What a pleasant task - to talk about books and the delight they bring.  Yet so challenging to pick my top favorites. Here, I mention old and new titles, all well-told in memorable ways. Although these books were originally meant for Filipino children, the universality of their themes and the English text (not always available in Philippine publications) allow them to be enjoyed by English-speaking children anywhere in the world. By providing a glimpse into the rich culture of the Philippines, they work as a valuable introduction to a country which may be unfamiliar to children overseas. These highly engaging and authentic stories should please one and all!

Rene O. Villanueva, illustrated by Beth Parrocha-Doctolero,
The Boy Who Lost a Father and Found the Sun: The Life of Maestro Fernando Amorsolo
Ayala Foundation, 2007.

How can one not smile at the witty title of this biography of Fernando Amorsolo, whose paintings are known to capture the golden tropical sunshine of the idyllic Philippine countryside?

The title is not a mere clever play of words, for when Amorsolo’s father died when he was just 11, he stopped drawing; he felt there was no one to show his work to.  “Who would smile at him?  Who would tell him kind words?  Who would hold his small brown hands and assure him that his drawings were good?”

The sun is a recurring motif in this biography.  There are constant references to the influence of the “benign presence" of the sun in Amorsolo’s “sun-drenched" scenes. His father’s presence, too, was likened to  “the brightness from behind the lush caballero trees or the light that filtered through clumps of bamboo.”

This book is part of a series called "Stories in Art," which also includes titles focusing on painters Juan Luna and Fernando Zobel. These books invite young readers to be curious and inquisitive about art, history and culture, and to be acquainted and appreciative of the wonderful paintings these masters created.

Ompong Remigio, iIllustrated by Beth Parrocha-Doctolero,
Papel de Liha/ Sandpaper
Adarna House, 1996 (with Filipino and English text).

A tribute to all mothers and the range of tasks they are confronted with from sunrise to sundown Papel de Liha is told from a child’s point of view as witness to her mother’s endless work. It is she who is disturbed by an aunt’s chiding remark that her mother’s busy hands will grow rough like sandpaper.  She wonders, in a most childlike manner, "but how can such sandpapery palms work wonders on me and my fever, my soft pillow, even day-old bread?"  This story in verse, with a successful and refreshing rhyme scheme, is rich with images of a warm and love-filled home, as well as clever synonyms for good old “work”. 

by Norma Olizon-Chikiamco, iIllustrated by Mark Salvatus,
Pan de Sal Saves the Day
Tuttle Publishing, 2009.

This charming story with characters named after breads and pastries - Pan de Sal, Croissant, Danish, Doughnut, Honey Bread, Super Bread, Bread Stick - is more than a whimsical tale.  It is the story of a quiet girl named Pan de Sal, who struggles with her dark skin, her flat nose, the shape of her face - and even her name. How she hates her name!

The story ends on a reassuring note for Pan de Sal, who manages to overcome her feelings of isolation and inferiority after a school field trip, when her classmates discover and praise her for her many talents. She now felt “… no longer like the odd one out… (but) unique, a person like no other…”.

This story also provides a glimpse of local color, with the depiction of Pan de Sal’s life in the countryside, in a nipa hut (an indigenous house), “across a rice field, past a river, and up and down the hillsides.”  It also shows the ways in which families who have no television or radio for entertainment might spend their time. Pan de Sal's family gathers to sing traditional songs of immortal love and a pair of wooden shoes in the evenings, or to play her favorite game, sipa (a traditional game in which players kick a soft ball high up in the air, repeatedly, for as long as they can).

Bunny Ty, book design by Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo,
Some Women
Anvil, 2009.

The idea for this book began with a poem that publisher Karina Bolasco found so charming and so simple as to be perfect for the kind of children’s book she had long been in search of.

So what is Bunny Ty’s poetry trying to say?  It talks of some women’s vain and worldly ways, coloring their lips red, curling their lashes, blushing their cheeks, and feeling plain if they have no color on their faces. In just 119 well-chosen words, Ty offers parallel images which counter the ideas expressed by these women. The structure of her poem is simple, so that the second line after the general observation about what the women believe and practice, always begins with, “not me…”. Thus, the first companion lines in a series of six are:

some women color their lips red.
not me,
i like to color mine with good words instead.

Other lines of poetry which speak to the reader are:

some women curl their lashes hard.
not me,
i want mine soft to catch my tears.

Book designer Taguiwalo used images of women by artists from the Philippines, the US, Canada, the European Union and more - a collection of artwork so precious it merits an entire page of attributions.  Among the artists represented are Renoir, Utagawa, Cassatt, Gauguin, Modigliani, Vermeer and Filipino artists  Bencab, Magsaysay-Ho, Austria, and Cajipe-Endaya.

Ma. Corazon Remigio, illustrated by Auri Asuncion Yambao
Yaya Niya, Nanay Ko (Her Nanny is My Mommy)
UNICEF, 2002 (Original text in Filipino with English translation).

Dealing with a prevailing social issue in a country where absentee mothers need to supplement family income by working away from home, this story is told from the point of view of a young daughter of one such mother, who is left in the care of her grandmother. She pines for her mother who is nanny in the city to Anne May, a little girl just like her. How she wishes that her own mom was also her own nanny! Her mother eventually returns home for good, after her ward has grown up and she has saved enough money so that she will never need to leave her daughter anymore.  The child narrator says at the story’s end that, although she has grown and learned to read, write, and sing by herself, she will always need her mother: “A mother who is a nanny to nobody else but me.” 

Remigio tells the story with much sensitivity and succeeds in assuming the little girl’s voice with authenticity. There is no preaching on the social issue, just an honest portrayal of a child’s sentiments.  Remigio, who also wrote Papel de Liha, is an exceptional writer whose few books (Bru-ha-ha-ha-ha…Bru-hi-hi-hi-hi!) are enduring classics in the Philippines.

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Let these books lead you to explore, with curiosity and wonder, the bright, new, emerging world of Filipino children’s literature!

Posted October 2009