“Some Women’’
By Bunny Ty
Book design by Beaulah Pedregosa-
Taguiwalo
Anvil Publishing, 2007

The story behind this breathlessly breathtaking book for children is that publisher Karina Bolasco chanced upon this poem in a collection. She had never met the poet but fell in love with the poem because of its simplicity and its success in saying what it meant to say. That, she thought, would make a perfect children’s book. This is the story she had long been in search of.

Over many cups of coffee, Bolasco, book designer Beaulah Taguiwalo, and I would often talk about our favorite children’s stories and how far too many local titles spoil their own success by saying more than what needs to be said. Why do we, Filipino children’s authors, seem to be afraid
of being subtle and understated?

Do we worry that the point would be missed by the readers? Does that not dumb down the audience?
Or perhaps we are in need of harsher editors?

So what is Bunny Ty’s poetry trying to say? It talks of some women’s vain and worldly ways, coloring their lips red, curling their lashes hard, blushing their cheeks, and feeling plain if they had no color on their faces.

In just 119 well-chosen words, Ty offers parallel images which counter what some women falsely
think. The structure of her poem is simple so that the second line after the general observation about what those women believe and practice, always begins with, “not me…”

Thus, the first companion lines in a series of six are:

Some women color their lips red.
Not me.
I like to color mine with good words instead.

Don’t think that the rest of the lines border on the preachy and the moralistic — and the moral lessons and values that we always want our children to mine in books. Little wonder that they always opt to go nonprint. The next ones are my favorite:

Some women curl their lashes hard.
Not me, I want mine soft to catch my tears.

I will not spoil your reading by quoting any more lines. Besides, that is only half of the wonder of this book. The lines are enough of a treasure.

BEAUTIFUL WORDS AND IMAGES

What Taguiwalo has done is design the book so that every page is rich with appropriate images of women by artists from the US, Canada, the European Union and the Philippines. A collection so precious it merits an entire page of attributions, so that both painting and artist are identified. Thus, we have works by Renoir, Utagawa, Cassatt, Gauguin, Modigliani, Gauguin, Vermeer. Bencab is represented and from the Cultural Center of the Philippines Art Collection, Magsaysay-Ho, Austria, Cajipe-Endaya.

Not all the illustrations are borrowed art work, for Taguiwalo has created her own. Those familiar
with Taguiwalo’s previous book designs (Joaquin’s “Culture and History” shortlisted for book design
by the Manila Critics Circle and her ambitious multilingual book series, “The Mountain That Loved a Bird”) will admire her trademark high standard of craftsmanship. She was assisted by her son Mark
in the photography of the Philippine paintings.

This book will be an important resource both for its beauty of language and images and the introduction to masterpieces that it also gives. Slim as this book is, it is rich in possibilities
and learning opportunities and interactions between parent and child, teacher and child, and even women keen on women issues.

Not just some women, this time, but all women.

Slim as this book is, it is a sturdy paperback in vivid colors and coated paper, a book to be proud of. No apologies this time are necessary because it is worthy to be called a children’s book published in the Philippines and yes, it does look and feel like a real book, not one so weightless and so insignificant that it is lost on bookshelves.

Wanting to test this out on young readers, I read it to two girls. Hannah Sy, a sixth grader who loves
words and is a keen reader was stunned and with her hands on her chest, said, “It hits me here.” Her
sister Cara, a high school freshman, joined Hannah in writing their own version of the poem, providing all the companion lines.

The author is a member of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People and may be reached
at nenisrc@gmail.com.