Grace Lin's Blog, page 41

on my desk monday

Finishing up the last details on Rain Dragon's Halloween costume!


Can you guess what she is going to be?

fortune cookie friday

"It is difficult to catch a black cat in a dark room -- especially if the cat isn't there."
-Chinese Proverb

thanks for a fortunate visit!

And my school visits are now in full swing! Sometimes when I enter a school, I worry how the day will go. But when I recently visited the Hopewell School in CT, all my worries quickly disappeared. 
Because the first thing I saw was a big welcome banner!

And that wasn't all! The whole school was decorated with projects the students had done with books. There was a huge fortune cookie board, in honor of Fortune Cookie Fortunes:


Each class in 4th and 5th (I think) grade wrote their own fortunes:


which were bother flattering:
You have nice shoes!
and encouraging:

You are a great writer!
I was thrilled to see that they also created their own Five Poisons Charms in honor of Starry River of the Sky:


And with the new book now out, I was so happy to see that Ling and Ting was so popular. Some classes had the students imagine they had a twin:


Their little essays cracked me up:
"If I had a twin it wold have the same hair and have the same name...but I am tanner."
my favorite line: "But we have the same allergies."
Other classes wrote how they were similar and different to Ling and Ting:


These were really sweet:
Ling IS kind!
I am  messy like Ting, too!But the most eye-catching displays in the school were the moon-themed ones; in honor of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Thanking the Moon, of course:

this one spans the whole wall of the cafeteria!

Students wrote what they were thankful for:

"I am thankful for my life because I have a wonderful one...""Thank you for keeping Captain America alive..." I think it's funny that this student is thankful for his/her chickens before his her parents!
Yes, I'm thankful for food too...that death drawing is quite gruesome
a hollow shell without penguins!But I admit it was their secret wishes that I couldn't stop reading:
"...I hop my sistr gets her handstand today."  "I wish that I was neat and not messy." ME, TOO!
"I wish I had a giant pancake" "...to see a unicorn..." I think I had that wish, too. But I didn't have to wish for anything more from the school! It was a great visit!


Thanks, Hopewell School!

pocket ling and ting in Taiwan!

Pocket Ling and Ting are now traveling the world! Why should Pocket Pacy have all the fun? Two readers (who received Pocket Ling and Ting at the birthday party) have been making Ling and Ting very happy. Pocket Ling and Ting were a little jealous that Pacy traveled to Taiwan in Dumpling Days,   but now they don't have to be! Because they are on a tour of Taiwan, themselves!

Here at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall:




And Taipei 101:
And, of course, at the BEST dumpling restaurant in the world...with Tom Cruise:



Thanks so much, Wu girls! Pocket Ling and Ting are thrilled to have found a home with you!

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!

fortune cookie friday

"He who does not feed his cat will feed rats."
-Chinese Proverb

Florida Sights

And the school visit season has begun!  This is the view I should be seeing more frequently for the next few months:


This particular scene was in Gainesville, Florida where I spent 2 days visiting schools sponsored by the Alachua County Library (thank you!). Even though it was a little challenging on my end (I'm still dragging along the Sasquatch and Rain Dragon with me), the schools were so great and understanding (especially when we got lost and arrived late at one! I'm still very, very sorry!). They welcomed me so beautifully with gorgeous artwork:






and beautiful food! This was homemade Taiwanese cold meat and cucumber salad (just like my mom makes) and the yummiest key lime pie ever. They wanted to do a mix of my books and Florida cuisine. It was delicious:


While in Florida, I also visited some Families with Children from China groups which was truly a touching and lovely experience. I admit that these days I've been feeling a bit discouraged by my work--it's quite heartening and oh-so-encouraging to meet readers who tell me that my books made a difference in their lives.


Plus, I met a real life Ling and Ting!


And they weren't the only pair! At the Families With Children from China group in Jacksonville, I met the Romano twins:
These girls were one of the pair of twins that helped inspire the original Ling and Ting (you can see their names in the dedication of the first book!). But now they're all grown up! Maybe I should think about making Ling and Ting novels...
Jacksonville may have been Rain Dragon's favorite place during our Florida trip. The group made her the sweetest quilt:

Which we both were thrilled by:

But what really made her unwilling to leave Jacksonville was the fact that the group had, as decoration, created a balloon dragon:

which they put in our room afterwards:
She still hasn't forgiven me for not taking it back with us. 

Pocket Pacy in Pisa, Peru and DC!

You may have remembered that during my trip to DC, I ran into an old friend at the Open Book school visit:

Well, this Pocket Pacy was a little faded so I gave her a bit of a touch up:


But she had good reason to be a little worn. This Pocket Pacy belongs to the bloggers of Dim Sum, Bagels and Crawfish (all the photos were taken from their blog) and, they have been taking their Pocket Pacy all around the world!
They took Pocket Pacy to Pisa!


And Peru!


Make sure you click the links to see the other photos. Can I say I'm a bit jealous of this pocket pacy?  But I'm so glad I caught up with her in DC.



Happy Travels, Pocket Pacy! Happy Travels Dim Sum, Bagels and Crawfish bloggers!

on my desk monday

I'm feverishly painting the illustrations for the third Ling and Ting book! There is going to be a third one...if I make the deadline!!

fortune cookie friday

"From the perspective of a dog, everyone looks short."
-Chinese Proverb