Bahay Kubo: Children's Literature

By Harold Legaspi

Bahay Kubo brings children together through personal narratives which envelopes (Filipino) values and concerns, recognised as intimately and inextricably linked to broader, global political issues. Bahay Kubo begins with a story about a Crab whose family were taken away by fishermen,

• Language: English
• Publisher: Papel Publishing
• Release date: Jun 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9780645984316

Harold Legaspi

Harold Legaspi is an Australian writer born in Manila, Philippines, and living in unceded Darug land (Western Sydney, Australia).

Book preview

Bahay Kubo

Bahay Kubo

Bahay Kubo

Children's Literature

Harold Legaspi

Papel Publishing

Copyright © Harold Legaspi and Romeo Sabah Yago Shano 2024

The moral right of the author and illustrators have been asserted.

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced or stored or transmitted by any process without prior written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia.

ISBN: 978-0-6459843-0-9 (paperback)

Front cover design courtesy of IngramSpark and back cover design by Harold Legaspi

Printed and bound in Australia by IngramSpark 

Published in Australia in 2024 by Papel Publishing.

Darug Country, PO Box 75, St Clair, NSW 2759, Australia

Papel Publishing acknowledges and pays respects to the past, present and emerging Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Respect and acknowledgement to the Darug people and the Gandangara people—the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land wherein this book was written and illustrated. Papel Publishing pays respect to the knowledge embedded forever within the Aboriginal Custodianship of Country.

About the artworks:

Romeo Sabah Yago Shano had illustrated with care some images without prior knowledge of the stories included as works of fiction. His illustrations are the original artworks which are kept in Darug and Gandangara Country but have been re-imagined by the author as the illustrations you see in Bahay Kubo.

for our children

Contents

Kapwa: Shared Inner Self

Mabuting Pakikitungo: Hospitality and Hiya

Makabayan: Love of Country

Espiritu ng Mga Nagugutom at Nasunog: Spirit of the Hungry and Burnt

Soledad and Tao

An Illustrado and An Igorot

Awa: Compassion for Others

Acknowledgements

ang ating mundo ay may kamalayan / our world has consciousness

Kapwa: Shared Inner Self

magkasamang magtayo ng bahay, build a house together

In the bundok (mountains), long, long ago, there was a Crab. He was sitting alone in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by Bani trees, with its large canopy of branches and emerald green leaves spreading wide. As well, Malabulak trees, among them, with its vibrant red waxy flowers with medicinal purposes. The Crab had travelled from the sea, and had migrated to lupa (land) to build a bahay (house).

The Bani trees, standing tall, noticed the Crab all on