NEWSLETTER
Jay Heale’s
No.211
October 2015
Email:
[email protected]
Postal:
Napier Retirement Village,
Private Bag X1, Napier,
7270 South Africa
The first issue seems to have been well received. One reader called it ‘swishy new’ and
another even ‘awesome’! The change from website to email hasn’t stopped the review copies
from rolling in – see the Reviews below.
SELECTED HEADLINES
September / October
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IFLA, the world gathering of librarians, met in Cape Town in August. This included the
60th anniversary of their “Libraries for Children and Young Adults” section (begun in
1955). I was honoured to be their guest speaker, and I shared and showed some of our
best SA books from the last 40 years.
The Humanities Building at UCT has been renamed after the late Neville Alexander, one
of our keynote speakers at the IBBY Congress 2004.
The Jozi Book Fair (Sept. 11-13) was due to welcome such authors of children’s and
young adult books as Joan Rankin, Edyth Bulbring, Kurt Ellis, Zakes Mda, Gcina
Mhlophe, Mpapa Mkhoane, Zimkitha Mlanzeli, Elizabeth Wasserman and Michael
Williams. There was also the launch of two of Gcina Mhlophe’s books, Stories of Africa and
Story Magic, made newly available (thanks to Biblionef) in all SA languages.
ENLIGHTEN EDUCATION TRUST
Recent years have seen a population explosion in the Overberg region of the Western Cape. This has
resulted in a high level of poverty and social disintegration. Founded in 2002, the Enlighten
Education Trust aims to improve every aspect of education within a 50 km radius of Hermanus.
Currently, there are 17 projects reaching out to about 500 teachers and 9 000 children.
On 2 October there was a double celebration: their acceptance of the Jay Heale Collection of
South African children’s books (about 800), and the launch of their Right to Read programme to bring
books to 45 local Early Childhood centres.
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The following have been chosen to represent South Africa in the 2016 IBBY Honour Book
exhibition:
Author: Afrikaans Fanie Viljoen: Uit (LAPA Uitgewers, Pretoria)
Author: English Charmaine Kendal: Miscast (Junkets Publisher, Cape Town)
Translator: into Afrikaans Kobus Geldenhuys: Hoe om jou draak te tem (Protea Boekhuis,
Stellenbosch) translated from Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon
Translator: into isiXhosa Sindiwe Magona: Umculo neentsomi zase-Afrika (University of KwaZuluNatal Press, Pietermaritzburg) translated from Gcina Mhlophe’s Stories of Africa
Translator: into seSotho Selloane Khosi: Baile le Moketa (Jacana Media, Johannesburg), translated
from Gerard Sekoto’s Shorty and Billy BoyIllustrator:
Illustrator: Dale Blankenaar: Olinosters op die dak / Rhinocephants on the roof by Marita van der
Vyver (NB Publishers, Cape Town) – for his rendering of the eerily atmospheric world of the
writing.
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Worsening financial factors have forced Penguin Random House SA into restricting their
publishing plans, which unfortunately includes the excellent Struik Nature series.
The eleven South African National Lexicography Units (structures of state,
Constitutionally and Legislatively mandated) are pleased to announce that between
International Dictionary Day – 16 October 2015 – and the end of November, no fewer than
13 new or revised editions of indigenous dictionaries will be published.
Thanks to Marvel Comics, Thor and Captain Marvel are now both female!
Editorial : La Giralda
The cathedral of Seville took over a hundred years to finish. Legend insists that its
creators set out to build a cathedral ‘so magnificent that the rest of the world will for ever say that we
were mad’. Its magnificent spire, called La Giralda, was part of an earlier Muslim mosque.
Those of us who work in the field of children and their books may have a similar claim to insanity.
Few educators and administrators understand the impact and value of children’s literature. We know –
and we believe. For there is method in the madness. Indeed, the latest issue of IBBY’s magazine, Bookbird,
has a number of scholarly articles about ‘Nonsense literature’. We can hardly challenge the mentality of
such writers as Edward Lear, Annie MG Schmidt and Lewis Carroll. Björn Sundmark’s inspired editorial
reminds us all that it is children and books that are all-important.
The same issue of Bookbird contains a report on last year’s winners of the Hans Christian Andersen
Award medals – author Nahoko Uehashi (Japan) and illustrator Roger Mello (Brazil). The jury of ten
experts from Russia, Venezuela, Austria, South Korea, Cuba, Italy, USA, Iran, Sweden and Turkey all had
to read and evaluate the complete works of 28 authors and 30 illustrators. A high workload. (I have done
this myself, so has Lona Gericke, so we know how much work is involved.) And a fact not often realised is
that the ten jurors do that work without any financial reward, and they pay their own expenses to attend
the jury meeting. That’s another kind of madness.
One Bookbird article introduced me to a limerick by Edward Lear which I had not encountered
before:
There was an old man of Hong Kong,
Who never did anything wrong:
He lay on his back, with his head in a sack,
That innocuous old man of Hong Kong.
Mad, certainly! “With his head in a sack”? That’s not usual in the insanity of children’s book enthusiasts.
We have our eyes wide open. Purely personally, I would hate to be described as “innocuous”.
BOOK REVIEWS
The policy of Bookchat has always been to review all South African books, and the best of those submitted
from overseas publishers.
THE POSSIBILI TREE written & illustrated by Tarolyn Young (Bumble Books 2015)
Of all the books sent to me for review in the last two months, none has given me greater pleasure. This clever, attractive, engaging picture-book
assumes that children have intelligence. It has a theme rather than a plot – the power and possibility of story. It starts with the grey bleakness of
Nowhereville (which reminded me of the City of Reality in Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth which faded away because no one took any
notice of it). All the people in Nowhereville have lost their story. Then Anna Twig, in a green dress with bright carroty hair, goes planting in
PossibilitiTree Park (which reminded me of another girl with similar hair in Shaun Tan’s The Red Tree). Each story offered is a new leaf on the
Possibiliti Tree. Examples are provided telling about a CuriousiTree, an ObservaTree, a PoetTree, and a welcoming TeaTree where “all my
new friends can rely on me, for unlimited generosi-tea”. Finally we (children and disbelieving adults) are reminded that:
Through stories we remember
where we come from, who we are,
and we dream into the future
though it may seem really far.
The artwork baffles my powers of description. It’s collage + brushwork + atmospheric colour + computer cleverness + telling detail. Evocative.
Brilliant. This is not “a story” – it’s a book about story, with stories, justifying the power of story. Those wise people, children, will explore their
way into its Possibilities, provided that their parents or teachers have been wise enough to open the book and share it.
JAFTA / JAFTA’S FATHER / JAFTA’S MOTHER - all by Hugh Lewin, illustrated by Lisa Kopper (Jacana, revised 2015)
Jafta was born in black and deep warm brown in 1981, a year before Fly, Eagle, Fly! would be born in black and warm yellow ochre. You can
see here the original Jafta cover, with one of the new cover designs from Jacana. Both show the economic stringencies of the times, and both
are deeply rooted in the reality that is Africa. There are 7 Jafta books in all: simple, attractive, easy to digest, a delight to share. The author,
Hugh Lewin, served seven years in a SA prison for ‘sabotage activities against the apartheid state’, then came ten years of exile in London,
followed by more years in Zimbabwe. The three titles brought back by Jacana (publication funded by National Arts Council of South Africa, in
partnership with Biblionef) give us Jafta, a boy of Africa, comparing himself and his spirit with the creatures of Africa; he wants us to meet his
Mother – ‘like the earth, full of goodness, warm and brown and strong’; he would like us to meet his Father, who was so good to him, but now he
is in the city, working. Simple, genuine words. Strong-spirited artwork. Lovely, timeless books. Essential in the children’s literature of Africa.
These 3 titles are also available in Zulu, Xhosa, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana and Afrikaans.
DOGTECTIVE WILLIAM AND THE DIAMOND SMUGGLERS by Elizabeth Wasserman, illustrated by Chris Venter (Tafelberg 2015)
With her sixth Dogtective epic, Elizabeth Wasserman is really getting into her stride! Each improbable adventure starts with Alex’s faultless
parents assuming that their son (and dog) are somewhere other than where they really are … in space, chasing pirates, up a New York
skyscraper or – this time – waylaying diamond smugglers in Namibia. The false trail is that a class outing has gone canoeing on the Orange
River. Author and illustrator extraordinary dream up a fresh set of weirdo characters including Constable Mongoose and German Shepherd Max
– a feline challenge to William – and some baddies we have met before (in other volumes). Trust and distrust and lots of by-the-way knowledge
of diamonds and the Namib desert. Highly entertaining.
With a probably frantic eye on the educational market, both Oxford and Puffin have redesigned a number of
their ‘Classics’. The Oxford volumes are more eye-catching, but I think the sections at the back of the Puffins
are more practical and useful.
KING ARTHUR and his Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green (Puffin Classics 2015)
Arthur was the first great shining hero of my boyhood. So I welcome the re-issue of this retelling of the great deeds around the Round Table and
Arthur’s kingdom of Logres. Rosemary Sutcliffe gave us a more historically plausible Arthur in Sword at Sunset; T H White’s whimsical Sword in
the Stone remains delicious (and inspired the Camelot musical); Geraldine McCaughrean wrote of the dramatic fatal love triangle between
Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot. But Roger Lancelyn Green’s version (first published 1953) goes back to the noble glamour of Geoffrey of
Monmouth and Sir Thomas Malory. He weaves the diverse tales together convincingly, with swords clashing and chivalry shining. [And the
author was one of the Inklings with CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.]
THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ by L Frank Baum (Oxford Children’s Classics 2015)
First published in 1900, now newly presented as an Oxford Children’s Classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz comes in a bright jacket,
unillustrated, but with plenty of Things to Think About at the end. I wonder how such books were treated in 1900. If lucky children were read one
chapter a week, then there is excuse for the constant repetition of the Scarecrow needing a brain, the Tin Woodman needing a heart, and the
Cowardly Lion needing courage. Reading it myself for the first time, I was bored by the repetition. Also amazed at the bloodthirsty way that 40
wolves have their heads lopped off and 40 crows have their necks wrung. This in contrast to the toylike Munchkins, yellow Winkies and other
dainty folk. With the Wicked Witch of the East squashed by Dorothy’s tornado-whirled house and the Wicked Witch of the West melted into
nothing, Good wins over Bad. The Wizard turns out to be a humbug – and the ending (with the Good Witch of the South) is very muddled and
moral. Yet, apparently, this book was a best-seller for 2 years and the author wrote 17 sequels! Frankly, I think the film (and the stage version)
are much better.
THE POOHSTICKS HANDBOOK
by Mark Evans, with decorations by Mark Burgess & E H Shepard (Egmont 2015)
Since we have extensive literature about Quidditch, it is clearly high time that attention was given to the noble sport of Poohsticks. Gratitude
therefor to Mark Evans for the gently beguiling text (and some rather awful verse) and particularly to Mark Burgess who catches the Shepard
style excellently in his additional illustrations. However, I have to point out that in Chapter 9, ‘Notable Games of Poohsticks’, no mention is made
at all of the game played by myself and my fellow-trekker Brian, in the Himalayan foothills within sight of Rangdum Gompa (a Tibetan Buddhist
monastery, shown above) in 1988. I trust that future editions will remedy this.
A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J Maas (Bloomsbury 2015)
Jane Austen has a go at ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Well written romance in a world of faeries and High Fae. Feyre, a human girl (aged 19) kills a
wolf without realising it is faerie. In recompense, she is taken by faerie power to live in the realm of Prythian, beyond ‘the wall’. Masses of
duelling dialogue, amongst Feyre and her sisters, then between Feyre and two masked Fae lordlings, with hints of hidden magic and monstrous
beasts. Ponderings on inner emotions. For teens wanting the light of battle between orcs and fallen angels, this will seem slow – for it is a novel,
not an adventure story. Its characters wonder about powers and opinions and the balance of society. It turns sensual, sexual, as the Beauty and
the Beast story surely did before Madame de Beaumont sanitised it for chaste little children. And then, half-way through, the tone of the
storytelling changes into magic melodrama – all the way to a pulsating (and romantic) climax. Unsurprisingly, a “breath-taking sequel” is on its
way. (Not suitable for younger readers.)
NON-FICTION
‘Our Story’ series from Heritage Publishers (2014)
Filling an aching gap in our youth publishing, these books aim to cover The people, clans & events that shaped southern Africa. 14 titles now
available: 19 more to come. I have read only two of them so far, so I can hardly comment on all of them.
The format presents square perfect-bound books inside stout card, with brown covers and blue spines. The designers have chosen to
give them an antique look with an embossed gold border on the outside, brown print inside, and a section of an old map of South Africa. This is
in contrast with the lively line drawings and the colloquial storytelling style of the text which make the stories far more accessible and enjoyable
for young (primary) readers. Of those I have read, SHOSHANGANA is the more successful. It tells of the great chief of the Nguni-speaking
Nwandwe and the emergence of AmaShangaan/Tsonga nation. Told as a storyteller would tell it, with frequent questions to his listeners and
approval from Gogo (and respect to the ancestors). Listeners are made to feel part of the story with such questions as “How would you feel if
you were worried about armies attacking at night while you slept?” As well as the historical storyline, there are explanations of cultural and
linguistic details – well supported by the effective illustrations. (There is, thank heavens, no glossary or list of important dates or anything to give
the feel of a textbook.) SEKHUKHUNE : Greatest of the Pedi Kings is, to my mind, less successful. It reads more like a textbook in places,
and often tells more about the white invaders than the actions of Sekhukhune himself. I look forward to encountering other titles.
HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST STORY EVER! by Christopher Edge, illustrated by Nathan Reed (Oxford 2015)
A grand example of how design and typography can turn what might have been a boring set of definitions and word lists into a most attractive,
enjoyable book – tempting any youngster to reach for a writing implement. For example, the section on Diaries introduces the idea of the
Minotaur keeping a diary; suggestive words such as ‘chronicle’, ‘confide’, advice’, ‘gossip’, ‘truth’; samples from The Diary of a Wimpy Kid (by
Jeff Kinney) and I’m Dougal Trump and it’s not my fault! (by Jackie Marchant); suggestions for unusual journals; and reassurance that you can
use as much punctuation as you like !??!* Bright colour pictures. A lovely present for a creative child – or for a teacher who’s running out of
ideas.
ANIMALS : “Start to Learn” (Human & Rousseau 2015)
WORDS : “Start to Learn” (Human & Rousseau 2015)
Mass-market books created in UK, intended (mostly) for USA. Over 500 attractive large pages, glossy colour pics, building up awareness and
interest with the help of a parent or carer. Animals includes birds, fishes, reptiles and insects as well as tame and wild animals. But what parent
is going to read out: ‘Invertebrates – These cold-blooded animals do not have a backbone.” What child needs to meet a gaur, a tang, a lorikeet,
a salamander – as part of basic, starting vocab? Words is more accessible, with the body, clothes, food, toys, furniture, people at work, basic
animals (far less complicated). The US target becomes clear from such things as a hip-roofed barn, yellow school bus, smiling (white) capped
policeman, and cookies for biscuits. The (white) family ‘In my home’ owns computer, stereo, telephone, television, with fridge, toaster, electric
stove in the kitchen. Fairly wealthy, this lot. Perhaps it is only wealthy white parents who, in South Africa, will bother to sit down with books like
this with a child on their lap?
ADULT BOOKS which I have enjoyed
THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT by Rick Atkinson (Abacus 2015)
The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945
An incredible publication which follows An Army at Dawn and The Day of Battle, as the third volume in The Liberation Trilogy describing the
years of battle to liberate Europe. Over 600 pages of text plus notes, sources and index.– a bit like trying to make sense of a mosaic when
you’re standing too close. The detailed research is stunning, often revealing what was not told at the time. There is a balance of personal
memoirs, statistics, character clashes, politics, military manoeuvres (supported with good maps), local geography, numbing weather and dire
food supplies which all provide a picture in depth of vast mechanical slaughter – yet involving individual personalities and emotions. I found it
compelling reading, even if it has a US slant – but then, all historical writing is biased.
I was a boy of nearly 7 when our high street was jammed with lorries, troop carriers, armoured cars for two days. Years later, I realised
that I had seen the build-up for the D-Day invasions – which are so vividly covered in this book. Some memorable battle sequences, with the
relief of Paris especially well written. Atkinson does not leave out the mistakes and disasters, such as the disastrous invasion rehearsal at
Slapton Sands, the ‘fratricide’ of bombers attacking soldiers of their own country, and the desperate, inept carnage in the Hürtgen forest.
Although the author tries to present the Germans as callous murderers and the Americans as driven by furious retaliation, it is plain
that war is often a vicious, dishonourable occupation. The fights between Eisenhower and Montgomery were almost as heated as any combined
military encounter. Occasionally flowery adjectives and touches of purple prose: and to say (in the Epilogue) that this was “victory over a foe of
unexampled iniquity” assured by “the cohesion and internal coherence of the Allied coalition” is hardly supported by the powerful book one has
just read.
THE UNEXPECTED PROFESSOR
by John Carey (Faber & Faber 2015)
An Oxford life in books
A lightly-written biography, honing in on the books encountered by the author. Up to about age 11: the King James Bible, Hymns Ancient &
Modern, Dandy, Beano, Hotspur, Champion, Biggles. At grammar school he was enthralled to encounter Chesterton’s Lepanto : “Dim drums
throbbing in the hills half heard”. For relaxation, Richmal Crompton’s William books – matchlessly witty – and the complete series of Arthur
Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons adventures. On to more scholarly stuff at Oxford, where JRR Tolkien lecturing on Beowulf “was mostly
inaudible and, when audible, incomprehensible.” Engaging writing, sharing the impact of books, quoting a few choice passages. I found it
delightful, thoughtful reading. The final chapter gently answers the question “Why Read?”
A global study
by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
found that investing heavily in computers and new technology in the classroom
did not improve pupils’ performance,
with frequent use of computers associated with lower results.
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