Episode #131: Q&A with Grace!
Hello! It’s Grace Lin!
Thank you so much for being a listener of this podcast. It’s been so fun seeing the listenership grow! But it’s that time of year again and just like last year, we’re going on summer break! though for us it isn’t really a break! We’re going to be hard at work recording new episodes for when we return in September! Yes, we’ll be back and better for the new school year.
If you would like to be notified when the new season of KAA starts, I encourage you to sign up for my author newsletter. My newsletter will also alert you to when we start applications for the new Kids Book Reviewer Club, so you won’t want to miss it!
However, just to let you know, it is my author newsletter, so it is mostly filled with activities and news about my books and life as an author. Which actually brings us to today’s episode!
Because today’s episode is a solo show! As you know I am Grace Lin and not only am I the host of this podcast but I am the author and illustrator of many books! One of the things I do is offer a free Q&A webinar to schools and book groups 2-3 times during the school year. If you would like to be alerted for the dates of these webinars as well as application directions, please sign up for my author newsletter (obviously, I really want you to sign up for my newsletter, right?)
Anyway, for today’s episode, I thought I would answer three questions from my last free webinar.
KID: Are you the mom in The Ugly Vegetables?
What a good question! For those who do not know, The Ugly Vegetables is a picture book about a girl whose mother grows Chinese vegetables in their garden while all the neighbors grow flowers. The young girl is embarrassed by their unusual-looking vegetables, especially compared to the beautiful, colorful flowers of the neighbors. But one day, after harvesting the vegetables a wonderful aroma comes from her kitchen and the girl realizes that these vegetables are wonderful in their own way.
Now, that story is based on real life-- but I am not the mom. I’m actually the daughter! It was my own mother who grew Chinese vegetables in our garden when I was a child and I was the one who was really embarrassed!
But I can see why you might have guessed why I was the mom. If you have read my other books, like The Year of the Dog, you probably know that I have 2 sisters—and the girl in the Ugly Vegetables seems like an only child. Well, that is one part of the story that is NOT true. When I wrote The Ugly Vegetables, I just decided not to put my sisters in it and make the main character an only child. And I have to tell you—my sisters were not happy about that! They were actually kind of mad at me! So that is why in my other books, like Dim Sum for Everyone and Bringing in The New Year, you will see that the family has 3 girls—the main character and two sisters. I didn’t want my sisters to get mad at me for cutting them out of any more of my books!
KID: Do you still grow Ugly Vegetables?
Well, I grow vegetables AND flowers but, unfortunately, the vegetables I grow are not the Chinese ones in the story. For some reason, I haven’t been very successful growing them where I live. But I do grow many kinds of cherry tomatoes, eggplant, beans and peas. And last year I was able to grow a watermelon!
However, there is an Asian food market about 20 minutes away from where I live now—so I can just buy my Chinese vegetables when I need them. Which is quite a relief since I can’t grow them!
KID: Why do you put yourself and your family in your books?
A very good question! There are many reasons but one reason is because when I was younger, I did not see many books with people that looked like me in them—I did not see books with Asian characters. That always made me feel strange and when I grew up and became a children’s book author and illustrator I decided I wanted to change that. I wanted to make books with Asian characters. But, in the beginning, I was a little unsure of how to do it. Because there were so few Asian characters in books at that time, I felt a lot of pressure. I felt like people who read my books might think that my Asian characters were not Asian enough or maybe too Asian! Sometimes, especially if there is not a lot of representation, people want one character to represent everyone. I didn’t think I could create a character that could represent all Asian-Americans. I didn’t think it would feel real.
But I do know that I, myself, am real! So I thought that if I used myself and my life in my books it would feel real because it actually was! And by using myself, I didn’t worry as much about representing all Asian-Americans—I just had to show who I was as an Asian-American and, hopefully, that would be enough.
Also, it’s just fun to see yourself and your family in a book!
Today’s Kid Book Review comes from Ethan! Ethan is reviewing, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin.
My name is Ethan. The book I would like to talk about is Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by author-illustrator Grace Lin. This book is about Minli finding the Old Man of the Moon and believing that he could change her fortune. Later when Minli’s parents went to work, Minli left the house to find the Old Man of the Moon. I like this book because Minli and the dragon become friends and go on adventures together. I was born in the year of the dragon so I enjoy reading about the dragon’s story. I highly recommend this book for my friends and family. It is a great book to learn about Chinese folktales like the Old Man of the Moon and it has beautiful illustrations.
THANK YOU SO MUCH Ethan!
So that’s it! That is today’s episode and our last one until August!
But, grown-ups, remember, if you know a kid that has a question, a book review, very short story, a poem or even a joke they would like to share on this podcast, you can still submit it to kidsaskauthors.com. And if you’d like to reach me, follow me on twitter and Instagram where I use the handle @pacylin and, of course, you can sign up for my author newsletter—the link is in the shownotes!
Also, if you enjoy this podcast, please spread the word! Tell your friends and colleagues to listen and of course please rate and review on Apple podcasts. And lastly, you can also become a patron! Doing any of those things helps pay for transcripts, continue the Kids Book Review Club and most of all continue this podcast! The link to the Patreon is also in the show notes. So, thanks so much and see you in September!