Filipino Friday Week 4: On Filipiniana

In my previous post, I daydreamed of coercing my friends to tell us about their favorite locally-published books. I asked them to answer these questions:

A. What's your favorite book from written by a Filipino (textbooks are not allowed.hehe)? You know, that one book you never got tired of reading (over and over and over...) - or hearing. The one book you still remember vividly to this day.

B.Describe a character in the book that reminds you of someone you know.

C.To whom would you recommend this book? Why?

Thank heavens for there's one friend who took heed of my plea. Haha. But before I give you her answer, let me share with you my thoughts about this week's topic. 

 I guess I have established , in this blog, the fact that I am a children's lit fan. (Thank you T. Portia for giving me that make-or-break UNO. Look where it has brought me.) But one thing that I haven't really worked hard on is the task of giving you the impression that I am a children's lit patriot. Believe me.I know and love and take pride in our country's children's literature.

Proofs? Don't get me started. Visit my future book blog na lang.

Anyway, back to this meme's questions:

Do you read Filipino literature? If you do, tell us your favorite books by Filipino authors and name a few that you’d like to recommend to fellow readers? If you don’t read much Filipino lit, then tell us why.

Tuwing Sabado, written by Russel Molina and illustrated by Serj Bumatay is a staple read in all classes that I handle. I will never get tired of reading this heart-pinching/warming, tear-jerking  tale of fatherhood. And my pupils just love this book. (Random sharing: I was there when the author read the manuscript of this story, months before the book was launched.)

Pambihirang Buhok ni Raquel. This is one of my first children's lit reads. And it's the book that made me want for more Tito Dok books. (Fast fact: Tito Doc is the nickname of the author.) The illustrations are fantastic. They enriched the story. I love the spreads in which Raquel wore those totally out-of-this-world wigs. (Random sharing: I have an autographed copy of this one--both author and illustrator)

Unang Baboy sa Langit. Butsiki is the name if you're wondering who that lucky saintly pig is.. Very witty story. I first heard of this story in the radio show Wan Dey Isan Araw aired over 702 DZAS. Then I fell in love with the Rene Villanueva brainchild. I used it in our storytelling project and made a chant to accompany the telling. I just wish that a new edition of the book would come out (asap) because the illustrations are not that appealing. (Random sharing: I met Sir Rene in 2007 and whispered to him, while we were on stage, that I'm in love with his book. True story.)

There's a plethora of good Philippine children's literature out there. How I wish I am that linguistically-gifted to convince you to read these:

• Tall Story by Candy Gourlay
• Grace Chong books
• Jomike Tejido creations
• Papel De Liha by Ompong Remigio
• and a whole lot more.

Ooops! I almost forgot to mention some YA fiction and general fiction that I've perused over the years.

• Titser by Liwayway Arceo
• Bob Ong books (which should be read in moderation)
• Arnold Arre's Mythology Class and After Eden

Oh my! I haven't been reading Filipino novels lately! Wake up my dear old self.

And on that note, I give you my friend, Bb.CJ Aguila, Filipino professor and lover of Philippine literature. Here are her answers to the questions posted above.

A.Bilang guro sa panitikan, babalik-balikan ko ang KUWENTO NG MGA KWENTISTA! Para sa lahat ng henerasyon...hindi nagbabago ang mensahe... kuwentong may PUSO....

B. Isa sa karakter na narito ang batang si Fe na muling nagkaroon ng positibong pananaw sa buhay matapos mabatid ang mga pinagdadaan ng mga tao sa lipunan na mas pinagkaitan ng tadhana, ngunit kailanman ay hindi naging hadlang upang tumigil sa pangangarap. Minsan akong nagkaroon ng estudyante, na aking nakilala sa ikalawang taon ng aking pagtuturo (na kagayani Fe)....

C. Ang aklat na ito ay mairerekomenda ko sa lahat ng mga Pilipinong may pagmamahal sa Literatura... at mga taong nagnanais ding maging iinspirasyon sa iba.

Thank you so much CJ for sharing your thoughts on this week's meme. When you're done with your thesis about children's literature, you should, if not must, start blogging about Philippine Literature.

Can't Wait for Filipino Friday

Thanks to the ReaderCon Filipino Friday meme for giving me a new fresh perspective for Fridays. No more gosh-I'm-so-tired-sana-Friday-na days. I'm all giddy inside for the Week 4 buzz so I'll be posting some stuff leading up to next week's topic:

September 2 - Do you read Filipino literature? If yes, what are some books by Filipino authors that you can recommend to fellow readers?

And I'm doing this with a little help from my friends.

I have persuaded (some of) them, using my charm congenialness (hihihi), to do some guest-blogging for misterserendipity. This is a milestone for this blog. (Lume-level up ang blogging skills ko! Com'on!)

If you consider yourself a friend of mine (which is a major life decision) and you are passionate about locally-published books or books written by Filipinos (any genre), feel free to send me a message on facebook or email me at brojersrc-at-gmail-dot-com. And let's get ourselves pumped with

Cheers!

Readercon Filipino Friday Week 3: Being A Reader In The Philippines

This is kinda late. Better than never. So for this week's meme, we zero in on the joys and travails of being a reader in the Philippines.

How hard or easy is it to be a book lover in the Philippines?

What are some of your frustrations as a Filipino reader?

And what are the positive aspects of being a reader in the Philippines?

Apparently, it's hard to be a leisure reader here in the Philippines. I only know a few friends and kakilala who include book-buying in their weekly/monthly visit to malls. Sila na ang may budget for books. If you are a book lover in the Philippines and you are

kahit anong book pa yan, makukuha't makukuha mo. You are a denizen of Fully-booked, Power Books, National Bookstore--the top three bookstores in the country. If you are part of the

hanggang browse/scan ka na lang muna sa favorite books mo sa NBS, Powerbooks at Fully-booked. More or less, nakatabi mo na ako sa Booksale, and you're also hoping na may naligaw na second-hand copy ng book na binibista mo sa Big 3 bookstores. The book prices in these second-hand bookstores fit your budget. Extra money, actually. Kung

ka naman, it's not a big deal that the movie you are watching is based on a book. And that the book is better than the movie adaptation.

One of the joys of being a children's lit reader in the Philippines is the fact that there's a big chance that I can meet the authors of the book I'm reading.

And I can force them to sign my book and have a fan-dominated chit-chat. You also have the Manila International Book Fair, the National Children's Book Day, the Buwan ng Wika, the SCBWI-Philippines conferences and the Book signing events that these publishing houses are putting up, to sustain your love for books.

Kung presyo naman ang pag-uusapan, I miss the "newsprint price" of Adarna House.

But I do still love their books and their book fair people. We look 'family' to each other. Haha. It's also a good thing that Lampara Books is publishing the winning stories in the Palanca Awards Short Story for Children category. Pati na rin yata PBBY runner-ups, because the other day, I saw Becky Bravo's

in National Bookstore.

Even if I have met a number of authors, illustrators and publishers, I still have frustrations as a reader. Let me enumerate those nega vibes..

1. There's a dearth of novels in the YA fiction category.

2. Publishing houses have yet to publish more books in other Philippine languages. I'm glad Adarna has started(?) the trend. See this one:

3. Only a few school libraries function as haven for book lovers. Only a few politicians, and civic organizations are trying to build more school/public libraries.

4. I know a few people who are dayuhan sa sariling bayan in terms of their reading choices.

5. Some bookstore/shop people do not know how to entice their customers to buy and not just browse. They should attend a seminar/ crash course on basic things about literature in general. They should know the what's-hot in the book scene. They should do book talks. Haha

6. Some parents are still misguided when buying books for their tots. More coloring books, less picture story books. More foreign(sounding) authors, less Filipino authors. Kumusta naman tayo diyan?

Filipino Friday: Becoming a Reader

Fudge! I just checked September 14 in the calendar, and it falls on a Wednesday. That means, I can't attend the first Filipino Readers’ Conference in SMX Mall of Asia unless an unexpected typhoon comes for a quick visit and DepEd declares another ill-advised suspension. Given my situation, I'll just show my support by participating in this meme. So for this week, the questions at hand are the following: How did you become a reader? What factors influenced you to take up reading as a hobby and why do you enjoy it so much? Because I was thrilled to introduce myself last week, I think I had spoiled my answers for this week. So this post would just give you a recap, additional info on the things I've blabbed in my previous post. I was forced by circumstances to read-- -after that Creative Writing class nightmare -the required readings in college (hahanapin mo pa sa UP Shopping Center; makikipag-unahan sa pagpapa-reserve sa library; manghihiram sa classmate). When I was a child, I equated reading to reading textbooks. My very first memory of reading is when my Mama taught me how to read using the classic

I think the original cover page is the one with the nipa hut. After that, puro textbook stories na. If you studied in a public school, you'll understand why most Filipino children in public schools are not exposed to authentic children's literature. Gayunpaman, na-enjoy ko pa rin ang mga short stories sa mga naghihingalong libro namin sa Filipino at English. Sayang, hindi nauso ang library sa school namin. I was a freshman in high school when I read my first YA novel. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I read that for a book report. Not bad. I enjoyed reading it but it didn't made me want for more. Malay ko ba na exciting pala ang mga detective stories at magkakaroon ng Sherlock movie after 8 years :) So I didn't bother asking the owner of the book if she had other Sherlock books. Bob Ong books

ang pumuno sa 'love' ko for reading. Pang-masa. Thank you Bob Ong (kung sino/sino-sino/ano ka man), because of your book, I discovered that I and reading are meant for each other.Before I graduated from high school, two books were added in my list--The Little Prince (recommended by a classmate who has a UP student-sister and Daddy Long Legs (lent by a classmate who has a UP student-cousin). HIndi ko natapos ang TLP kasi ang lalim. Na-excite naman ako sa DLL dahil may TV series sa Channel 2 no'n. I still feel blessed even if I didn't get to spend my younger years with Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, The Boxcar Children and all the other classics. I had a very typical masang Filipino childhood. TV, street games, school. I am more blessed now because I have the opportunity of inspiring children to spend their childhood with dragons, vampires, real people, fairies, talking animals from books.

My prayer is that through this convention, literature advocates would reach out to Filipino children, regardless of their socioeconomic status, and introduce to them the joy and power of reading.

The Hunger Games Movie

Filipino Reader Fridays: Introduction

Yeah. It's my first time to participate in a blogging event. I seldom (have the enough kasipagan to ) blog. I am more of a reader,I guess. But for the love of books, I will try to participate in the Filipino Reader Conference. And the task for this week is to introduce myself as a reader.

Warning, I'll be code-switching ha, para mas natural ang dating.

I was already a college freshman when I seriously followed the advice of my high school teachers to read. Before college, hindi ko alam na kailangan ko pala talagang magbasa nang magbasa. (I stopped blaming my parents and teachers for not exposing me/us to literature.) Buti na lang may creative writing class na nagpamukha sa akin na 

if you are not a good reader, you can't be a good writer.

 I was shamefaced during the time na winoworkshop 'yong piece ko. Ang sarap ma-eject sa kinauupuan ko. Eye opener. True story.

From then on, I started my catch-up reading . Saan ako magsisimula? Siyempre, ano ba ang una kong na-miss? 

This experience is one of the reasons kung bakit nag-shift ako from BSEd-English to BEEd-English. Salamat sa English 11 prof ko na si T. Lalaine, now president of Kuting, for letting us read a lot of children's lit. Sa klaseng 'yon, nakilala ko ang Little Prince, si Twink Macaraig at ang kanyang kuwentong What is Serendipity?, si John Steinbeck at si Harry Potter ( on a more personal level) dahil sa literary analysis na involved ang 3 nobelang 'yon. After that sem, nagsimula na ang effect ng 

I discovered that reading is an inexpensive hobby because we have the cozy UP-Diliman libraries and the ever-dependable second-hand bookstores like Booksale. Ang una kong binasa after English 11 ay The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller because T. Lalaine mentioned that it's a good read. Akala ko novel for children. Haha. But I still liked the book and as a matter of fact, I plan to say the lines--

"In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live."

--sa magiging Francesca Johnson ko.

The next sem, I enrolled in the Children's Lit class of THE T. Portia Padilla. Golden Age ito ng college life ko dahil dito ko na-establish ang fact na Children's Lit fan na nga ako. The summer prior to this sem, I discovered the radio program Wan Dey, Isang Araw in 

. This program is hosted by THE Palanca Hall of Fame Awardee Dr. Luis "Tito Dok" Gatmaitan. In the program, they feature a pre-recorded storytelling of locally published books for children and Tito Dok interviews the author of the featured story. Do'n ko unang narining si Sir Rene Villanueva at ang kanyang (ang aking paboritong) Unang Baboy sa Langit. Kaya naman no'ng ma-invite si Tito Doc sa class namin, feeling ko pre-Nirvana moment ko na. Super thanks to our very passionate prof for all those greet-and-meet-and-interact-with-
your-favorite-authors-and-illutrators moments. At siyempre sa walang sawang pagpapahiram ng kanyang mga libro for our annotation.

Going back to the task this week, I am proud to say that I am one voracious Children's lit reader. I can easily spot the good reads whenever I scan the books in the shelves of my favorite tambayan--the second-hand bookstores. I read a lot of Newberys and Caldecotts and all those that should have won those awards like Tuck Everlasting.

I love the works of Katherine Paterson, Madeleine L'Engle, Lois Lowry, E.L. Konigsburg and Gary Paulsen to name a few.

In terms of illustration, walang papantay sa magic ni David Wiesner.

Sa local scene naman (na first love ko), hindi mawawala ang Tuwing Sabado ni Russell Molina, ang mga libro nina Grace Chong, Tito Doc, Rhandee Garlitos, Ompong Remigio at ng marami pang iba.

Ngayon, in love ako sa Hunger Games ni Suzanne Collins na babasahin namin sa school book club namin. Hindi pa rin ako maka-get over sa mas pinalalim na understanding sa The Story of Ferdinand (dahil nabasa ko ang pre-publication history niya.)

Wow. Reading has never been this good.

At present, I am moderating a school book club--The Bookmunchers.

NCBD Dreams

July, next to December, is my second  much loved month of the school year. I know the teachers reading this are bobbing their heads as I put December on top of my list.  But, golly! July is just a few points behind the gift-giving month.

I started loving July when I learned about the National Children's Book Day or NCBD.

 I've heard about it in my Children's Literature class circa 2007 (Thanks to Teacher Portia!) Back then, for a number of imaginable reasons, I didn't appreciate it as much as I do now. One, we never had any NCBD celebration when I was in grade school and high school, given that the NCBD is a 28-year-old fete, and I'm only 23. Two, our librarian-slash-guidance counsellor didn't know that such celebration exists nor did I know that she was the librarian in that textbook-full room. Three, I wasn't yet hooked on children's  books then (the lamest excuse I could think of).

In the traditional school calendar, July is dubbed as the Nutrition Month. I think our Department of Health (DOH) is the instigator, rather, brain behind this nationwide event which the Department of Education (DepEd) adapts and implements on a nationwide scale. 

(Thank you DOH! I believe, with all my heart, that in your theme-brainstorming meetings, there are other topics aside from breastfeeding. So why be fixated on breast-

feeding alone?

And DepEd, please do not copy everything. I think you have the power to change/modify the theme.  Make it something more relevant, meaningful and developmentally-appropriate. I am not in the position to give you a lecture on this.)

Unlike the highly-celebrated nutrition month, the NCBD is just like a drizzle quenching the thirst of teachers, librarian and students for books. I'm guessing that the DepEd annually  releases a memorandum advising, if not requiring, schools to have modest NCBD activities. I'm sure that the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY), the one spearheading this affair,  never forgets to inform the education bureau the impact of this event to the lives of the Filipino children and to the history of Philippine literature.  For a number of years, NCBD posters, sponsored by Jollibee and, I guess, Adarna Publishing House, in coordination with the PBBY, are issued to different institutions.

Of course, for free.  But how come that out of the 10 teachers that I asked about their school's NCBD event/s, only one excitedly said yes, they are having an NCBD school program? And the others texted back with "Anong NCBD?"  True story. Epic fail.

Children's Lit advocates, WE still have so much work to do.

Yes, I agree with the great Ma'am LDR (Lina Diaz de-Rivera), teacher of teachers of children's literature in UP Diliman, that we are in the Golden Age of Philippine Children's Literature . There are more companies now that are publishing high-quality books for kids. Okay, there are some books that need to be sent back to their editors or to their FGD groups. The number of writers and illustrators for children is growing  __________. a) fast; b) faster than my toe nails: c)period. Different NGOs who are big on children's literature like PBBY, Alitaptap Storytellers, Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting (Kuting), Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang InK) are gaining more members and volunteers. These are just some of the signs that the state of Philippine children's literature has gotten better.

But why do  I feel that something is missing in that measure of success?

In one of my daydreams, I pictured a festive  third Tuesday of July in almost all Philippine schools. Students are swelling with joy as they read stories written for them by their fellowmen. Teachers are busy choosing locally-published  books to be included in their class reading list. Authors and illustrators are touring different schools for book talks--signing copies of their books as their fans giggle in excitement. And the most ambitious of all, for the first time in Philippine television, the president is reading a Rene Villanueva or an Almario story and ending the storytelling with this:

"Mga kababayan, lalo na sa mga kabataan, Happy National Children's Book Day!"