Newbery Honor-Winning Author Visits Shore
Award-winning author and illustrator Grace Lin visited Shore on October 12 to speak with students in Pre-K through Grade 6 about her books and the important influence of her Asian American heritage in her work.
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Lin's first book, The Ugly Vegetables, was published in 1999 and quickly became an American Booksellers Association "Pick of the List" and a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year. This autobiographical picture book tells of one summer when Lin was a child, and her mother enlisted her help to grow a garden full of Chinese vegetables.
The initial success of The Ugly Vegetables was followed with the publication of over a dozen more books, including Dim Sum for Everyone! and Lissy's Friends, two more autobiographical works that touch on Lin's Chinese American upbringing. Lin's first children's novel, The Year of the Dog, was released to glowing praise in 2006, and was followed with The Year of the Rat. Her novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was awarded a 2010 Newbery Honor, was chosen for Al Roker's Today Show Kid's Book Club, and was a New York Times Bestseller. When the cover illustration for her followup novel, When the Sea Turned to Silver (a 2016 National Book Award Finalist), was displayed at the White House, Lin was recognized as a Champion of Change for Asian American and Pacific Islander Art and Storytelling.
As well as occasionally reviewing books for the New York Times, Lin is an advocate for diversity, commenting in essays, New England Public Radio segments, and popular YouTube videos on issues of culture and racism in children's literature. "Books erase bias," she argues. "They make the uncommon everyday, and the mundane exotic. A book makes all cultures universal." According to Shore librarian and teacher Debora Collison, "Lin's books touch on so many themes that are pertinent in our teaching. We are very fortunate to be able to have her meet with our students."
On her day-long visit to Shore, Lin shared with students stories about her upbringing and thoughts about the importance of culture in her own children's books. Born and raised in upstate New York, Lin recalls being the only Asian child in her elementary school, and told students in the Trustey Family Theatre that as a young girl she wanted to forget about her Asian-ness. Yet, she admitted, later in life she realized how much she had missed by avoiding her family's heritage, and she set out to change that: "I did all those things I didn't want to do when I was a little girl: I took Chinese lessons; I visited China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong; I learned to cook Chinese food; and I discovered Chinese folk art and books filled with Chinese fairy tales."
Fairy tales had been Lin's favorite kind of reading as a child, but just as she never saw another Chinese girl at school, she had never seen an Asian character in any of the Western fairy tales that she loved. When she began her writing career, she was determined to include images from her own culture and characters that looked like her and her family in her stories. Her first acclaimed work for young readers, The Ugly Vegetables, notably combined many of these themes central to her life and creative thinking. In it, a younger version of Lin and her family live in a neighborhood that in summer is filled with beautiful flower gardens. The girl is puzzled and ashamed that the garden she nurtures with her mother is filled only with "ugly" Chinese vegetables. Nonetheless, at the end of the summer, their garden's harvest becomes a delicious "ugly vegetable soup" that is the envy of all the family's neighbors.
Young Shore students who heard this story of Lin's childhood were entranced with the unusual-looking Chinese vegetables depicted on the book's pages, and enjoyed learning to pronounce them with Lin's help. They were also delighted when Lin gave them a quick lesson in illustration: she taught the Pre-K through first grade audience how to draw a dog in Chinese folk art-style, similar to one that appears on the cover of her novel The Year of the Dog.
Second and third grade students loved learning about the book publishing process in their workshop with Lin, and they had a chance to "publish" one of her books in a hands-on demonstration on stage. They were intrigued to find out that many people are involved in a book's publication—from the designer to the printer—and were impressed to learn that Lin's works typically take two years or more to go from idea to bookstore.
Older children in grades four through six experienced their own interactive session with Lin, as volunteers took the stage to reenact a pivotal scene from her novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which some reviewers have called "a Chinese Wizard of Oz." In the novel, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. Every evening, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures on her quest for the ultimate answer.
The excerpt from Lin's enchanting novel was the ideal vehicle for the author to speak more about the culture and history that informed this story and the illustrations. For example, she explained the history of the Buddhist symbol of the endless circle, which she embedded throughout the book. Like many of the other settings and images captured in the novel's colorful pictures, the endless circle was a piece of her heritage that Lin first encountered on her travels in China, after she realized that she had never had the chance to see herself reflected in the books or culture available to her as a child.
Since reconnecting with her culture and capturing its stories and imagery in her works, Lin has earned wide popularity among young readers throughout the United States. She told students in the Trustey Family Theatre how surprised and humbled she had been to see her "Asian Dorothy," the character of Minli, become a favorite character among readers, and to see her story become a popular elementary school play, with Minli the most coveted role. "Can you imagine creating a character," Lin asked her audience, "because you felt like an outcast, only to hear that that character was who everyone wished to be?"
Experiencing the growth of Minli's popularity among students and librarians—many of whom said the adventurous young girl changed their perception of Asian culture—made Lin realize that, as much as children need books to serve as mirrors of themselves and their own culture, "They also need books to be windows. Kids who always see themselves in books need to be able to see the world from other viewpoints. How can we expect kids to understand others, to empathize, and to share if they never see outside themselves?"
In her popular TedX Talk, Lin elaborated on this idea with advice for parents: "Look at your child's bookshelf. Are all the books mirrors? Or are they all windows? Make sure your child experiences both, because when you do, you set them on the path to self-worth and empathy."
On her day-long visit to Shore, Lin shared with students stories about her upbringing and thoughts about the importance of culture in her own children's books. Born and raised in upstate New York, Lin recalls being the only Asian child in her elementary school, and told students in the Trustey Family Theatre that as a young girl she wanted to forget about her Asian-ness. Yet, she admitted, later in life she realized how much she had missed by avoiding her family's heritage, and she set out to change that: "I did all those things I didn't want to do when I was a little girl: I took Chinese lessons; I visited China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong; I learned to cook Chinese food; and I discovered Chinese folk art and books filled with Chinese fairy tales."
Fairy tales had been Lin's favorite kind of reading as a child, but just as she never saw another Chinese girl at school, she had never seen an Asian character in any of the Western fairy tales that she loved. When she began her writing career, she was determined to include images from her own culture and characters that looked like her and her family in her stories. Her first acclaimed work for young readers, The Ugly Vegetables, notably combined many of these themes central to her life and creative thinking. In it, a younger version of Lin and her family live in a neighborhood that in summer is filled with beautiful flower gardens. The girl is puzzled and ashamed that the garden she nurtures with her mother is filled only with "ugly" Chinese vegetables. Nonetheless, at the end of the summer, their garden's harvest becomes a delicious "ugly vegetable soup" that is the envy of all the family's neighbors.
Young Shore students who heard this story of Lin's childhood were entranced with the unusual-looking Chinese vegetables depicted on the book's pages, and enjoyed learning to pronounce them with Lin's help. They were also delighted when Lin gave them a quick lesson in illustration: she taught the Pre-K through first grade audience how to draw a dog in Chinese folk art-style, similar to one that appears on the cover of her novel The Year of the Dog.
Second and third grade students loved learning about the book publishing process in their workshop with Lin, and they had a chance to "publish" one of her books in a hands-on demonstration on stage. They were intrigued to find out that many people are involved in a book's publication—from the designer to the printer—and were impressed to learn that Lin's works typically take two years or more to go from idea to bookstore.
Older children in grades four through six experienced their own interactive session with Lin, as volunteers took the stage to reenact a pivotal scene from her novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which some reviewers have called "a Chinese Wizard of Oz." In the novel, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. Every evening, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures on her quest for the ultimate answer.
The excerpt from Lin's enchanting novel was the ideal vehicle for the author to speak more about the culture and history that informed this story and the illustrations. For example, she explained the history of the Buddhist symbol of the endless circle, which she embedded throughout the book. Like many of the other settings and images captured in the novel's colorful pictures, the endless circle was a piece of her heritage that Lin first encountered on her travels in China, after she realized that she had never had the chance to see herself reflected in the books or culture available to her as a child.
Since reconnecting with her culture and capturing its stories and imagery in her works, Lin has earned wide popularity among young readers throughout the United States. She told students in the Trustey Family Theatre how surprised and humbled she had been to see her "Asian Dorothy," the character of Minli, become a favorite character among readers, and to see her story become a popular elementary school play, with Minli the most coveted role. "Can you imagine creating a character," Lin asked her audience, "because you felt like an outcast, only to hear that that character was who everyone wished to be?"
Experiencing the growth of Minli's popularity among students and librarians—many of whom said the adventurous young girl changed their perception of Asian culture—made Lin realize that, as much as children need books to serve as mirrors of themselves and their own culture, "They also need books to be windows. Kids who always see themselves in books need to be able to see the world from other viewpoints. How can we expect kids to understand others, to empathize, and to share if they never see outside themselves?"
In her popular TedX Talk, Lin elaborated on this idea with advice for parents: "Look at your child's bookshelf. Are all the books mirrors? Or are they all windows? Make sure your child experiences both, because when you do, you set them on the path to self-worth and empathy."
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Grace Lin
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With Debora Collison, Shore librarian and teacher
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Reading 'The Ugly Vegetables' to students in Pre-K through Grade 1
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Teaching students how to illustrate a Chinese-style dog
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A photo of Lin with her mother in their garden
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Reenacting a scene with sixth graders
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