Very cool that we’re in the Back to School issue of L.A. Parent! You can pick up a free issue all over Los Angeles county – there’s even a San Fernando Valley edition – or you can browse or download the online edition here.
Why Shakespeare? from The Mousetrap
I hope you already know and love The Mousetrap podcast, especially their hilarious Shakespeare Madness. It’s a site that’s long been one of our favorite bookmarks. So we are unbelievably thrilled and honored to be featured on their latest podcast, entitled Why Shakespeare? Thank you Dori!
“Igniting a Flame” by Samantha Smith
During my three days in Washington, DC, I met Samantha Smith, an intern at the Folger Shakespeare Library who had previously spent a summer studying at St. John’s College, Oxford, and who talked about her hopes of one day going to England again for postgraduate studies. I met two dozen similarly interesting, passionate, and wonderful people, and reading Samantha’s article about the Conference on Teaching Shakespeare in the Elementary Classroom brought back memories of all the inspiring presentations and fun activities we took part in. Thanks for the write-up!
Author of the Week
Thank you to Infinity Publishing for featuring our book this week!
Shakespeare in Elementary Education Conference 2013
Thank you to everyone at the Folger Shakespeare Library and all those who attended the conference, for giving me the opportunity to share with you our KinderBard project, and for being such enthusiastic supporters of Shakespeare in the elementary classroom. Also, the book is officially sold out everywhere, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, at even at the Folger gift shop! We’ll try to get copies back in circulation as soon as possible!
Shakespeare Geek on KinderBard
Let me just start off by saying that the Shakespeare Geek is an actual personal hero of mine. I’ve read and commented on his intelligent, learned, playful and inspiring blog posts at his site which he’s maintained since 2005, he’s a man truly dedicated to his passion, and not one to go for a quick buck either – his iPhone app ShakeShare is another of his labours of love – a fantastically entertaining little treasure trove of quotes and jokes and puns and one-liners by and about our favourite playwright.
So when I discovered that he had written about us – and begun his post with the words,
I think that Daeshin Kim would be fun to hang out with
well, I was thrilled! In fact that first sentence was the only thing in the entire blog post that he was wrong about – everything else is pure gold! Thank you so much, sir, for taking the time to look at our work and to write about it!
Beach Bound Books loves Shakespeare
Stacie Theis tells me she had no idea today was Shakespeare’s birthday, but I think she knew, subconsciously. How else would you explain the fact that after emailing and tweeting each other for a few months about her wish to publish an interview with me on her wonderful book review site, Beach Bound Books, she went ahead and published it today?
By the way, Stacie and Sohyun have so much in common – not only did Sohyun go to university in San Diego, where Stacie lives, but they are both art teachers and both wives, moms and illustrators. We are so thrilled an honored to have received Stacie’s support!
You can read our interview here.
Watch us on CBS LA!
We’ve been invited as guests on CBS LA on Thursday, February 7! Tune in at around 2:45pm to watch our live interview, where we’ll be talking about our book, our pictures, our music, and our app!
UPDATE: Following the Chris Dorner incident, our live interview has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 11 at 2pm.
KinderBard Review at Picture Book Depot
We are so honoured and thrilled to receive this wonderful review from the Picture Book Depot, especially as they have a policy of not reviewing self-published books. I suppose, technically, ours isn’t a self-published book – having been made possible by the support of every single one of our generous Kickstarter campaign backers – so thank you all again!
Here is an excerpt from Rita Lorraine‘s review:
A Horse With Wings (And Other Songs for Children), by Daeshin Kim, has all the qualities of “sleeper.” For those who do not know, a sleeper is a book or movie that, from its simple title, seems that it would be an ordinary product – but once you encounter it, it’s anything but ordinary. It is, in fact, a surprise hit.
Los Angeles 한인 1.5세, 셰익스피어의 문학과 예술 세계를 접목시킨 교육 교재 출시
햄릿, 로미오와 줄리엣, 리어왕, 말괄량이 길들이기, 한여름밤의 꿈, 모두 이름만 들어도 알수 있는 셰익스피어의 유명 희극속 인물들이 어린들이들에게 즐겁고 흥미있는 동요로 다가온다. 미국 로스 엔젤레스에 거주하는 한인이 어린이들에게 셰익스피어의 문학과 예술세계를 소개함과 동시에, 음악과 미술, 그리고 영어까지 동시에 배울수 있는 교육 자료를 출시했다.
옥스포드에서 영어 영문학을 전공한 한인 1.5세 김대신씨는 셰익스피어 희곡 등장인물들이 그들의 관점에서 부르는 노래를 담은 그림 동요집을 만들었다. 셰익스피어의 희곡 내용을 바탕으로, 어린이들이 쉽게 이해할 수 있는 소재를 골라 직접 작사, 작곡을 하고, 고등학교 미술 교사를 지낸 부인이 노래 하나하나의 주제를 표현할 수 있는 그림을 그렸다.
일명 “날개 달린 말” 이라는 제목의 이 교육자료는 모두 16곡의 노래와 그림이 수록돼 있으며, 현재 책과 CD, eBook, 그리고 디지털 음악을 통해 웹사이트로 세계 전역의 어린이들에게 소개되고 있다. 딱딱하게만 느껴질 수 있는 셰익스피어의 희곡들을 따라부르기 쉬운 동요을 통해 재미있게 어린이들에게 소개하고, 이 노래들을 통해 어린이들이 자라면서 흔히 겪을수 있는 사회적, 정서적 문제, 예를 들면 따돌림, 놀림, 질투, 분노, 불안 등을 예술적이고 창의적으로 그려 나갔다. 아이들의 흥미를 돋굴수 있는 재미있는 소재들도 함께 다뤄져 있다.
단발성 캐릭터와 단순한 흥미 위주의 교육 재료가 만연한 시대에, 깊이 있는 문학과 예술을 접할수 있는 셰익스피어의 셰계를 어린이들이 쉽고 즐겁게 배울수 있는 유용한 교육 자료라는 지적이다. 어린이들은 이 동요를 듣고 따라 부르면서, 자연스럽게 문학과 음악, 미술을 함께 접하게 되고, 즐겁게 영어를 배울수 있다는 장점도 있다.
세계에서 셰익스피어의 원작을 가장 많이 소장하고 있는 워싱턴 DC의 “Folger 셰익스피어 도서관“의 교육 관장 로버트 영 (Robert Young)이 이 책의 머릿말을 직접 자청해 쓸 정도로, 이 교재에 대한 대중의 관심과 주목은 대단하다.
자체 웹사이트인 kinderbard.com 에는 부모와 교사가 아이들을 상대로 이 교재를 유용하게 사용할 수 있도록 도와주는 무료 가이드북이 수록돼 있으며, 셰익스피어의 희곡과 인물에 대한 자세한 소개, 그리고 아이들에 대한 효율적인 교육 접근 방법 등을 명시하고 있다.