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Four Feet, Two Sandals has been chosen for the Itabashi Translation Contest this year!

The cities of Bologna and Itabashi have a sister city relationship and are culturally twinned in the promotion of children's books. Each year a translation contest is held in Itabashi, Tokyo in which participants buy selected English or Italian children's books and prepare a translation, which they submit to the competition. This is the 15th year that the Itabashi Translation Contest is being held.
 
The books that are in the competition are chosen by the committee of the Bologna Book Fair in Itabashi - Picture Book Translation Contest from the picture books that Bologna contributes each year to the city of Itabashi.   The committee includes professional translators, picture book authors, and/or teachers.  The contest receives support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Canadian Embassy, the Italian Embassy, the Chinese Embassy, the Mongolian Embassy, the Japan School Libraries Conference, the Japanese Libraries Association, and the Japan Book Publishing Association among other domestic, non-profit, book-related organizations.

Four Feet, Two Sandals, was selected as Book of the Month by the Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children. 

Four Feet, Two Sandals was selected for the 2008 list of Notable Books for a Global Society, awarded by the Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association. Each year, this program selects a list of 25 outstanding trade books that enhance student understanding of people and cultures throughout the world.

Four Feet, Two Sandals was chosen to be a part of the Reading List: Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People -- a project presented yearly by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children's Book Council (CBC).

 
Four Feet, Two Sandals was chosen by Jessica Doyle, the First Lady of Wisconsin for Read On Wisconsin! for the book of the month for March 2008 and was distributed to school and community groups across the state.

A Spring 2008 Horn Book Guide recommended book.

School Library Journal:  Double-page acrylic paintings in muted colors enhance the well-written narrative, depicting the desert setting as well as camp conditions and cultural details, such as the character’s clothing.  The girls’ changing emotions are clearly conveyed through the text’s understated tone and the realistic pictures.  This poignant story of loss, friendship, and sharing introduces readers to the realities of children growing up in refugee camps.

Work in Progress

Dreaming Tyson (working title). In this young YA novel, 14 year old Boniface is forced to live in Kibera the largest slum in Africa as a victim of the aids epidemic that has taken his mother and his grandfather.  He manages to eke out a dignified existence where he attends school and plays soccer and dreams of going on to secondary school.  But when his best friend and mentor, Tyson is hit and killed by a pick up truck, Boniface’s fragile world falls apart.  He ends up on the streets of Nairobi as a chokera, a street boy, where life is degrading and harsh. He is unable to accept the help offered by his friends Beatrice a schoolmate and the girl he has a crush on or Madam Josephine, the local business woman who buys used paper for recylcing from the street boys. Boniface must find a way to cope with this new loss and in doing so he learns more about his dead friend, himself, life in his own world and beyond.

Finally the rough draft is finished and I am polishing and marketing this book.  I have gotten to know and love my characters well and am attached to them all.  I hope they find a home and make connections out in the world.

Where Do the Leaves Go?
Over a year ago I heard a scientist on NPR ask the question “Where do the piles of leaves go that you see in the park in Fall? By Spring they have disappeared.” That got me thinking. Where do those leaves go? I spent a year walking in the park nearly everyday and struggled with how to tell the story I saw unfolding there. What developed is a lyrical picture book based on my interest in nature and poetry, Where do the Leaves Go? I envision a lively, slightly whimsical exploration of this simple question.

YA Novel
I need to capture the voices of my youngest son, who is headed off to college soon, and his friends, before it is too late. To that end I am working on a YA novel with a smart, sardonic voice in the first person. So much material like being locked in the boys bathroom at school during…well, bathroom lock down. Or how about that fly nap in Bio lab where you count the red butts of fruit flies to determine how many flies of each sex in your sample? And what about when you use your sister’s old backpack and the security guard at the metal detector entrance to school unearths a tampon among your belongings? What to do when the girl who you had planned to ask to the Semi formal fall dance announces she is going with your lab partner who you know is a player? I guess I’ll find out. These and many others are the stories that inspire. Now I need the plot.

Poetry
I have been working on a book of poetry for adults. In April 2007 I attended a writer’s workshop in Chautauqua, New York where I studied with the Pulitzer prize winner poet, Carl Dennis. I have had two poems published in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Homewood Cemetery and  Because it’s Summer.

In the Spring of 2009 I traveled back to Haiti for three weeks.  I had lived there for three years and this was a bittersweet return to see old friends and to write.  There were some changes.  More cell phones for one.  Sadly the loss of homes and livestock and lives in the aftermath of three hurricanes in the last two years for another.  As always, it was inspiring to be back in this poor country of stark beauty where the people live with dignity, pride and perseverance.  I am working on a chapbook of poems from this experience.

Kenya photo by Wendy Stone

Lubuto Means Light to be published by Boyds Mills Press in 2010
Illustrated by Ann Grifalconi

In this new picture book manuscript Chiwato from Zambia is left homeless because of the aids epidemic.  Like the thousands of street children worldwide, he searches for a place to call home.  That’s when he learns about a special place called Lubuto Library.  This is a story for children everywhere who have ever found a home at the library.  I was inspired to write this book by the founder of the Lubuto Library Project.  To learn more about this project and children like Chiwato see the website www.Lubuto.org.

A Beach Tail to be published by Boyds Mills Press in 2010
Illustrated by Floyd Cooper

This simple story was inspired by my love of the beach and nature and many pleasant holidays spent at the seashore as a child and with my own children. 

Swish swoosh.  Gregory drew a lion in the sand.
“A sea lion?”  Dad asked.
“A sandy lion.”  Gregory said. 

Sandy needs a tail and Dad warns Gregory not to go in the water and not to leave Sandy.  The Sandy lion does get a tail that grows longer and longer.  Gregory manages to have an adventure, exploring the beach and nearly getting lost.  But he does not go in the water and he does not leave Sandy.   How does he find his way back to Dad on the dolphin towel under the blue umbrella as the tide gets higher and higher?

Not Alone to be published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

When I was in Kenya I spent a week following Beatrice who lives in Kibera, the largest slum in Africa.  I went to school with her and she shared her joys and fears with me.  This experience has lead to a new picture book, working title, Not Alone with photos by Wendy Stone.

Travel to Spain in 2010

In May 2010 I will be taking a group of writing students from Chatham University to southern Spain for a travel writing seminar.  We will live and work on an organic farm, part of  the organization World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farm (WWOOF), explore the region hiking and rock climbing and perfect the craft of writing the journey.

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