Get to Know Asian American Children’s Authors: Mike Jung, Author of Geeks, Girls, and Secret I

This week, the amazing children’s author visiting the blog is Mike Jung, author of the middle grade novel Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities. Here are Mike’s answers to my three burning questions:

1) Which of your characters do you most identify with and why?

Mike Jung: Vincent Wu [main character of Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities], without a doubt, mostly because he’s the character who’s most informed by my own childhood experiences. Vincent isn’t based on me – he’s very different from the 12 year old Mike Jung in several important ways – but his insecurities about friendship, girls, social standing, and self-worth were (and are) very familiar to me.

2) If you could give your Asian American kid readers one piece of advice, what would it be?

MJ: I don’t know that I can limit it to one piece of advice, but here goes: when I was a kid reader, I devalued my own identity as an Asian American. I lived in an overwhelmingly white community, I wanted very badly to fit in, and looking back now it’s easy to see all the little ways in which I accepted the idea that being Asian American was some kind of stain on my identity that needed to be removed or at least hidden. I hope my book, and all of my future books, will be helpful and positive to you in resisting that kind of impulse, and those pressures. Remember that your identity counts; remember that YOU count. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

3) Who is your favorite Asian American children’s author right now (other than yourself)?

MJ: Lisa Yee is a serious contender for my current favorite children’s author, period, regardless of race or ethnicity. I consider MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS the gold standard for middle-grade fiction, and studying the arc of Lisa’s career has been hugely inspirational to me as I’ve worked to get my own career off the ground. Gene Leun Yang is utterly masterful – AMERICAN BORN CHINESE is a work of genius – and I’m also a big fan of Ellen Oh, Cindy Pon, Kazu Kibuishi, and Debbie Ohi.

Thank you, Mike, for taking the time to answer my questions!

About the Author:

Mike Jung is an active blogger, parent, and SCBWI member, and lives in Oakland, California. Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities published by Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic in 2012, was his first novel.

#EllenOh #DebbieOhi #LisaYee #geneluenyang #KazuKibuishi #GeeksGirlsandSecretIdentities #CindyPon #blogseries #MillicentMinGirlGenius #MikeJung #AmericanBornChinese #AsianAmericanAuthorSeries

Get to Know Asian American Children’s Authors: David Yoo, Author of The Detention Club

This week’s Asian American children’s author is David Yoo. His most recent book for kids is the middle grade novel, The Detention Club.

1) Which of your characters do you most identify with and why?

David Yoo: A lot of my fiction has an autobiographical base, at least emotionally. By that I mean while most of the things that happen to my characters didn’t happen to me in “real life,” I always write about things that I fully relate to/identify with, emotionally. So Nick Park in GIRLS FOR BREAKFAST and Albert Kim in STOP ME IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE are basically me, in different settings. Even Peter Lee in my middle grade novel THE DETENTION CLUB is loosely based on things I was feeling growing up. My most recent book, THE CHOKE ARTIST, was a collection of personal essays for adults, so of course I relate especially so to it because it actually was about me.

2) If you could give your Asian American kid readers one piece of advice, what would it be?

DY: Hard to say–whenever an adult figure told the teen me not to sweat the small stuff, I’d always scoff/roll my eyes at them (behind their backs). That they considered the issues in my life small stuff I interpreted as proof that they were utterly clueless about what it’s like to be a teen. I’m old enough at this point to know that they were right, but I still remember how pointless it was to tell a teenager to trust that things get better–no offense to the whole “It gets better” movement! Frankly, a kid doesn’t have the patience to feel happy knowing that, decades from now, things will turn around. That there will come a time when you look back on this sad or lonely or depressing moment and find humor in it, even. The only reason you appreciate things when you’re older is because you have more perspective on life, which you simply don’t have when you’re younger. So I hesitate to tell AA kid readers, hey, it’ll be all right, even though it’s true. That’s like telling a kid in September, hey, Christmas will be here before you know it. So basically I’m offering the very same pitiful advice I ignored when I was a kid, that today as an adult, looking back on my sometimes miserable childhood, I now appreciate the bad parts almost more than I do the good times, because it’s all part of the journey blah blah blah.

3) Who is your favorite Asian American children’s author right now (other than yourself)?

DY: Gene Luen Yang, seven days a week, twice on Sundays. A genius.

4) Were you a reader growing up? Why or why not?

I loved to read, but depending on who you compare me to I was either a voracious reader or merely an adequate one. Either way, my focus on books went in spurts. The more I got into sports and obsessing over things that I could care less about now (although I do still play my original NES on a weekly basis…sigh), I read less. I also loved movies growing up–not so much TV shows, but movies, and truth be told I watched far more movies than I read books growing up. But I had phases where I devoured books–a horror phase, a fantasy phase, etc. Favorite books growing up: DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD, by Roald Dahl (for that matter, everything else by Dahl, as well). THEN AGAIN, MAYBE I WON’T, by Judy Blume. The Chronicles of Prydain series. Every book by Paul Zindel, and I probably read and re-read WATERSHIP DOWN more often than I should have.

About the Author:

David Yoo is the author of the YA novels Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before (Hyperion), a Chicago Best of the Best selection, and Girls For Breakfast (Delacorte), an NYPL Books For the Teen Age selection and a Reading Rants Top Ten Books for Teens choice, along with a middle grade novel, The Detention Club (Balzer + Bray), published in 2011.

#GirlsForBreakfast #JudyBlume #theDetentionClub #ThenAgainMaybeIWont #PaulZindel #PrydainChronicles #StopMeifYouveHeardThisOneBefore #TheChokeArtist #geneluenyang #middlegrade #RoaldDahl #YA #DavidYoo #DannytheChampionoftheWorld #AsianAmericanAuthorSeries #WatershipDown

Preschooler Favorites: Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

Zita the Spacegirl is a graphic novel for younger readers about a young girl named Zita who discovers an asteroid with a big red button. Despite her friend Jonah’s warnings, Zita pushes the big red button (as one does, right?) and it opens some kind of teleport gateway through which tentacles reach out and grab Joseph right before the gateway disappears. Determined to rescue her friend, Zita pushes the button again and leaps through the portal, launching herself into an adventure on an alien planet filled with funny creatures, mysterious gadgets, and a doomsday prophecy.

I love graphic novels and I love scifi. But somehow the first time I read this, a year ago maybe, I didn’t connect with it. I can’t explain why. Maybe because I’m working on my own space adventure novel and was nitpicking things that reminded me of my work-in-progress? Anyway, lately my 4 yo (formerly known as Preschooler Monkey, now Pre-K Monkey) has been into graphic novels too (she loved Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale), so I’ve been looking for more to share with her. I happened to see this one again on the library shelf and picked it up because Pre-K monkey is really into Star Wars these days.

Pre-K monkey LOVES this book. She LOVE LOVE LOVES this book. We had to read it every night for a week. We talked about it. Zita showed up in her drawings from school. Like really, she loved this book.

And now that I’ve seen the book through her eyes, I love it too!

Some picture books for Star Wars fans: I also bought these little picture books by Jeffrey Brown for my Star Wars fanatic husband. They’re fun to look at with kids but are filled with Star Wars jokes that adult fans will enjoy: Darth Vader and Son, Vader’s Little Princess, and Goodnight Darth Vader.

#spacebooks #prekmonkey #shannonhale #graphicnovel #ZitatheSpacegirl #preschoolermonkey #StarWars #RapunzelsRevenge #scifi #BenHatke