Welcome to the final day of 40 craft lessons. Has it ever happened to you while reading a book that a scene lands so heavily on your chest that you have to take a breath, close your eyes, or sigh, just to let the weight out of your body? I can recall those moments vividly, […]
Day 40: Emotional Weight Read More »
Welcome to day 39 of 40 craft lessons. Any book about the craft of storytelling advises you to “raise the stakes in the story” as soon as possible. A good story should set a clear goal for the character at stake. The higher the stakes, the more page-turning effect it has on the reader. No
Day 39: Emotional Stake Read More »
Welcome to day 38 of 40 craft lessons. Why don’t some books emotionally hook readers? In recent years, especially after the pandemic, many picture books with social-emotional learning themes have been published, in which child characters speak about mindfulness, stress management, and similar ideas. While these books often feature eye-catching covers, fabulous illustrations, and playful
Day 38: Emotional Hook Read More »
Welcome to day 37 of 40 craft lessons. A book might have an emotional core and emotional truth, yet still fail to resonate. One reason is that the character’s feelings and world feel far away from us, and we don’t feel connected to their experience. In picture books, this often happens when characters are unrelatable,
Day 37: Relatability Read More »
Welcome to day 36 of 40 craft lessons. A book might have all the narrative elements and be enhanced by many literary techniques. It might read beautifully aloud, yet still feel hollow or detached. Something is missing—a sense of warmth, connection, or genuine emotion that moves the reader beyond simple entertainment. That’s what makes a
Day 36: Emotional Core Read More »
Welcome to day 35 of 40 craft lessons. Fear is the most common feeling among young readers: fear of darkness, being alone, new places, etc. Spooky picture books, with their playful unease and slightly eerie atmosphere, give young readers a safe way to explore a feeling that scares them. It’s like an experiment in a
Welcome to day 34 of 40 craft lessons. Reading mysteries not only entertains us but also trains our deductive reasoning. At a young age, this is especially useful. But the challenge is finding a mystery that isn’t too difficult for a young reader and fits within a 32- or 40-page picture book. Before, whenever I
Welcome to day 33 of 40 craft lessons. The fantasy genre is defined by magic or supernatural elements and forces. Dragons, unicorns, elves, and wizards have populated this genre so extensively that it might seem impossible to write a fresh fantasy story. Still, many magical creatures can carry our imaginations into a fantasy world. How
Welcome to day 32 of 40 craft lessons. Has it happened to you that you read about a person or an event and decided it is the perfect subject for a picture book biography? However, while writing, you face a big problem: a lack of resources. Since everything in a biography should be verifiable, we
Day 32: Historical Fiction Read More »
Welcome to day 30 of 40 craft lessons. Biography is one of the most common genres in picture books, and its evolution is interesting to watch. If you look back at books published before 2015, you’ll often see long blocks of text paired with fairly simple illustrations. Between 2015 and 2020, things began to shift.
I will write here later
I read this book merely because of its title. My reasoning was that when an author is so careful with the title, the story will most likely be good. And it was not good, but brilliant.
Seven resin collectors
The story happens in a small, impoverished fictional village called Dukuh Paruk in the middle of Java Island. The main character, the 14-year-old Rasus, is in love with an 11-year-old girl, Srintil, whose grandfather believes she has a talent for Ronggeng—the Javanese dance. Moreover, in Rasus’s imagination, the girl is a replacement for Rasus’s mother, whom he had lost in childhood. A Ronggeng dancer isn’t a simple entertainer. The dancer is considered a sacred vessel for the village’s ancestral spirit and is expected to be available to the men of the village! I am not sure if it is comparable to the “sacred prostitute” in the temples that we read in the ancient Sumerian stories.
I read the first book in the trilogy in German—Die Tänzerin von Dukuh Paruk. Sadly, the other two volumes aren’t available to buy. In English, the trilogy is published in one volume with the title “The Dancer”.
The central conflict of the story is that Rasus has to emotionally put up with the tradition that everyone in his village believes in or benefits from. Rasus grows out of this calamity; he criticizes his village and its culture. In a nutshell, the story is the classic archetype: a boy becomes a man.
Tohari’s writing voice brings this archetype to life, especially his descriptions of nature and animals, which immerse me in the atmosphere of a Javanese village. The main theme of the story is the battle between tradition and humanity. In spite of the dire atmosphere in the story, it is very optimistic. Poverty and tradition cannot kill the humanity in Rasus.