Grace Lin's Blog, page 30
June 3, 2014
We Need Diverse Books audio stream!
Did you miss the WeNeedDiverse Panel? Well, you can hear it here!
June 2, 2014
NPR coverage of the panel!
Fellow panelists Lamar Giles, Ellen Oh and Jacqueline Woodson are featured in this NPR interview about the panel!!http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/06/02/318098926/-weneeddiversebooks-campaign-comes-to-inaugural-bookcon?ft=1&f=1032
on my desk monday
On my desk is the neat WeNeedDiverseBooks swag I swiped after the completely awesome panel discussion. I was so honored to be here on the panel as well as in a packed room of people so passionate about diverse books!
What the attendees saw:
What we saw:
No disrespect to my attractive fellow panelists, but I think our view was the better one!
May 30, 2014
A Cheat Sheet for Selling Diversity
So, tomorrow is the We Need Diverse Books panel discussion! I hope to see you there!!
You may be wondering if I decided to make the cheat sheet I discussed earlier.
The short answer is yes.
download the sheet HERE
However, it wasn't without hesitations. I was very conflicted as I felt that, perhaps, by describing the books without the multicultural label it could be construed that I was ashamed of it. That, somehow, I was afraid of these books wearing their diversity label proudly. I'm still concerned about that.
However (as I wrote on the sheet), I do feel that these books are much more than their racial identities. These are all books with universal themes and emotions that all readers can relate to. But, the racial label, unfortunately, tends to blind readers to everything else that these stories are. And, that, in the end, make the books invisible. Which is an even graver issue, in my mind.
So, here is the Cheat Sheet! Due to my own time, it's not as extensive as I wanted (if people find this useful, I'd love to expand this into 3 or 4 different sheets, one for MG, YA, etc). But, please download it and distribute it wisely as well as widely. Because we need people to read diverse books and they aren't going to without some help.
You may be wondering if I decided to make the cheat sheet I discussed earlier.
The short answer is yes.
download the sheet HEREHowever, it wasn't without hesitations. I was very conflicted as I felt that, perhaps, by describing the books without the multicultural label it could be construed that I was ashamed of it. That, somehow, I was afraid of these books wearing their diversity label proudly. I'm still concerned about that.
However (as I wrote on the sheet), I do feel that these books are much more than their racial identities. These are all books with universal themes and emotions that all readers can relate to. But, the racial label, unfortunately, tends to blind readers to everything else that these stories are. And, that, in the end, make the books invisible. Which is an even graver issue, in my mind.
So, here is the Cheat Sheet! Due to my own time, it's not as extensive as I wanted (if people find this useful, I'd love to expand this into 3 or 4 different sheets, one for MG, YA, etc). But, please download it and distribute it wisely as well as widely. Because we need people to read diverse books and they aren't going to without some help.
May 29, 2014
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 MoonThey 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!
story of Jade DragonIn 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!
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Minli meets Dragon
Green Tiger attacks
Minli meets the Old Man of the MoonThey 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!
May 28, 2014
and we begin again
It's finally spring here! We're starting our garden again! We're hoping to make this one better than last year's...our green thumb dreams spring eternal!
May 26, 2014
on my desk monday
Global Kids, the traditional Chinese publisher of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Starry River of the Sky sent me a Taiwanese children's magazine in which both my books and my visit to Taiwan was featured:
Unfortunately, I have no idea what it says, but the photo of me and Rain Dragon cracks me up. I think she's very suspicious of photographers.
it's almost as good as this one
Unfortunately, I have no idea what it says, but the photo of me and Rain Dragon cracks me up. I think she's very suspicious of photographers.
it's almost as good as this oneMay 23, 2014
Tell me if this is a good idea...
So, next week, I'll be speaking on the WeNeedDiverseBooks panel at BookCon. As you know, I've been very gung-ho about the campaign. Even though this is an issue we've been talking about for over 15 years (yes, my first book was published over 15 years ago! eeks!), I am hopeful that maybe now the time has come for some real, concrete changes. As I said earlier, I have some ideas...
My biggest concern about diverse books is that the general public does not realize that these books are for them.
A million years ago, I was a bookseller at a children's bookstore. I was not a very good one (mainly because I was socially inept) but I did learn a couple of things.
1. A customer who doesn't know what she wants can decide in two nanoseconds what she does not want.
2. A bookseller has only one of those nanoseconds to change the customer's mind.
It was very easy for me to interpret "That's not for me," when a customer had only looked at the multicultural cover. Customers put books in different compartments in their mind to decide whether or not they wanted it and the books with diverse covers were immediately put in the "multicultural" box that they had already decided they weren't interested in.
However, a bookstore floor is no place to deliver a lecture. Moreover, these customers were definitely NOT racists or horrible people in anyway. They were wonderful, intelligent people who loved books. I'm willing to bet money most probably didn't even register why they had immediately felt that the book wasn't for them.
So, what I thought would be interesting would be to create a "Cheat Sheet" for booksellers that would help them "refocus"the customer's view of the book. It would be fast, easy, non-diversity focused descriptions for the customer to relate to. The idea is that it would help booksellers get consumers to put the book in a different compartment than the "multicultural" box that they've already decided they aren't interested in:
However, does this"refocusing" the sales pitches of diverse books make it seem like we are trying to hide it or are ashamed of it? That is NOT what I am trying to do. I think multicultural books are more than their ethnicity--in the end they are stories with universal themes. The point of this "cheat sheet" would be to be focus on those themes.
But maybe this is a slippery slope? Would it be a step backwards? What do you think?
My biggest concern about diverse books is that the general public does not realize that these books are for them.
A million years ago, I was a bookseller at a children's bookstore. I was not a very good one (mainly because I was socially inept) but I did learn a couple of things.
1. A customer who doesn't know what she wants can decide in two nanoseconds what she does not want.
2. A bookseller has only one of those nanoseconds to change the customer's mind.
It was very easy for me to interpret "That's not for me," when a customer had only looked at the multicultural cover. Customers put books in different compartments in their mind to decide whether or not they wanted it and the books with diverse covers were immediately put in the "multicultural" box that they had already decided they weren't interested in.
However, a bookstore floor is no place to deliver a lecture. Moreover, these customers were definitely NOT racists or horrible people in anyway. They were wonderful, intelligent people who loved books. I'm willing to bet money most probably didn't even register why they had immediately felt that the book wasn't for them.
So, what I thought would be interesting would be to create a "Cheat Sheet" for booksellers that would help them "refocus"the customer's view of the book. It would be fast, easy, non-diversity focused descriptions for the customer to relate to. The idea is that it would help booksellers get consumers to put the book in a different compartment than the "multicultural" box that they've already decided they aren't interested in:
However, does this"refocusing" the sales pitches of diverse books make it seem like we are trying to hide it or are ashamed of it? That is NOT what I am trying to do. I think multicultural books are more than their ethnicity--in the end they are stories with universal themes. The point of this "cheat sheet" would be to be focus on those themes.
But maybe this is a slippery slope? Would it be a step backwards? What do you think?
May 22, 2014
Happy Birthday, Rain Dragon!
So even though we've been in our new house for over a year now, it's still very much a work in progress. This is evidenced by the lack of landscaping in our backyard with its dirt piles and sparse grass.
But Rain Dragon's birthday wasn't going to wait for the grass to grow or for us to plant bushes. This was particularly troublesome as I had promised her an egg hunt for her birthday. Even before Easter she's been enamored with egg hunts and with all the Chinese traditions about red eggs it seemed appropriate to me.
So, the Sasquatch and I had to get creative...and I really mean that literally. We landscaped with bushes of our own creation:
As well as adding animal friends:
I painted everything, the Sasquatch cut them all out, and we both decorated the yard and hid the eggs:
We had to rope it off so that the kids didn't sneak in ahead of time:
Because once the egg hunt started, it went really fast:
But Rain Dragon loved it, which is what mattered the most to us:
Unfortunately, I spent so much time on the egg hunt preparations that I didn't get the chance to do any special decorations like last year; and I also had to rush her special Maisy cake (it's also why I look so haggard in all the photos--we were up late!). I'm not that happy with how it turned out:
But luckily, at two years old, Rain Dragon isn't that picky...I can't believe she's two!
Happy Birthday, Rain Dragon!
But Rain Dragon's birthday wasn't going to wait for the grass to grow or for us to plant bushes. This was particularly troublesome as I had promised her an egg hunt for her birthday. Even before Easter she's been enamored with egg hunts and with all the Chinese traditions about red eggs it seemed appropriate to me.
So, the Sasquatch and I had to get creative...and I really mean that literally. We landscaped with bushes of our own creation:
As well as adding animal friends:
I painted everything, the Sasquatch cut them all out, and we both decorated the yard and hid the eggs:
We had to rope it off so that the kids didn't sneak in ahead of time:
Because once the egg hunt started, it went really fast:
But Rain Dragon loved it, which is what mattered the most to us:
Unfortunately, I spent so much time on the egg hunt preparations that I didn't get the chance to do any special decorations like last year; and I also had to rush her special Maisy cake (it's also why I look so haggard in all the photos--we were up late!). I'm not that happy with how it turned out:
But luckily, at two years old, Rain Dragon isn't that picky...I can't believe she's two!
Happy Birthday, Rain Dragon!
May 19, 2014
on my desk monday
On my desk is a Where the Mountain Meets the Moon t-shirt, a departing gift from Wheelock's successful production, which closed last week. Thanks so much to all that went to go see the show!
I was lucky to get to see it once last time. I'm a little sad that these characters won't be onstage anymore:
But while I was there, I raved and raved about the Starry River of the Sky production in MN (which just closed yesterday--I hope it did well, too. It definitely deserved to!)...and I was given some hope that Wheelock would consider producing that too! Everyone cross your fingers!
I was lucky to get to see it once last time. I'm a little sad that these characters won't be onstage anymore:
But while I was there, I raved and raved about the Starry River of the Sky production in MN (which just closed yesterday--I hope it did well, too. It definitely deserved to!)...and I was given some hope that Wheelock would consider producing that too! Everyone cross your fingers!
