The House Baba Built: An Artist's Childhood in China by Ed Young and Libby Koponen

 About a year ago, I reviewed Allen Say's autobiographical work Drawing from Memory and the effect World War II had on his life growing up in Yokohama, Japan.  Ed Young's The House Baba Built is also an autobiographical work and describes his life in Shanghai, China during the war.

Ed Young's father was an engineer and realizing that war was coming to China, he decided he needed a safe place for himself, his wife and five children to live in.  The safest place would be around the foreign embassies in Shanghai, known as the International Settlement.  But land there was expensive and so Baba (an affectionate term for father) made a deal with a landowner - Baba would built a house on his land with the proviso that his family could live in it for 20 years.  The family moved into the house in 1935 and for the first few years that they lived in Baba's house, life was good.  There was a lovely swimming pool, where friends and family would gather in summer, there was lots of pretend playing, lovely gardens and even a roof that made a great roller skating area.  Life wasn't rich in goods, but it was rich in so many other ways.

But when the Japanese invaded Nanking in 1937, Baba had to build an apartment where the kids roller skated because relatives from there had escaped to Shanghai to live.  After that, the effects of the war began to be felt more and more.  And in 1940 a family who had escaped Hitler's Germany, the Luedeckes, also moved into Baba's house.

The three families living in Baba's house were very fortunate.  Even after things changed with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the loss of British and American protection, the house that Baba built was able to withstand the war, and even when bombs were being dropped directly on Shanghai, they missed the house completely.

When the 20 years were up, the Young family honored their contract and turned the house over to the landowner.  By then, most of the children had grown, married and gone their own way.

It was during the war, living in Baba's house, that Young discovered his talent as an artist.  Given crayons and paper to use while recovering from a cold, his first attempt at drawing was a cowboy that didn't quite match what was in his mind.  But he sought guidance and the rest is history.  For The House Baba Built, he used a mixed media, which gives it depth and texture.  Young's family is shown in an interesting combination of old photographs and drawings, there are all kinds of collages (my favorite art form), and some of the pages fold out to reveal even more of the life of the Young family in Baba's house.

Most of the book consists of vignettes that are put together to resemble the collages, rather than a linear history of Young's early life.  However, there is a timeline at the end which can help orient the reader if needed.  And there is an extended section at the end of the book of later photographs, including Baba's house, as well as a diagram of the house and some facts regarding how the house was built to bombproof it.

All in all, The House Baba Built is an interesting book for all kinds of readers, but especially a reader who likes to explore each and every page of an illustrated book.  This is a work that proves itself to be an insightful look at some of the early influences on a beloved author/illustrator.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL


Facts First! Nonfiction Monday is hosted this week by ProseandKahn

Reading Challenges

Well, it's that time of the year again, time to wrap up my 2012 reading challenges.  This year I tried not to get too enthusiastic about reading challenges, and there were some mighty tempting ones, too, but I did mange to keep it to a mostly do-able number.  And it turns out to have been a year full of some very good books.

I participated in the Cozy Mystery Reading Challenge hosted by Debbie's Book Blog, but sometime during the summer, Debbie decided to stop blogging.  Of the 4-6 Cozies I said I would read, I completed the following:
1- The Girl is Trouble by Kathryn Haines Miller
2- Mr. Churchill's Secretary  by Susan Elia MacNeal
3- Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal

I also participated in the European Reading Challenge hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader.  I signed up to read 5 or more books and these are the six I completed:
1- My Brother's Shadow by Monika Schröder (Germany)
2- Night by Elie Wiesel (Romania)
3- Far from My Home, Never to Return by Nadia Seluga (Poland)
4- Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Britain and France)
5- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Denmark)
6- Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus (Norway)

The third reading challenge I read books for was the Historical Fiction Challenge hosted by Historical Tapestry.  I read 15 of the 15 books I committed to, which are:
1- My Brother's Shadow by Monika Schröder
2- Private Peaceful by Michael Mopurgo
3- Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
4- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
5- The Girl is Trouble by Kathryn Haines Miller
6- The Other Half of Life by Kim Ablon Whitney
7- Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal
8- Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus
9- Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
10- Violins of Autumn by Amy McAuley
11- Rowan Farm by Margot Benary-Isbert
12- Black Radishes by Susan Lynn Meyer
13- Becoming Clementine by Jennifer Niven
14- The FitzOsbornes at War by Michelle Cooper
15- Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal

And Anna and Serena at War Through the Generations hosted the World War I Reading Challenge this year and I read 4 books for that:
1- My Brother's Shadow by Monika Schröder
2- Private Peaceful by Michael Mopurgo
3- The Poppy Lady by Barbara Elizabeth Walsh
4- Truce: the Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting by Jim Murphy

The Sir Terry Pratchett Reading Challenge was hosted by Once Upon a Time and I read:
1- Dodger by Terry Pratchett

I managed to meet at least the minimum amount on all these reading challenges with one exception (and I am highly embarrassed about it) but luckily, it is a perpetual challenge:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Reading Challenge hosted by Zohar at Man of la Book

And for 2013...
I am still thinking about that, although I am going to definitely repeat some of this year's challenges.  Those are at the moment to be announced.

Boxing Day: A Good Day to Say Thank You

Today is Boxing Day, but since we don't celebrate it in the US, I thought it would be a good day to take the time to express some gratitude.

First, thank you to everyone again for your kind words about the loss of my cousin's son in the Newtown shooting.  It is a great loss to everyone who knew him and we are all still in a state of stunned disbelief.  We all agree, however, that the kindness of friends and strangers means so much, not just to my cousin's family, but to all the families.  People are truly amazing and generous.  

Second, thank you to everyone at The Broke and the Bookish for hosting their Secret Santa Exchange again this year.  It was great fun participating and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.  My Secret Santa was Wendy at Literary Feline - Musings of a Bookish Kitty.  She kindly sent me Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett, which I have wanted to read for a long time, and Insurgent by Veronica Roth, which I can't wait to read now that I have finished Divergent.  And a really lovely container of 12 different Flowering Teas.  Tea is my go-to drink of choice, especially while I am reading on a cold winter's day.

And thank you to the blogging community for helping to make so much fun.  Not only did we have BEA in New York City this year, but there was also the really successful KidLitCon organized and hosted by Betsy Bird at A Fuse #8 Production, Liz Burns at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy (whose blogs are int the process of migrating to an improved SLJ server) and Monica Edinger at Educating Alice.  It was great to see old friends and make new ones this year.

I would also like to thank my followers for, well, following and commenting.  You are a very valued part of blogging and make it all worthwhile.

Last but not least, thanks to the people who hosted the memes I participated in as well as the reading challenges.

And I am looking forward to another great blogging year in 2013, thanks to everyone who has touched my life this year.

I am, understandably, a little behind in my reading but will be spending some time this week catching up, so new posts are definitely on their way.

I hope everyone has had Happy Holidays and wish you all A Happy New Year!

Sunday Funnies #9: Little Orphan Annie Christmas 1943

December 21, 1943:

December 22, 1943:

December 23, 1943:

December 24, 1943:

December 25, 1943:

Weekend Cooking #24: Victory through the Ministry of Food: Christmas Pudding

After my dad immigrated from Wales to the US, there were two things my dad always asked my mom to make at Christmastime that represented home for him.  One was a mince pie which he couldn't get enough of, and the other was a nice Christmas Pudding, or pud as he always called it.  I probably haven't had a Christmas pud since my dad passed away, but even though I never really developed a taste for it, I still miss it at the holidays.  In fact, I miss all the steamed puddings my mom used to make for us, but, alas, I never felt very drawn to making any myself.

So I found myself pleasantly surprised when I was going through my Food Facts file for my first post on Victory Through the Ministry of Food prompted by my review of The FitzOsbornes at Way by Michelle Cooper, to find that I had saved a number of saved articles on Christmas puds.  

My favorite is the gay Ministry of Food leaflet for a Christmas Pudding from 1945.   The war had officially ended in September1945, but rationing was still in effect.  However, by Christmas, some things were finally more plentiful and so the Ministry of Food published this leaflet especially for that first peacetime Christmas to help make the holidays somewhat nicer than they had been for the past six years.  

Ingredients that had been missing in wartime Christmas Puddings were back in.  No more grated raw potato in lieu of breadcrumbs, no more grated raw carrot instead of the usual amount of dried fruit and finally there was some more spices, real sugar and even some rum.  Unfortunately, orange marmalade was still being used in place of dried citrus peel, but things were definitely looking up

.  

December 1945 Food Facts Leaflet No. 284

But despite the appearance of improved conditions, Christmas 1945 wasn't quite what it could have been. Granted the blackout was over and bombs were no longer being dropped, but promised shipments of foods failed to meet expectations.  According the news reports, of the three shiploads of oranges that were due to arrive, only one ship made it to port and most of the oranges were bad.  Christmas turkeys, which couldn't be stuffed anyway, were available, but mostly on the black market at outrageous prices.  Shipments of wine and alcohol also didn't come through.  But large gifts of toys, plum puddings and sweets were sent to Britain from Australia, South America and South Africa, so that Christmas 1945 was not without some treats.

And of course, the biggest and best Christmas present of all that year was the end of the war.  

To everyone, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Weekend Cooking is a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads