Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

This was originally posted at Into the Wardrobe on May 30, 2009. Each page in Shanghai Messenger (Lee & Low Books, 2005) has red Chinese screens framing poetry by Andrea Cheng and art by Ed Young . This beautiful picture book for children in the third to sixth grades tells the story of Chinese American Xiao Mei's first trip to China to visit her relatives. I see my face in the rice water, two braids hanging down, fuzzy curls all around, half Chinese half not. In China will people stare at my eyes with green flecks like Dad's? Will they ask why didn't Grandmother teach me Chinese? Cheng's stirring free verse poems evoke Xiao Mei's fear about traveling to China all by herself, and her doubts from being surrounded by a language, people, and lifestyle that are strange to her. We also see Xiao Mei's love for her life in Shanghai really grow. When she returns to Ohio, Xiao Mei misses all of her relatives and longs for her family in America and her family in Chi...

This was originally posted at Into the Wardrobe on May 29, 2009. I am BURSTING with a lot of pride again today. Today I am chatting with Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore, author of the picture book Cora Cooks Pancit (illustrated by Kristi Valiant and published by Shen's Books this year). :D Hi, Dorina! Welcome! Can you please tell us about your Asian American heritage? I am a second generation Filipino-Italian American. My grandparents on my dad’s side emigrated from the Philippines to Hawaii. My grandpa, Frank Lazo, emigrated when he was a teenager to Hawaii where he later met his bride, Cora Taclindo. As I was growing up my grandparents and my dad were my link to my Asian heritage. My grandparents were instrumental in helping many other family members immigrate to the United States from the Philippines. They adopted the Hawaiian spirit of aloha and embraced people of all cultures. They celebrated both Filipino and Hawaiian culture through food, music and dance, passing this heritage on t...

This was originally posted at Into the Wardrobe on May 28, 2009. Today, I am SO PROUD to present my interview with Filipino American author illustrator Edna Cabcabin Moran . *bursts with pride* Welcome, Edna!! Author/Illustrator, Edna Cabcabin Moran. Photo by Mark Moran. Can you tell us a bit about your Asian American heritage? My parents are from Eastern Samar, Philippines, an historic island in the Visayan island chain. My father was a U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer who brought my mom and older siblings to this country. I am the first American-born child in the family. Growing up, I always felt like I straddled two cultures. I'm very American in the way I dress, speak and carry myself. I don't know Tagalog and I lost touch with my parent's dialect, Waray Waray. However, I have strong cultural roots and have retained much of my Filipino-ness which includes a deep, abiding respect for the elders and their stories. Perhaps the family meal is a good indicator of how one is ra...

This was originally posted at Into the Wardrobe on May 27, 2009. Welcome Roseanne Thong , author of children's picture books with a distinctly Asian flavor! :D Roseanne, you have worked as a journalist and as an English teacher. What was your path to publication as a children's book writer? My path to publication as a children's writer was purely accidental! After my daughter, Maya, was born, I was inspired to write stories on basic themes that appeal to toddlers: shapes, colors, and numbers. Unfortunately, I just locked these ideas in a drawer, thinking that no one would be interested, other than my own child. One day, a good friend saw the manuscripts and insisted that I send them out to children's publishers. I learned how to send a query letter by joining SCBWI (Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators) and sent my manuscripts out to SCBWI's list of recommended publishers. A year later, I had sold my first book! What motivates you to write children...

This was originally posted at Into the Wardrobe on May 25, 2009. Playing for Papa (illustrated by Yuka Hamano and published by Topka Books in 2008) is an interesting bilingual (English/Spanish) picture book about a multicultural family in Japan. We are introduced to a Japanese father and an American mother and their twins - one boy, one girl. The little girl cannot walk and needs a wheelchair. Her twin brother tells us the story of how he wants to play baseball for his papa, who is the coach of a high school baseball team that has made it to the semi-finals of a national baseball tournament. His papa's team wins the semi-final, but loses the final game, and we see how both the victory and the defeat affect the family. I love how Playing for Papa shows readers multiculturalism, but isn't about multiculturalism. It is a picture book about family and about what it really means to win or lose. Today, I am very happy and excited to interview the author of Playing for Papa , Suza...

This was originally posted at Into the Wardrobe on May 24, 2009. Today, I have the privilege of interviewing blogger and YA writer Ellen Oh . I first came across Ellen's popular blog Hello Ello while I was doing research for my interview with Ingrid Law . ( Ellen's oldest daughter had interviewed Ingrid .) I checked out Hello Ello and really liked what I saw and discovered that Ellen had written Seven Kingdoms , a young adult fantasy set in ancient Korea. My interest was further piqued and I immediately emailed Ellen to let her know that I thought Seven Kingdoms sounded AWESOME. Alas, Seven Kingdoms is not yet a published book. But I think it's only a matter of time before we see Ellen's work on bookstore shelves. And the wait will be well worth it. Ellen, can you tell us a bit about your Asian American heritage? I'm an American Gyopo - which is the Korean term for any person of Korean ethnic descent who lived the majority of their lives outside of Korean...

This was originally posted at Into the Wardrobe on May 23, 2009. Story and haiku translations by Matthew Gollub Illustrations by Kazuko G. Stone Calligraphy by Keiko Smith Cool melons -- turn to frogs! If people should come near. Cool Melons -- Turn to Frogs!: The Life and Poems of Issa (Lee and Low Books, 1998) is so beautiful that I got teary-eyed the first time I looked through it. This picture book tells the story of Kobayashi Yataro, the haiku master otherwise known as Issa. Issa was born in Kashiwabara, a small mountain village in Japan, in 1763. He liked observing birds and insects, and spent a lot of time playing alone in the woods. It seems natural then that he started writing haiku as a young boy. (Traditional haiku describe a single moment in nature.) Issa's mother died when he was three and his father remarried when he was seven. Issa and his stepmother didn't get along at all, so when Issa was only fourteen, he was sent away from his home. He went to Edo, which i...

This was originally posted at Into the Wardrobe on May 21, 2009. Stopping by today to proudly talk about her Asian American heritage is the beautiful Justina Chen Headley - young adult book author, co-founder of readergirlz (an online book community for teen girls), and winner of the 2007 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. Welcome, Justina! Can you tell us a bit about your Asian American heritage? I am Taiwanese-American. My parents were both born in Taiwan, and I was born here in America. What inspires and motivates you to write for young adults? The teen years fascinate me—they’re at once formative and frustrating. Those are the years that form a person into an adult, yet so many of the rites and rights of adulthood are withheld. Do you have a particular writing process or any writing rituals? I try to journal for a few minutes at the start of my writing day. There’s something about pen connecting with paper that I find to be hugely liberating. And then I’ll write for 3-...