#NCBD2015 Blog Tour Week 2: Dream Date

I’ll take a head start on the #NCBD2015 Blog Tour this week, before I get bogged down.

(The #NCBD2015 Blog Tour is a series of weekly posts in celebration of National Children’s Book Day, happening all throughout July.)

Here’s this week’s prompt:

Hulyo 14 – 19: Dream Date
Sinong manunulat o ilustrador ang nais mong makasama sa isang araw/gabí? (Kailangang mga aklat pambata at pangkabataan ang nililikha niya. Maaari ring maglista nang higit sa isa pa.)

I made a little doodle for this week (because I’m pushing myself to draw by hand again) to answer this question:

I hope you guessed who it is!

I’d been mulling the question since I joined the blog tour, and, well, I thought, given that we aren’t bound by time and space, who better to get to know than Jose Rizal himself?

I thought it was just fitting, seeing as he is the reason we celebrate National Children’s Book Day every third Tuesday of July, in commemoration of the publication of “The Monkey and the Turtle” on Trubner’s Oriental Record in London.

I’ve always been fascinated by Rizal as a person, and although he’s one of the most studied historical figures in the Philippines, I think it would just be fun to pick his mind.

I’d love to know more about what he thought of the books he read — we do know part of his reading list, and the fact that his bibliography lists over 2,000 books he either owned, read, borrowed or consulted (thanks to my Rizal prof, Ambeth Ocampo), but I bet it would be interesting to find out which books he’ll rave about and recommend, which books he wish he hadn’t read, which books he would have wanted to read if he had the chance.

I would also really love to know what kind of reader he is. Was he a monobookist (one book at a time) or a polybookist (many books all at the same time)? Did he have a favorite spot for reading? Did he have tea or coffee while reading? Did he read in bed? Did he dog-ear pages or did he use bookmarks? What would he think about apps? And e-books?

It’s always interesting to find out an author or illustrator’s process, so I guess I would ask him about that. Did he write (or draw, or paint, or sculpt) all in one go, or did he do it in fits and starts? Did he outline his plots or did he make them up as he went along? Did he do studies of his artwork or did he just wing them?

And on that note, had he not been executed, what other books would he have created? Would he have made more books for children?

I would totally have gotten him to sign books for me. And maybe get him to doodle in my notebook. And take a selfie. Haha. Maybe (because the prompt does say one whole day) collaborate on something, like a book or a comic. And I would totally blog about it, of course!

Despite the fact that I need a TARDIS or a vortex manipulator, or a Time Turner or the DeLorean to make this happen, this was a fun post! Looking forward to seeing who the other bloggers pick for this week’s #NCBD2015 Blog Tour!

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Join us in celebration of #NCBD2015!