I Feel Bad About Why I Liked "Bamboo People"

I have this feeling that I should have liked Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins because it dealt with young people from a culture unfamiliar to me who overcome dire problems. I should be sensitive to all that.

Instead, I liked Bamboo People because the first half is a mash-up of a young people from a culture unfamiliar to me with dire problems story and a traditional prison camp tale. Okay, technically the characters are in the Burmese military. But their training site is like a prison camp. You've got your evil commandant, your friendly guard, your inmates who suck up to those in power, your clever, street-smart guy who often saves situations. Anyone else hear the theme music to Hogan's Heroes? On top of that, the young Burmese men being trained in their military's camp were, shall we say, impressed into service, similar to the way the British impressed male citizens into serving in their navy before the nineteenth century. Chiko, our main character, certainly seemed imprisoned.

I was disappointed at the mid-point when bookish, educated young Chiko gets out of the prison--I mean, training--camp. At that point, Bamboo People became a mash-up of a young people from a culture unfamiliar to me in dire circumstances story and a traditional war story. Chiko is still there, but he's now a secondary character in a new guy's account of his war experience.

You could say that the two parts of the book are two sides of the same story about conflict in Burma, with the young main characters not having a lot of control over their parts in what is happening.

Bamboo People would be a good book to offer students as a reading option for world studies classes, because young readers may find themselves hooked by the same aspects of the book that hooked me.

As an aside, last week I discussed in my NaNoWriMo workshop how creating friends for a main character can help a writer develop plot. I used Chiko's two friends in Bamboo People as an example.

Another aside: I feel so worldly after reading this book, because I now know that Burma and Myanmar are the same place. Also, since reading this book, I've been seeing references to Myanmar or Burma over and over again. It looks as if one of my Facebook friends is there now.


 

This Is Going To Encourage Me In A Not Very Good Way

One of the first things Mitali Perkins did after moving to California was hit a studio to record an intro for an audio book. She did an excellent post at her blog describing the experience.

I, of course, picked up on a minute detail and got carried away with it. Mitali described her history with reading aloud, including "...when I read in church, I strive for reverence and excellence..." I had to stop there and ponder my own sad attitude toward my moments at the pulpit. I read in church once or twice a year, and I tend to treat each trip to the front of the sanctuary as an opportunity to up my public reading game. Which, I guess, isn't exactly reverent.

I focus on using a little theatricality to convey meaning, which, of course, means I have to understand the passage in the first place. This can sometimes mean e-mailing the minister to say, "What the heck, Bob?" The version of the Bible my church uses has an on-line site where I can download the passage I'm reading and enlarge the text. Seriously, I mark it up for pronunciation and note spots I want to emphasize. I rehearse for a day or two ahead of time. Unless I'm really pressed for prep time, I try to be comfortable enough with the text so that I can periodically look up and appear to be making eye contact with audience members--I mean members of the congregation. That's why I like to read from the enlarged text I downloaded from the Internet instead of the pew Bible. The larger text means I'm less likely to lose my place after I've looked up at my listeners

I don't really worry a lot about going over the top with these performances because we're supposed to be a Christian community and be supportive of one another, right? Plus, if you end up reading in the summer, as I sometimes do, there's hardly anyone there to care. On top of that, I figure if the deacons don't like what I do, they'll have a board meeting and vote not to ask me back. Since I don't take offense easily, that's not a source of anxiety for me.

I suspect that now that I've read about Mitali's trip to the studio and I know that writers sometimes record audio for their own books, I will behave even worse in church.

I Know A Judge!

The judges for The Battle of the Kids' Books have been announced, and I actually know one. And I don't mean I actually know her in the sense that we have commented on each other's blogs or Facebook walls. No, I mean I've actually been in the same room with her. And I don't mean I've actually been in the same room with her the way I've actually been in the same room with Richard Peck, who is also a judge this year. No, I mean we were actually in the same room, and we actually spoke to each other. I was in the same room with Richard Peck, but he did all the speaking from the stage.

A Meet And Greet

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Massachusetts School Library Association Author Fest, which was part of the organization's conference. We were in the vendor's hall, which was like a trade show for librarians. In addition to a cash bar, which is always greatly appreciated, this group also had a live band. A good time was had by all.

I learned that The Hero of Ticonderoga has been on some reading lists in Massachusetts, which was very good news, and that A Girl, a Boy, and a Monster Cat is making its way into a number of libraries. Happy Kid! is also known by Massachusetts librarians. So I am a happy author today.

I also met a bunch of people. Many librarians, of course, but some writers, too.

First and foremost (and first, really, because she was the first person to greet me when I arrived--we both still had our coats on), was the kidlitosphere's own Mitali Perkins. Mitali and I kind of know each other in that weird way we have here on the Internet of knowing people we've never actually met in the flesh. But it turns out that knowing someone in cyberspace really is knowing someone because Mitali and I were just off and running as if we talk together all the time.

Seated in front of me at the cute little author tables was Beatrice Gormley who does a lot of nonfiction but also has a new historical novel out. I also met Marcella Pixley who has just published her first book, Freak.

At dinner I sat next to the very neat author/illustrators Mary Newell DePalma and Anna Alter. As it turns out, Anna is one of the Blue Rose Girls. She has also designed a snowflake for Robert's Snow: For Cancer's Cure that was featured at The Longstockings on November 3. Mary has also done a Robert's Snowflake, and, as luck would have it, it will be featured at Wild Rose Reader this Thursday.

These women were great to eat dinner with. Illustration is a really interesting topic for dinner conversation. I'll be repeating a lot of what they had to say to my sister-in-law during Thanksgiving dinner.

Actually, my entire MSLA experience will probably be my subject for social conversation right through the holidays. Thank God I was invited.

Another Great Way To Start The Day

On Monday I started my work day by reading The Essentials of Plot by Cheryl Klein. Today I started by reading Mitali Perkins' article for School Library Journal, No Place Like Home.

Excellent.

Mitali's essay begins with the premise that teenagers who are moving between cultures like to read books with a strong sense of place. Any place. It's an interesting point, but now that she's brought it up, I wonder if it isn't true of all kinds of teenagers. They're all in transition, anyway, moving from childhood to adulthood.

At any rate, as I was reading along, I thought, Gee, Kiki Strike, which I just finished reading, had a strong sense of place. Lo and behold, Mitali used that very book as an example while explaining techniques used to describe a setting.

What's more, she also provides an excellent theory for Harry Potter's popularity. Those are not my favorite books, but, yeah, I think she makes a good point regarding them.

No Place Like Home doesn't just have a lot of interesting content. It's also very well-written in a traditional essay format. I think it might be an excellent example for teachers teaching essay writing skills to middle and high school students, since you'd think they'd be interested in the subject.