Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

There is a barren mountain aptly called Fruitless Mountain, and by it lies the dark Jade River. In the shadow of the mountain is a poor village where everything is the dull color of mud. In this village live Ba and Ma and their quick-thinking daughter Minli. Ba, Ma, and Minli work hard in the fields every day, yet they only have plain rice to eat for their meals. Ma sighs with discontentment all the time. Minli looks at her weary father, her dissatisfied mother, and her desolate village and wishes she knew how she could change their fortune. Ba has told Minli wonderful stories about the Never-Ending Mountain and the Old Man of the Moon who knows the answer to all important questions, for he alone holds and reads the Book of Fortune. Minli decides to find the Never-Ending Mountain and climb up to the moon so that she can ask the Old Man how she can change her family's fortune. And so begins Minli's journey. Along the way, she makes many new friends, including a dragon, a buffa...

I'm on the staff of Color Online, a blog that focuses on women writers of color for adults, teenagers, and children. Head on over there for my review of Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China by Ai-Ling Louie and Ed Young !

When Ash is around twelve years old, her mother dies and her father dies soon after. But not before marrying a woman with two daughters of her own. Even with a stepmother and two stepsisters, Ash is all alone, for her stepfamily treats her very unkindly and like a servant. And always, always Ash feels the loss of her mother. Ash inherited her mother's love of fairy tales and she reads stories about how fairies can take people to see their deceased loved ones. Ash seeks out fairies because magic reminds her of her mother and she would like to ask the fairies to bring her mother back from the dead. She finds fairies and forms a very peculiar relationship with one named Sidhean. Sidhean is powerful and more handsome than any man Ash has ever seen. He desires Ash and claims her as his own. Though he and Ash are strange friends/companions for many years, they rarely spend time together. Sidhean claims that Ash is not yet ready to stay with him and his people. However, Ash yearns to leav...

Multiculturalism Rocks! has given Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind the Over the Top! blog award. Thank you, Nathalie! :o) Here are the rules for the award: 1. Thank and post URL to the blog that gave the award. 2. Pass the award along to six brilliantly over the top blogs - blogs you love! (I am going to cheat here and give the award to seven blogs.) 3. Copy and paste this quiz . . . Change the answers (one-word answers only). The Q&A 1. Where is your cell phone? here 2. Your hair? curly 3. Your mother? Gensan 4. Your father? here 5. Your favorite food? pizza 6. Your dream last night? forgot 7. Your favorite drink? coffee 8. Your dream/goal? publisher 9. What room are you in? bedroom 10. Your hobby? blogging 11. Your fear? death 12. Where do you want to be in six years? dunno 13. Where were you last night? home 14. Something that you aren’t? bored 15. Muffins? no 16. Wish list item? books 17. Where did you grow up? Vegas 18. Last thing you did? laundry 19. What are you wearing...

Today, I have the great privilege of interviewing Filipino children's book illustrator Sergio "Serj" Bumatay III . Serj is the illustrator of: Basta Ayoko Pang Matulog!/I Don’t Want to Go to Bed Yet! by Luis Gatmaitan (OMF Literature, 2005) Tight Times by Jeanette C. Patindol (Adarna House, 2007) The Boy Who Touched Heaven by Iris Gem Li (Adarna House, 2007) Naku, Nakuu, Nakuuu! by Nanoy Rafael (Adarna House, 2008) and Tuwing Sabado/Every Saturday by Russell Molina (Lampara Books, 2009) Serj, welcome to Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind! Please share a bit about your childhood. In an interview with PaperTigers , you said that you always knew that you wanted to draw and paint. What were you like as a young artist? When I was young, I loved to create many things and try interesting stuff like science experiments you can do in the kitchen, home made toys, and collecting many things. That curiosity and creativity motivated me to try art. I discovered I could draw by...

Ariel Pang is my new favorite children's book illustrator! Ariel is from Taiwan and her works include: Fox Hatches the Egg Barky the Dog Sheep The Lion Who Wants Curly Hair Black Spoonbills Come for Winter Mongoose, Mongoose, Stop! Don't Run. The Outfoxed Fox P is for Pumpkin As you can see, Ariel's illustrations are just the cutest things. Bright, colorful, and playful. They are reviving . I'm really happy to be featuring Ariel and some of her works on Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind. Read on for my conversation with Ariel... Who are your favorite artists, graphic designers, and children's book illustrators? How have they influenced your work? I got influenced by many artists through time. But there are two artists who influence me the most. They are Bobby Chiu and Davy Liu . Bobby Chiu has this broadcasting thing named Chiustream on the Internet where he interacts with other artists in the world through his broadcasting. He shares his philosophy of how to ...