s) when most women were not expected to step out of the home for a career, but over time it has evolved into a feminist’s worst nightmares. For one, the demographics have changed from teens to pre-teens; sometimes even younger. With her impossibly top-heavy figure (if extrapolated to adult female size, the measurements of 36-18-38 are near impossible in real life), long slim legs and vacuous sexuality, Barbie sends a skewed body image message to girls who buy into the unhealthy eating patterns that this propagates. A friend’s 7 year old refuses to eat fruits because her peers say they will make her fat.
To top it all, most Barbies come with accessories, clothes and domestic items in pepto-bismol shades of pink and purple that has spawned an entire parallel range of girls’ merchandise in similar colours complete with glitter and bling. Since the past few years, Barbie is available in India in an Indian avatar, complete with traditional Indian costumes, families, and the 'great Indian Culture'.
Most of these problems are shared by the Disney Princesses. A brain-child of Disney’s marketing executive Andy Mooney at the beginning of this century, it was a masterstroke of franchise that spawned a multimillion-dollar industry in dolls, clothes, accessories and other merchandise, a model that manufacturers for children have repeated over and over again with many other popular fictional characters. Considering the cool quotient of the movies, television shows and such, this was a shrewd business move.
Pink for girls and blue for boys! This polarisation by gender ensures double the sales for companies with vested interests. Younger children playing with toys originally targeted towards an older group has also created a demand for clothes unsuitable for that age. As utbtkids, a fellow blogger puts it, “if you are looking for non-pink, non-Disney characters, slightly loose, appropriate clothing, something that will withstand the running and climbing, and something that is not a mini version of adult clothing you might as well grow your own cotton and weave your own clothes.” Boys, too, suffer due to these brand and franchise excesses. A neighbour refuses to let her one year old son associate with anything even remotely considered feminine, in his clothes or choice of toys. Everything has to be only in shades of ‘manly’ colours, and aggressively in the realm of the ‘boyish’!
Most people see nothing wrong with girls playing ‘house’ with dolls, dressing up, having idols that promote domestication along with a sexualised self-image, and boys, at the other end of the spectrum, being encouraged to be sporty, playing ‘out there’, indulging in large motor activities geared towards being powerful. It is perceived as perfectly natural. They couldn’t be more wrong.
Children’s play always reinforces cultural messages, as they learn patterns of behaviour through it. Peggy Orenstein, social psychologist and author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, puts it wonderfully well: “At issue, then, is not nature or nurture but how nurture becomes nature: the environment in which children play and grow can encourage a range of aptitudes or foreclose them. So blithely indulging — let alone exploiting — stereotypically gendered play patterns may have a more negative long-term impact on kids’ potential than parents imagine.”
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Also check out my review of the first part of Amruta Patil's retelling of the Mahabharat: Adi Parva, a feminist view, also on Womensweb. A wonderful book.
21 November, 2012
Of rising above a parent's life-choices
How many parents think about how their life choices affect their children? I am not speaking of parenting choices here. I am speaking of choices that we make for our self, or those that are made for us by significant others in our life. How much will my not working, despite a professional degree affect my daughter's life? Would that bare fact mold her thinking, or will the reasons behind that make a difference? Will she be able to see things from my POV?
Speaking for myself as a daughter, I began to really understand my mother only after I became a parent, and a lot more as I am growing older. I can now look beyond the strict parent whose strictures I so resented to the woman behind the facade. She is an intelligent, strong, principled woman, unfortunately married into a family that could never understand her - yes, my father's side was, and still is strongly patriarchal, and has managed to stifle my mother. I have very recently begun to appreciate the fact that her choices were often not real choices, and a lot of what I remember was a function of the times she lived in. Of late, I have been having conversations with my father about how he could have done differently by her. He, too, I realise now, was a victim of the system, and actually thinks that things were fine. He listens to me, fortunately, me being the favourite daughter.
Children like to make up stories. Watch a bunch of kids play-acting and one is amazed at the imagination and creativity they come up with together. What if there is the possibility that the story might be real? What if the story turns your view of the world upside down?
Here's a book that made me introspect: what do my actions convey to my daughter? Do my unfortunate choices taint her life? Do the good ones uplift her? How much is it possible for a child to lift themselves above the effects of their parents' choices?
Hitler's Daughter
Written by Jackie French
Published by HarperCollins Children's Books
Ages 8-12
Mark, Anna, Tracey and Ben play a story game as they wait for their school bus every day. They have stories of fairies, of ball games and of horses. Until one day Anna decides to tell a story. It is an amazing story set on the fringes of a great war. It is the story of a child growing up tucked away from all the action, a privileged child who is kept safe despite not being the blue-eyed, blond, tall Aryan ideal, a child hungry for family and love, holding on to memories of the few-and-far between visits of her father. A father who obviously is somebody important. Important enough that people around her who have always taken care of her are in mortal fear of displeasing him. We are told early enough that the child, Heidi, is Hitler's daughter.
Anna's story focuses on the genocide from the outside in, raising many questions in Mark's mind. What if one's parent or child has done something really evil- how does one deal with such a parent/ child? Does one love them regardless? Do the sins of our parents taint us irrevocably, or is there redemption? Do the actions of someone dear reflect on us as individuals? How does society look upon those who stand in evil's shadow? Is a bad thing really a bad thing, or are we just victims of our convictions? Do we have a right to raise our hand against someone else's questionable behaviour if we, too, might be in the wrong in our own time?
These are very profound existential questions, and Jackie French, (whom ST has interviewed here), in her inimitable chatty style, raises them through Mark's thoughts, without thrusting them at us. There are also references to Australia's own genocide- the colonial actions against their Aborigine population.
It has been so realistically told that we are left wondering if Hitler indeed, did have a daughter that no-one knows about. Also, it is an unusual look at the Holocaust; a great book to introduce them to it, along with Number the Stars and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. There are no grisly portrayals of the deaths, as the point of view is of a privileged, though unfortunate girl.
This page-turner of a book was devoured by A in an afternoon. She has been, since, recommending it to many of her friends.
Cross-posted at Saffrontree.
Speaking for myself as a daughter, I began to really understand my mother only after I became a parent, and a lot more as I am growing older. I can now look beyond the strict parent whose strictures I so resented to the woman behind the facade. She is an intelligent, strong, principled woman, unfortunately married into a family that could never understand her - yes, my father's side was, and still is strongly patriarchal, and has managed to stifle my mother. I have very recently begun to appreciate the fact that her choices were often not real choices, and a lot of what I remember was a function of the times she lived in. Of late, I have been having conversations with my father about how he could have done differently by her. He, too, I realise now, was a victim of the system, and actually thinks that things were fine. He listens to me, fortunately, me being the favourite daughter.
Children like to make up stories. Watch a bunch of kids play-acting and one is amazed at the imagination and creativity they come up with together. What if there is the possibility that the story might be real? What if the story turns your view of the world upside down?
Here's a book that made me introspect: what do my actions convey to my daughter? Do my unfortunate choices taint her life? Do the good ones uplift her? How much is it possible for a child to lift themselves above the effects of their parents' choices?
 |
| pic courtesy flipkart |
Written by Jackie French
Published by HarperCollins Children's Books
Ages 8-12
Mark, Anna, Tracey and Ben play a story game as they wait for their school bus every day. They have stories of fairies, of ball games and of horses. Until one day Anna decides to tell a story. It is an amazing story set on the fringes of a great war. It is the story of a child growing up tucked away from all the action, a privileged child who is kept safe despite not being the blue-eyed, blond, tall Aryan ideal, a child hungry for family and love, holding on to memories of the few-and-far between visits of her father. A father who obviously is somebody important. Important enough that people around her who have always taken care of her are in mortal fear of displeasing him. We are told early enough that the child, Heidi, is Hitler's daughter.
Anna's story focuses on the genocide from the outside in, raising many questions in Mark's mind. What if one's parent or child has done something really evil- how does one deal with such a parent/ child? Does one love them regardless? Do the sins of our parents taint us irrevocably, or is there redemption? Do the actions of someone dear reflect on us as individuals? How does society look upon those who stand in evil's shadow? Is a bad thing really a bad thing, or are we just victims of our convictions? Do we have a right to raise our hand against someone else's questionable behaviour if we, too, might be in the wrong in our own time?
These are very profound existential questions, and Jackie French, (whom ST has interviewed here), in her inimitable chatty style, raises them through Mark's thoughts, without thrusting them at us. There are also references to Australia's own genocide- the colonial actions against their Aborigine population.
It has been so realistically told that we are left wondering if Hitler indeed, did have a daughter that no-one knows about. Also, it is an unusual look at the Holocaust; a great book to introduce them to it, along with Number the Stars and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. There are no grisly portrayals of the deaths, as the point of view is of a privileged, though unfortunate girl.
This page-turner of a book was devoured by A in an afternoon. She has been, since, recommending it to many of her friends.
Cross-posted at Saffrontree.
25 April, 2012
All the World is a Stage...and we are but players
During my stay in Britain, we undertook many literary pilgrimages. One of them, of course, was to Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace. There were many exhibits about the lifestyle of the people during the Tudor period, and about Shakespeare's life and work. It was a peek into much that was extraordinary about the Bard, as well as much that was ordinary. It was a memorable visit, and I can still see the Avon river after so many years.
I have earlier reviewed Shakespeares Storybook : Folk-tales that inspired the Bard during CROCUS 2010 at Saffrontree. A book about the indigenous folk-tales that he took inspiration from, and re-shaped them to write his own plays, in the context of the society he lived in.
Here are some more books.
William Shakespeare
The Bard of Avon (Great People series)
Written by Gerry Bailey and Karen Foster
Illustrated by Leighton Noyes and Karen Radford
Published by Hachette India Children's books
Ages 8+
We have here a whole group of interesting characters who have set up a weekend village market. We have Mr Rummage who has a curio shop, full of knick-knacks of all kinds. 7-yr old Digby and his 9-yr old sister Hester frequent the market every Saturday and learn a lot about the things they find there from the knowledgeable Mr Rummage and the others.
This is whole series of books, with biographies of greats like Mozart, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, etc. We are looking here at the Bard's.
In our current book, they come across a goose-feather quill, that Mr Rummage claims to have been the property of William Shakespeare. This starts a discussion about the Bard. They speak about his childhood, where he had to keep very long and taxing school hours. About his youth, when he married early, at 18, to Anne Hathaway, who at the time was 26 yrs old. About the 'lost years', a long period during which his life is not accounted for. About his joining court as the Queen's jester, and then going on to better things on stage. To the good, the bad and the ugly of his life as a player. About the Globe theatre.
There are a lot of side-notes and pictures- actual paintings from Shakespeare's time that make for informative reading. A good way to introduce the Bard's life to young children. A thumbs-up given by A.
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Shakespeare: His Work & His World
Written by Michael Rosen
Illustrated by Robert Ingpen
Published by Candlewick Press
Ages 12+
The times Shakespeare lived in, were exciting times for Europe. The world was just beginning to emerge from what have been called 'the Dark Ages.' People travelled more, discovered and learnt about more of the world. Renaissance had spread to Elizabethan England from mainland Europe, but it was a yet a dangerous world. People still stood more of a chance of dying a violent death or of illness, but there were now advances in science, literature, arts and craft that reached a new high.
Theatre, too was coming out of its earlier adherence to performances based on biblical stories, and for the first time, social themes were being tackled, the Bard spearheading this movement. There had been, of course storytellers that travelled from place to place, but never had there been plays on such a large scale. The patrons were, of course royalty, so they featured in many of the plays.
Michael Rosen has given us a book that brings alive all this excitement, associating the phases of his life to parts from his work. In the process, he has elevated Shakespeare from a school-child's perception of it as "Oh, no, so boring!" to something they will be drawn towards. He has taken some of the more well-known plays and deconstructed them to show the relevance to contemporary life- something that these students can identify with, without detracting from their original beauty. And therein lies the success of this book.
Full page, and sometimes double spread illustrations in sepia tones by the Hans Christian Anderson award winner Robert Ingpen add an essential visual element to Rosen's work.
*********************************************
Shakespeare
Written by Bill Bryson
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers
Ages 15+
Now here is a book that discusses a lot more about the Bard's life and work, in Bryson's inimitable, engaging style. In the process, Bryson tries to dig into the mysteries of the 'Lost Years' of Shakespeare's
life, seven years from his marriage to the time when he surfaced as a player at the royal court, and also the controversies over the Bard's true authorship of his plays.
As with all Bryson's books, this is an excellently researched volume, written converstionally- it makes for great reading aloud, and is ideal for young adult and adult Shakespeare aficionados.
**********************************************
No discussion on Shakespeare is complete without speaking of the Globe Theatre- the site of many of the Bard's plays, at which he himself took part. When I was a high school student, our English teacher had somehow sourced a kit which had cut-outs we could press out, and construct the Globe theatre in great detail, which our class then proudly exhibited during open house. It is one of my cherished memories of school life, and has played a great part in my interest in the Bard's work.
A Shakespearan Theatre
Written by Jacqueline Morley
Illustrated by John James
Published by Book House
Ages 8+
Illustrations play a large part in this book, which gives us details about the life in Elizabethan England, the everyday life and the life of royalty. The cover page shown here gives an idea of the details that follow.
The advent of theatre and plays, the life of those involved. The building of the Globe theatre in 1598 in Shakespeare's heyday, its interiors and the way it was used during the performances. The burning down of the theatre in an accidental fire in 1613, and the re-building of it in 1614, just two years before Shakespeare's death in 1616.
Crossposted at Saffrontree..
I have earlier reviewed Shakespeares Storybook : Folk-tales that inspired the Bard during CROCUS 2010 at Saffrontree. A book about the indigenous folk-tales that he took inspiration from, and re-shaped them to write his own plays, in the context of the society he lived in.
Here are some more books.
 |
| Pic courtesy flipkart.com |
The Bard of Avon (Great People series)
Written by Gerry Bailey and Karen Foster
Illustrated by Leighton Noyes and Karen Radford
Published by Hachette India Children's books
Ages 8+
We have here a whole group of interesting characters who have set up a weekend village market. We have Mr Rummage who has a curio shop, full of knick-knacks of all kinds. 7-yr old Digby and his 9-yr old sister Hester frequent the market every Saturday and learn a lot about the things they find there from the knowledgeable Mr Rummage and the others.
This is whole series of books, with biographies of greats like Mozart, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, etc. We are looking here at the Bard's.
In our current book, they come across a goose-feather quill, that Mr Rummage claims to have been the property of William Shakespeare. This starts a discussion about the Bard. They speak about his childhood, where he had to keep very long and taxing school hours. About his youth, when he married early, at 18, to Anne Hathaway, who at the time was 26 yrs old. About the 'lost years', a long period during which his life is not accounted for. About his joining court as the Queen's jester, and then going on to better things on stage. To the good, the bad and the ugly of his life as a player. About the Globe theatre.
There are a lot of side-notes and pictures- actual paintings from Shakespeare's time that make for informative reading. A good way to introduce the Bard's life to young children. A thumbs-up given by A.
****************************************
 |
| Pic courtesy flipkart.com |
Written by Michael Rosen
Illustrated by Robert Ingpen
Published by Candlewick Press
Ages 12+
The times Shakespeare lived in, were exciting times for Europe. The world was just beginning to emerge from what have been called 'the Dark Ages.' People travelled more, discovered and learnt about more of the world. Renaissance had spread to Elizabethan England from mainland Europe, but it was a yet a dangerous world. People still stood more of a chance of dying a violent death or of illness, but there were now advances in science, literature, arts and craft that reached a new high.
Theatre, too was coming out of its earlier adherence to performances based on biblical stories, and for the first time, social themes were being tackled, the Bard spearheading this movement. There had been, of course storytellers that travelled from place to place, but never had there been plays on such a large scale. The patrons were, of course royalty, so they featured in many of the plays.
Michael Rosen has given us a book that brings alive all this excitement, associating the phases of his life to parts from his work. In the process, he has elevated Shakespeare from a school-child's perception of it as "Oh, no, so boring!" to something they will be drawn towards. He has taken some of the more well-known plays and deconstructed them to show the relevance to contemporary life- something that these students can identify with, without detracting from their original beauty. And therein lies the success of this book.
Full page, and sometimes double spread illustrations in sepia tones by the Hans Christian Anderson award winner Robert Ingpen add an essential visual element to Rosen's work.
*********************************************
 |
| Pic courtesy flipkart.com |
Written by Bill Bryson
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers
Ages 15+
Now here is a book that discusses a lot more about the Bard's life and work, in Bryson's inimitable, engaging style. In the process, Bryson tries to dig into the mysteries of the 'Lost Years' of Shakespeare's
life, seven years from his marriage to the time when he surfaced as a player at the royal court, and also the controversies over the Bard's true authorship of his plays.
As with all Bryson's books, this is an excellently researched volume, written converstionally- it makes for great reading aloud, and is ideal for young adult and adult Shakespeare aficionados.
**********************************************
No discussion on Shakespeare is complete without speaking of the Globe Theatre- the site of many of the Bard's plays, at which he himself took part. When I was a high school student, our English teacher had somehow sourced a kit which had cut-outs we could press out, and construct the Globe theatre in great detail, which our class then proudly exhibited during open house. It is one of my cherished memories of school life, and has played a great part in my interest in the Bard's work.
 |
| Pic courtesy flipkart.com |
Written by Jacqueline Morley
Illustrated by John James
Published by Book House
Ages 8+
Illustrations play a large part in this book, which gives us details about the life in Elizabethan England, the everyday life and the life of royalty. The cover page shown here gives an idea of the details that follow.
The advent of theatre and plays, the life of those involved. The building of the Globe theatre in 1598 in Shakespeare's heyday, its interiors and the way it was used during the performances. The burning down of the theatre in an accidental fire in 1613, and the re-building of it in 1614, just two years before Shakespeare's death in 1616.
Crossposted at Saffrontree..
19 April, 2012
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - on International Holocaust Remembrance day, 2012.
 |
| Pic courtesy flipkart.com |
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Written and illustrated by Judith Kerr
Published by HarperCollins Children's Books
Ages 8-12 years
The year is 1933. Elections are being held in Germany, and one of the contenders is the Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler, well known for his anti-semitic views.
Anna's father is a political journalist. He is also Jewish. He has liberal views that do not sit too well with the Nazis. The Nazi party is expected to come to power in the forthcoming elections. If they do not, all will be well. If they do, it will prove to be dangerous for him and his family.
Fortunately for him, he has admirers of his work in the top police ranks. Someone calls him and tips him off about a possible arrest just the evening before. The family decides to move out of Germany immediately.
However, taking the entire family out would just attract attention to the flight. So Anna's father decides to go alone to Switzerland, as if on an assignment. The rest of the family is to follow in a week's time, as soon as school closes for the vacation, as if joining him there on a holiday. There is always the possibility, that in a few days' time, when the election results are out, the people of Germany would have voted out the Nazis, and it would be safe to come back home.
They have to necessarily travel light, as it would not do to be carrying too many of their possessions. It would certainly look like flight then. Anna and her brother Max have to choose among their belongings, books and toys. Anna decides to take a new toy with her, instead of Pink Rabbit, who has been with her from the beginning. After all, she has hardly played with the new toy. Pink Rabbit would not be going anywhere, and would be right there when they came back.
After a harrowing journey by train, when they almost thought that they would be caught by the authorities at the border, they get to Switzerland. They have escaped.
The Nazi party does win the elections, and Hitler does come to power. Anna and her family can never come back to Germany, as subsequent events that unfold decide. Pink Rabbit remains in their Berlin house, and is effectively 'stolen' by Hitler.
This tale of escape and survival, of a refugee life, first in Switzerland, then in Paris, with the family migrating to Britain in the end and settling down there, is autobiographical. For Anna is Judith Kerr's alter ego- it is their story. There is a very vivid potrayal of the privations of a refugee life, the experiences with different kind of people, the struggle to make ends meet, the positivity of outlook and the togetherness that keeps them afloat through many a sad day - all told in a fictionalised way that children can understand, even look at it as an adventure.
The book has a foreword by on of my favourite children's writers, Micheal Morpurgo. He refers to Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl. "The power of Anne Frank's story is that we know it is true, that these are her words, her thoughts, her feelings...Imagine for one moment that the Frank family had managed to escape, to find their way to England and safety. Imagine Anne Frank had lived. What would her diary have told us then? The truth is that many thousands like Anna (from this book) did find their way to safety and a new life. Happily for us, Judith Kerr was one of these."
Crossposted at Saffrontree..
22 March, 2012
Book review: Cinderella Ate my Daughter
I would like to thank Utbtkids for introducing me to this wonderful book.
Consider this. A cousin, who is a parent to three girls aged 12, 8 and 3, has always picked up girlie stuff for her daughters. Pink, frilly dresses, tutus, barbies, disney/barbie toys, dresses, fashion accessories, all the latest disney/barbie movies/dolls' houses, barbie add-ons, barbie UNO cards(??), decor in all shades of pink- baby pink, magenta, fuschia, crimson, carmine, cerise, rose...you name it. Even hot pink cakes for every birthday. Bratz stuff, shiny lip gloss and nail polish (for these age groups??) - such pride on the mother's face when she recounts her children's obsession with dressing up and hair-dressing! I am often chided for not getting all the pinky-pink stuff for my daughter, that I should lighten up and let 'a girl be a girl'! She is welcome to have her opinion, of course! Not for me, though.
Things are made more difficult by the burgeoning in-your-face hard-sell of all things pink. Or rather all things stereotypical. Parents, beware. The people to decide what your kid plays with, how s/he plays, how s/he dresses are not you, but commercial establishments who have invested big money in the business of deciding this for you. So much so, that sometimes there isn't any choice in the matter.
In her book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Peggy Orenstein (see blogroll on the right side for her wonderful blog) discusses this wide-scale commercialisation of gender stereotypes, the messages it passes on to the hapless, impressionable children, (of both gender) the long-reaching effects of this stereotyping, and the way this industry is fed by the hopes and aspirations of every parent who buys into it.
Cinderella Ate My Daughter
dispatches from the front lines of the new girlie-girl culture
Written by Peggy Orenstein
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers
Gender stereotyping is not a new thing. It has not begun with the culture of all things girlie. It is as old as civilisation- maybe even from before civilisation. Gender stereotyping has its roots in biology. A woman can give birth to and suckle her baby, a man cannot. So the woman stayed at home to take care of the baby, ensuring the propogation of humans, while the man ensured survival in terms of providing for food and protection.
However, what began as a matter of convenience and an equitable division of labour that worked wonderfully well for the survival of humans, has evolved slowly but surely into something that denies human beings their most fundamental right- of being humans. The world gets divided into the masculine and the feminine, each strait-jacketed into our notions of what is right or wrong for each.
In an out-and-out patriarchial society like ours, this has always featured big. We already have a million ways to perpetuate gender stereotypes. We do not need another way to achieve the same.
Good girls don't do this, they don't do that- so many social restrictions based on gender- Oh, yes, there are these for boys, too. They don't have it easier. Real boys don't cry, real boys cannot play with dolls...I could go on. Resulting in aggression as the only acceptable emotion for them to show- crippling them emotionally!
Paradoxically, the girlie culture has its roots in the feminist movement. Barbie, in fact, was introduced in 1959 as a symbol of feminist aspirations(throwing off the shackles of domesticity), and was then targeted towards teenagers. Soon, though, Barbie, (astronaut, scientist, doctor, etc. in her initial avatars) and her successors were no longer a sign of empowerment- there was a definate element of sexualisation coming in. Girls who played with them were getting younger and younger and more impressionable by the day- of course putting the dolls off the radar for the original older age groups. Making it that much more difficult to contain and deflect the subliminal messages that were being sent to these children.
A short-sighted view of the princess/barbie culture provides a vision of empowerment. After all, our kids think it is so 'cool' to emulate the way Barbie dresses. So 'cool' to know about the latest in celebrity activities. Hannah Montana becomes a goddess. Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus,...the latest pop icon become role models. Not yet 3-yr-olds aspire to be like these idols. Ordinariness, simplicity is seen as totally 'uncool.' After all, who wants to be an old-fashioned so-and-so? So stereotypical!
Commercialisation, of course, demands that where there is a demand, there has to be a supply- so that profit can be made. After all, that is how it works in a capitalist set-up. Crass comercialisation takes it a step further, and feeds on the social weaknesses that come disguised as another step in empowerment.
'The pursuit of physical perfection was recast as a source - often the source - of young women's "empowerment." Rather than freedom from traditional constraints, then, girls now were free to "choose" them. Yet the line between "get to" and "have to" blurs awfully fast. Even as new and professional opportunities unfurl before (the girls), so does the path that encourages them to equate identity with image, self-expression with appearance, feminity with performance, pleasure with pleasing, and sexuality with sexualisation.'
... by the time they are teenagers, the girls (quoting a study by Deborah Tolman, a Professor of human sexuality studies at the City University of New York) respond to questions about how their bodies feel - questions about sexuality or desire - by talking about how their bodies look. They say something like, "I felt like I looked good." Orenstein says, "My fear for my daughter, then, is not that she will someday act in a sexual way; it is that she will learn to act sexually against her own self-interest." Something seen in victims of low self-esteem, and not a sign of empowerment.
Sounds eerily like something the manusmriti has advocated for the female half of the population long long ago, doesn't it? We have plenty of our own misplaced ideas and beliefs to correct without complicating things in this way, thank you very much!
So what's with the pink and blue? Let us consider here a discussion on children's fashions in the past few hundred years.
Disclaimer: The next two paragraphs have much to do only with patterns of fashion in the western world. India has a very different story - a veritable study in ethnology ... but that is a subject for an entirely different post. Suffice here to say that the pink v/s blue debate with all its history has made an entry to our country quite recently - though making waves enough to start worrying.
In the west, children of both genders wore only white, at the most, shades of grey, up to 6-7 years of age, for a very practical reason: soiled clothes could be cleaned only by boiling them, and coloureds were a waste. The styles were also similar, much like dresses, with boys' clothes buttoned up in the front and the girls' buttoned up behind. When pastels came in, both genders wore all colours. Around the time of WW1, pink was actually associated with boys, as it was considered a watered down version of red, a colour associated with strength and bravery.
Yet, today, all things feminine are associated with the colour pink - a belief that we have to thank Nazi Germany for. Just like they made it compulsary for Jews to put on a yellow Star of David to distinguish them, they issued pink stars to those men that they believed were homosexual - these too were part of the reprehensible Final Solution. This gave pink a 'non-masculine' tag, and was equated with all things feminine. This, of course, has been exploited by marketing divisions of companies like Disney and Mattel to widen the divide and create a market for girl things and boy things. Not just toys and clothes, but every b****y thing!
Let me put one thing straight. I have nothing against pink, and I think it is a beautiful colour. I have no problems using something pink, on the stipulation that it does not have the associations I have spoken of. Same goes for orange, grey, turquoise, white, green, blue, red, black, yellow, violet, and any other hue of the rainbow. Speaking of rainbows, pink is not even a colour from the spectrum- there is no wavelength that translates to pink. It is a trick played by our brain, that interprets a mixture of the wavelengths for red and violet as magenta, a deep shade of pink. Experimentally, this can be created by superimposing two different spectrums created by two prisms. Try it. Go ahead- click on this link to read the complete explanation. It's fascinating!
I would just like to mention a couple of things from the book at the end.
Cinderella's story as we know it is the one popularised by Charles Perrault. He, in turn, based it on a tale from the Grimm Brothers' collection of folktales and fairy tales. The tale of Aschenputtel, a fiesty girl who does not wait around for any fairy godmother or the prince to rescue her- complete with gory bits, now sanitised for our consumption to the point where we have a good and beautiful but wimpy heroine.
Peggy Orenstein also dedicates the last chapter to do-able remedies against the unstoppable and unavoidable onslaught of the girlie culture. And keeping in mind the natural rebelliousness of the fast-growing but impressionale children whose lives can get impacted.
Consider this. A cousin, who is a parent to three girls aged 12, 8 and 3, has always picked up girlie stuff for her daughters. Pink, frilly dresses, tutus, barbies, disney/barbie toys, dresses, fashion accessories, all the latest disney/barbie movies/dolls' houses, barbie add-ons, barbie UNO cards(??), decor in all shades of pink- baby pink, magenta, fuschia, crimson, carmine, cerise, rose...you name it. Even hot pink cakes for every birthday. Bratz stuff, shiny lip gloss and nail polish (for these age groups??) - such pride on the mother's face when she recounts her children's obsession with dressing up and hair-dressing! I am often chided for not getting all the pinky-pink stuff for my daughter, that I should lighten up and let 'a girl be a girl'! She is welcome to have her opinion, of course! Not for me, though.
Things are made more difficult by the burgeoning in-your-face hard-sell of all things pink. Or rather all things stereotypical. Parents, beware. The people to decide what your kid plays with, how s/he plays, how s/he dresses are not you, but commercial establishments who have invested big money in the business of deciding this for you. So much so, that sometimes there isn't any choice in the matter.
In her book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Peggy Orenstein (see blogroll on the right side for her wonderful blog) discusses this wide-scale commercialisation of gender stereotypes, the messages it passes on to the hapless, impressionable children, (of both gender) the long-reaching effects of this stereotyping, and the way this industry is fed by the hopes and aspirations of every parent who buys into it.
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| Pic courtesy flipkart |
dispatches from the front lines of the new girlie-girl culture
Written by Peggy Orenstein
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers
Gender stereotyping is not a new thing. It has not begun with the culture of all things girlie. It is as old as civilisation- maybe even from before civilisation. Gender stereotyping has its roots in biology. A woman can give birth to and suckle her baby, a man cannot. So the woman stayed at home to take care of the baby, ensuring the propogation of humans, while the man ensured survival in terms of providing for food and protection.
However, what began as a matter of convenience and an equitable division of labour that worked wonderfully well for the survival of humans, has evolved slowly but surely into something that denies human beings their most fundamental right- of being humans. The world gets divided into the masculine and the feminine, each strait-jacketed into our notions of what is right or wrong for each.
In an out-and-out patriarchial society like ours, this has always featured big. We already have a million ways to perpetuate gender stereotypes. We do not need another way to achieve the same.
Good girls don't do this, they don't do that- so many social restrictions based on gender- Oh, yes, there are these for boys, too. They don't have it easier. Real boys don't cry, real boys cannot play with dolls...I could go on. Resulting in aggression as the only acceptable emotion for them to show- crippling them emotionally!
Paradoxically, the girlie culture has its roots in the feminist movement. Barbie, in fact, was introduced in 1959 as a symbol of feminist aspirations(throwing off the shackles of domesticity), and was then targeted towards teenagers. Soon, though, Barbie, (astronaut, scientist, doctor, etc. in her initial avatars) and her successors were no longer a sign of empowerment- there was a definate element of sexualisation coming in. Girls who played with them were getting younger and younger and more impressionable by the day- of course putting the dolls off the radar for the original older age groups. Making it that much more difficult to contain and deflect the subliminal messages that were being sent to these children.
A short-sighted view of the princess/barbie culture provides a vision of empowerment. After all, our kids think it is so 'cool' to emulate the way Barbie dresses. So 'cool' to know about the latest in celebrity activities. Hannah Montana becomes a goddess. Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus,...the latest pop icon become role models. Not yet 3-yr-olds aspire to be like these idols. Ordinariness, simplicity is seen as totally 'uncool.' After all, who wants to be an old-fashioned so-and-so? So stereotypical!
Commercialisation, of course, demands that where there is a demand, there has to be a supply- so that profit can be made. After all, that is how it works in a capitalist set-up. Crass comercialisation takes it a step further, and feeds on the social weaknesses that come disguised as another step in empowerment.
'The pursuit of physical perfection was recast as a source - often the source - of young women's "empowerment." Rather than freedom from traditional constraints, then, girls now were free to "choose" them. Yet the line between "get to" and "have to" blurs awfully fast. Even as new and professional opportunities unfurl before (the girls), so does the path that encourages them to equate identity with image, self-expression with appearance, feminity with performance, pleasure with pleasing, and sexuality with sexualisation.'
... by the time they are teenagers, the girls (quoting a study by Deborah Tolman, a Professor of human sexuality studies at the City University of New York) respond to questions about how their bodies feel - questions about sexuality or desire - by talking about how their bodies look. They say something like, "I felt like I looked good." Orenstein says, "My fear for my daughter, then, is not that she will someday act in a sexual way; it is that she will learn to act sexually against her own self-interest." Something seen in victims of low self-esteem, and not a sign of empowerment.
Sounds eerily like something the manusmriti has advocated for the female half of the population long long ago, doesn't it? We have plenty of our own misplaced ideas and beliefs to correct without complicating things in this way, thank you very much!
So what's with the pink and blue? Let us consider here a discussion on children's fashions in the past few hundred years.
Disclaimer: The next two paragraphs have much to do only with patterns of fashion in the western world. India has a very different story - a veritable study in ethnology ... but that is a subject for an entirely different post. Suffice here to say that the pink v/s blue debate with all its history has made an entry to our country quite recently - though making waves enough to start worrying.
In the west, children of both genders wore only white, at the most, shades of grey, up to 6-7 years of age, for a very practical reason: soiled clothes could be cleaned only by boiling them, and coloureds were a waste. The styles were also similar, much like dresses, with boys' clothes buttoned up in the front and the girls' buttoned up behind. When pastels came in, both genders wore all colours. Around the time of WW1, pink was actually associated with boys, as it was considered a watered down version of red, a colour associated with strength and bravery.
Yet, today, all things feminine are associated with the colour pink - a belief that we have to thank Nazi Germany for. Just like they made it compulsary for Jews to put on a yellow Star of David to distinguish them, they issued pink stars to those men that they believed were homosexual - these too were part of the reprehensible Final Solution. This gave pink a 'non-masculine' tag, and was equated with all things feminine. This, of course, has been exploited by marketing divisions of companies like Disney and Mattel to widen the divide and create a market for girl things and boy things. Not just toys and clothes, but every b****y thing!
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| Magenta, an extraspectral colour pic courtesy biotele.com |
I would just like to mention a couple of things from the book at the end.
Cinderella's story as we know it is the one popularised by Charles Perrault. He, in turn, based it on a tale from the Grimm Brothers' collection of folktales and fairy tales. The tale of Aschenputtel, a fiesty girl who does not wait around for any fairy godmother or the prince to rescue her- complete with gory bits, now sanitised for our consumption to the point where we have a good and beautiful but wimpy heroine.
Peggy Orenstein also dedicates the last chapter to do-able remedies against the unstoppable and unavoidable onslaught of the girlie culture. And keeping in mind the natural rebelliousness of the fast-growing but impressionale children whose lives can get impacted.
22 December, 2011
Book Review: Nanberry - Black brother White
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| Pic courtesy harpercollins.com.au |
Black Brother White
Written by Jackie French
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers, Australia
YA
It is the story of Nanberry, the 9yr old Eora (aborigine) boy whose life takes an unexpected turn when smallpox brought into Australia by the First Fleet carrying convicts wipes out almost his entire tribe. Surgeon John White, the fleet's surgeon, adopts him as a son, much to the chagrin of his housekeeper, who is surprised to realise that the 'native' is as much a human being as she is!
The rest of the book is a narrative told in the first person by the different characters.
John White, the surgeon of the First Fleet, and later at the newfound colony. A good man of strong convictions and a thirst for knowledge.
Rachel Turner, who survived a wrongly given death sentence and deportation to the convict colony. Who has rather genteel origins, and works as Surgeon White's housekeeper, and later becomes his emotional anchor and mother of his son, Andrew. Who later becomes one of the richest and well-loved women in Australia.
Nanberry himself- the black brother, who, blossoms under the love and care showered on him by his foster father Surgeon White, and Rachel, but is loath to relinquish his roots, and is unable to quite become the 'English gentleman' that his foster father wanted him to become. Especially after he finds himself a target of the other white people's prejudice.
Andrew White, the son, the white brother, who gets a privileged education in England, and becomes a hero in the battle against Napoleon.
Which, along with a handful more of characters, both English and Eora, makes for a kaleidoscope of emotions, motives, actions, stretching across a period of history from the first Bitish settlement in Australia in 1788 to after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. A piece of history that is in many ways still taking a shape. We see the arrogance of the Europeans in their 'finders-keepers-owners' attitude which has shaped much of the history of colonisation. "Britain did not recognise the country as being inhabited as the natives did not cultivate the land, and were, therefore, 'uncivilized'. " We see the reasoning they used in their ruthless decimation of the original inhabitants of the Australian continent- the aborigines- and their relentless claiming of the land.
We see the utter bewilderment of the Eora who did not have the concept of individual ownership of land and resources- through the voice of Nanberry Buckenau. Who, although fostered by an exceptionally enlightened man for his times, keeps his roots, and returns to his people and their ways from time to time. Even as a child, he refuses to answer to the English name given to him by his foster father, and responds only to his rightful name, Nanberry.
A piece of history that we know really took place, as there are written records of it. All the characters really lived, even Nanberry about whom there are records researched and listed in the bibliography by the author, Jackie French, whose book for children 'Diary of a Wombat' has been reviewed by me earlier. She traces her mother-in-law's ancestry back to the family into which one of Andrew White's daughters married.
In an extensive afterword, she says, "All history books are detective stories, and history writers must track down information and put it together exactly as a detective does....The events in this book are as true as I can make them. The first decades of the colony were an extraordinary and fascinating time. But there comes a point where a historian and author has to say, 'I don't know'. "
"Neither the English nor the Eora understood each other. In most cases, perhaps, they didn't want to...To me, now, Nanberry (Nanbree / Nanbaree in the records found) and Andrew White seem to be the first modern Australians, triumphantly accepting both sides of their heritage."
I will be entering this review for the 2011 Global Reading Challenge under Australasia, and for the Reading the World Challenge 2011 over at Papertigers.
25 October, 2011
Violence against Women - some more books.
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| Pic courtesy flipkart |
Dear Zari
Written by Zarghuna Kargar
Published by Chatto & Windus, an imprint of Random House
The story of how this book came to be written is very similar to that of 'The Good Women of China' reviewed by me here. Zarghuna's family went as refugees to the UK after the Soviet backed government in Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. There, Zarghuna worked as a radio presenter for the Afghan Woman's Hour on BBC World Service. (Go on, click on this link to read about Zarghuna's book in her own words.)
She came across many ordinary women who told the reporters their extraordinary stories of daily struggle in a country who values its girls so little. Where boy-children are preferred, and a woman is an object of pity and malicious gossip if she does not give birth to boys. Where girls are denied an education because they are 'plants growing in the neighbour's courtyard.' Where girls as young as 10 yr-olds are given away or sold by families routinely to settle disputes or pay a debt. Or to get a bride in exchange for their son. Where girls are not educated in their own biology, but are expected to somehow know what to do when married. Where the bleeding by a woman on her wedding night is celebrated as a proof of honour, and anyone not able to give this proof or unable to give it because of an ignorance of what it is all about is hounded all her life by her in-laws and society. Where the pressure to have a boy leads some families to bring up a girl as a boy, who is treated as a boy and later a man by everyone, who is denied her feminine side all her life, although she gains in terms of freedom in society!
Zarghuna's experience with these stories motivated her enough to try and get out of her own disastrous and abusive arranged marriage.
A book worth reading. One learns so much about a country which we share a heritage with, with many similar (good and bad) traditions, and which we unfortunately do not really know much about.
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| Pic courtesy uRead.com |
Written by Mala Sen
Published by Penguin books India
Mala Sen, who passed away in May this year, was also the erstwhile author of another controversial book on the life of Phoolan Devi, based on actual interviews with the female bandit when she was in prison. That book, too, highlights the violence faced by a young phoolan Devi, and her subsequent joining of the dacoits.
In Death by Fire, Mala Sen highlights the forced burning of 18 yr Roop Kanwar on her dead husband's pyre as a sati. Something that has happened even though the practice of 'sati' has been outlawed for more than 200 years now. She also takes up the case of 'bride-burning'- a horrific form of dowry deaths - violence in the extreme that many young women have been facing.
Mala Sen takes us through the struggle she had to undertake to have people agree to speak to her about the issues, and the hostilities she had to face while researching for the book. She also tries to analyse the whys and hows of the social dynamics of the situations that she highlights, leaving us with some answers and many questions.
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| Pic courtesy flipkart.com |
Re-investigating a cultural whodunit
Written by Veena Talwar Oldenburg
Published by Penguin books India
Veena Talwar Oldenburg, a historian in the US, of Indian origin, has herself been a victim of dowry related domestic violence, which, as she puts it, "could easily have culminated in murder instead of a legally acquired divorce." She links female infanticide and foeticide to dowry deaths, the only difference being that the former are in the natal home, and the last happens usually in the marital home.
Fact one: Dowry has historically, since many centuries, been also called 'Streedhan" or the wealth of a woman, given to her by parents in lieu of her inheritance, a safety net to fall back on in hard times. This is other than the 'bride-price' given to the girl's parents in some communities.
Fact two: The communities in which the incidence of dowry deaths is high are also those that historically prefer the male child.
Fact three: During British rule in India, they passed many legislations that they thought would be more in keeping with the civilised (read western) world.
Although they did a lot of good this way by outlawing horrific practices like sati and child-marriage (which continues in pockets even now), by universalising education, etc. among others, they also unwittingly did women a disservice. They introduced individual property rights, which reduced the status of women from co-owners of shared familial property to dependents on the male members who now owned this property.
Soon the connotations of dowry as the "bride's wealth" changed to "wealth brought for us by the bride". And the ownership of this wealth naturally went to the head of the household.
The author then goes on to deduce how this unique combination of age-old customs and traditions, along with misguided legislature by 300 years of colonial rule, increased consumerism post-independence, and greed calling for competitiveness in exhorbitant expenditures in weddings and dowry, with technology helping all this along- all contribute to the continuem of selective abortions of female foetuses, killing of female babies, neglect of the female child and finally, domestic violence, both in the parents' and marital home, and finally, dowry murder.
A must read for someone working in the field of domestic violence, as also for sensitizing society to this montrous practice.
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| Pic courtesy flipkart |
Something that is addressed very well in the groundbreaking programme "The Vagina Monologues" by Eve Ensler, now published in book form.
The book I have (which I haven't read completely yet, but have browsed enough to get the essense of) is a special edition by Villard books to mark the 10yr anniversary of V-Day, the dynamic grassroots movement to end violence against women and girls. In the blurb, it says, "Witty and wise, this award winning masterpiece gives voice to real women's deepest fantasies and fears...spellbinding, funny, and almost unbearingly moving...it is both a work of art and an incisive piece of cultural history" And no, it is NOT pornographic.
Then there is this extraordinarily useful book that I have, called Body Talk.
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| Pic courtesy flipkart.com |
Written by Anjali Wason
Published by HarperCollins
Ages: 15+, young adults
Other than the expected information about biology, hormones, sexuality and feelings, this book has a useful chapter on sexual harrassment and abuse- at home, on the streets, at educational institutions and the workplace. All in a lucid, easy-to-relate-to, no nonsense way without resorting to coy euphemisms, but not in a very harsh, forbidding way, too. Perfect for the young lady about to face the world. The only lacuna is that the tone takes into account only urban, educated, upper class women, so this might not be a completely helpful books to other girls out there, poised on the brink of womanhood with dreams in their eyes.
23 March, 2011
Making sense of disasters
Natural disasters, with their magnitude of destruction, can be mind-boggling to children who can be horrified, and unable to make sense of them. Heck, we grownups cannot make any sense of them! It does help, however, to understand them, and deal with the unease they cause, (even when not directly affected) in a child sensitive to such things, if a parent can sit down and explain things to them. More so if a book dealing with the disaster can be used to explain things. It is so much easier to understand through empathising with kids of a similar age going through with and dealing with a similar situation.
There are some books that could be used for talking about the tsunami in Japan. One such is 'My Friend, the Sea' written by Sandhya Rao, published by Tulika books. This was written after the 2004 tsunami that affected the eastern coast of India.
Another beautiful book, is 'The Big Wave'. I read this book a while ago, but it has stayed with me, and it is currently at the top of my mind. A children's book by the Pulitzer prize winner for her book 'The Good Earth', Pearl S. Buck, also a Nobel prize winner, literature, in 1938. She was the daughter of missionary parents, and was born in China, spending most of her childhood and youth in China and Japan.
THE BIG WAVE
Written by Pearl S. Buck
Published by HarperCollins
Ages 9-12 yrs
Jiya and Kino were friends who lived in Japan. Kino was a farmer's son, and lived on a farm high up the slope of a mountain. A mountain, moreover, that was a volcano a very long, long time ago. His father always told him that they would be in danger if the volcano ever erupted again.
From his home, he could look down upon the big, blue ocean, near which was a fishing village where his friend Jiya, the son of a fisherman lived. Jiya had a house very near the sea, but had no window looking out to the sea. Kino could not understand this, as the ocean seemed very beautiful to him. Also, the fishermen are dependent on the sea for their very livelihood. Jiya however, does not agree with him, and tells him that his father says that the ocean is a grave danger.
Neither boy can quite understand the other's outlook. Until one day, an undersea volcano erupts and triggers off a massive tsunami- the big wave.
What happens next? How do both Jiya and Kino deal with their loss?
A wonderfully written book for young readers, which answers many questions that might occur to them about the tsunami and disasters in general. Pearl S. Buck's distinctive style is apparent even in this children's book, and we get a wonderful sense of atmosphere, learning a lot about the people that she knows so much about. In the boys' coming to terms with and dealing with the calamity, we learn a lot about this terrible force of nature that can annihilate in seconds.
Winner of the 'Child Study Association's Children's Book Award'.
Crossposted on Saffrontree.
There are some books that could be used for talking about the tsunami in Japan. One such is 'My Friend, the Sea' written by Sandhya Rao, published by Tulika books. This was written after the 2004 tsunami that affected the eastern coast of India.
Another beautiful book, is 'The Big Wave'. I read this book a while ago, but it has stayed with me, and it is currently at the top of my mind. A children's book by the Pulitzer prize winner for her book 'The Good Earth', Pearl S. Buck, also a Nobel prize winner, literature, in 1938. She was the daughter of missionary parents, and was born in China, spending most of her childhood and youth in China and Japan.
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| Pic courtesy flipkart |
THE BIG WAVE
Written by Pearl S. Buck
Published by HarperCollins
Ages 9-12 yrs
Jiya and Kino were friends who lived in Japan. Kino was a farmer's son, and lived on a farm high up the slope of a mountain. A mountain, moreover, that was a volcano a very long, long time ago. His father always told him that they would be in danger if the volcano ever erupted again.
From his home, he could look down upon the big, blue ocean, near which was a fishing village where his friend Jiya, the son of a fisherman lived. Jiya had a house very near the sea, but had no window looking out to the sea. Kino could not understand this, as the ocean seemed very beautiful to him. Also, the fishermen are dependent on the sea for their very livelihood. Jiya however, does not agree with him, and tells him that his father says that the ocean is a grave danger.
Neither boy can quite understand the other's outlook. Until one day, an undersea volcano erupts and triggers off a massive tsunami- the big wave.
What happens next? How do both Jiya and Kino deal with their loss?
A wonderfully written book for young readers, which answers many questions that might occur to them about the tsunami and disasters in general. Pearl S. Buck's distinctive style is apparent even in this children's book, and we get a wonderful sense of atmosphere, learning a lot about the people that she knows so much about. In the boys' coming to terms with and dealing with the calamity, we learn a lot about this terrible force of nature that can annihilate in seconds.
Winner of the 'Child Study Association's Children's Book Award'.
Crossposted on Saffrontree.
27 October, 2010
With love from Down Under
This saturday evening I took A down under to play. Since the next day was a holiday, she could spend that extra bit of time with her friends unlike during the school week. I took my book with me as usual, and spent a happy 2 hours catching up with my reading at my usual place.
So what's new? Why this post? Well, when we came back, there was a large parcel waiting for us. A large, brown paper package that looked as if it contained...A BOOK! I looked at the postage stamp- from Australia! With the words fishpond.com.au written all over it.
Wow! I had been waiting for this parcel for some time now, since I received a mail from Catherine Way, who blogs about the adventures she has with her two boys at her home on a "5-acre block of land" in Australia. We had been assigned to be partners by Zoe at Playing by the book to swap picture books.
A quickly made short work of opening the parcel and WOW! Out came a book I had earlier read about, but not got my hands on. A piece of Australia, about an animal native to that continent. It was read by A with a lot of giggles.
Ages 4+
Mothball is a wombat. A very busy wombat. After all, she has to sleep, eat, scratch, eat grass, and most importantly-train the humans she lives with to provide enough carrots for her to crunch. For grass all the time is soooo boring! So what if there is a door which stops her from entering the house in search of carrots? The only way is to chew a hole in the door to get in!
And how tiresome that the humans board up the hole! Now what does a wombat do? Well, Mothball just proceeds to battle with everything possible till she gets her carrots. The doormat "(Discovered flat, hairy creature invading my territory. Fought major battle with flat, hairy creature.)", the dustbin, ransacking shopping bags, Until she discovers that a whole lot of lovely, sweet, crunchy carrots can be got by digging them up from the garden. Gorged on until she gets bored of them, too.
So now what? Now mothball feels like rolled oats. And proceeds to train her humans to give her rolled oats. And carrots too!
Inference by a wombat? "Have decided that humans are easily trained and made quite good pets."
A lovely picture book, that was much enjoyed by the 9 yr old. Read and re-read over the past few days. We searched and found the real story of Mothball, the story behind Diary of a Wombat. As endearing as the book. We learned a lot about this very endearing animal native to Australia along the way.
There was a lot of laughter as A and I drew parallels between the way Mothball apparently trains her humans and the way children apparently train their parents to heed all their needs, all the while that parents feel that they are training their children in something that the child needs to learn. It is, after all, a two-way street, isn't it?
The book is winner of the Booksellers' Choice Award, and a Children's Book Council of Australia Honour Book. We have been indeed honoured to receive such a wonderful book. Thanks, Catherine!
And the book that we have sent to Catherine and her two boys? Well, I won't give it away, as I don't want to spoil the surprise for them. All I will say here is that it is a piece of India, my country, that we have sent them, and something that I am sure her boys will enjoy!
So what's new? Why this post? Well, when we came back, there was a large parcel waiting for us. A large, brown paper package that looked as if it contained...A BOOK! I looked at the postage stamp- from Australia! With the words fishpond.com.au written all over it.
Wow! I had been waiting for this parcel for some time now, since I received a mail from Catherine Way, who blogs about the adventures she has with her two boys at her home on a "5-acre block of land" in Australia. We had been assigned to be partners by Zoe at Playing by the book to swap picture books. |
| Pic Courtesy jackiefrench.com |
DIARY OF A WOMBAT
Written by Jackie French
Illustrated by Bruce Whatley
Published by Angus & Robertson, an imprint of HarperCollins.Ages 4+
Mothball is a wombat. A very busy wombat. After all, she has to sleep, eat, scratch, eat grass, and most importantly-train the humans she lives with to provide enough carrots for her to crunch. For grass all the time is soooo boring! So what if there is a door which stops her from entering the house in search of carrots? The only way is to chew a hole in the door to get in!
And how tiresome that the humans board up the hole! Now what does a wombat do? Well, Mothball just proceeds to battle with everything possible till she gets her carrots. The doormat "(Discovered flat, hairy creature invading my territory. Fought major battle with flat, hairy creature.)", the dustbin, ransacking shopping bags, Until she discovers that a whole lot of lovely, sweet, crunchy carrots can be got by digging them up from the garden. Gorged on until she gets bored of them, too.
So now what? Now mothball feels like rolled oats. And proceeds to train her humans to give her rolled oats. And carrots too!
Inference by a wombat? "Have decided that humans are easily trained and made quite good pets."
A lovely picture book, that was much enjoyed by the 9 yr old. Read and re-read over the past few days. We searched and found the real story of Mothball, the story behind Diary of a Wombat. As endearing as the book. We learned a lot about this very endearing animal native to Australia along the way.
There was a lot of laughter as A and I drew parallels between the way Mothball apparently trains her humans and the way children apparently train their parents to heed all their needs, all the while that parents feel that they are training their children in something that the child needs to learn. It is, after all, a two-way street, isn't it?
The book is winner of the Booksellers' Choice Award, and a Children's Book Council of Australia Honour Book. We have been indeed honoured to receive such a wonderful book. Thanks, Catherine!
And the book that we have sent to Catherine and her two boys? Well, I won't give it away, as I don't want to spoil the surprise for them. All I will say here is that it is a piece of India, my country, that we have sent them, and something that I am sure her boys will enjoy!
23 June, 2010
Of Spies and Writers
Just finished reading HARRIET THE SPY. The first time I heard of the book was in a discussion with a friend. I liked the name, and it stuck. As usual, I took to scanning shelves at the library and bookstores for it, but soon realised that it was not available anywhere but at Flipkart. I was seriously considering buying it, as it had become like the proverbial itch that had to be scratched. Then the same friend told me that she had borrowed it from their library, Hippocampus. Since we already had plans of changing over our membership to Hippocampus, I decided to be patient and hold on. And hold on we did, for many impatient weeks.
In the meantime, we found out that the book had been made into a film. The film features Michelle Tractenberg in the central role, and was made in 1996. There was a screening on TV which we missed. Now this eminently watchable actress had last been seen by us in a Disney movie called Ice Princess. Another one of those "makeover" stories, made in 2005. She was wonderful in this movie, and I would recommend it to anyone for its strong female characters, wonderful acting, feel-good factor and some breathtaking ice-skating sequences. So Michelle Tractenberg would have been in her early teens when she made "Harriet the Spy." Just the right age for our 11year old Harriet. Now all I had to do was to read the book, and then search out the movie and Watch it.
Let me digress here a bit. There have been a lot of books that have been made into movies over the whole of movie history. Most people prefer to sit through a few hours of the movie and enjoy it rather than read the book. I know of many of A's friends who have watched the whole Harry Potter series on screen, but not held a single one of the books in their hand, leave alone read any. If that is not blasphemeous, (in my view) what is? J.K.Rowling's work has revived most children's interest in the printed word. Her book releases have had all the hysteria of a sold-out rock concert, and she has enchanted children and adults alike. Her work and its aftermath deserves a whole post on its own. Shall do it some other time.
I feel that reading a book unfetters one's imagination. You are free to imagine the characters in any way you want. A movie, on the other hand, has its limits as everything has been pre-digested and characterised. There is also the limitation of the time in which the whole story has to be told. Going back to the Harry Potter series, it is my opinion that the movies do not do complete justice to the books. There is so much more in the books that has to be edited out, and sometimes there are additions out of context which completely alter the original flavour of the books. Maybe I'm being a purist here, but Rowling's work is so complete in itself that it shouldn't be tampered with. It is just wonderful how all her dots connect perfectly.
OK. Point well made. Read the book before you watch the movie. Wherever possible. Let me come back to the topic at at hand before I go off on a complete tangent. Which is the book we are reviewing.
HARRIET THE SPY.
Written and illustrated by Loise Fitzhugh.
Cover art by Michael Deas.
This edition published by HarperCollins.
Ages 8-13 yrs.
Image :Courtesy Amazon.
Harriet M. Welsch is a very smart 11 yr old. She has a way with words, and follows a "spy-route" everyday after school, complete with a notebook in which she jots down every little thing she observes. Even at school, she is ruthless about what she writes down about her classmates, her best friends Sport and Janie included. There is a raw truthfulness to her observations, the kind children indulge in when they are not used to guilding of any kind. She is amply encouraged by her nanny, "Old Golly," who has realised the potential in her charge. She encourages her to observe, analyse and write down about everything that she sees or hears. The first stepping stone to becoming a great writer. Harriet does not quite look at it in those terms, but does have "becoming a writer" in her list of aspirations. Old Golly herself is an avid reader, and quotes often and at every possible occasion.
Then one day, she leaves to get married. Harriet is, in her opinion now old enough to take care of herself. Soon after that, disaster strikes, when Harriet loses her notebook in a game of tag. Her classmates read aloud all the uncomplimentary truths about themselves, and boycott her. Harriet reacts like a typical pre-teen by getting back at them by playing some nasty tricks, writing even more ugly things in another book, not going to school and behaving very badly at home with her worried parents, who do not understand how to handle their daughter. Her notebook is taken away at school, when the matter is noticed by the teachers. That really brings matters to a head.
"She didn't care anymore about signing her name, and she got no pleasure from the work she did, but she did it. Everything bored her. She found that when she didn't have a notebook it was hard for her to think. The thoughts came slowly, as though they had to squeeze through a tiny door to get to her, whereas when she wrote, they flowed out faster than she could put them down. She sat very stupidly with a blank mind until finally 'I feel different' came slowly into her head.''
Harriet rebels and blocks everyone out, including her parents. She is like a cornered animal, hitting out at anyone and anything. Her world has turned on its head and nothing makes sense anymore. All she wants is to get Old Golly back and cries for her in her sleep.
To their credit, her parents do the right thing and decide to get help before matters escalate. They set up an appointment with a psychologist, who tells them that nothing is actually wrong with Harriet, and that she is actually an extraordinarily intelligent and articulate young lady, whose talent for observation and penmanship is to be nurtured and channelised, and not quashed.
So what happens next? How does Harriet get back all that she has lost? Does she really get it all back or does something change? What happens vis-a-vis Old Golly? What about her friends and classmates? Does she make up for the hurtful things that she has said and done? What does she learn from the whole thing?
There are some wonderful things that are written to Harriet by Old Golly in a letter that she sends her. Knowing that Harriet can be painfully truthful, she writes, "Little lies that make people feel better are not bad, like thanking someone for a meal they made even if you hated it, or telling a sick person they look better when they don't,.....Remember that writing is to put love in the world, not to use against your friends. But to yourself you must always tell the truth."
Another aspect that the writer has dealt with, which is like a sub-plot is Harriet's puzzling over 'matters of the heart' after she realises that Old Golly has a boy-friend. She tries to speak to her mother about it..."what does it feel like when you meet the person you're going to marry?...I'm not worried." Harriet squirmed around. What am I? she wondered. Just curious. "I just wondered what it felt like," she said, sulking slightly.
That evening, after feeling that Old Golly was behaving very unlike herself, she wrote in her notebook, "There is more to this thing of love than meets the eye. I am going to have to think about this a great deal but I don't think it will get me anywhere. I think maybe they're all right when they say there are some things I won't know anything about until I'm older. But if it makes you like to eat all kinds of wurst (when you don't really like them) I'm not sure I'm going to like this." Very astute and very articulate for an eleven year old.
So now I am going to look out for the movie and enjoy Michelle Tractenberg's excellent acting. And what about A? She is next in line for the book. She will be done with it long before I can get the movie.
In the meantime, we found out that the book had been made into a film. The film features Michelle Tractenberg in the central role, and was made in 1996. There was a screening on TV which we missed. Now this eminently watchable actress had last been seen by us in a Disney movie called Ice Princess. Another one of those "makeover" stories, made in 2005. She was wonderful in this movie, and I would recommend it to anyone for its strong female characters, wonderful acting, feel-good factor and some breathtaking ice-skating sequences. So Michelle Tractenberg would have been in her early teens when she made "Harriet the Spy." Just the right age for our 11year old Harriet. Now all I had to do was to read the book, and then search out the movie and Watch it.
Let me digress here a bit. There have been a lot of books that have been made into movies over the whole of movie history. Most people prefer to sit through a few hours of the movie and enjoy it rather than read the book. I know of many of A's friends who have watched the whole Harry Potter series on screen, but not held a single one of the books in their hand, leave alone read any. If that is not blasphemeous, (in my view) what is? J.K.Rowling's work has revived most children's interest in the printed word. Her book releases have had all the hysteria of a sold-out rock concert, and she has enchanted children and adults alike. Her work and its aftermath deserves a whole post on its own. Shall do it some other time.
I feel that reading a book unfetters one's imagination. You are free to imagine the characters in any way you want. A movie, on the other hand, has its limits as everything has been pre-digested and characterised. There is also the limitation of the time in which the whole story has to be told. Going back to the Harry Potter series, it is my opinion that the movies do not do complete justice to the books. There is so much more in the books that has to be edited out, and sometimes there are additions out of context which completely alter the original flavour of the books. Maybe I'm being a purist here, but Rowling's work is so complete in itself that it shouldn't be tampered with. It is just wonderful how all her dots connect perfectly.
OK. Point well made. Read the book before you watch the movie. Wherever possible. Let me come back to the topic at at hand before I go off on a complete tangent. Which is the book we are reviewing.
Written and illustrated by Loise Fitzhugh.
Cover art by Michael Deas.
This edition published by HarperCollins.
Ages 8-13 yrs.
Image :Courtesy Amazon.
Harriet M. Welsch is a very smart 11 yr old. She has a way with words, and follows a "spy-route" everyday after school, complete with a notebook in which she jots down every little thing she observes. Even at school, she is ruthless about what she writes down about her classmates, her best friends Sport and Janie included. There is a raw truthfulness to her observations, the kind children indulge in when they are not used to guilding of any kind. She is amply encouraged by her nanny, "Old Golly," who has realised the potential in her charge. She encourages her to observe, analyse and write down about everything that she sees or hears. The first stepping stone to becoming a great writer. Harriet does not quite look at it in those terms, but does have "becoming a writer" in her list of aspirations. Old Golly herself is an avid reader, and quotes often and at every possible occasion.
Then one day, she leaves to get married. Harriet is, in her opinion now old enough to take care of herself. Soon after that, disaster strikes, when Harriet loses her notebook in a game of tag. Her classmates read aloud all the uncomplimentary truths about themselves, and boycott her. Harriet reacts like a typical pre-teen by getting back at them by playing some nasty tricks, writing even more ugly things in another book, not going to school and behaving very badly at home with her worried parents, who do not understand how to handle their daughter. Her notebook is taken away at school, when the matter is noticed by the teachers. That really brings matters to a head.
"She didn't care anymore about signing her name, and she got no pleasure from the work she did, but she did it. Everything bored her. She found that when she didn't have a notebook it was hard for her to think. The thoughts came slowly, as though they had to squeeze through a tiny door to get to her, whereas when she wrote, they flowed out faster than she could put them down. She sat very stupidly with a blank mind until finally 'I feel different' came slowly into her head.''
Harriet rebels and blocks everyone out, including her parents. She is like a cornered animal, hitting out at anyone and anything. Her world has turned on its head and nothing makes sense anymore. All she wants is to get Old Golly back and cries for her in her sleep.
To their credit, her parents do the right thing and decide to get help before matters escalate. They set up an appointment with a psychologist, who tells them that nothing is actually wrong with Harriet, and that she is actually an extraordinarily intelligent and articulate young lady, whose talent for observation and penmanship is to be nurtured and channelised, and not quashed.
So what happens next? How does Harriet get back all that she has lost? Does she really get it all back or does something change? What happens vis-a-vis Old Golly? What about her friends and classmates? Does she make up for the hurtful things that she has said and done? What does she learn from the whole thing?
There are some wonderful things that are written to Harriet by Old Golly in a letter that she sends her. Knowing that Harriet can be painfully truthful, she writes, "Little lies that make people feel better are not bad, like thanking someone for a meal they made even if you hated it, or telling a sick person they look better when they don't,.....Remember that writing is to put love in the world, not to use against your friends. But to yourself you must always tell the truth."
Another aspect that the writer has dealt with, which is like a sub-plot is Harriet's puzzling over 'matters of the heart' after she realises that Old Golly has a boy-friend. She tries to speak to her mother about it..."what does it feel like when you meet the person you're going to marry?...I'm not worried." Harriet squirmed around. What am I? she wondered. Just curious. "I just wondered what it felt like," she said, sulking slightly.
That evening, after feeling that Old Golly was behaving very unlike herself, she wrote in her notebook, "There is more to this thing of love than meets the eye. I am going to have to think about this a great deal but I don't think it will get me anywhere. I think maybe they're all right when they say there are some things I won't know anything about until I'm older. But if it makes you like to eat all kinds of wurst (when you don't really like them) I'm not sure I'm going to like this." Very astute and very articulate for an eleven year old.
So now I am going to look out for the movie and enjoy Michelle Tractenberg's excellent acting. And what about A? She is next in line for the book. She will be done with it long before I can get the movie.
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