Artie and Julie, a picture book written and illustrated by Taiwanese author Chen Chih-yuan (陳致元), has been selected as one of 10 notable children’s books of the year by a US teachers organization, a publishing source said yesterday.
The English-language book about two friends — Artie the lion and Julie the rabbit — was selected one of the top children’s books by the Children’s Literature Assembly of the US National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) for its Notables Award, said Heryin Publishing Co, which published the Chinese edition of Artie and Julie in 2006.
Artie and Julie will be featured, along with 29 other books, at the NCTE Convention in November and at the International Reading Association (IRA) Convention next year, as well as in the Autumn 2009 edition of the Journal of Children’s Literature, said Chou Yih-fen (周逸芬), editor-in-chief of Heryin Books.
The 30 children’s titles, which include fiction, non-fiction, poetry and picture books, demonstrate uniqueness in the use of language or style, involve word play, word origins, or the history of language, and invite child response or participation, the Children’s Literature Assembly said.
Having received glowing reviews from the US-based Kirkus Reviews, the English edition of Artie and Julie, published in the US last year, was introduced as “a good book worthy of having,” Chou said.
Chen, 34, has produced illustrated children’s books, including Guji Guji — a story about a crocodile who thinks it’s a duck after it is raised by a duck, On My Way to Buy Eggs — about a little girl running an errand for her father, The Featherless Chicken and The Best Christmas Ever.
Guji Guji made it to the New York Times bestseller list in 2005.
The Pingtung-born Chen is the only Chinese-language writer and illustrator to have won repeated international recognition for his work, including a best children’s book award presented by the US trade magazine Publishers Weekly in 2003 and a best children’s book award presented by the Japan Library Association in 2006.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
RSS