The 2017 Picture Book Month Celebration Is On!

Last weekend, I made an announcement of the 2017 Picture Book Month Champions.

I could not help but remember Dianne De Las Casas, founder of Picture Book Month. I have written about her passing in the blog two months ago, more or less. But here is another piece I put together for a supposed feature on people who have inspired me.

Working on Picture Book Month this year is not the same without her.

Dianne De Las Casas is one of the many inspiring people who made a great difference in my life. Dianne believed in me and gave me the courage to write. She trusted me to be her co-author in writing a collection of Filipino Folk Tales. We worked together on the book for two years and Tales From the 7,000 Isles: Filipino Folk Stories (ABC CLIO) was published in 2011. It is my first book published in the US. The book won the World Storytelling Resource Award given by the National Storytelling Network, Tennessee USA in 2015.

It was a big break and if not for Dianne's confidence in me, it wouldn't be possible. She showed me how to be brave. How writing can set the self free of all possible fears. In 2011, she started an international campaign, Picture Book Month. It is aimed at celebrating books, literacy and reading.

Every year since 2011, 30 Picture Book Champions share their essay on the importance of picture books. I am one of the champions in 2013 and this fueled my passion to continue telling stories and creating picture books. Last year, she made me the administrator of Picture Book Month (picturebookmonth.com).


More than a mentor, Dianne is also my "big sister" as she helped me restore my own confidence and belief in myself as a woman. I dedicated my picture book, Big Sister (Lampara Books), to her. Like her, I hope to inspire others too.


Dianne died last August 21, 2017 in a house fire. She was 47 years old.

Dianne De Las Casas and John Couret, authors of Captain Deadeye and the Bully Shark (Write Hook Media, LLC 2016)




Dianne, Go and Sparkle!

Last August 27, 2017, Dianne de Las Casas' family and friends gave her a fitting celebration of life. I am catching up on the event through social media and on YouTube. Her brother, Gary, posted a slide presentation in video format on YouTube. You can view it here.  Speeches by her mom, brother, daughters, relatives and John can be viewed here.

For a week since Dianne's passing, I have posted my memories of her in my Facebook Page. It will take me awhile to shake this sadness away. I lost a mentor, a co-author and a friend. My "big" sister.

So. Here is my little tribute to Dianne. Four selected articles from the blog that celebrate her life and our friendship!

Dinner with Dianne, 2008  - We first met online, in a mailing list of storytellers back in 2003. In 2006, when I learned that she was in town for a workshop, I made it a point to be there. With a friend, we sat in her workshop transfixed, enchanted, amazed. I gathered up my courage to introduce myself right after and to my surprise, she remembered our conversations about Cavite, the Caracol and the gaping hole of Filipino Folklore in mainstream literature in the US. Her parting words for me then, "Do something different! Stir the pot!"

Dianne de Las Casas, Author of the Month, 2011 - I followed her online through Professional Storytellers, a network of international storytellers and her website/blog. I subscribed to the monthly newsletters that she put out and these were very helpful to my work in the school library. Story Connection Express is a great source of information and ideas! And, thanks to Facebook and Google, keeping in touch with Dianne had been easy.

When hurricane Katrina came, I sent her messages and prayers. I sent her a story, The Turtle of Koka, to offer support. It was all I could give her. Little did I know how much that meant to her because, in 2009, she sent me several emails asking me if I were alright after typhoon Ondoy. When I told her of our living arrangements, she sent financial support even though I wasn't asking anything from her. A month after, she surprised me again with a book proposal to ABC CLIO. We worked online on the proposal and in October, ABC CLIO gave us the green light!

Sagada with Dianne, 2011 - Dianne was back in the Philippines in 2010. We were together for almost two weeks! One of our memorable trips was the one where we went up north in Sagada. All the while I wondered what force in the universe had brought us together. We were very different. Back then, I marveled at Dianne because she saw past our differences. She looked at opportunities and the many ways in which a person can thrive in the face of adversity.

Tales From the 7,000 Isles and the World Storytelling Resource Award  - The book won the World Storytelling Resource Award in 2015. Two stories from the collection were taken by Margaret Read McDonald for inclusion in another collection, Storyteller's Sampler Tales from Tellers Around the World (ABC CLIO, 2015).

Dianne believed in collaborative work. As founder of Picture Book Month, she made me the Picture Book Month Administrator. It was an honor to work alongside her and 30 Picture Book Month Champions! Early this August, we have started inviting authors, illustrators, librarians and teachers as 2017 Picture Book Month Champions.

Now that she is sparkling in the heavens, I will always look up to her as my shinning star. She remains an inspiration. Thank you very much, Dianne! I love you. I miss you. I will carry on.

Picture Book Month and Picture Books In A High School Library

Our Learning Support Teacher, perusing picture books in the library

As I am now working in a high school library, my collection development program is based on the needs of high school learners as well as their reading interest and developmental levels. There is the curriculum to refer to and I often use it side by side with my selection and acquisition procedures. Pedagogy and instructional philosophy are contexts I latch on as I grow and develop the collection.

So, if you visit our small library, you will find the required General Collection, Filipiniana, Reference Collection, AV and Online resources, and Fiction Collection. Over the years, I have acquired a good number of graphic novels and picture books too.

Yes, our high school library has them.

I think, picture books are important in our high school library because, we involve our students in the process of creating them. While many of them grew up reading picture books, knowing new titles and classic ones help them in creating their own. A few years back, our school project was the creation of picture books for K-3 readers. We called it Early Readers Online. We have started a good collection of stories made by our high school students. The stories in the collection are used by our students during their tutorials with K-1 students of Loma Elementary School. You can view them online through our school website. The link is here: The Beacon Academy: Community and Service.

Picture books are useful tools to teach a second language too. Our learning support teacher uses them to introduce Filipino to our foreign students. Illustrated story books about the Philippines add to context building in learning the Filipino language. The techniques and strategies to learn a new language are many. Using picture books is one of the strategies as it inspires the learner to create one.

Speaking of picture books, Picture Book Month is just around the corner. It is an international celebration of picture books and reading. It is an advocacy started by the sparkling, Dianne de Las Casas, award winning author and storyteller.

Back in 2013, I was part of the gang as one of its champions. Read more about it here: Picture Book Month 2013. This year, another Filipino creative made it to the list. Isabel "Pepper" Roxas is a 2016 Picture Book Month Champion! Head on to the Picture Book Month website! You will discover a wealth of resources to use in your library when you promote reading, picture books and literacy in general.

Picture Book of the Month Champions: Mike Shoulders and Bobbi Miller

Picture Book Month is up and about and here's what two champions think about picture books and their relevance.

Yes, picture books teach colors, numbers, the cadence of rhythms and rhymes, but also a love of the written word… ALL essentials for eventual success in classrooms and a good life.
                                                        Mike Shoulders, November 2, 2013 PBM Champion

 In reading such picture books, a young reader learns to appreciate the language itself. Language is more than mere words. It’s the rhythms and the patterns, the musicality of language. Studies suggest that language acquisition is keyed to youth, and likewise, we can infer, is language appreciation. Our language reflects what lives inside us: our hopes and dreams, our history and our future.

                                                          Bobbi Miller, November 3, 2013 PBM Champion

And while were at it, I ask you what you're favorite ABC-123 picture book is? What about history that's presented in picture book format? I'll tell you mine next blog post!

Picture Book Ambassadors

November is Picture Book Month and I'm one of its ambassadors! Here's the official press release from Dianne de Las Cassas, founder and number one champion of Picture Book Month.

Friends:
I am sooo excited about Picture Book Month this year. We have confirmed David Adler, Dianna Aston, Rick Anderson, Larry Dane Brimner, Julie Danielson, Carmen Agra Deedy, Tomie dePaola, Rebecca Emberly, Sue Fliess, Zarah Gagatiga, Candace Fleming, Lee Harper, Jannie Ho, Steve Jenkins, Daniel Kirk, Jesse Klausmeier, Mercer Mayer, Bobbi Miller, Wendell Minor, Hazel G. Mitchell, Jerry Pinkney, Robert Quackenbush, Rob Scotton, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Michael Shoulders, Wendi Silvano, Heidi Stemple, and Rosemary Wells. Stay tuned for more to come!

Go the http://picturebookmonth.com/">website
for more information
, promo kits and activity ideas for your school and library!

Picture Book Month 2012

It is November and the calendar is full of literary and literacy events. There will be a Read Lit District affair in Manila come mid-November and it promises a host of popular literary celebrities from here and abroad. Thanks to the National Book Development Board's (NBDB) untiring efforts of bringing readers, writers and lovers of words together, Manila is fast the becoming the new literary events place of this generation. Let's just hope that the sparkle and glimmer of celeb writers who will visit our shores will reach the regions. Perhaps technology can do that. With social media and the Internet, what is not possible these days?

Speaking of which, a US based literary and literacy event is taking place this whole month of November as well. And, thanks to Facebook, I am reminded to blog about it!

It's Picture Book Month!

Dianne De Las Casas, one of the founders of Picture Book Month has consistently been posting updates over at FB. Visit the website for details. There's a theme to talk about and discuss every week for as long as it concerns picture books! Also, there's a long list of authors and illustrators who speak and advocate the creation and readership of picture books.

Why are picture books important?

Dear me. I learned to read through picture books. My kids learned to read through picture books. And I bet, there are lucky kids out there who are learning how to read through picture books. By saying this, we look at reading not just a way to comprehend the written word but a skill set to derive meaning out of pictures, images and visual metaphors. Picture books are a trampoline for young readers so that they'll be able to tackle difficult materials and media in the future.

We're preparing kids for reading and for LIFE. Let's add picture books and the reading of it in their daily diet!

Happy Picture Book Month!

Picture books are for all ages! Go to the website here. Read an article in School Library Journal here.