PITONG TSINELAS - Award-winning Book for Early Readers is Now Available in More Language Editions!
A few months after the Pitong Tsinelas board book edition was awarded a 2020 National Children's Book Award, Tahanan Books released a bililngual paperback edition to bring its charming story of inclusivity and acceptance to a wider audience.
Pitong Tsinelas is a story about coming together despite differences.
At first, the author, Divine Gil Reyes, thought up several other concepts (chairs and banana varieties) until she realized that counting the “humble slipper” in pairs would create a more meaningful story. The slippers reminded her of childhood memories when she and neighborhood friends would venture outdoors and play on the streets. They would walk from one house to another to pick up more friends. This inspired illustrator Benjor Catindig to focus on depicting the characters’ feet and the different paths between their stops. Without showing their faces, he expressed their personalities through the material, color, and degree of use of their footwear. This approach further underscored how children are naturally inclusive. Having the butterfly and the puppy follow the characters completes the innocent charm of the illustrations.
Originally developed by Tahanan Books for Young Readers in collaboration with the Save The Children Philippines under its First Read program, Pitong Tsinelas was created to help kids from 0 to 4 years old learn how to count through the concept of inclusivity. It’s never too early to introduce children to relevant social issues. After all, it takes a village to raise a child.
THE BOOK CREATORS
DIVINE GIL REYES is an advertising agency professional who dabbles in singing, song-writing, and voice-acting. She is a co-author of the award-winning Halo-Halo Histories series. A happy wife, mother of two amazing teens, and paw-rent of two little dogs, Divine is an incurable optimist who wants to make the world a better place for children.
BENJOR CATINDIG is an illustrator, graphic designer, and art director. He is the illustrator of the award-winning Halo-Halo Histories series. Benjor is a member of the Rude Mechanicals Theater Company, Tuloy Foundation, Puppet Theater Manila, and the Salute to a Clean Flag movement. He lives quietly with his dog, Boo.
Divine and Ben have won the National Children’s Book Award three times. As co-creators of the Halo-Halo Histories series, their books A LOLONG TIME AGO: A Prehistory of the Philippines and CASHAYSAYAN: A History of Philippine Money were named NCBA Best Reads; and SinoBaYani? José Rizal, a Halo-Halo Espesyal Book, was a semi-finalist. Divine and Ben won their third National Children’s Book Award for the original board book edition of Pitong Tsinelas, on which the bilingual paperback edition is based.
MORE LANGUAGE EDITIONS & COLLABORATIONS
Apart from the new Filipino-English edition released in May 2021, translations of the story in the Burmese, the Spanish, and the Chinese languages were developed with the support of the translation grant from the National Book Development Board in the Philippines.
Inquiries for read aloud sessions, book talks, co-publishing other language editions or other collaborations may contact our Marketing Manager, Meg Roxas, through hello@tahananbooks.com.
Editions released:
• 2018 Filipino Board Book Edition | ISBN 978-621-422-017-5
• 2021 Bilingual (Filipino-English) Edition | ISBN 978-621-422-044-1
• 2021 Myanmar (Burmese) Paperback Edition
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