Stories for Children of the Ocean

Some much-needed new children’s books from an unlikely team of authors will answer the crying need for kid’s books in Fiji’s native tongues. Read more: https://asiafoundation.org/2021/10/13/stories-for-children-of-the-ocean/

Transcript

Susie Elliott (00:03):

I grew up in the 60s and 70s reading German folk tales, English folk tales, but I never saw myself reflected in these stories. I somehow was wandering in the world without my world being reflected back at me, like a mirror. So it's like growing up blindfolded in a sense.

John Rieger (00:24):

Some much needed new children's books for library shelves in Fiji, from an unlikely team of aspiring authors. Stories for kids today on InAsia, from the Asia Foundation. I'm John Rieger.

Tracie Yang (00:35):

And I'm Tracie Yang. At Fiji's first-ever Book Lab, six writers and four illustrators with some unconventional resumes teamed up to create 10 new picture books in four intensive days. Those stories will answer the crying need for kids' books in Fiji's native tongues.

John Rieger (00:52):

Joining us now from Fiji to talk about the book lab are the Asia foundation's Milika Sobey and book lab author, Susie Elliot. Susie, and Milika, welcome to InAsia.

Susie Elliott (01:01):

Thank you.

Milika Sobey (01:02):

Thank you, John. It was nice of you to invite us.

Tracie Yang (01:04):

So Malika 10 books in four days, that sounds pretty intense. Tell us a bit about the creative team you put together for this project. Who are they?

Milika Sobey (01:15):

My background was in environmental science. So this was a totally new network for me to tap into, finding illustrators and finding writers. And so I turned to our partner, the university of the south Pacific, and they identified some of the writers for me. They come from different backgrounds, but they've always wanted to write for children. There is a lecturer from university there. There is a final year journalism student, who's also one of the writers. Susie, who came from a librarian background. And then we have the illustrators, somebody who used to be an engineer with the electricity company, the wedding photographer. There's a deaf illustrator who just loves to draw superheroes. And the fourth one is Joni, who is a brand specialist.

John Rieger (02:05):

What a great group. It sounds almost like an episode of survivor. So the book lab had a theme, oceans and inclusive climate action. How did you arrive at that?

Milika Sobey (02:19):

When the UN declared 2021 to 2030 as the UN decade of ocean science for sustainable development, we thought why not have our first book lab around an ocean's theme? It's so appropriate because we live in the Pacific ocean and young children on our islands have experienced firsthand the impacts of climate change.

Tracie Yang (02:43):

So then why children's books? Why was this particular project needed?

Susie Elliott (02:48):

That's a good question.

Milika Sobey (02:49):

Because there's such a dearth of children's books in Fiji, particularly in the vernacular, which is so much a part of our cultural identity.

Tracie Yang (02:57):

Susie?

Susie Elliott (02:58):

Because we were colonized by the British and it wasn't until the 1970s, when Fiji gained independence, our education curriculum was based on the English language and everything English. I grew up in the sixties and seventies, reading German folk tales, English folk tales. And so I lived an experience of myself through the adventures and the stories that came from other countries. But I never saw myself reflected in these stories. I somehow was wandering in the world without my world being reflected back at me, like a mirror.

John Rieger (03:40):

Like a mirror in which you, yourself, do not appear.

Susie Elliott (03:43):

That's, right. You're looking into this mirror and you see everything else happening in the mirror, but you don't see yourself or your situation or your experience so that you can point and say, look, this is who I am. This is where I am. This is what I sound like. So, it's like growing up blindfolded in a sense.

John Rieger (04:00):

So is a children's book project, the weapon that is going to smite the legacy of colonialism?

Susie Elliott (04:06):

It's a start

Milika Sobey (04:07):

One day at a time, John, one day at a time.

Susie Elliott (04:09):

Yes, exactly. It's a start it's to hopefully see, wow, we can see ourselves in these books. They're actually speaking our language.

Tracie Yang (04:19):

So I'd like to hear more about the stories themselves. What are they about?

Milika Sobey (04:24):

They are children's stories. And what we wanted to do was to get the children, to learn a bit about this natural world around them. And so the stories range from tackling issues like ocean warming. There's one on superhero day, which is talking all about mangroves. A child comes to school, dressed up as a mangrove tree and explains why he's a superhero. There's one about sea level rise where the little grandson says, "oh, we can build you a nice house on the hill," because of the sea rise in the coastal village. There's also a really humorous one about a disposable mask, because everyone knows what a mask is, because we're all forced to wear one. So the mask is disposed of in a rubbish bin and then it flies off. The bin wasn't shut properly. So it then ends up in the ocean and encounters all these different creatures that tell the mask, you can't be here. We're going to choke on you or whatever. So it's talking about Marine litter.

Tracie Yang (05:23):

I love it.

Milika Sobey (05:23):

And they're all so passionate about it. Everyone had fun composing the storyboards. Susie has a really cute character in one of her stories called Molly. And the first time I saw the storyboard for Molly, I just smiled because there she was in her little swimsuit and I could picture it straight away.

John Rieger (05:45):

Susie, we've been trying to persuade you, as we prepare for this interview, to read some of your work from the book lab project.

Susie Elliott (05:52):

Yes. I'd love to do that. This is the one that Milika was talking about. It's titled "Scaredy Cat Molly" Molly lives on an island in Fiji with her family. She has a big sister Rosi and an older brother, Kenny. He sometimes calls her a scaredy cat. It upsets her a lot. If only she could show him that she isn't one. It's the first week of the school holidays. Molly, Kenny and Rosi are excited to be at the seashore. Molly loves to explore the beach and rock pools. "Come on, last one in the water is a scaredy cat" Kenny sings out. Molly and Rosi race into the waters edge. They jump on the first wave they see. As the tide goes out, the rock pools emerge. "Look Rosi, it's time to go exploring" Molly says. There are so many wonderful things to see. They spot clumps of black muscles and scuttling green crabs.

Susie Elliott (06:53):

There are blue starfishes and hairy brittle stars with long wavy tentacles. The speckled and rubbery sea cucumbers tunnel into the sand as the girls stamp about the pool. Leaving Rosi alone, Molly wanders away from her into another rock pool. The quiet pool is covered in wavy sea grass. The water is a little deep and rises up to her knees. Molly does not see a small hammerhead shark drifting out of the sea grass from the back of the pool. It silently swimmed its way toward her wanting to get out. From the next pool, Rosi sees the sharks dorsal fin. "Watch out!" she yells. Looking up suddenly, Molly is startled by the shark. She realizes that she's blocking the entrance to the reef. The shark settles on the sand and watches her. "There's a shark, a shark!" shrieks Molly. "Stay still, I'm coming!" Rosi shouts back.

Susie Elliott (07:55):

Watching the hammerhead shark, Molly moves slowly aside to make way for it. And as she does, it rises up and swiftly swims away leaving a plume of sand behind it. The excitement of seeing her first shark is too much for poor Molly. Rosi waded toward her and scoops her up in a hug. "Wow. How brave you are!" Rosi chuckles, "Just wait until Kenny hears how you looked the shark in the eye and didn't blink." "Not a scaredy cat now," gasped Molly. And they both laugh.

John Rieger (08:32):

That is adorable.

Susie Elliott (08:33):

Oh, thank you, John.

Milika Sobey (08:35):

Susie, do you want to tell them the surprise about Molly?

Susie Elliott (08:38):

Oh, oh yes. The illustrator who is illustrating the story is Joni Moce. And at the end, when her sisters coops her up, Molly faces the reader and we see that Molly has down syndrome. And so that's the big reveal. And from start to finish, I wanted the story to just evolve and flow without any explanation about Molly until at the end. And this is because my intention is to be inclusive. You know what I'm trying to say, children with disability can relate to this story.

John Rieger (09:15):

It's part of being able to see yourself in the literature you're exposed to.

Susie Elliott (09:19):

That's brilliant, John. Absolutely. And it goes back to the heart of what it is I'm trying to say with my stories, to be seen.

John Rieger (09:28):

There's a lot more to this little book lab than just a week of trying to write some stories I can see.

Milika Sobey (09:33):

Yes, absolutely.

John Rieger (09:35):

The Asia foundation's Milika Sobey and author Susie Elliott, thank you both for joining us today from Fiji.

Susie Elliott (09:41):

Thank you, John and Tracie.

Milika Sobey (09:43):

Thanks, John. And Tracie. It was a pleasure.

Tracie Yang (09:45):

And that's all for our show. You can read more about the book lab in this week's InAsia blog by typing InAsia one word, into the Google machine. And while you're there, you can also subscribe to our podcast. Please do. Until next time, I'm Tracie Yang.

John Rieger (10:00):

And I'm John Rieger.

Tracie Yang (10:01):

Thanks for listening.