Book Your Journeys Keystone celebrates World Book Day by dedicating an entire month to the love of reading

When talking about the beauty of reading, American novelist and screenwriter Thomas Perrotta remarked that it filled him with “a feeling that words can create a world”, one that could be “a great joy if I could create that world.”

It was encouraging that many Keystone Academy students found a commitment to creating such a world through a recent expansive exhibition of their compositions at the school’s libraries. Keystone dedicated the entire month of April to the delight of creation and turning imagination into reality. The occasion, named the Love of Reading Month, included exhibitions and book fairs, poetry readings, a creative writing workshop, flash mobs, and more.

Since 2015, the Keystone Libraries have organized week-long programs dedicated to the love of reading. In 2020, the “Love of Reading Week” was expanded to its current month-long form with various engaging activities that promote reading as an indispensable part of a fulfilling life. In addition, the now-annual celebration shows that the power of reading is unleashed not only through books but also through the appreciation of various forms of art, listening and speaking empathetically, and meaningful critical thinking and creation.

Make It Real: Keystone’s young authors have superpowers

What will happen to a “sociable” shark? What does a soft drink bottle think? What will happen to a troop of baby penguins on their treasure hunt in Antarctica? Is a twinkling star yummy? What will a skewer of tanghulu say if it is suddenly brought to life?

The answers to these questions may be found in books created by Keystone Primary students who displayed their collections at the Keystone Student Book Exhibition. As one of the highlights of the Love of Reading Month, the community exhibition became a hands-on experience for young authors and an opportunity to get real insights into the beauty of creation and the value of academic integrity. Keystone librarians said such displays of intense creativity always show how powerful students’ imagination can be.

While using gadgets may affect students’ enthusiasm for reading, the exhibition has shown how technology could augment reading and open possibilities for young people. Participating young authors used various materials and styles to create picture books, photo albums, 3D books, pocketbooks, and pop-up books. These have captured their interests, imagination, experience, and moods, making the compositions highly personal. The activity also brought the authors a sense of satisfaction and appreciation.

Take for example fourth graders Kevin Zhang and Max Ren who co-authored a sci-fi novel with 30,000 characters in over 70 pages. Its protagonists, a five-member crew headed to Mars to build a base, were imprisoned by Martians. After a fierce fight, the protagonists and their captors went to cordial negotiations, ultimately leading them to live peacefully on Earth. In writing this novel, Kevin and Max translated their fantasy into something concrete while, at the same time, deepening their passion for physics and space science.

It is not surprising that middle school students have more to explore. One of the books exhibited was titled Links Between the East and West from the perspectives of writing system, mythology, war, and religion, illuminating the factors that have shaped human history. A fable explores the importance of empathy. There were also poetry and essay anthologies. Some exhibitors used comics to describe physics concepts. And one manual named The Book to Running Injury-free gives readers some how-to tips to run carefully.

Meanwhile, eighth grader Muyi Dong created the picture book The Journey in a Painting to express her understanding of the dance drama “The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting”. In it, she interpreted A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains created by the Song illustrator Wang Ximeng.

“I’m so fond of this dance that I want to explore everything behind the scenes, such as how artist Wang Ximeng created the painting,” Muyi said. “The exploration led me to create a picture book. I also want to show that this painting represents a collective effort involving Wang Ximeng and his fellow admirers who committed themselves to reviving the legacy. My picture book offers a possible solution to understand and revive the legacy of A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains.”

Individual efforts and collective endeavors are encouraged and celebrated at Keystone and Whispers from the Stones is one powerful example of that. Published by the Keystone Poetry Club, this annual poetry anthology has featured contributions from the entire community. Since its first printing in 2019, Whispers from the Stones has forged strong friendships between students from different classes.

This year’s Love of Reading Month activities also included a flash mob co-organized by Primary and Secondary teacher librarians and dance and music teachers. Primary students danced and their middle school peers played the erhu, the dulcimer, and the guitar. Music teacher Jasmine Yang also collaborated with the Keystone Libraries to present the school’s first student-made lyrical anthology Keystone Book of Songs.

Time to Shine: What happens when Gen Z students engage with legendary artists?

In April, Keystone librarians placed three collections of paintings from the Qin, Han, Tang, Song, and Qing dynasties on reading shelves in the Secondary School academic building foyer. Above the hallway hung a large scroll with an image of A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. The long corridor was flanked by desks presenting ink-wash paintings created by eighth and ninth graders in the Chinese Visual Arts classes.

In the staircases on both sides of the corridor, there were replicas of famous Chinese paintings, such as the Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies, The Thirteen Emperors, Five Oxen, Lady Guo’s Spring Tous, and Along the River During the Qingming Festival. The visual extravaganza, which guided visitors to the Keystone High School Library, became an artistic dialogue that connected today’s young artists with the masters from the glorious eras throughout Chinese literary and art history. This exhibition, named “Dialogues with Ancient Chinese Paintings”, was among the highlight events of the Love of Reading Month.

In addition, the Keystone Libraries also organized a special exhibition of various painting collections from different Chinese eras, providing artistic inspiration for students to appreciate traditional Chinese art. This included The Complete Collection of Song-Dynasty Paintings, donated by the parents of the Keystone Class of 2021. Published by the Ancient Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Research Center at Zhejiang University, The Complete Collection of Song-Dynasty Paintings included oeuvres from over 200 museums and art centers worldwide. The selection took researchers over a decade to complete, but the product has become one of the most inclusive and authoritative anthologies of ancient masters’ works, presented in visually appealing designs.

This album is included on the broader compendium, A Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Chinese Paintings, in the Keystone High School Library. The Keystone Libraries later purchased four collected works containing masters’ paintings in the pre-Qin, Tang, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.

Ms. Song recalls being impressed by the artworks created by numerous Chinese Visual Arts students, especially their projects manifest a spontaneous flow of creativity that reframes and re-visualizes ancient masters’ works. This inspiration led her to brainstorm with her co-librarian Catherine de Levay and Chinese Visual Art teachers Yanjun Wang, Yang Yang, and Suren Cao to organize a mobile exhibition in teaching spaces.

The resulting display also featured students’ manuscripts, which, for Ms. Song, “demonstrate[d] a dynamic process of learning and dialogue, the very beauty that distinguishes Chinese calligraphy.”

“What’s more, things that make human life worthwhile may catch you off guard,” she added. “You just follow your heart and intuition. These moments are not replicable.”

Ms. de Levay pointed out that the exhibition allows students to “be inspired [from] the past” since they “can learn so much” from [the experience),” and that each artistic work leads “a long way along their journey.”

“I am really inspired by those ancient works. I think that is the reason why we have to take time and… start that dialogue,” Ms. de Levay added. 

For students, the exhibition serves as a way of encouragement. “In the past, when thinking about ancient works, we were overwhelmed by the enormous gap between us and the masters. But seeing our creations being presented with masters’ works in the same space, we have more courage to try and create something,” ninth grader Elin Zhu said.

A Rhythmic Tradition: “Meeting Poems” turns five

One afternoon, without much fanfare, students, parents, and teachers gathered at the High School Library to recite poems they love in the “Meeting Poems” activity. A fixture in the Love of Reading Month, poetry reading is set to become a literary tradition at Keystone.

The student-led Keystone Poetry Club organized two poetry reading sessions for primary and middle school students in mid-April, which went beyond the usual poetry-related activities offered in the Keystone Activities Program (KAP). The sessions provided an important opportunity for the club to connect with the Keystone community and allowed poetry lovers to read between the lines together. In this process, they shared their interpretations of the nuances of the spoken and written word to reflect on the joy of living.

Ninth grader Steven Ren, also the Keystone Poetry Club’s current leader, said he found many primary students facing stage fright when asked to read poetry in public. But the club activities have built their confidence and encouraged them to talk about their interpretations.

“In other words, they grow with poetry. This is what the Poetry Club and Love of Reading Month can contribute to Keystone Community,” he added.

The club’s advisor, Haiyan Li, said: “I hope the Poetry Club can enable poems to nurture minds, just like oxygen and water. I hope to find practical ways to integrate poetry into our life.”

We are so busy achieving something that we always neglect “what is laudable”, and “what requires us to stop and appreciate”. “The Poetry Club reminds us that when we travel along the road, it is necessary to stop to admire the grandeur of the sky or smell the fragrance of flowers.

By Design: Author-illustrator Trevor Lai draws interest through his character-creation process

How can one design a relatable cartoon character? How can you translate imagination into vivid images? How can you ensure your design speaks to the audience?

Author-illustrator and entrepreneur Trevor Lai answered these questions during a two-day sharing session and creative writing workshop he hosted for Keystone students during the Love of Reading Month.

Mr. Lai is popular with cartoon lovers, especially since the company he founded, Up Studios, is a well-known animation brand nationwide. At 17, he published the Ralphy the Rhino series, followed by picture books and cartoon works, including the Piggy and Tomo series.

In his sharing session, themed “The Power of Imagination: From Idea to Animation”, Mr. Lai explained the five-step process of character creation: brainstorming, putting ideas on paper, animating images, storytelling, and finalizing. This process requires animation expertise, imagination, and creation, with the latter two being the most important.

“Creating characters, visualizing scenarios, developing stories, and making music rousing all demand imagination and creation,” Mr. Lai told students. “The reason why all my characters are distinct is because they embody what I think. It is a testament to how crucial imagination can be.”

Mr. Lai’s ingenuity also lies in the way he transforms characters into spin-offs from everyday objects and places like ice cream, cookies, hotels, and ice hockey uniforms, to name a few. In this way, people from the real world can resonate with characters that go viral online. This transformation is what makes animation intriguing. Some students also found Mr. Lai’s presentation to be influential.

“Mr. Lai is amazing. He is bold enough to make his dream come true,” eighth grader Victoria Bao said. “I’ve been fascinated by animation. I want to dub animated films. But I have a social phobia. Mr. Lai set an outstanding example of creation and courage. I’ll try my best to have these two qualities.”

Though imagination and creation are crucial, practice is what builds expertise. At the creative writing workshop, Mr. Lai also designed four keywords for developing characters: Look, superpower, weakness, goal. With these keywords, he asked students to describe the character and create a story around it.

“Story comes first. Though I’m good at drawing, I deeply understand that story precedes drawing. Only after you write down your ideas and link words with images can you create good characters and outstanding work,” he added.

Keystone has invited professionals like Mr. Lai and many others to activities and events to build students’ capabilities and expand their horizons beyond academic achievements.

Reading takes us away on a journey to places and times beyond our reach, then brings us back to reality with a renewed sense of living. We hardly notice this process, but we can vividly see the transformations that come along with it. Through its three libraries accessible to students, teachers, staff, and parents, Keystone has been building a community that cherishes reading.

Keystone expands their horizons from devouring books to immersing into exhibitions and participating in performances, all of which indulge the senses and lead them to read the world—and experience life itself.