Making Paperboats with Papa, written by May Tobias Papa and illustrated by Beth Parrocha Doctolero. Photo from Papa's site, littlewishingstar.wordpress.com.
As the rains pour, a little boy and his father make paperboats and float them in the water. But when puddles turn to floods, the boy must decide which of his beloved toys to save as the family packs their bags to flee their home.
This is the story of Making Paperboats with Papa, a children’s book written by May Tobias Papa and illustrated by Beth Parrocha Doctolero.
According to a blogpost by the author on her website littlewishingstar.wordpress.
The client told her “his profound personal insight from the flood, that against Nature you really are powerless, and so it’s best to live with Zen habits, with only things that are most essential.”
She combined these with her own experience of Ondoy, which brought “thigh-high flood” inside her parents’ house.
“The water rose so fast that we only had enough time to pull out drawers from my parents’ bedroom cabinets—drawers that contained precious family documents and family photographs—and take them up to the second floor,” she wrote. “Except for food and drinking water, my husband, sister-in-law and myself took very little else upstairs, because we had resigned to the fact that we won’t be able to save much anyway.”
She recounted being able to read Doctolero’s Facebook posts during Ondoy. The illustrator said “their area was flooded, and then, much later, that she had made paper boats with her son.”
This struck a chord in Papa. She wrote, “How wonderful, to be childlike and see opportunity for play and joy in the midst of a calamity.”
The result: Making Paperboats with Papa. Read the book online at http://issuu.com/oishi_peso_
Published in 2011, it is the third of the Oishi Peso-Smart book series. The food company created the series in 2009 to promote “financial literacy for young children” as part of their advocacy.
Previous titles are Once I Was Rich: True Confessions of a Nine-Year-Old Big Spender and My Name is Gus Gastos and I have a Monster in My Room!. Both are from the same author and illustrator. All books can be viewed online for free. While these two are on the Oishi Peso-Smart website, www.oishipesosmart.com, Making Paperboats with Papa can be viewed on Oishi Peso-Smart’s Issuu page, issuu.com/oishi_peso_smart/
Oishi began its foray into the publication of children’s books in 2005 with 100 Questions Filipino Kids Ask in partnership with Adarna House. The book won the National Book Award for Best Reference Book in 2006. The second volume came out this year.
Visual artist Doctolero has illustrated beloved Adarna books such as Ang Pambihirang Buhok ni Raquel and Papel de Liha; while freelance writer, graphic designer, and book illustrator Papa wrote the Adarna book Araw sa Palengke.
