Happy (belated) Day of the Unicorn!

Exactly a month ago, on February 29th--leap year day--a teacher message me telling me how earlier in the month, she had been reading The Year of the Dog to her students and they had all been struck by this passage:

     "Chinese people give every year an animal sign," I tried to explain. "You know how horoscopes use animals for some months? Well, for Chinese people it's every year."
     "When is it the Year of the Unicorn?" Becky asked. "I love unicorns."
     I shook my head. "I don't think there is a Year of the Unicorn."
     Becky looked really disappointed so I tried to think of something.
     "But maybe during leap year or something they have a Unicorn Day."
     "Really? What do they do on Unicorn Day?"
     "Um," I scrambled, because now I was completely lying, "they draw pictures of unicorns and hang them up. Sometimes there's a parade."

The students immediately realized that since this year had a leap year, they could celebrate my fictitious Unicorn Day! And they did!

Apparently, the day was dubbed "Unicorn Day" with  kids choosing to read books about unicorns, make puppets, or color and draw fantastical creatures! There were many in unicorn costume, as evidenced by this stealth photo:

Students in costumes for Unicorn Day!

Isn't that awesome? Happy belated Day of the Unicorn!

on my desk monday

I'm finally cleaning up the studio--out of necessity-- and I found the Tenacre Country Day School's catalog which the lovely librarian Esther Frazee sent me a long time ago! I'm so embarrassed I never responded (I had a really bad reader mail problem and didn't answer anything for over a year--but I've caught up...mostly!)

The catalog features Tenacre's  mural of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon!

I'm so honored (and very sorry I didn't acknowledge the awesome of this earlier!) Belated thanks, Tenacre school!

Inspiration from Hawaii

So, our pilot to Hawaii didn't inspire a lot of confidence:

But Hawaii, itself, was full of inspiration. From the water and beaches:

to the flora and food:

 

And, of course, the whole reason why I was in Hawaii in the first place! I was invited to be illustrator keynote speaker for the Biennial Children's Literature Conference in Hawaii. As well as not-to-be-missed opportunity to go to Hawaii (my first time!) it was a huge honor! I was alongside the amazing Kathy Appelt (the author keynote speaker) whose speech was the definition of inspiration:

I got all teary-eyed during her talk!

I'm glad I got to know her a little before her speech or else I would've been too much in awe of her to do things like this:

children's book author selfies!

But what was especially inspirational for me were the people. With Hawaii's huge Asian-American population, for the first time ever, I felt like I was in an environment where I was not an outsider in some way. I've been so used to feeling my minority status (in mainland US not looking like everyone else and in Asia not speaking like everyone else-)that it was really an odd feeling to be in Hawaii where everyone was pretty similar to me. In many ways, it felt like a homecoming for me. 

And what really brought that feeling home was  how well-loved my books were there. At the conference, there were so many students excited about my books! It was really touching.  Many brought drawings and letters. One girl gave me this:

It's a Pacy Passing Doll! Apparently, she was liked the idea of my Pocket Pacys so much that she decided to make her own parallel project--Passing Dolls! What fun!

One family, along with a homemade lei and a well-practiced cheer, gave me this red envelope with ten dollars to give to "a charity of my choice." Isn't that awesome?

They are quite a family! Check out the father's hilarious essays on his Family Matters in Hawaii Blog!

One class came with this interesting project where they had analyzed  Where the Mountain Meets the Moon with the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People!

 

Another school came with "birthday" library books--students donated their favorite book to the library on their birthday, with their own memorializing bookplate:

And did I mention the leis? The beautiful, fragrant leis! In Hawaii, one is given a lei as a symbol of welcome. Well, the people there definitely made me feel welcome, I felt as if everyone I met gave me one. I wish it was a fashion statement I could carry onto the mainland:

weighed down by leis....and this isn't even all of the ones I was given!

Mahalo, Hawaii!

on my desk monday

I received this surprise gift from  Gretchen Hensley of the design chick! She read Starry River of the Sky and was so moved that she made this gorgeous necklace for me! Check out her other beautiful creations here! 

I only wish I had gone to my PO box earlier so that I could've worn it to the Starry River of the Sky play, but hopefully I'll have another special occasion to wear it to. Thanks, so much Gretchen!

creating their own mountain

With the Wheelock show in Boston  and the Starry River of the Sky production in MN now over, I thought it would be a long time before I saw any images of my books on stage again. However, the completely-awesome-Abington-Friends-School-third-grade-teacher Felix Chen, sent some new photos that made my day!

story of Jade Dragon

In the fall, the aforementioned teacher Felix Chen and his co-teacher Karolye Eldridge shared Where the Mountain Meets the Moon with their class. It was so popular that the class decided to put on a play of it--writing the script in January, rehearsing from March, making costumes and scenery last month and putting on the play in May!

Minli meets Dragon

Green Tiger attacks

Minli meets the Old Man of the Moon

They even wrote a song and played that!

All I can say is WOW!

I heard the performance had a standing ovation and from just the photos I can tell they deserved it. I'm on my feet for them all the way over here.

Thanks so much, third graders, for bring the book to life! You are amazing!

Big head

Recently, I did a couple of fun Skype visits:

Taking a group photo via skype was a first for me!

One of the schools even made a lovely video about the event:

4th Grade Skype with Grace Lin from Rodeph Sholom School on Vimeo.

Isn't that lovely?  Right now I only do free ten minute Q&A sessions, but these were so fun that I'm thinking of offering longer programs--especially with the weather being so horrible, it's nice to connect with readers without having to leave the house and wearing pajama bottoms! Hmm, maybe I can let kids choose which pajamas I wear as part of the program....

Belated post: the Global School in GA

My whole trip to GA was amazing so it's hard to say that anything was my favorite, but part of my trip there included a school visit to the Global Village School, an all girls school for recently arrived refugee teens (from 11-18).  Almost all the students had read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and a handful of them were chosen to introduce me by reading aloud their impressions of the book.

It was one of the most moving things I've ever heard. I was so touched, I asked if I could get a copy of their speech. One girl said:

I like when Minli runs away from her house and tries to find the Old Man of the Moon and make her village turn into Fruitful Mountain. She is brave like I was when I had to run away from my country because it was not very good there, like Fruitless Mountain.

Another girl said:

 The part that is special to me is when Minli's village is changed...I want my village to change like that too because my village where I used to live when I was a kid was so poor.

And this one made me teary:

 I like the part when Minli came back to her family and her Ma and Ba welcome her with happiness. This part is special to me because I don't want to separate with my family anymore.

Seeing the story through their eyes was so humbling and touching. There are times I get caught up in petty things, worrying about booksales and publicity and this is such a heartening reminder of why I try to make the books I do. Who cares if I can't write a big blockbuster book? These girls and the people who connect to my books are the readers that I'm honored and grateful to reach.

At the end of the presentation, they gave me this:

Each girl made a shrinky-dink  piece with their name and the words they would chose for their secrets of happiness (some of the words are in another language) and pieced it together to make  a jacket like the one Minli received from the Village of Moon Rain. It's tied together with a red thread. It's so, so exquisite.

It has a permanent place of honor on my window in my studio, to remind me how thankful I should be.

It's a beautiful gift, not only as an object, but as a reminder of the other non-tangible gifts they gave me. Thank you, Global Village School!

When Halloween Meets the Moon

From one of the schools I visited in Florida, comes some Halloween fun: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon inspired pumpkins! Here is how Dragon would look if he were made of pumpkins:

Thanks so much, students! Have a happy Halloween!

on my desk monday

 On my desk floor is the quilt Rain Dragon was given in Florida!

It's so lovely! I have to show it off more! The quilt squares were drawn by some awesome young readers from the FCC in Jacksonville:

who also made dumplings because you have to keep your strength up while you are quilting

They also (with help from their equally awesome mothers) pieced the squares and sewed it:

Here's some photos of the quilt close up:

Isn't it great? I have to say, Rain Dragon and I are very quilt-rich! We have her 100 Wishes quilt,  the gorgeous one by Winifred Weng and now this beauty! I think I'm going to have to learn how to quilt myself so I can add to our treasures. 

Because Rain Dragon can't get enough of them:

Thanks so much, FCC Jacksonville!

my last signing at Porter Square Bookstore

I have to admit, I've been feeling a bit down lately. The move has been a bit stressful, I haven't found a good way to juggle work and baby and I have to do my taxes (always a downer!).

But last Saturday, I had my a booksigning at Porter Square Books bookstore. It was the last time I could call it a booksigning at my local bookstore as after this I will be two hours away! So, it was another reason to feel a bit melancholy. However, such an amazing, wonderful crowd showed up that any feelings of sadness quickly disappeared.

I was so thrilled to see such a full house:

And to meet such all my lovely readers! This reader was the winner of the Storyworks Contest based on my story:

And then, these two were waiting patiently the whole time...

to get their Ling and Ting books signed!  Can you tell why?

Yes, they were a real life Ling & Ting! Aren't they sweet?

The whole event completely cheered me up! It was so great that I think I will have to come back in the future-- it's worth the two hour drive! So maybe I lied about this being my last signing at Porter Square Books...Thanks so much for coming, all!