Book Project Update: Filipino Folk Stories for Children

 In the first quarter of 2022, my friend and colleaugue, Jose "Ouie" Badelles signed with Tuttle Publishing for a book project with a working title of Filipino Folk Stories for Children. It is a compilation of seven folk stories with notes and activitiy sheets. It is a collection we intend to share with readers young and old, especially to families of Filipino descent who are based abroad.

Today, I was able to finish all seven stories. Ang sarap ng feeling! I will rest for a few days and move on to writing the remaining parts of the book.

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New Book Project: Philippine Folktales Reimagined

In April, I began a new adventure. 

A new door has opened. 

Although I will be traversing a familiar road, I am traveling this route ten years after my first book published in the US was released to the global market. 

Who is the me I will be meeting along the way? How will familiar stories, tales as old as time, will shape the me that I am today?

 

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An Award for Tales From the 7,000 Isles: Filipino Folk Stories

The book I co-wrote with Dianne de Las Casas, Tales From the 7,000 Isles: Filipino Folk Stories (Libraries Unlimited, USA 2011) won The Storytelling World Resource Award 2015 for Category 6: Storytelling Resources. The full list of winners can be viewed in the  Storytelling World website where you will find winners and honor books in different categories. I am amazed reading the titles of books included in the list because it shows diversity, global mindedness and multicultural perspective. For our work to be recognized by a host of credible judges and experts in the field is a great honor.

I am still reeling from this surprising news weeks after I learned about it. The book project came at a time when my family and I lost almost everything to typhoon Ondoy (2009). Working on the book with Dianne was a cathartic experience. Stories, indeed, have a way of healing the spirit.

The Storytelling World Resource Award is meant to help storytellers, librarians, teachers and parents choose stories to read aloud and perform in schools and libraries or simply be told in the comfort of one's home.