Magic Suitcase is on the move!

We are three more sleeps away from taking flight on another Nepali adventure. Those who have travelled with us or followed our adventures in the past will know that there is lots more going on than drinking tea (although we have had the privilege of experiencing the "three cups of tea" phenomenon each time).


This year we embark on our journey with 9 students and 5 adults. Our group of 14 from Canada is a strong and determined team and we look forwad to combining efforts with our Nepali cohorts. Led by Karma Sherpa and members of the YESS (Yangrima Ex-Students Society) group we will be visiting the village of Thakani, where we will work together to build a playground (which was the thrust of our fundraising efforts this time). Following our stay in Thakani we will trek to Sermathang, on the other side of the valley in the Helambu region, to visit Yangrima School, where our other hosts are from. Our team is prepared for the physical labour, the trek, the cultural experience and for the food! But, we are most excited about the life-long friendships our group will make, as we have.

The Magic Suitcase plays a role here as well. Last year 7 adults travelled to Helambu to work on two projects. One was to offer a 4-day sports training workshop for physical education teachers. We had 26 participants, all from Helambu schools. The second project was to build a library collection for Yangrima School. The best part of this project was purchasing the books in Kathmandu! Can you imagine what it looked like to have 7 teachers let loose in a four-storey building filled with books. We chose over 1000 books, had them transported up (2700m) to Yangrima school and sat for 2 days while we pasted cards and envelopes and catalogued each book before placing them on their new shelves. Thanks to Wintergreen and Brodart for their support.

This year's project is in conjunction with Run for Life, which collaborates with educators to deliver school-based running programs. Their Global Outreach program is an initiative that recycles running shoes and educational materials, including books, and repurposes them to rural schools in developing countries. They currently link Canadian Schools with schools abroad - in our case, Nepal. A direct school-to-school link is established via the use of smart phone technology to foster a unique learning experience for students in both communities. Please follow our journey via this link: http://schools.runforlife.ca/nepal


The Magic Suitcase's role has been to support Run for Life's initiative by finding suitable picture books in support of their varied running/literacy programs. Running Shoes by Frederick Lipp has been a "shoe-in" (pun intended!). In support of another running program called "Run Like a Girl" we recommend titles from the Planet Girl series such as Centsibility by Ellen Warwick and Stacey Roderick. Check out the art work provided by Monika Melnychuk and then visit http://www.runforlife.ca/ for the uncanny coincidence!

Gotta run... to Nepal!

Good things are happening here!

Magic Suitcase has been chose as the Bookstore of the Month at the House of Anasi Press! Check out Judy's interview at http://www.anansi.ca/

Books for all Reasons

It appears that there's a renewed interest in the picture book genre. I find that more and more teachers and educators are requesting picture books that deal with specific themes and issues. This is the kind of challenge that I most enjoy. Not only are primary teachers using this resource to read stories to their classes but junior, intermediate and even senior teachers are using picture books to deal with difficult ideas such as: depression, loss, equity, gender, racism, tolerance and even helping children understand the concept of fair trade.

When I display books at a conference I find that people are drawn to our booth for aesthetic reasons. They may initially be drawn closer by the look of the booth but they are usually lured into the booth by the beauty of the books displayed. When approached, most teachers just enjoy being left alone to immerse themselves in the books but on occasion I'll get a customer who, upon noticing only picture books, says "Oh, I teach high school". Nothing is more satisfying than when a customer is pleasantly surprised by the depth of some picture books.

Shaun Tan comes to mind when searching for picture books for older students. A new collection of two of his favourites - The Lost Thing and The Red Tree, and a John Marsden favourite - The Rabbits has just been rereleased in a stunning hard cover version called Lost and Found.

Synopsis:

A girl finds a bright spot in a dark world. A boy leads a strange, lost creature home. And a group of peaceful creatures cedes their home to cruel invaders. Shaun Tan, with his understated voice and brilliant draftsmanship, has proved that he has a unique imaginative window to our souls, and an unparalleled ability to share that opening with pictures and narratives that are as unexpected as they are deeply true.