SCBWI Booktalk/Critique : 2007 June 11

A hen party - this if often what a SCBWI Booktalk reminds me off, and the last one held last June 11 was no exception.

As has happened many times before. all the people who attened were women. We came, we got down to the all important schmoozing and when we were certain that no one else would arrive, we started the serious business of the Booktalk. Of course, by the time this happened, we were all quite friendly with each other. This is the power of chit chat.

I started the talk with MVP, a book illustrated by John Shelley and written by Douglas Evans. After introducing myself (Nikki Garde-Torres, writer, ARA), I told everyone how John Shelly had gifted me with this book right after the wonderful workshop he conducted for us last May. He had actually given me a choice of books and I chose the one which I felt my twelve year old daughter would enjoy reading. MVP, which stands for Magellan Voyage Project is the story of a twelve year old boy who joins in a competition to circumnavigate the globe in 40 years. It follows him though the trials of travel. In the end, winning ceases to be the major goal, rather, finishing the race is an act of triumph in itself. The illustrations were in black and white and were quite whimsical, they truly enhanced the story. All of use agreed though, that the title was rather boring and made it sould like a book about sports. We felt that Magellan Voyage Project would have been a much better title.

Gina Lopez followed. She is a dentist turned chef and caterer and one of the three ladies present who were taking part in a Creative Writing class taught by Barbara Gonzalez. Her book was Lin Acasio-Flores' The Quarelling Kites. It told the tale of the relationship between fathers and sons through inanimate objects - kites. She loved the illustrations which were actually paintings done by Hermes Allegre. For Gina the story was a bonus because the illustrations were just so beautiful.

At this point Beaulah mentioned that some people think the kites in the story alluded to homosexuality - something that most of us found shocking. Beaulah said it may not be true at all in this case, but the point is, a book is never finished until it's read. The reader "finishes" the book and "finishes" the story. Because each reader is unique, the book is a unique experience with each reader, and even with each time the same reader reads the same book.

The next person who spoke was Len Manuel. She is 57 years old, has three chidlren, and has just finished a certificate course in early childhood development. She was also in the creative writing class as Gina. The book she shared was "One Foot, Now the Other" by Tomie de Paola. It dealt with a granchild and his relationship with his grandfather who had recently suffered a stroke. Len was surprised that it was possible to have a children's book on this topic. She was even more surprised at how well it was written and illustrated. Beaulah mentioned, not for the first time, that Tomie de Paula is a SCBWI board member and that he started his career as a liturgical illustrator.

We had two "Vivian"s that night. Our first Vivian, Vian Hermo spoke next. A long time staff member of the Westin Philippine Plaza, she has just recently liberated herself from work and is now part of the trio who were taking the same creative writing workshop. Unfortunately, she did not bring a book that evening but she promised to bring one the next time. We will hold you to that promise Vivian!

The other "Vivian" was next. Her name is Vivienne Magalindal, and she is a multi-linguial storyteller. Her story was "The Dragon Who Couldn't Breathe Fire", a book that is part of a Time-Life series on values. In this case, the story dealt with the beauty of being different. Vivienne has a soft spot for this topic, especially because she is a member of the ADHD Society and is a high-functioning person with ADHD herself. For Vivienne, being different is what makes us the same. She loves the clean lines of the illustrations which she said are in direct contrast to the drawings in some Pinoy cartoons. The illustrations are indeed well done, with colors which normally one would not think of for children. Like grey, for example. It was a pity that as part of a packaged series, the author and illustrator are not acknowledged on the book cover.

Next was our friend from the Manila Women's Forum (MWF), Marianne Stanley. She was also an attendee of the John Shelley illustrators workshop that we hosted last May 26. Originally from New Zealand, Marianne has been in the Philippines for four years now and teaches in various International Schools. The book she brought was "The Sign of the Seahorse", written and illustrated by Greame Base. I was sitting right beside Marianne and I must say that the illustrations for the book are fabulous - topped only, for me, by the beautiful, beautiful poetry in which the story is writtem. The entire thing is in verse and it is lovely. If I had been given a choice on which book brought there that evening I would borrow - it would have been this one. I can spend the entire night just reading it out loud.

Finally, it was Beaulah Taguiwalo's turn. Being an illustrator herself, she chose a book illustrated by John Shelley, but written in Japanese. The book was also given to her by John, and also discussed by him in his Powepoint presentation about his works. Beaulah noted that just as John said in the workshop, many of his illustrations are drawn from what he has experienced in his life and seen in his travels. A tree in a forest in England, for example, or his fellow students at his dorm. She related how John, who had stayed in Japan for 20 years, was proudly not of the Manga school of drawing. Rather, he has retained his very detailed, very British style. Beaulah that it is very apparent, John is highly skilled at freehand drawing. It is something that Beaulah said she'd naturally note, as she herself has a great love for illustrating too. For her, being awake means she is either reading or drawing. It's easy and it's fun for her, she says, so she believes that is what she is meant to do.

True to our commitment, we proceeded to the critiquing portion of the evening. Everyone was first reminded of some ground rules, and then we turned our attention to a manuscript that was presented that evening. It was a story in progress, written by Gina. We told her what we liked about her story, and also what we felt could be improved. In the end, we all agreed that she already had what was the most imporant - a very compelling story. Gina took all our comments well, which she wrote down in her notebook/journal - something that the rest of the people around the table apparently have with them too, most of the time. For Gina, her notebook/journal is where her thoughts, future stores, and perhaps even a recipe or two resided. Congratulations to you, Gina, for having the courage to share your work. We look forward to seeing you and your story in our future meetings, and we look forward to eventually seeing it in print!

We still had one manuscript to discuss, sent by Chiles Samaniego. But since we were running out of time, we decided to save it for the future. Thus ended another enjoyable SCBWI meeting - a Booktalk and Manuscript Critique combined. See you next second Monday next month, July 9!

Dominique Garde Torres
ARA, SCBWI Philasia