My grandchild’s favorite Bellen-Ang book
Photos by Elizabeth Lolarga and Christine Bellen-Ang
Who’d think a kid born and raised in the US of A like my youngest grandchild Poppy would fall in love with this Filipino book character named Filemon Mamon? But she did like him so much that every morning and afternoon that I was there with her in Cerritos, CA, she’d sit on my lap, hold up the book for me to read aloud, and copy my gestures of raising my right arm at every mention of the command “Charge!”
Author Christine Bellen-Ang
Author Christine Bellen-Ang, the creator of Filemon Mamon, has an uncanny understanding of what clicks with children. I witnessed this recently when she hosted her 52nd birthday celebration with storytelling and games for children from different Baguio neighborhoods at One Yangco Hub, the happening place that is home to Mt Cloud Bookshop and Hot Cat, a café.
It turns out this was the 10th such commemoration of her natal day. I wish all children’s book authors would observe milestones with such generous sharing. As she tells it, the annual event, halted only during the two-year pandemic, started in 2012. At that time, she was still studying for Ph.D. in Hong Kong, where she thought of introducing and giving away books to children.
From abroad, she would email friends that when she returned home, she would organize this activity before Christmas (she was born December 24). The Museo Pambata on Roxas Blvd., Manila, allowed her use of the venue for her first book-giving. To supplement her own money, her cousins and friends contributed financially to buy food for the children, for the rental shuttle of the kids from Tondo, Manila.
Christine partnered with Project Pearls Foundation to invite the children who are called mag-uuling (charcoal makers) in Tondo. Artist friends, including theater artists like Bodjie Pascua, helped, too, thus introducing the audience not just to books. The children drew, had a movement workshop, and went home with goodies. The children, numbering 50, were given free passes in the museum so they could visit and watch the exhibitions. Because of the initial success of the book-giving, Christine thought to make it a yearly affair.
But why book-giving and story-telling instead of games and a talent show with prizes? She answered, “I thought of it as a form of thanksgiving for my advocacy in writing for children and for having children’s literature as my field of expertise. When I was a child, I learned to love books because of the stories of my parents before I went to sleep after lunch or after dinner. It wasn’t daily because they were busy, too, but it was they who influenced me to love stories and books.”
She said her parents did not have enough money to allot for books, but they strove to buy her a few. She recalled the Lady Bug series, Peter, the Fisher of Men, a Golden Book Series featuring Smokey Bear. She also stumbled upon Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang, which was in a small collection of her grandfather’s.
She said, “I realized while I was doing research for my master’s thesis on Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang that it was used by the Chinese who migrated to the Philippines to learn Tagalog. That was why my lolo had a copy. He was a Chinese who owned books by Severino Reyes.”
Christine continued on her formation as a writer: “Stories and books enriched my imagination. These were my safe space in life. I took comfort in reading, but at the same time, it disturbed me. When I read The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen, I couldn’t forget it. This was where I asked why the living conditions of people in the world were not equal. As a child, I was disturbed by the story of another child who sold matches and died from the cold. She had no food, no house and was an orphan. Whenever I remember this reading experience, I think that it is good for a child to own his or her own book. I believed in the book’s impact in their lives. Reading would give them an armor, a perspective with which to face the world.”
She added, “Books will help develop their imagination. To me, the imagination is the beginning of having a vision for one’s life. This is the why I want to share books with the children, especially those without access to these. They will also learn to value and later on buy books. I organize my event for them, with the thought that I could leave them with a beautiful memory about receiving and caring for books.”
She believes that for every year that she gives away books, there is at least one child, who will learn to love them and who will be guided by them.
Asked if anyone, any author inspired her to do this, she replied, “I just thought of doing this as a form of praxis in reading books to children and telling them stories, particularly literary stories. I write children’s books, but this activity that we do has the greater purpose of bringing books and literature closer to children.”
Maddie Castillo reads from Bellen-Ang’s book ‘Og Uhog.’
Christine chose to concentrate on children’s lit because “children are close to my heart. That is the real reason. I believe a nation is strong if its children read. They are the seed that will bring about rightful change in our country.”
Folktale collection by Christine Bellen-Ang
She calls her project, Project Banig, Storytelling Everywhere, her small contribution so that children’s literature may thrive and find an audience through live story-telling. She said, “As long as there’s a banig (woven mat) and book, we can bring this advocacy to where the children are. It hasn’t been active as I also have a lot of chores at home. But the gift-giving has continued since 2012. There was a year I paid for the children’s tickets so they could watch my play at the Ateneo Children’s Theater.”
Children scramble for the ‘pabitin’ goodies.
She said this project would not be possible without the cooperation of friends and family. “This is always community effort of people who advocate books for children.”
Christine’s latest book is Mausisang Mga Pusa (Curious Cats) written for the Asian Festival Content for Children, with curiosity as theme. It will be launched in Baguio in March 2025. This is the tale of two white cats who were formed in the clouds and who descended to earth. On earth one cat poked around and messed up a house, while the other went to a park. To find out what happened to these cats, purchase the dual-language (English and Filipino) book, and discover that it is not just for children.
