Episode #165: Last show of the season!
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, it's Grace Lin! Today's show is our last show of this season. Thank you so much for being a devoted listener of this podcast. During this break, I'm going to be retooling and revising the format of this podcast. Can you believe that we are over 150 episodes? Because of that, it seems like a good time to refresh, so stay tuned. But let's close out this season by answering some kid questions. 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. Because of that, a lot of the questions that come in are specifically for me about my books. And usually, in the spring and the fall I offer a free 15-minute webinar for classrooms where I answer kid-specific questions. Adults, sign up for my author newsletter if you want to be alerted for those.
But this spring has been so busy I was not able to offer it this time. And in the upcoming fall, instead of the Q and A webinar, instead I am offering a full 15-minute presentation on the Moon Festival, which also includes a Q and A, for those who pre-order my new book, Chinese Menu, from the Eric Carle Museum. Please go to my website, gracelin.com, for more information if you are interested in that. So all of that to say is that I need to answer some kid questions. So today, instead of a guest author and I answering one question, it's just me by myself answering some of the questions I have received these past few months. So here are the questions. Let's get started.
Here's question number one. It's from Zoe. Zoe asks, "Why did you choose Melody to be your best friend in some of your books?" So Zoe is referring to my year of books. In those books, Pacy is the only Asian girl in her school except for her sisters. So year after year, she never has a friend that looks like her, until the year of the dog, because that year a new girl moves into town. And she's Asian, just like Pacy. The new girl's name is Melody, and they become best friends. Well, the reason why I chose Melody to be Pacy's best friend is because it's pretty much a true story. I was the only Asian girl in my elementary school, except for my sisters, until one day out of the blue another Asian girl moved into town and we became best friends. However, in real life, her name was not Melody. In real life, her name was Alvina.
Now, Alvina was embarrassed to have her real name in the book, so in the book I named her Melody. And the reason why I called her Melody is because when Alvina was a baby, her parents had a hard time deciding her name. They were choosing between either Alvina or Melody. And in the end, they chose Alvina. So I decided to use the name her parents didn't choose. I decided to use the name Melody for the name of Alvina's character in the book. And do you want to know what happened to Alvina, or the real Melody? She grew up and became a children's book editor. She's actually the editor of my books, including Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, and we are still best friends. In fact, we have a podcast together we call Book Friends Forever, though it's really a podcast more for grownups. I think most kids will be kind of bored listening to it, but your teachers or guardians might be interested.
Okay, the next question is from Oliver. Oliver asks, "How are you feeling about your banned books?" So Oliver is referring to how in certain counties in Florida and Pennsylvania, Dim Sum for Everyone!, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, and Starry River of the Sky have been taken off of library shelves. They have been pulled for review. Unfortunately, there is no defined review period, so it's unknown when or if the books will ever return to the library shelves. So PEN America believes that when that is the case, the book is essentially banned. And I agree. So I feel very sad when I find out that my books are banned. I truly believe there is nothing in my books that deserve to be banned, and that they exist to make people happy, and to help and definitely not harm.
So when I find out people do not feel the same way, it makes me sad. Right now, I think the best thing students can do to help is to share books like mine, books they feel that do not deserve to be banned and that they enjoy with as many people as possible. Maybe kids could even help librarians or other book people come up with a program to talk about these books, and of course, talk about these books with their guardians. I think in the future, organizations like We Need Diverse Books will have better suggestions for what kids can do, but that is what you can do right now.
Okay, the next question is from Riley. Riley asks, "Who is your favorite character in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon?" Well, Minli, the main character in Where the Mountain meets the Moon, is kind of the person I always wished I was like. She is just like what her name means, quick and clever. She's also brave and selfless. So in many ways, she is my favorite character. But I am also really interested in the goldfish man and the goldfish. I often think I should write a story about them, and maybe someday I will.
All right. This question is from Ian. Ian asks, "Did you ever partner up with other famous authors?" Well, Ian, since I am an author and an illustrator, I usually like to work all by myself, because then I can change the words to how I want the pictures to be, or I can change the pictures to how I want the words to be.
Now, when you work with other people, sometimes that is hard to do. But recently, I did partner with a famous author. My most recent picture book, Once Upon a Book, is co-authored with the famous Kate Messner, who you might know from her Ranger in Time book series, as well as many, many other books. So, how did I end up working with Kate Messner? Well, one day I painted a picture that I really liked. And I wanted to write a story to go with it, but I couldn't think of any ideas. Now, when I can't think of any ideas, one of the things I do is ask for help. So that is what I did. I sent the picture to a bunch of my author friends and asked if anyone had an idea for a story to go with it. Well, author Kate Messner had an idea. So we worked together on it and co-wrote my picture book, or our picture book, Once Upon a Book. However, I did do all the illustrations all by myself.
All right, this question, the last question, is from Emma. And Emma asks, "When will you make a new book?" Well, I'm making a new book now. Right now, I am writing a novel that is about the stone lions that you see in front of the Chinatown gates. Have you ever noticed them? If you have noticed those lions, have you ever looked at them closely? Because one lion is usually holding a ball while the other is usually holding down a lion cub. The story I am writing is about all those characters. But the next book of mine that will be in stores is a book called Chinese Menu. It is a collection of about 40 stories about the legends and myths behind your favorite Chinese food.
For example, when you go to a Chinese restaurant, have you ever noticed how the fried dumplings are kind of in the shape of an ear? Well, that's because dumplings were invented by an ancient Chinese doctor as a cure for frostbitten ears. He created dumplings with all these warming herbs and spices in the filling. And he thought, if people ate them, it would warm them so much from the inside that their ears would not get frostbit. Well, I'm not sure how well the dumplings worked for frostbitten ears, but people sure kept eating them. And that's just one of the many stories in the book. There's the story of how four competing dragons inspired chow mein, and how a nine-tailed dog brought rice to earth. There are so many legends and myths.
If you like the small stories in my book, like Where Where the Mountain Meets the Moon or Starry River of the Sky, I feel sure that you will like this one too. Chinese Menu will come out in September. And that reminds me to remind all of you, if you pre-order Chinese Menu from the Eric Carle Museum, you'll get a free virtual visit about the Moon Festival with me. Now, parents and guardians, this is a great end of school year gift for a teacher you know. Okay, so that is the end of question answering for today. I hope to answer more in the future when Kids Ask Authors comes back in the fall. In the meantime, feel free to keep sending in your questions and please keep reading. See you soon. Bye.
Pre-Order Chinese Menu!
Educators! Pre-order Chinese Menu for the Carle Museum and receive a FREE virtual classroom visit with Grace to celebrate the Moon Festival on Sept 29th!
Not an educator? Want something different? Pre-order Chinese Menu from Porter Square Book and receive an enamel dragon pin (perfect for the upcoming Year of the Dragon)!
Find all of the pre-order info here: https://gracelin.com/news-events/
Today’s KID BOOK REVIEW: Today’s kid book review comes from Milo. Milo is reviewing, Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin.
My name is Milo. The book I would like to talk about is Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin. This book is about Rendi who left his family because he didn't like his father. He goes on a journey and helps settle a family feud. I liked this book because there's a lot of storytelling within the story. I found this story amazing and couldn't put it down.
