Book Blog Tour: Wing of the Locust Week 3

The Book Blog Tour for Wing of the Locust closes this week on its third roundup. Here is a review of the book bloggers and vloggers who participated in the blog tour. Click on each link to read up on their thoughts and responses on Wing of the Locust.

Book Blog Tour Introduction: Wing of the Locust

Week 1 - Book Blog Roundup

Week 2 - Book Blog Roundup

Wing of the Locust is a masterpiece on its own and as I have said in my review, a sequel is something readers are looking forward to. Also, this coming of age young adult novel has a place in book clubs and in the Language Arts classroom. I have recommended activities for school librarians and teachers who will pick this book up for their class or reading group.

Choose any of the 3 Pre-Reading Activities 

1. Activate readers' prior knowledge by showing a pre-colonial map of the Philippines focusing on the province of Laguna, especially the town of Cabuyao. Compare this to a current map of Laguna. Ask students for their impressions, curiosities and questions about the two documents. Have students write these down in a common board or JamBoard. Make students choose three questions from the list and assign them to find out answers based on sources they find online or in the library. Be sure to require citations or a bibliography. Share findings next meeting.

2. Introduce the hierarchy of pre-colonial Philippines. Discuss the relevance of this social status during the time and how it is still present in modern day Philippines.

3. Build background knowledge on the mambabarang by having students do a close reading of a text about them. 

During Reading - Try a Literary Circle with your readers. It is a collaborative reading response activity that provides agency among and between readers. I have put together useful links for resources and lesson plans on Literary Circle.

What is a Literature Circle?

 Literature Circles: Role Cards

Literature Circles: Lesson Plan

Post Reading Activity 

1. Conduct an Author Visit.

2. Write a book review.

3. Do a book blog tour within the class or the reading group. 

Feel free to try one, any of the recommended activities , or all of it! Have fun reading the Wing of the Locust and have more fun responding and engaging with other readers.

Currently Reading: Wing of the Locust

Tingnan ang post na ito sa Instagram

Isang post na ibinahagi ni Zarah Gagatiga (@zarah815)

Book Blog Tour: Wing of the Locust

We are anticipating the release of Joel Donato Ching'Jacob's Wing of the Locust by Scholastic Asia on December 15, 2020. Just look at the gorgeous book cover!

Scholastic Asia has this to say about the book.

Wing of the Locust by Filipino author Joel Donato Ching Jacob will  soon enchant fans of fantasy and folklore, in a powerfully imaginative tale set in pre-Hispanic Philippines. The novel is  published by Scholastic Asia,a subsidiary of Scholastic Inc., the world’s largest children’s book publisher and distributor known  for its phenomenal bestsellers such as the Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series. 

In the novel’s journey, the Wing of the Locust manuscript was crowned as winner of the 2018 Scholastic Asian Book Award  (SABA) that honored the best of Asian writing in English by creators of Asian origins. 

And so, we are once again having a Book Blog Tour to be participated by these wonderful book bloggers and vloggers. 

KB of Book Bed

Teacher Gerald

The Random Bibliophile

Yna the Mood Reader

Your Tita Kate

Xi Zuq's Nook 

I am so amazed at the book vlogs they have I might begin one soon!

Lastly, you can place an advanced order of Wing of the Locust in Dear Books. So head on there and make a reservation!

2016 NCBD: Bumasa at Lumaya 2 Blog Tour Round Up

Here's a round up of posts from bloggers who joined in the Bumasa and Lumaya 2 Blog Tour.

Award winning writer, Xi Zuq, featured Eugene Evasco's essay on the State of Philippine Children's Literature (2012-2013).  

Author and Young Adult reader, Mina Esguerra interviewed Ms. Carla Pacis and Mr. Rayvi Sunico on their piece, Filling the Gap: Young Adult Literature in the Philippines. From her interview with Sunico and Pacis, it looks like the conversation on everything Young Adult Literature in the Philippines today will continue between them.  

I did an interview for Josephine Litonjua and you can read my confessions over at her blog, Cinderella Stories.

That's three bloggers and there are seven more to go!

For now, let me remind you that the launching of Bumasa and Lumaya volume 2 (Anvil, 2016) will take place during the National Children's Book Day (NCBD) Book Fair in Xavier School San Juan on Saturday, July 23, 2016. The launch is at 9AM. Expect the authors and contributors to be present, as well as the editors and publisher of the book. At 10.30AM, the PBBY Children's Litearture Talks begin while the NCBD Book Fair runs all day from 8AM till 5PM.

Bring a book bag for your book purchases! Come with full batteries in your phones and bring a charger. Dare to ask for selfies from your favorite authors. Request for signatures. Have fun at the fair!

Bumasa at Lumaya Blog Tour: July 17 - 23, 2016

Bumasa at Lumaya Vol. 2 A Source Book on Children's Literature in the Philippines (Anvil Publishing, 2016) will be launched during the National Children's Book Day (NCBD) Book Fair! I am proud to have a contribution to this collection wherein I wrote about the setting up and organization of school libraries and reading centers. The NCBD Book Fair is on July 23, 2016, Saturday at Xavier School San Juan. The book fair gates will open at 7.30AM, registration is at 8AM and at 9AM, the book launch begins!

In line with the launch, I am hosting a blog tour of the book here in School Librarian in Action. Below are the bloggers and their scheduled postings.

1. Zarah C. Gagatiga of School Librarian In Action will do a book review and chapter feature on July 20.
2. Tarie Sabido of Asia in the Heart World on the Mind will do a book review.
3. MJ Tumamac of Xi Zuq's Nook has written an introduction of the blog tour. He will post a chapter feature on his blog on July 18.
4. Blooey Singson of Bookmarked will post a review on July 18.
5. Cris Tanjutco Ngo of Teacher's Pet will post a chapter feature on July 18.
6. Mina Esguerra of Publishing in Pajamas will post a contributor and editor interview (Carla Pacis and Rayvi Sunico) on July 18.
7. Cassandra Javier of She Flies With Faeries will post a contributor interview on July 22.
8. Josephine Litonjua of Cinderella Stories will post a contributor interview (Zarah C. Gagatiga) on July 22.
9. Jord Irving Gadingan of Tsa-Tsub! will post a review.
10. Collaborative Bloggers and Readers of Bookbed will post an interview.

Filipino Friday: Surprise, Reader!

This is already a tradition. If there's a Filipino ReaderCon, expect a Filipino Friday a month before the conference begins.

Surprise, Reader! Hello, it’s the first week of Filipino Fridays 2014! Whether it’s your first time to participate or not, tell us a bit about yourself. More specifically, tell us about your favorite book discoveries for this year. Any author you have started reading this year that you can’t get enough of? A book you didn’t think you’d like, but you ended up liking/loving? Any book series that you just have to get your hands on? Have you discovered anything new from Filipino authors this year?

 So, here goes.

My 2014 reading year can be described in one word: ROMANCE. Thanks to Tarie Sabido for introducing me to Rainbow Rowell. After reading Eleanor and Park, I read Fangirl, Attachments and Landline.

Another joyful reading discovery is Sophie Divry's The Library of Unrequited Love. The librarian narrator is sarcastic, snotty and very French. I read a book by a Malaysian author this year as well. Tan Kwan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mist is sentimental but honest. I love the language and the dreamy narration of the main character. When it comes to the brutal parts (setting is World War 2 in the Asia Pacific), the author's elegant handling of language cushioned me to safer landings. Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking is a memoir I thought I wouldn't like. But her way of making meaning about death afforded me a mirroring of my own relationship with my husband and my perception of life in general. It is one of those books that will grow on you as you read along.

This year I got hooked on reading more ebooks too. I have a slew of erotic romance novels saved in my Kindle reader. Cora Seton, JA Huss and Melanie Shawn are but a few of my favorite reads. As for Filipiniana titles, I loved Shine by Candy Gourlay; thrilled over Edgar Samar's Janus Silang although I stopped somewhere in chapter 4 to give in to my kids' demands that they read it first; and right now, I am falling in love with Nick Joaquin all over again. Gotita De Dragon, an anthology of his short stories, is my kind of magic realism.

Until next Filipino Friday!

Blog Tour: Guardians of Tradition

In case you missed it, there's a blog tour on this fantastic non-fiction book written by a friend of mine, Mae Astrid Tobias. Her book, Guardians of Tradition: Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan, is being reviewed and featured in these blogs:

KUTING-mate Agay on Agay is a Girl

Mina V. Esguerra on Publishing in Pajamas

Sol on The Belle of A Boulevard

Monique on Marginalia

In case you've not purchased a copy yet for your library, head on to the Adarna House website for orders!

The 3rd Filipino ReaderCon

It's back!

And it looks like the organizers are reformatting this year's program. But they're keeping the Reader's Choice Awards! Happiness!

 

 

Nomination guidelines can be read here. If you're a Filipino book blogger and you have not registered, go here.

Happy reading! Happy book blogging!

Mabuhay ang mambabasang Pinoy!

Filipino Friday 2012: Introduction

This was supposedly a post for yesterday. Time is just not enough for blogging these days and tech problems delayed my updates in the blog. Despite it all, here goes my post for this year's Filipino Friday.

There are two books that surprised me this year: the 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy and the Trese series.

EL James' trilogy is surprising because, it did not go through the traditional process of publication. It started out online as fan fiction. The material found its way to ebook publishing and then finally to print publication. This is how publishing has changed. Thanks to technology. Word of caution: the process did not guarantee quality content nor literary value.

Now I go to Trese. Oh. My. God. The storyline is engaging. The storytelling, more so. The illustrations lend enough visual metaphor for the reader to fill the imagination with wonderment. Combining the tales and "alamat" of the past with the everyday stories any Pinoy encounters is a fantastic concept. Looking forward to the next issue of Trese!

I know this entry is very brief as I am merely stealing some blogging time. I'm hoping to do a more extensive review on Trese soon as it deserves more than a paragraph of hurried impressions. And of course, a better written Filipino Friday entry next week.

The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon: United We Read

The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon: United We Read is on August 18, 2012 at the Filipinas Heritage Library, Makati City, held in partnership with Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL) and National Book Development Board (NBDB). 

For details of the program, you can visit the site. Just click the highlighted link. What makes this different from last year's ReaderCon is the launching of the Filipino Reader' Choice Awards (FRCA). From the blog, the Filipino RCA seeks to

engage the Filipino reading public in honoring their favorite Philippine-published titles. An initiative of the Filipino Book Bloggers Group, the Filipino RCA was established to develop awareness and appreciation of Philippine literature; recognize the reader’s role in creating the meaning and experience of a literary work; and give the readers a voice in the Philippine book industry.

Nomination forms are available online. What I like about this award is that, it is the reader, or for this matter, the collective Pinoy reader who makes the choice. I'm excited to know who the winners will be in the categories that the organizers conjured:

• Children’s picture book
• Chick lit
• Novel in English
• Novel in Filipino
• Comics / Graphic novels
• Short story anthology
• Essay anthology
• Poetry 

 In light of this event, yes, I am delighted because readers should respond actively on the books and materials that they engage in and encounter. The exercise promotes thinking. Engagement in book discussions and book talks affect the creative process of book making. Then again, how I wish school librarians can also begin an activity like this. Or, perhaps, as "keepers" of books and information, school librarians can set up small book award events in their learning communities as a way to celebrate reading, bringing books closer to children and teens. 

SR Ranganathan's law, books are for use, stands on firm legs in this digital age.