Readers Are Writers’ Gifts

January 22, 2015 by

Sometimes I find it hard to return every day to my notebook and computer to go on with the story I’m currently writing. Even though I’m disciplined enough to write on a daily basis, I’m also lazy and easily distracted. There are so many books to read! So many movies to watch! So many desserts to bake! So many walks to take!

It’s also fair to say that writing is a solitary task that doesn’t bring immediate results. And when the result – the book – is there, I always feel a little lonely. Now what?

This is why any acknowledging nudge is a gift to me. Thank you for your reviews, your invitations on your blog, and your links to mine. Thank you.

But when the kind nudge comes from a young reader, my audience, then I have no excuse to feel sorry for my lack of courage.

This is what I received yesterday morning, sent by an English teacher who liked my novel Chronicles From Château Moines well enough to have it read and discussed in her seventh grade class.

I don’t know the student who wrote this. I won’t probably ever meet her. And yet she is the reason why I dragged my lazy little me to my table this morning and wrote another page. A gift, really.

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Filed Under: Latest Post, Writing for Children, Writing in a foreign language, Writing life

MLK

January 19, 2015 by

En l’honneur de l’anniversaire de Martin Luther King Junior (né le 15 janvier 1929), les écoles, les services postaux, les banques, et bureaux du gouvernement fédéral sont fermés aujourd’hui lundi aux Etats Unis. Ce jour devint une fête fédérale par une loi signée en 1983 par le président Ronald Reagan, mais ce n’est que depuis 2000 que les cinquante états des USA le célèbrent unanimement.

Un certain nombre de business privés sont également fermés. Le cœur d’une entreprise américaine balance entre deux jours fériés : Martin Luther King’s Day ou Presidents’ Day, le 16 février cette année.

On dit que les républicains préfèrent Presidents’ Day et que les démocrates penchent pour Martin Luther King’s Day. Dans le doute je suis les écoles et fête les deux.

Presidents’ Day, comme son nom l’indique, célèbre les présidents américains dans leur ensemble, même si techniquement ce sont Lincoln et Washington, qui sont fêtés, nés respectivement le 12 et le 22 février.

Quant à Martin Luther King Jr., lorsque je suis passée à Memphis en 2012, j’ai eu la possibilité de voir le lieu exact où il a été assassiné le 4 avril 1968.

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Mon blog était peu lu à cette époque. En fait, il est possible que personne n’ait lu ces billets écrit en français ici et in English là.

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Mes nombreuses années en Californie m’ont davantage familiarisée avec le mouvement des droits civils des noirs américains, dont Martin Luther King Jr. était le leader, qu’avec la ségrégation raciale du sud des Etats Unis. Les deux sont cependant indissociables.

Si vous voulez que vos enfants découvrent les racines de ce mouvement sans passer par un livre d’histoire, je vous recommande One Crazy Summer, un roman à la fois drôle, honnête et très sensible, écrit par Rita Williams-Garcia et publié en 2010.

A travers Delphine et ses petites sœurs, dont elle s’occupe du haut de ses onze ans comme une vraie maman, maintenant que la leur a décidé de quitter Brooklyn pour Oakland de façon à vivre à fond le style de vie californien des années 60, l’auteure nous fait découvrir les évènements les plus marquants et transformateurs de l’histoire récente des USA. Excès et espoir se poussent constamment du coude à travers une série de personnages extrêmement bien campés. Delphine et ses soeurs vivent la montée des droits civils au plein coeur d’Oakland, des moments extraordinaires mais aussi banals qui font l’enfance, et aussi un rapprochement inattendu avec leur maman.

Un thème sérieux avec une sérieuse dose d’humour, des personnages et situations réalistes et émouvants. Franchement excellent.

Le site web de Rita Williams-Garcia est aussi une bonne source d’information sur son parcours de femme noire écrivaine aux USA.

Malgré le succès de ce livre aux USA, je n’ai pas trouvé de traduction française. Si quelqu’un la connaît, faites-le moi savoir.

Si vous voulez remonter quelques années plus haut dans l’histoire, lisez le grand classique de Christopher Paul Curtis The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, publié en 1995 et étudié très souvent dans les écoles américaines (c’est ainsi que je l’ai découvert au début des années 2000). Le roman est traduit en français sous le titre Voyage à Birmingham.

La famille extravagante de Kenny (10 ans) quitte Flint, Michigan pour visiter sa grand-mère à Birmingham, Alabama. Ce voyage du nord au sud du pays sera comme un aucun autre et transformera non seulement Kenny et sa famille mais encore les Etats Unis.

Un livre incontournable dans lequel on apprend tant de choses, non seulement sur l’un des évènements les plus sombres de l’histoire des Etats Unis et sur la discrimination raciale, mais aussi ce que tous les humains ont tendance à faire : assumer sans savoir. Les états américains, les villes, le climat, les accents, tout est l’occasion de décaper les stéréotypes.

Tout comme One Crazy Summer, The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 est un roman plein d’humour, très drôle malgré son sérieux, avec une palette de personnages inoubliables, sur un sujet difficile qui divise encore trop souvent les américains.

La mémoire de Martin Luther King est présente aux Etats Unis à travers les avenues, les boulevards, les rues, les parcs, les squares, et bien sûr les écoles qui portent son nom.

Souvent seulement ces/ses initiales: MLK.

Filed Under: Latest Post, Uncategorized, Writing for Children Tagged With: , , , ,

A Galette des Rois and a Kings’ Cake

January 5, 2015 by

Traditionally a religious celebration commemorating the visit of the Three Wise Men to baby Jesus, Epiphany Day is thoroughly enjoyed in France beyond the official January 6th and beyond religious meaning, too.
All over the country, bakeries sell the galette des rois (Kings’ Cake) in different versions depending on the French regions.
Americans are more familiar with another Kings’ Cake, a Louisiana specialty.

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Unlike the French who celebrate the end of the Christmas season with the Epiphany, the people of Louisiana celebrate the beginning of Lent with the famous New Orleans Carnival mid February. Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday is celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. During the Carnival, thousands of locals and out of state visitors savor the Kings’ Cake.

The galette des rois I know best, however, is made of puff pastry filled with almond paste.

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Despite the diversity of the cakes, the tradition of hiding a small plastic or porcelain trinket inside the dough is the same. In France, family and friends gather pour tirer les rois or to draw the kings.

Traditionally the youngest person in the room hides under the table and decides who gets which slice of the cake. Then whoever finds the trinket is crowned king or queen and can pick his queen or her king. The following year this is the turn of the king or queen to host the party.
In the old days a dry bean or fève in French was hidden inside the cake. One said that cheap people swallowed the bean so they wouldn’t have to host the event the following year. And this is how tiny porcelain trinkets replaced the traditional beans. Who knowns? In any case, the trinket is still called fève.
When I was growing up, the fève had some kind of Christian connotation: a manger, a lamb, a star, a baby Jesus, an angel, or still a shepherd.
Nowadays the selection is more eclectic which explains why a museum in Blain, on the French Atlantic coast, and another one in Ronel, in the Midi- Pyrénées region, display them.

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I love anything with almonds and almond paste, so I like the galette des rois very much. Yet more than the cake, this tradition reminds me that the French love the association of traditions, food, family, and friends.
I also enjoy sharing the traditions of my native country. One of my very first children’s stories happened to be about the galette des rois. Like Max, the protagonist, I was tempted more than once to cheat and steal the fève to be queen for a day.

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Pelican Publishing Company, based in Louisiana, has published several children’s books around the Kings’ Cake and the New Orleans Carnival.
I like their most recent picture book (2008) Timothy Hubble and the King Cake Party written by Anita Prieto and illustrated by Virginia Howard.
Timothy has just moved to New Orleans and worries about this strange Kings’ cake “with a baby baked inside” that his new friend describes to him. Of course, things will turn around in a good way for him.
However, his initial reaction reminds me of the first time I introduced the French tradition to a California teacher.

This teacher taught at my oldest daughter’s preschool and she wanted her students to learn about their classmates’ cultural heritage. Parents were invited to share traditions from their native country. The teacher didn’t know about Epiphany Day, so she was happy for my participation. Until I told her that I would hide a small trinket inside the galette des rois.
“No, no, no”, she said. “You can’t do that. Imagine if one of the children swallowed this small thing.”
“Oh, it won’t happen,” I said. “I ate many Kings’ Cakes and I never saw anyone who swallowed it.”
“No,” she insisted. “Besides, some kids could be allergic to almonds. Can you bake another cake?”
I thought that the teacher overreacted. Yet I could only obey. So I came to school with a homemade pear cake. It had nothing to do with the galette des rois and no trinket was hidden inside, but we were safe. I explained the tradition to the children.
“Where is the small thing?” asked a little girl, digging with her plastic fork through her slice of cake.
Patiently the teacher explained that an object inside the cake would be too dangerous for children. The little girl nodded and asked if she could have more cake.
Years later I purchased my first store-bought galette des rois.
When I opened the box I saw a note taped inside the cover. A warning about the trinket/fève tucked inside the cake and the fact that it was baked with almonds was printed in bold. A description of the tradition followed in regular print.
I wasn’t surprised to find such a note and in retrospect agreed that the teacher had two valid points.
You see, after years in the States, what once shocked me has lost its strangeness.
Speaking of cake, can I ask you why the Americans say: “You can’t eat your cake and have it, too?”

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Because I think that I have in fact the best of both worlds.

 

Filed Under: French & American Cultures, Latest Post, Writing for Children, Writing in a foreign language Tagged With: , , ,
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