Podcast appearances and mentions of andrea wang

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Happy Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Even though the Trump Administration has eliminated recognizing cultural heritage months, we are still celebrating diversity and inclusion here at APEX Express and KPFA. We believe in lifting up people's voices and tonight on APEX Express the Powerleegirls are focusing on “Asian American Children's book authors”. Powerleegirl hosts Miko Lee and daughter Jalena Keane-Lee speak with: Michele Wong McSween, Gloria Huang, and Andrea Wang   AAPINH Month Children's Books part 1 transcript Opening: [00:00:00] Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express.   Ayame Keane-Lee: [00:00:49] Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Even though the Trump administration has eliminated recognizing cultural heritage months, we are still celebrating diversity and inclusion. Here at Apex Express and KPFA, we believe in lifting up people's voices. And tonight on Apex Express, the PowerLeeGirls are focusing on Asian American Children's book authors. PowerLeeGirl hosts Miko Lee and daughter Jalena Keane-Lee. Speak with Michele Wong McSween, Gloria Huang and Andrea Wang. Thanks for joining us tonight on Apex Express. Enjoy the show.   Miko Lee: [00:01:21] Welcome, Michele Wong McSween to Apex Express.    Michele Wong McSween: [00:01:26] Thank you, Miko. It's nice to be here.    Miko Lee: [00:01:28] I'm really happy to talk with you about your whole children's series, Gordon & Li Li, which is absolutely adorable. I wanna start very first with a personal question that I ask all of my guests, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?   Michele Wong McSween: [00:01:45] I would say my people are really my family starting with, my great, great grandparents who came here down to my grandparents, my parents, and onto my children because, to me family is. The reason why I created Gordon & Li Li in the first place, it was really to bridge that connection for my children. I didn't grow up feeling that connected with my culture because as a fourth generation Chinese American, I was really in the belief that I'm American. Why do I need to know anything about my culture? Why do I need to speak Chinese? I never learned. As a sidebar to that, I never learned to speak Chinese and it didn't really hit me until I had my own kids that I was really doing a disservice to not only my kids, but to myself. my people are my family. I do this for my kids. I do this to almost apologize to my parents for being so, Disrespectful to my amazing culture and I do it for the families who really want to connect and bridge that gap for their own children and for themselves.    Miko Lee: [00:02:53] And what legacy do you carry with you?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:02:55] Again, my family. My, great grandparents. Really. Started our family's legacy with the hard work and the prejudices and all the things that they endured so that we could have a better life. And I've always felt that it is my responsibility to teach my own kids about the sacrifices that were made and not to make them feel guilty, but to just make them appreciate that we are here. Because of the the blood, sweat, and tears that their ancestors did for them. And so we are, eternally grateful for that. I think it's important for us to continue that legacy of always doing our best, being kind and doing what we can do to further the experience of not just our family, but the people in our community that we connect with and to the greater world.    Miko Lee: [00:03:43] when you were growing up, were your parents speaking with you in Chinese and did you hear about your great grandparents and their legacy? Was that part of your upbringing?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:03:52] I heard about my great grandparents in the stories that my mom told us, but to be quite honest, I wasn't receptive to really digging deep in my cultural understanding of. my great-grandfather and what he went through. I know mom, I know he came over in 19 whatever. I know he brought over all these young sons from his village, but I really didn't fully take it in and. No, I didn't hear Chinese spoken in the house much. The only time my parents spoke it was to each other so that we didn't know what they were talking about. They had like this secret code, language. My experience with my language was not, That positive. we did attempt to go to Chinese school only to be teased by all the other kids because we didn't speak it. It didn't end up well. my mom ended up pulling us out and so no, we were really not connected all that much to the language.   Miko Lee: [00:04:48] I can really relate to what you're saying. As a fifth generation Chinese American, and my parents their ancestors came from different provinces, so their dialects were so different that they even spoke to each other in English. 'cause they couldn't understand each other in Chinese. So it happens so often. Yeah. Yeah. And so I really relate to that. I'm wondering if there was an epiphany in your life or a time where you thought, oh, I. I wish I knew more of those stories about my ancestors or was there some catalyst for you that changed?   Michele Wong McSween: [00:05:17] All of this really kind of happened when I moved to New York. I, you know, raised in Sacramento, went to college in the Bay Area, lived in San Francisco for a while with a job, and then I eventually moved to New York. And it wasn't until I came to New York and I met Asians or Chinese Americans like me that actually spoke Chinese and they knew about cool stuff to do in Chinatown. It really opened my eyes to this new cool world of the Chinese culture because I really experienced Chinatown for the first time when I moved to New York. And it was just so incredible to see all these people, living together in this community. And they all looked the same. But here's the thing, they all spoke Chinese, or the majority of them spoke Chinese. So when I went to Chinatown and they would look at me and speak to me in Chinese and I would give them this blank stare. They would just look at me like, oh my gosh, she doesn't even speak her own language. And it kind of made me feel bad. And this was really the first time that it dawned on me that, oh wow, I, I kind of feel like something's missing. And then it really hit me when I had my kids, because they're half Chinese and I thought, oh my gosh, wait a minute, if I'm their last connection to the Chinese culture and I don't speak the language. They have no chance of learning anything about their language they couldn't go that deep into their culture if I didn't learn about it. So that really sparked this whole, Gordon & Li Li journey of learning and discovering language and culture for my kids.    Miko Lee: [00:06:51] Share more about that. How, what happened actually, what was the inspiration for creating the Children's book series?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:06:58] It was really my children, I really felt that it was my responsibility to teach them about their culture and language and, if I didn't know the language, then I better learn it. So I enrolled all of us in different Mandarin courses. They had this, I found this really cute kids' Mandarin class. I went to adult Mandarin classes and I chose Mandarin because that was the approved official language in China. I am from Taishan, My parents spoke Taishanese, but I thought, well, if Mandarin's the official language, I should choose that one probably so that my kids will have at least a better chance at maybe some better jobs in the future or connecting with, the billion people that speak it. I thought Mandarin would be the way to go. When I started going to these classes and I just realized, wow, this is really hard, not just to learn the language, but to learn Mandarin Chinese, because we're not just talking about learning how to say the four different tones. We're talking about reading these characters that if you look at a Chinese character, you have absolutely no idea what it sounds like if you're, if you're learning Spanish or French or German, you can see the letters and kind of sound it out a little bit. But with Chinese characters. No chance. So I found it extremely difficult and I realized, wow, I really need to support my kids more because if I am going to be the one that's going to be bridging this connection for them, I need to learn more and I need to find some more resources to help us. when we would have bedtime story time, that whole routine. That was always the favorite time of my kids to be really, quiet and they would really absorb what I was saying, or we would talk about our days or just talk about funny things and I realized, wow, these books that they love and we have to read over and over and over again. this is the way that they're going to get the information. And I started searching high and low for these books. back in 2006, they didn't exist. and so I realized if they didn't exist and I really wanted them for my kids, then I needed to create them. That's the impetus, is there was nothing out there and I really wanted it so badly that I had to create it myself.   Miko Lee: [00:09:09] Oh, I love that. And I understand you started out self-publishing. Can you talk a little bit about that journey?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:09:15] I'm glad I didn't know what I know today because it was really hard. luckily I had, A friend who used to work for a toy company, it was all through connections. there was nothing really on Google about it. there was no Amazon print on demand. There were none of these companies that provide these services like today. So I just kept asking questions. Hey, do you know a toy manufacturer in China that maybe prints books? Do you know a company that could help me? get my books to the states. Do you know an illustrator that can help me illustrate my books? Because I had gone to fashion design school, but I had not learned to illustrate characters or things in a book. So asking questions and not being afraid to ask the questions was really how I was able to do it because, Without the help of friends and family, I wouldn't have been able to do this. I had all my friends look at my books, show them to their kids. I had my kids look at them, and I kind of just figured it out as I went along. Ultimately when I did publish my first book, I had so much support from my kids' schools. To read the books there, I had support from a local play space for kids that we would go to. I really leaned on my community to help me, get the books out there, or actually it was just one at the time. Two years later I self-published two more books. So I had three in total. no one tells you that when you self-publish a book, the easy part is actually creating it. The hard part is what comes after that, which is the pr, the marketing, the pounding, the pavement, knocking on the doors to ask people to buy your books, and that was really hard for me. I would just take my books in a bag and I would explain my story to people and I would show them my books. sometimes they would say, okay, I'll take one of each, or Okay, we'll try it out. and slowly but surely they would reorder from me. I just slowly, slowly built up, a whole Roster of bookstores and I kept doing events in New York.    I started doing events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and through that I gained some following, some fans and people would tell their friends about me. they would give them to their nieces they would give them to their cousin's kids, or, things like that. I knew that I had to do it because my ultimate goal was to have Scholastic be my publisher. That was my ultimate goal. Because they are the publisher that I grew up with, that I love that I connected with, that I was so excited to get their book club, little flyer. I would check off every book that I wanted. And my mom never said no. She always let me get every single book I wanted. I realize now that that's what really Created the love of books for me is just having access to them and, going to the libraries and seeing all these books on the bookshelves and being able to take them out and read them on the spot. And then if I loved them enough, I would check them out and take them home and read them over and over. So it was really, my experience, having that love for books that I thought, oh gosh, it would be a dream. To have Scholastic become my publisher. So after 10 long years of events and community outreach and selling to these bookstores, I finally thought, okay, I've sold, about 17,000, 18,000 books. Maybe, maybe now I can take my series to them. I also had created an app. Maybe I can take this to them and show them what I've done. Maybe they'll be interested in acquiring me. And I got an appointment with the editor and I pitched my books on my app and within a couple of days they offered to acquire my books, which was my dream come true. So anyway, that was a very long story for how self-publishing really is and how ultimately it really helped my dream come true.    Miko Lee: [00:13:08] Now your books are on this Scholastic book, fair Circuit, right?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:13:13] Yes, they are. Well, it's actually just one book. They took the three books, which were everyday Words. Count in Mandarin and learn animals in Mandarin. They took all three books and they put them in one big compilation book, which is called My First Mandarin Words with Gordon & Li Li. So it's a bigger book. It's a bigger board book. Still very, very sturdy and it's a great, starter book for any family because it has those three first themes that were the first themes that I taught my own boys, and I think. It just, it's very natural for kids to want to learn how to count. animals were, and my kids were animal lovers, so I knew that that's what would keep them interested in learning Mandarin because they actually loved the topic. So, yes, my first mandarin words with Gordon & Li Li does live on Scholastics big roster.   Miko Lee: [00:14:01] Fun. Your dream come true. I love it. Yeah. Thanks. And you were speaking earlier about your background in fashion design. Has there been any impact of your fashion design background on your voice as a children's book author?   Michele Wong McSween: [00:14:14] I don't know if my background as a fashion designer has had any impact on my voice. I think it's had an impact on how I imagined my books and how I color my books and how I designed them because of working with, you know, color palettes and, and putting together collections I can visually see and, can anticipate. Because I have that background, I can kind of anticipate what a customer might want. And also, you know, speaking with people at my events and seeing what kids gravitate to, that also helps. But I think there's so much more to being an author than just writing the books. You know, when I go to my events, I have a table display, I have setups, I have props, I have, I actually now have a, a small. Capsule of merchandise because I missed designing clothes. So I have a teeny collection of, you know, sweaters, hoodies, onesies, a tote bag, and plushies   Miko Lee: [00:15:04] they're super cute by the way.    Michele Wong McSween: [00:15:06] Oh, thank you. So, you know, fashion has come in in different ways and I think having that background has really helped. kind of become who they are    Miko Lee: [00:15:17] Can you tell us about the latest book in the series, which is Gordon and Li Li All About Me. Can you tell a little bit about your latest?   Michele Wong McSween: [00:15:25] Gordon & Li Li All About Me is really, it's, to me, it's. I think my most fun interactive book because it really gets kids and parents up and out of their chairs, out of their seats and moving around. And you know, as a parent, I always would think about the kind of books that my kids would gravitate towards. What would they want to read and what as a parent would I want to read with my kids? Because really reading is all about connection with your kids. That's what I loved about books is it gave me a way to connect with my kids. And so a book about body parts to me is just a really fun way to be animated and get up and move around and you can tickle and, and squeeze and shake it around and dance around. And, you know, having three boys, my house was just like a big energy ball. So I knew that this book would be a really fun one for families and I have two nieces and a nephew, and I now, they're my new target market testers, and they just loved it. They had so much fun pointing to their body parts and the book ends with head, shoulders, knees, and toes in English and in Mandarin. And so of course. Every kid knows head, shoulders, knees, and toes in English. So we sing that. We get up, we point to our pottered parts, we shake it around, we dance around. And then the fun part is teaching them head, shoulders, knees, and toes in Mandarin because they're already familiar with the song. It's not scary to learn something in Mandarin. It just kind of naturally happens. And so I think the All About Me book is just a really fun way to connect with kids. I've actually launched it at a couple of events already and the response to the book has been overwhelming. I was at the Brooklyn Children's Museum and even the president of the museum came and did the head shoulders. Knees and toes, songs with us. It was so much fun. Everybody was dancing around and having a great time. So I'm just really, really excited for people to pick up this book and really learn about the body. It's, you know, body positivity, it's body awareness, and it's just a great way to connect with your kids.   Miko Lee: [00:17:31] So fun. I, I saw that you're recently at the Asian American Book Con. Can you talk a little bit about that experience?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:17:38] Oh, that was great. That was the first of its kind and. I led the entire author segment of it. I would say individual authors. There were, there were, publishing companies that brought in their own authors, but I was responsible for bringing in the independent authors. And so I think we had about eight of us. There were Indian, Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, and we all came together for this one really special day of celebrating our voices and lifting each other up. And there was so much energy and so much positivity in that event, and I. Actually was just thinking about reaching out to the organizers last year and seeing if we could maybe do, part two? So, I'm glad you brought that up. It was a really positive experience.    Miko Lee: [00:18:27] So we're celebrating the end of Asian American Pacific Islander Native Hawaiian month. Can you tell us why this month is important to you?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:18:36] When you have something designated and set aside as, this is the month that we're going to be celebrating Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander heritage all month long, I think it kind of perks up. People's ears and they think, oh wow, this is a great opportunity for me to see what's happening in my community. I think it just brings the awareness to. The broader community and ultimately the world. And I think when we learn about each other and each other's cultures, it brings us closer together and makes us realize that we're really not that different from each other. And I think when there are so many events happening now it peaks the interest of people in the neighborhood that might otherwise not know about it and it can, really bring us closer together as a community.   Miko Lee: [00:19:27] Michelle Wong McSween, thank you so much for joining me on Apex Express. It's great to hear more about you and about your latest book Gordon & Li Li and the entire series. Thank you so much.    Michele Wong McSween: [00:19:39] Thank you, Miko   Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:19:40] Thank you all so much for joining us. I'm here with Gloria l Huang, author of Kaya of the Ocean. Thank you so much for joining us, Gloria.    Gloria Huang: [00:19:48] Oh, thanks so much for having me here.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:19:50] So first off, one question that we're asking all of our guests on our show tonight is, who are your people? However you identify, you know, your community, your ancestors, and what legacy do you carry with you?    Gloria Huang: [00:20:01] Oh, that's such a good question. So I am my heritage is Chinese. My parents were born in China and then grew up in Taiwan. And I myself was actually born in Canada. But then moved the states pretty young and and American Canadian dual citizen and now, but I, my heritage plays a lot into my. Kind of my worldview. It really shaped, how I grew up and how I saw things. And so it features very prominently in my writing and in my stories as you could probably tell from Kaya the ocean.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:20:34] Yes. And I love the book so much. It was such a    Gloria Huang: [00:20:37] thank you,    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:20:38] amazing read. And I'm also half Chinese and love the ocean. Just love the beach so much and have always felt such a connection with the water. I don't wanna give away too much things about the book, but I was wondering if you could talk about your inspiration for writing it and a little bit about, setting and everything.   Gloria Huang: [00:20:56] Of course. So the inspiration for the book actually started I came up with the idea when the world was first emerging from the pandemic and I was seeing a lot of people obviously experiencing a lot of anxiety, but a lot of children very close to me in my life. And they were experiencing it for the first time, which was can be so difficult. I remember when it happened to me and there's just this tendency to. Worry that there's something wrong with you or that you've done something and you feel so alone. And so I remember standing by the ocean one night actually and thinking that I'd really love to write a book about a girl who is struggling with. The anxiety just to be able to send a message to all these kids that there's nothing wrong with them. They're not alone and really all parts of who they are. Even the parts they might not love so much are important parts of these amazing, beautiful, complicated people. They are. So that was the inspiration for that part of the story, the setting. I was very inspired. As you mentioned, the ocean is a huge inspiration to me. It actually comes into my mind, a lot of my stories and someone pointed that out once and I was like, you're right, it does. And I think part of it is that I love the ocean. I love the beach. I love being there, but I'm also so in awe of this powerful thing that, you know, where we know so little about it. It is. There's so much mystery to it. It can look so beautiful on the surface and be so dangerous underneath. I love it as a metaphor. I love it as a part of nature. So I think that was a huge part of why I wanted to incorporate that, especially because I think it also plays well into the metaphor for how some people experience anxiety and you can be calm on the surface, but so much is happening underneath.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:22:29] Absolutely. Yeah. Those interplay with each other and are metaphors for each other in such a beautiful way, mirror the experience. Yeah. I wanted to talk a little bit more about anxiety and particular, as a young Asian American girl the cultural specificity of having anxiety as a young Asian American woman.    Gloria Huang: [00:22:46] Yes I definitely think it's no coincidence. I think that anxiety often goes hand in hand with perfectionism and pressure and I, many people feel that kind of pressure, but certainly a young Asian girl especially with immigrant parents, will feel specific kind of pressure. And so I was really trying to portray that, Somebody once said to me, they were like, oh, I really like how Kaya on the surface seems so put together. She's, got really good grades. She works really hard at school. She's close to her parents, but there's all this going on underneath. And I actually think that's not unusual in terms of that experience for Asian American children of immigrants, and especially if you're female I was really trying to. Tease that out. And then in addition I think there's a tendency, and this might exist in other cultures as well, but in Asian culture, at least in my family history there's a tendency not to really want to talk about mental health. There was a, there's a joke in my family that my parents thought anything could be solved with good sleep and good nutrition, like anytime you had any problem. And I think that there is a, there's a. resistance to feeling like your child can be struggling in a way you can't help them. So I, really wanted to touch on that, part of the cultural pressures at play in kaya's life.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:23:59] And you did so beautifully and it was very relatable, as a anxious Asian girly. And also just, the discussion of big feelings and somehow, having inklings that you may be more powerful than you even realize, but the kind of like emotions that come with that too.    Gloria Huang: [00:24:15] Yes. I think that's a huge part of it is that like when you experience these huge feelings they feel powerful, know, in a negative way. But what I was really trying to get at was, there is also power in accepting these parts of yourself and realizing that They can make up this powerful being that you are, even if you might not love them in that moment.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:24:34] Yeah. I felt very seen by the book and I, couldn't help but wonder wow, what would it have been like if I had read this when I was, 13 or 12 or kind of Closer to the age of the characters in the book.   Gloria Huang: [00:24:45] Thank you so much for saying that it actually means a lot because a lot of my motivation when I do write these books is to write for people who are either of that age or, wish they had a book like that at that age, which is also how I feel a lot about books nowadays and oh, I, I'm so glad that exists. I wish that had been around when I was that age.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:25:03] Yes. Were there any books that really set an example for you that either you read, maybe when you were, in the young adult. Age range or that you've read now as an adult where you're like, okay, this is definitely the audience that I wanna be writing for.   Gloria Huang: [00:25:17] Definitely. I actually love this question 'cause I'm a big reader and so I love talking about books . When I was a kid, middle grade books were my gateway into my love of reading. So I still remember a lot of my favorite books, but I would say a recent book, it's actually maybe not that recent now, it's maybe a couple years old, but a book that really. Had an effect on the middle grade book was when you trap a tiger by Tae Keller and it explores. The kind of Korean experience, but also through the prism of kind of understanding generational grief. And it was just so beautifully done and really made an impact on me. So that was one recently that I thought was really powerful. And, I was like, this is an important book. This is definitely a book I would've loved as a child. When I was younger and I was reading books, there were three books that meant a lot to me. One was called the true confessions of Charlotte Doyle, and it was like a swashbuckling adventure story starring a girl, which was, at that time not very common. And it was, it meant, it was so earth shattering to me to be able to see a female character in that role. So that was great. There's a book called. Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. And it's an adventure story and it also stars. The main character is a very strong female character and Tuck everlasting, which I just think is a beautiful book. It's also female characters. Now I'm saying it out loud. They are all female main characters. And all about, existentialism and adventure and things that, it was important for me to see. Female characters exploring. But I did also wanna say that when I was reading middle grade books, some of my favorite books included a series called, babysitters Club, which I think that they've redone now as a graphic novel. And that was actually really important, not necessarily for the stories, but because there's a character named Claudia Kishi who. Was a Japanese American character and she absolutely shattered the minds of, I think all kids that age were Asian descent and female in reading these books because there just wasn't a character like her before that, she was so cool and artistic but she had immigrant parents and she had a sister who was very good at math and they didn't get along and she loved junk food and she was. So incredibly nuanced and it was just not something that we saw back then. So that really inspired me, I think, to want to add to the diversity of voices. And thankfully there are many more diverse voices now than when I was reading.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:27:30] I love that. And I also feel like books that you read at that age, they stay with you forever.   Gloria Huang: [00:27:35] They really do.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:27:35] And they shape so much of like your worldview and your friendships. And I'm curious, 'cause I know the book was released this year in January. Mm-hmm. So what has it been like for you on your book tour and what's been some other responses that you've heard? I.    Gloria Huang: [00:27:48] It's been really great. It was so exciting to do the book launch and then just the amount of support from the writing community from, my, my kind of network, my agents and my publisher and editor. And also just readers. It's been really great. But one thing I think I wasn't expecting to love quite so much, not because I was expecting to not love it. I just said, it occurred to me that I would feel this way is getting feedback from, child readers is amazing because, I think as writers we love feedback no matter what. And if it's positive feedback, that's even better. But having a child reach out and as some of my friends will send a video of their. Children reacting to the book or they'll, their, let their child type out a text messages and just to hear how the book hits with them and to hear their excitement or to hear that they were moved or to have them want to know what happens next. It meant so much to me because it was, they're the target audience and to have them feel seen in that way was just, it's just the ultimate kind of powerful feeling.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:28:51] That is so sweet. Oh my gosh. I can only imagine. And so you're talking about the young readers. Yes. But I'm also curious if you have any advice or thoughts for young writers who might be wanting to share and get similar stories out to the world?   Gloria Huang: [00:29:05] Yeah I definitely do. And one of the. Experiences I've had that's been great is I've been doing, some school visits and I go and I talk about the book, but I actually talk about the writing process. And when I do that, I really talk to the kids. As if they're writers. The one of the first questions I ask is, hold up your hand. If you love writing or you think you want me, you might wanna be a writer someday. And a lot of hands go up and I tell them like, what the publishing process is, what are, the different genre options, what you might wanna consider, how you come up with an idea, how you sit down and write it, how you reach out to an agent. And I am surprised at how. Intensely, they're hanging onto every word and they're insightful questions after it. It shows me that a lot of them are really thinking about this. I think for one of the school visits, I remember someone held up her hand and she said what is the youngest age I. Someone has been able to be published. And I thought that was great. Because they're so inspired and you can tell that, that they're thinking for the first time this is a possibility. I have all kinds of advice during the school visits, the main piece of advice is really. Just that it can be a tough industry. writing is a very isolated process usually. There's a lot of kind of obstacles and there's a lot of gatekeeping. And so I tell 'em that the most important thing they can do is just keep pushing through and not to let any, setbacks stop them, because the ultimate goal is to reach even just one person.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:30:24] Absolutely. And what kind of advice do you give around learning how to hone your own voice and also having discipline when it comes to an artistic practice?   Gloria Huang: [00:30:33] Yeah, I think that's such a great question. And I was gonna say this piece of advice is probably more for I. Older writers, but adult writers, I guess I should say. The one thing that I've really been thinking about having published a middle grade book is the very specific and unique experience of writing for middle grade audiences. I think a lot of my friends who write for older audience groups, young adults, adults, They have their own challenges, but one of the things that is different is when they're writing, they are writing for the same target audience. That's also the decision makers. So generally, adults and young adults are picking their own books, and they're speaking to someone who will. Ultimately be the ones to pick up the books where when you're writing for middle grade audiences they're not usually the decision makers. at bookstores, they may or may not be in charge of which book they buy, in. Schools, usually it's a librarian or a teacher. So in some ways you're writing for one audience, but you're also writing a subject matter that you're hoping the decision makers will decide is worthy to put in front of your ultimate readers. So that's one challenge. And then the other challenge is I think middle grade audiences are so. fascinating because they're going through this amazingly unusual time in their lives, whether it's eventful and there's new experiences and that can be exciting, but also scary. So there's a lot to mind in terms of topics, but they are also a mixture of being very sophisticated readers who are on the cusp of being teens. And so there's a healthy dose of, skepticism, but they're still young enough that they. Believe in magic, at least in the literary world. So you, there's a lot of room to play with that. But they also. They sound different. They speak differently than adults. So it's important to get the dialogue, for me I, turn to children in my life, including my own, just to do a check to make sure that the dialogue sounds authentic and something that, people, that kids would say. So a lot of thoughts there, but I think, I've been thinking a lot about middle grade and writing for middle grade, and what a unique experience it is.   Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:32:26] Yeah, that's such a good point about the decision maker and having the multiple audiences, and I'm sure sometimes the decision makers are reading the books too, right? Or reading it with their kids or what have you. For your personal writing practice, are there any upcoming projects that you can share with us? And how do you stay inspired for what I imagine is like the long haul of writing something.    Gloria Huang: [00:32:45] I'm happiest when I have like several projects in the pipeline. So as soon as I am done a book or it's, outta my hands, it's with my agents or my editors. I'm looking to write another book. And I think sometimes I probably overwhelm my amazing book before agents. 'cause I'm like, I'm ready to start another story. And they're like, we're still looking at the book you just sent us. But I, that's very much how. I am happiest. I would definitely say that everybody finds their own rhythm. I'm in some writers groups and some people are incredibly fast drafters and just need multiple projects at a time. And some people are like, no, I need to work on one project and I need to have it to perfection and I'm gonna work on it for a year or two. And I think whatever works for the individual artist, I think is the best kind of process for them. But yes, for me it's very much about having multiple projects. I think I'm most inspired when I have different projects going at the same time. finding your own rhythm, I think is my advice.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:33:40] kaya of the ocean has, strong themes and storylines about, myths, mythology, Chinese mythology, and goddesses. I'm curious if you wanna talk any more about that and then also if that shows up in any of the other projects you're working on    Gloria Huang: [00:33:54] Yes, the Chinese mythological water goddess that features. Pretty prominently in Kaya of the Ocean is Matsu. And I find her to be such a fascinating character. She is a real goddess who's worshiped still in Asia. I think. Fishermen often will, pray to her for safe passage when they go out on the water. And my father told me about her when I was younger he told me like the side stories and I thought that was really interesting. But it was only when I started thinking about this book that I thought, I'd love to, I'd love to incorporate her. I hadn't heard about her too much in, in the fictional world, even though I knew she was still like a revered goddess. But I thought it was so cool that she was this strong. I. Strong female figure in a space that didn't always have that, hundreds of years ago. And so I dove into her story a little bit and found out, the story is that she was once a human child who loved to read and then she was afraid of swimming in water until she was older and then she drowned, saving, trying to save some relatives and it was interesting 'cause I'd already started plotting out Kaya and writing Kaya. And so much of her story wove easily into what I had already come up with. Like there, I think she has two sidekicks that were one time enemies that she, made into her friends and I'd already had Kaya written with two friends, Naomi and Ana. So I, there was just so much that I felt was kismet. And it was really fun to be able to weave that story together and fictionalize it. But I think it was also meaningful for me to be able to do that because. When I was younger, I loved reading Greek mythology. the stories are beautiful and they've been redone in beautiful ways, but it definitely was an area where I didn't necessarily see myself reflected. As part of my goal to add to the diversity of voices, I really wanted to feature Chinese mythology and bring those stories in so that. Kids can either see themselves reflected in those stories and or understand a new kind of set of mythology and learn about a new culture.   Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:35:46] Yes. I'm so glad you put it that way because it is, it's such a privilege to have access to, our own I. Cultural stories and knowledge through these, like fun and modern interpretations. Definitely. So I'm so glad that this can provide that.    Gloria Huang: [00:36:00] Oh, thank you. I did realize I didn't answer your other question, which is does it feature my other works? Which so I have sold another middle grade novel and I'm, it's not announced yet. I'm hoping to announce it soon. And I have some other. Books. I'm working on a young adult novel so far. They have not featured Chinese mythology, but I do definitely have a type that my most of my books tend to be contemporary settings, but with elements of speculative. Fantasy, just like the light touch of that and sometimes a little bit of historical elements as well. So they, they definitely all have that similar motif, but so far chi of the ocean is the only one to feature a Chinese mythological goddess.   Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:36:43] Thank you so much for sharing that. I love that. And I really love the relationship that Kaya had with her two friends and just and then also like the cousin that comes and just capturing like the banter amongst, amongst the girls.    Gloria Huang: [00:36:56] Thank you so much. that was really important to me, I think because at the stage that Kaia is in her life the loves of her life really are her two friends, Naomi and Ana, and they feature very prominently in how she learns to cope with her anxiety and her symptoms of anxiety. And so I really, I think that I really wanted to center her their friendship as much as possible. So I'm I'm glad that you saw it that way too.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:37:19] Yeah. And I feel like, I mean, it truly is the most important relationship. And so it's nice when works of fiction and yeah, works of fiction, can reflect that in such a beautiful way. I know you mentioned that you have daughters or have children?    Gloria Huang: [00:37:32] I do, yes. I have a son and a daughter. And my daughter actually was quite involved because when I first started writing Kaya, I think she was exactly of the age that she would be the target reader group. And so she actually helped Beta read it. She provided a lot of feedback. She became like a cheerleader. She was definitely involved in the process and I think that was really exciting for her. my son became of the reading age once it came out, so he reads it and he's a big fan too,   Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:38:00] that's so sweet. I love that your daughter was part of the editing process too. That's amazing.    Gloria Huang: [00:38:04] Yeah. Yeah. She loves writing and always says she wants to be a writer herself, so it was really special that she got to be part of this and see it up close.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:38:13] Oh wow. Do you think you would do any collaborative projects with her in the future?   Gloria Huang: [00:38:16] It's so funny that you say that. She always suggests that. And then sometimes they'll actually start a Google doc and they'll say, let's write a story together. And we all have, of course, very different writing styles. And then at some point they both actually usually just start reading what I'm writing. And at that point I'm like, this is not collaborative. You have to write as well. So we've had a couple of false starts, but that's always a joke that we're gonna do that together.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:38:39] that's so sweet. What else is upcoming for you? I know this is, Asian American and native Hawaiian Pacific Islander month right now, and the episode will come out towards the end of May. So if there's anything else coming up from you for this month or for June or the summer. Yeah. We'd love to hear what you have going on.    Gloria Huang: [00:38:57] Oh, yeah. Today actually Kaya's audio book was released people can listen to it. It was narrated by this amazing, narrator, Cindy K. And so anywhere you find audio books is available. And that was really cool. I've listened to a little bit of it and you, when you write, you hear the words in your head one way, and then it's amazing to hear like another artist do their take on it. So that's really cool. I will be at the Bay Area book Festival at the end of the month of May. There. Doing like different panels and I'll be on a panel. it's about Fantastical Worlds. I'm really excited about that. hopefully we'll be able to announce this other book soon. As you, you may know publishing is a very long lead time it will be a while before it's released, but I think the hope is to release it during, a API month as well just not this year. And working on a young adult novel that hopefully we can go on submission with at some point. But it's an exciting time for sure.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:39:51] Wow, that does sound so exciting. I can't wait to hear about your new projects and to continue to read the work that you put out into the world. Is there anything else that you'd like to discuss or talk about?   Gloria Huang: [00:40:01] I think just to say a thank you to you for, having me on here and reading Kaya of the Ocean and really anyone who's been interested in joining Kaya and her friends on their journey. It's just, it's so amazing, I think, to create these characters that become real to you, and then have them become real to other people. I don't have the words to describe how meaningful it is to me, but thank you.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:40:24] Thank you for letting us join into the world of Kaya for a little bit 'cause it was very fun and healing and all of the amazing things. And thanks so much for joining us today on Apex Express.    Gloria Huang: [00:40:36] For sure. Thanks so much.   Miko Lee: [00:40:38] Welcome, Andrea Wang, award-winning children's book author to Apex Express.    Andrea Wang: [00:40:43] Thank you, Miko. I'm so happy to be here.    Miko Lee: [00:40:46] Happy to have you. I'd love to start first with a personal question, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?   Andrea Wang: [00:40:57] My people are from China. My mother's family belonged to an ethnic minority, called the Haka or the Kaja people, and she and her siblings were. A military family, and we're each born in a different province. And when the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, they went to Taiwan where she grew up and immigrated to the United States in 1965 or 1966. My father's family are from Guangdong Province, and so I'm Cantonese on that side, although I don't speak any Cantonese. And he went to Hong Kong after the Chinese Civil War. So I am the daughter of Chinese immigrants, second generation Chinese American.    Miko Lee: [00:42:01] And what legacy do you carry with you?   Andrea Wang:[00:42:03]  I carry the legacy of their stories, both the ones that I know and the ones that I don't know yet.    Miko Lee: [00:42:12] Ooh. It sounds like there's lots of juicy things for you still to discover. That is fun.    Andrea Wang: [00:42:16] Yes.    Miko Lee: [00:42:17] Today we're talking about your new book, watercress, can you share what the audience, what the book is about, and then what is your inspiration for this book?    Andrea Wang: [00:42:25] So the book is about a Chinese American girl who is growing up in rural Ohio and her parents spot watercress growing in a ditch by the side of the road, and they immediately pull over and make her enter older brother, get out of the car and get down into the ditch with them and collect this. Vegetable, but to her it's a weed. And so when they serve it to her and her family at dinner, she really is unhappy about this and. For her, picking food out of a ditch has a really different meaning than it does to her parents who survived a lot of hardship in China. And it's not until her mom tells her a story about her childhood growing up in China and spoiler alert, loses a sibling to the famine that the girl begins to understand and better appreciate her parents, her culture, and her heritage.   Miko Lee: [00:43:29] And the inspiration for this book.    Andrea Wang: [00:43:32] So the inspiration is largely my own life. this is a semi autobiographical story. The memory of picking watercress by the side of the road was just something that I couldn't forget, I don't know why this memory continued to haunt me into adulthood. And then after my mom passed away, I started writing down, memories and stories of being with my family in order to maintain a connection to her. When I wrote this, at first it was a personal essay and it just wasn't working. I would put it away and I would occasionally take it out and I would put it away and take it out and work on it again. And it wasn't until I decided to pursue writing for young people that I completely changed the manuscript from a personal essay into a picture book. But at that point it still wasn't working. It was in third person and it wasn't very personal It took me several more years to figure out the heart of the story for me. So it was largely based on my own memories and my mother's childhood stories that she shared with me.   Miko Lee: [00:44:39] Can you share more about the power of memory and the artistic process? 'cause you've written many books and in different genres as well, but can you talk a little bit more about memory and its impact on your work?   Andrea Wang: [00:44:52] Yeah, that's a great question. I tend to write primarily for myself. And to figure out how I felt about certain experiences, how they've changed me, to try and process things I feel like I remember a lot about my childhood. parts of it are very vivid and I like to go back to those. Moments that have stuck with me all these years and explore what it means to me. Like I'm just very curious about why I remember certain things watercress was largely my way of processing my childhood feelings of shame about my family and my culture. I have leaned into that and am still writing stories about identity and the struggle to find our identity. Memory has a lot to do with it. I put myself in every single book.    Miko Lee: [00:45:45] Ooh, that's so interesting. And you're talking a little bit about shame and overcoming that. I'm wondering if you could speak more on, if you feel like memories hold the power to heal.    Andrea Wang: [00:45:56] I firmly believe that memories hold the power to heal. I think that writing watercress and talking about these feelings has really helped me, , heal from, that sort of trauma of not feeling like I belonged as a kid and also that I may have been. Not the nicest kid to my parents, not the most filial, right? And so writing this story was, as I say in the author's note, sort of an apology and a love letter to my parents. So it's been very healing and healing to hear about from all the. People who have read the book and had it resonate with them, the things that they regretted in their lives and hoped to, heal as well.    Miko Lee: [00:46:42] Oh, have you heard that story a lot from adult readers?   Andrea Wang: [00:46:46] I have. They will often tell me about the things that their parents did that embarrassed them. A lot of foraging stories, but also stories about, relatives and ancestors who were sharecroppers or indigenous peoples. And it's just been fascinating how many people connect to the story on different levels. There is that theme of poverty. I think recognizing. That's not often talked about in children's books, I think makes people feel very seen.   Miko Lee: [00:47:14] Yeah. That feeling of shame is really showcased by the illustrator Jason Chin. I mean your young you character kind of has a grumpy look on their face. And it was just so fun. Even in the book notes, Jason Chin, the illustrator, writes about how he combined both the western and eastern style of art, but also his similar cross-cultural background. I'm wondering when you very first saw the artwork and this was kind of young you did anything surprise you by it?    Andrea Wang: [00:47:42] I mean, it's amazing, gorgeous artwork and I was really struck by how he dealt with the flashbacks because when I sold this manuscript, I. Had no idea how an illustrator would deal with how interior it is and, , and how they would tackle those flashbacks. And there's one spread where on the left hand side of the page, it shows the main character's current time and then it morphs across the gutter of the book into. The moms past and her childhood memories in China, and it was just exquisite is really the only way to describe it. It was, it's just brilliant, and amazing. We don't, as picture book authors typically get to work with our illustrators. We often do not have contact with them through the making of a picture book. But in this case. Our editors said since it was such a personal story for me, that he, , felt that Jason and I should collaborate. And so I provided photos, family photos, photos of Ohio, lots of different, , source materials to Jason and would talk to him about the feelings that young me in the book went through. And so the fact that, he was able to take all of that and put it on the page, it was just. Spectacular.    Miko Lee: [00:49:01] Oh, that's so fun. I also understand that you love mythical creatures as you I, and one of your children's books is the Nian Monster, which I love. I'm wondering what is your favorite mythical creature and why?   Andrea Wang: [00:49:15] I. Have been sort of fascinated with the qilin, the, or they call it the Chinese unicorn. Right. Although it looks very different from what we think of a, a European unicorn looks like. Yes. And I think it's because they're supposed to be this really benevolent, creature and Have all sorts of powers and I would love to do more research about the qilin and, you know, incorporate that into a book someday.   Miko Lee: [00:49:42] Ooh, fun. Next book. I love it. you have so many books and I'm really curious about your upcoming book Worthy about Joseph Pierce. I love these as Helen Zia talks about these. MIH moments that are missing in history. And Joseph Pierce was the highest ranking Chinese American man who fought in the Civil War. Some people might recognize this picture of this Chinese American guy in a kind of civil war, uniform. Can you tell us one, when is the book being released and a little bit more about it?    Andrea Wang: [00:50:11] Sure. The book is being released on September 9th, 2025, and it is. A picture book, which we typically think of as for younger readers, but it is 64 pages. So you know, it's an all ages picture book. I think my editor and I would like to say, and it is the story of a Chinese boy born in the, First half of the 18 hundreds in China in Guangdong province, and was sold by his father to an American ship captain named Amos Peck. the reasons for that are, lost to time, right? He left no primary sources behind, there was so much going on in China at the time. Famine war, you know, all of these, Difficult things that his father probably sold him in order to keep the rest of the family alive and as well as give him the opportunity to have a better life. And he did end up in Connecticut. He was raised with the captain's, siblings and sent to school and treated almost like a member of the family except for the fact that he was. Clearly Chinese and there were very few Chinese people in, Connecticut at that time. he joined the Union Army when he came of age and was able to leverage his service into gaining citizenship, which really people of color, weren't really able to do successfully back then. And so. He gained a citizenship. He married, he had a family. He was able to own property and accomplish all these amazing things. Sort of right before the Chinese exclusion Act was, enacted. So he was a very brave guy.    Miko Lee: [00:51:45] It's a wild story and you sent me on a little bit of a rabbit hole, which is fun. Just, looking at Ruth Ann, McCune's. historical piece that there were 10 different Chinese American men in the Civil War, but he was exceptional because he rose to such high ranks. And I just think it's so interesting that, in the 1880 census, he registered as Chinese. But then after the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, he listed his race as Japanese in the 1890 census. but he was racialized as white so that he could buy property and everything. Yeah. Can you just talk a little bit about that, like talk about code switching? He like literally changed his race,    Andrea Wang: [00:52:26] right. And people at that time could not tell the difference. Similar to now, people often can't tell different Asian, ethnicities apart. Right. I found actual newspaper articles where Joseph Pierce was interviewed about the battles, that the United States was having with Japan or the battles that Japan was having. He was asked his opinion on what the Japanese government was doing because he told these reporters he was Japanese and that was really the only clue that I had that he, Was code switching that after the Chinese exclusion Act was passed, he felt like he needed to protect himself and his family and he must have cut off his cue because otherwise, you know, that would've identified him immediately as Chinese. So that went into the book. I think it's a powerful moment, right, where he's doing what he has to do to survive and ensure his protection and his family's safety,   Miko Lee: [00:53:25] You have a, a really interesting background. Just having No really, I mean, having done all these different things and I, you know, I think you have a science background too, right? Can you talk about the times that we're living in right now, the political times that we're living in, where our government is banning books that don't align with certain conservative ideologies, where right now certain words are forbodden suddenly. And can you talk a little bit about how that impacts you as a children's book author?    Andrea Wang: [00:53:59] it is very disheartening and discouraging that the current climate is against, people who look like me or other people of color. And as a children's book author, we are experiencing a huge decrease in the number of teachers and librarians who are asking us to come and visit schools, to talk to students, which is horrible because. These young people are the ones who need to learn from books, right? Knowledge is power. And if we are not keeping them informed, then we are doing them a disservice. I think the attacks on our freedom to read are really unjust. and. personally as an author of color, I understand that books like Worthy may end up on some of these banned book lists because it does talk about racism. but these are the stories that we need now, and I'm going to continue writing these stories about the Hidden History, And to talk about these difficult subjects that I think kids understand on some level. but if they're not reading about it in books, then it's hard to spark a conversation with, educators or adults about it. So I think these books that I'm writing, that many of my friends and other children's book authors are writing are providing that. Sort of gateway to talk about, the topics that are so important right now.    Miko Lee: [00:55:29] Thank you so much for sharing, and thank you so much for being on Apex Express today. We appreciate your voice and the work that you're putting out there in the world. Is there anything else you'd like to say?   Andrea Wang: [00:55:39] you know, there's so much to say, I think just to. Stand up for what we all believe in and to, I encourage people to stand up for their intellectual freedom and that of their children.   Miko Lee: [00:55:56] Thank you, Andrea Wang. I appreciate hearing from you and hearing your voice and seeing your work out there in the world.    Andrea Wang: [00:56:03] Thank you so much, Miko. It was a pleasure.   Miko Lee: [00:56:05] Please check out our website, kpfa.org. To find out more about our show tonight. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world because your voices are important. Apex Express is created by Miko Lee, Jalena Keane-Lee, Preti Mangala-Shekar, Swati Rayasam, Aisa Villarosa, Estella Owoimaha-Church, Gabriel Tanglao, Cheryl Truong and Ayame Keane-Lee.   The post APEX Express – 5.29.25 AAPI Children's Books appeared first on KPFA.

Annie Parsons is a graduate homeschooler who lives at home, saves her money for family trips to England, and somehow still finds time to read widely, support her friends, teach remotely, and charm preschoolers during storytime at the library. She's an illustrator and storyteller with a quiet wit, a love of video games, and a deep appreciation for the little things that make life feel magical. Her art reflects all of that—warm, whimsical, and full of heart. Find her here:InstagramWebsiteAnnie's book: Stone SoupStone Soup resources and coloring pagesSkillshare Classes SubstackBooks mentioned/discussed in this episode: Framed by Frank Cottrell BoyceWomen of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds by Jen WilkinThe Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric CarleThe Artist Who Painted the Blue Horse by Eric CarleThe Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. LewisThe Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien Picture This: How Pictures Work Molly BangThe Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher by Molly BangGoose by Molly BangThe Yellow Ball by Molly BangFrost Light by Danielle BullenSparrow in the Sun by Danielle Bullen17:00 St. Patrick's Day Shamrocks by Mary BerendesNellie Bly: America's Greatest Reporter by Iris Noble; republished by Renewed Books 5/25Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, republished by Renewed BooksTen Days in a Madhouse: A Story of the Intrepid Reporter Nellie Bly by Nellie BlyA Race Around the World: The True Story of Nellie Bly & Elizabeth Bisland by Caroline Starr Rose; illustrated by Alexandra ByeNellie Vs. Elizabeth: Two Daredevil Journalists' Breakneck Race around the World by Kate Hannigan; illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett; illustrated by Jon KlassenLuli and the Language of Tea by Andrea Wang; illustrated by Hyewon YumUmami by Jacob GrantSaturday by Oge MoraThank You, Omu by Oge MoraThis is Worship: art by Anthony GorolaWorld Famous Paintings by Rockwell Kent (a book of art) The Jesus Storybook Bible narrated by David Suchet- the story of Leah Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko KadonoVideo Games We Love:Hello Kitty: Island AdventureAnimal CrossingThe Master's Pupil Ambre's kids favorite Poirot episode: “The Veiled Lady” Leuchtturm journalsThanks for visiting Reshelving Alexandria! This post is free, so feel free to share it with a friend—or three!

Join host Andrea Wang, ASA, ACIA, for an inspiring episode featuring Vincent Lepez, PhD, IAF (Institut des Actuaires Francais), a distinguished leader and a seasoned expert in the insurance and reinsurance industry. With decades of experience bridging academia and diverse global sectors, Vincent unveils his remarkable career journey, offering actionable insights on discovering your passion and mastering industry transitions.    Tune in to uncover how curiosity, adaptability, and strategic risk-taking can transform your professional path and unlock your fullest potential. 

durée : 00:59:04 - Shut Up and Dance - par : Nathalie Piolé - Vous parlez trop ? Et bien dansez, maintenant ! - réalisé par : Fabien Fleurat

South Burlington children's book author and illustrator Jason Chin uses paint and pen to bring the world around us to life. Chin won one of the highest honors in his field in 2022, when he was awarded the Caldecott Medal for Watercress, written by Andrea Wang. This year, he and the writer Lynn Brunelle won the Robert F. Silbert Medal for the most distinguished informational book for children for Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall.

Inspiration struck when Momofuku Ando spotted the long lines for a simple bowl of ramen following World War II. Magic Ramen tells the true story behind the creation of one of the world's most popular foods. Every day, Momofuku Ando would retire to his lab--a little shed in his backyard. For years, he'd dreamed about making a new kind of ramen noodle soup that was quick, convenient, and tasty for the hungry people he'd seen in line for a bowl on the black market following World War II. Peace follows from a full stomach, he believed. Day after day, Ando experimented. Night after night, he failed. But Ando kept experimenting. With persistence, creativity, and a little inspiration, Ando succeeded. This is the true story behind one of the world's most popular foods. Don't forget to check out our educational fall, winter and holiday books at: www.SlothDreamsBooks.com

Jazzmusiker Ellen Andrea Wang åpnet årets Jazzfestival i Tromsø med bravur! Før konserten tok vi en prat om tro, tvil, musikk og mer.

In this engaging conversation, Andrea Wang shares insights into her latest book, Summer at Squee, where she explores themes of community, identity, and inclusivity. Delve into the heart of Squee Camp, a vibrant setting where Phoenny Fang navigates friendships, cultural experiences, and her own biases. Discover the inspirations behind Andrea's storytelling, from her personal experiences at a Chinese heritage camp to her reflections on anti-Asian racism. Learn how Andrea crafted authentic representation while making the story relatable to a diverse audience. Uncover the threads of empathy and belonging woven throughout her narrative and explore the transformative power of embracing joy and shared experiences. As Andrea reflects on her writing process and highlights from the book, listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the rich tapestry of identity and community depicted in Summer at Squee. Transcription: ⁠You can read the ⁠transcription on ⁠The Children's Book Review⁠⁠. Order a Copy: Summer at Squee on Amazon and Bookshop.org. Discussion Topics: Andrea Wang Talks About: Exploring the Concept of Community: How Summer at Squee portrays the dynamics of community within the camp setting. Cultural Identity and Representation: How the book tackles themes of cultural identity, particularly focusing on Phoenny Fang's journey of self-discovery as she navigates her Chinese heritage within a multicultural environment. Addressing Bias and Prejudice: How the narrative addresses issues of bias and prejudice, particularly in Phoenny's interactions with other campers. Writing Process and Inspirations: Her creative process behind crafting Summer at Squee, inspirations for the story, including her own experiences at a Chinese heritage camp, and how she approached the development of characters and plot elements. Themes of Inclusivity and Belonging: The importance of creating inclusive spaces, both within literature and in real-life communities, and ways to foster a sense of belonging for all individuals. Resources: You can visit Andrea Wang online at ⁠⁠https://andreaywang.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/andreawhywang/. Our Book Spotlight Sponsor: P.J. Davis, author of Nemesis and the Vault of Lost Time Available on Amazon For more information, visit https://www.PJDavisAuthor.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thechildrensbookreview/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thechildrensbookreview/support

Thank you for listening over the years and helping us reach our 200th episode! To celebrate this milestone, we invited special guests to call the Book Cougars hotline and recommend two forthcoming books they can't wait for all of us to read. This idea was inspired by Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness, hosts of the podcast Books on the Nightstand, who had a segment called “Two Books We Can't Wait for You to Read.” Chris and Emily met through Books on the Nightstand; their sunset inspired our sunrise. As an homage, we were thrilled to have Ann and Michael contribute to the segment along with other guests that have been featured on the podcast over the past seven years including Amy Tector, Andrea Wang, Bianca Marais, Caroline Leavitt, Davina from BookBrowse, Fiona Davis, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Jennifer Savran Kelly, Jenna Miller, Rachel Barenbaum, Kelcey Ervick, Luanne Rice, Jung Yun, and our Mystery Man – John Valeri. We asked our author friends to shout out their new or forthcoming books. Your TBR List just might explode! #SorryNotSorry And that's not the only exciting segment in this episode. We crunched the numbers and share our Listener Top Ten Reads of 2023. They are: Tom Lake – Ann Patchett Hello Beautiful – Ann Napolitano Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver The Covenant of Water – Abraham Verghese Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride Yellowface – R.F. Kuang The Reading List – Sara Nisha Adams Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt The Fraud – Zadie Smith Unlikely Animals – Annie Hartnett Signal Fires – Dani Shapiro Absolution – Alice McDermott The Postcard – Anne Berest As always, we share what we're currently reading, what we've read, and Biblio Adventures we've been on. Emily visited White River Books and the Carbondale Public Library in Colorado. She also attended Aspen Words featuring Ann Patchett in conversation with Elizabeth McCracken. Chris paid her respects to the Barnes and Noble closing in Naperville, Illinois (they're opening a new format store in nearby Oswego), and visited one of her favorite used bookstores, The Frugal Muse in Darien. She also attended Biography International Organization's Biography Lab, an online forum about the craft. If you're in the Connecticut area, join us on Friday, February 2nd at 5:30 pm ET at Bank Square Books for the launch of Luanne Rice's new book Last Night. Then on Sunday, February 11th at 5 pm ET, Chris's wife Laura Thoma will be reading from her work-in-progress as part of the Chester Arts & Literary Weekend. Reminder: our first quarter readalong book is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins. All the books we mention in this episode are in the show notes at https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2024/episode200. Thanks again for listening, and Happy Reading! Chris & Emily

Este viernes en Bichos de Radio una charla con Andrea Wang, conductora en Radio Taiwan Internacional, una de las mujeres más reconocidas por la audiencia de emisoras internacionales, quien se refirió al desafío de hacer radio en español desde su país, dejo su mirada respecto al mundo de las emisoras internacionales y dio detalles sobre las particularidades de su trabajo, así como las vivencias en el país asiático durante la consagración argentina en el mundial de fútbol. Además, un adelanto del show El Arte de Vivir que el mítico guitarrista brasileño Toquinho se encuentra presentando a lo largo de nuestro país junto a Camilla Faustino, uniendo con su música a distintas generaciones. Un informe sobre la consagración española frente a Inglaterra en el Campeonato Mundial de fútbol Femenino y las repercusiones de lo ocurrido durante las celebraciones ante la actitud del presidente de la federación española Luis Rubiales besando en la boca de manera sorpresiva y forzada a la capitana del equipo. Para finalizar, hablamos sobre la visita de Natalia Oreiro al programa Perros de la calle donde hizo un repaso de su carrera y su presente artístico.

Andrea Wang shares Luli and the Language of Tea, a story that reminds us that when you're looking to communicate with people, you look for a common bond.  BOOK DESCRIPTION: Luli and the Language of Tea by Andrea Wang; illustrated by Hyewon Yum   Though they may speak different languages, kids from all over the world come together to enjoy the shared pastime of tea in this delicious book for young readers.   When five-year-old Luli joins her new English as a Second Language class, the playroom is quiet. Luli can't speak English, neither can anyone else. That's when she has a brilliant idea to host a tea party and bring them all together.   Luli removes her teapot, thermos, and teacups from her bag and calls out "Chá!" in her native Chinese. One by one, her classmates pipe up in recognition: in Russian, Hindi, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, and Spanish, Portuguese, and Swahili. Tea is a tasty language they all know well, and it gives them a chance to share and enjoy each other's company. When all the tea is gone and it's time for dessert, Luli gets to use her favorite English word, cookie! After that, the playroom isn't so quiet.   Informed by her own experience as the child of Chinese immigrant parents, Andrea Wang makes the point that when you're looking to communicate with people, you look for a common bond. The word for "tea" is similar in many languages, and tea becomes the unifying metaphor that brings a diverse group of children together. Additional material at the back of the book explores the rich and ancient history of tea drinking across cultures all around the world and contains maps, statistics, and fascinating details that will delight young readers. NOTABLE QUOTES:   (7:33) “I write the kind of stories I do to keep a connection to [my parents]. And it's sort of my way of keeping a conversation with them because they're no longer with us. I feel like I didn't really understand my parents until I was a grownup and what they had gone through in their childhoods in China. And so this is just my way of honoring them and writing about some of the things that we shared as I was growing up with them.”   (8:31) “It's really hard to give up everything you've ever known and move somewhere completely different, where you don't speak the language that well or at all.”   (13:45) “Just being respectful of people from different cultures is huge. Just instead of reacting with fear, but reacting with curiosity perhaps.”   (14:19) “We all have our own story that's going on from day to day. And then, when someone comes in or we're put into a new situation, we're suddenly thrust into the middle of someone else's story. I. We have to observe and react and figure out what's going on.”   (18:22) “Reach out and make a new friend. You might not think that they look like you or that you have anything in common, but if you just try a little bit, share some of yourself, like Luli shared some of herself and her culture, you might find that you actually have a lot in common.”    ADDITIONAL LINKS: Andrea Wang website - andreaywang.com Purchase the Book - Luli and the Language of Tea by Andrea Wang; illustrated by Hyewon Yum TALK ABOUT THE EPISODE: Have you ever had tea? What kind of tea did you have last? Were you drinking tea with someone else? Where were you? Try to bring back memories of why, what, when, where, and why in order to bring even more details to mind. Have you ever welcomed a new student into your classroom? What words or actions did you share to help make that person feel more comfortable and welcomed? What things did you and your class do to get to know the new person better?  What does it mean to belong? How does it feel to belong? What types of words or actions could you share with someone new in order to make them feel like they belong? CREDITS:   This podcast episode of The Children's Book Podcast was written, edited, and produced by Matthew Winner. For a full transcript of this episode, visit matthewcwinner.com.    Write to me or send me a message at matthewmakespods@gmail.com.    Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/).    Our music is by Podington Bear.    Podcast hosting by Libsyn.    You can support the show and buy me a coffee at www.matthewcwinner.com.   We are a proud member of Kids Listen, the best place to discover the best in kids podcasts. Learn more at kidslisten.org.   Fellow teachers and librarians, want a way to explore building a stronger culture of reading in our communities? In The Reading Culture podcast, Beanstack co-founder Jordan Bookey hosts conversations that dive into beloved authors' personal journeys and insights into motivating young people to read. And I am a big fan! Check out the Reading Culture Podcast with Jordan Bookey, from Beanstack. Available wherever podcasts are found. DISCLAIMER: Bookshop.org affiliate links provided for any book titles mentioned in the episode. Bookshop.org support independent bookstores and also shares a small percentage of any sales made through this podcast back to me, which helps to fund production of this show.  

On this week's show, we explore the ways culture and identity can collide at the table. We begin the hour with a conversation with Andrea Wang, author of the award-winning picture book, Watercress. With illustrations by Jason Chin, Andrea's book is an autobiographical tale of a child of Chinese immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage. Then, we speak with New Orleanian Christina Quackenbush of the Filipino food pop-up Milkfish. Christina was born in the Philippines and raised in Indiana farm country before finding a career in food. She tells us about her contribution to The New Filipino Kitchen, a collection of 30 recipes and stories from chefs and home cooks of the Filipino diaspora. Finally, we hear the story of Turkish natives Ozgur and Bulent Duman and their Mandeville restaurant, Duman Artisan Kitchen. Influenced by Turkish, Italian, Israeli, and American cooking, the Dumans have cultivated an eclectic menu the likes of which have not been seen on the Northshore before. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

On this week's show, we explore the ways culture and identity can collide at the table. We begin the hour with a conversation with Andrea Wang, author of the award-winning picture book, Watercress. With illustrations by Jason Chin, Andrea's book is an autobiographical tale of a child of Chinese immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage. Then, we speak with New Orleanian Christina Quackenbush of the Filipino food pop-up Milkfish. Christina was born in the Philippines and raised in Indiana farm country before finding a career in food. She tells us about her contribution to The New Filipino Kitchen, a collection of 30 recipes and stories from chefs and home cooks of the Filipino diaspora. Finally, we hear the story of Turkish natives Ozgur and Bulent Duman and their Mandeville restaurant, Duman Artisan Kitchen. Influenced by Turkish, Italian, Israeli, and American cooking, the Dumans have cultivated an eclectic menu the likes of which have not been seen on the Northshore before. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

Join children's book authors  Rajani LaRocca and Artemis Roehrig as they talk to environmental scientist and children's book author Andrea Wang about Environmental Science & "Writing the Books We Needed."You can find books by all our guests in the STEM Women in KidLit bookstore!Support STEM Women in Kidlit!Books recommended on this episode:Smelly Kelly and His Super Senses: How James Kelly's Nose Saved the New York City SubwayBeth Anderson (Author)  Jenn Harney (Illustrator)Being a Dog: A Tail of MindfulnessMaria Gianferrari (Author)  Pete Oswald (Illustrator)The Secret Science of Sports: The Math, Physics, and Mechanical Engineering Behind Every Grand Slam, Triple Axel, and Penalty KickJennifer Swanson (Author)Out of the Blue: How Animals Evolved from Prehistoric SeasElizabeth Shreeve (Author)  Frann Preston-Gannon (Illustrator)

I hope you've got some great holiday plans, Quitters! This episode, I'm talking to my very funny friend, Andrea Wang! Andrea is a comedian who I first met while running my weekly show, Two Virgins. Since then, we've become good friends! This week we talk about the comedy community, learning by copying, and powerpoint comedy! If you like Andrea, check her out on Instagram @andreajw_ If you like me, follow me on Instagram @asparguts. You can also follow Don't Quit Your Day Job on Instagram @DQYDJ_pod. My DMs are open! Thanks for listening!

Last year Vick Mickunas received an email from the author Ralph Keyes. He's known Ralph for over 25 years. And Ralph has written many superb books. He went to Antioch College and lived in Yellow Springs for decades. Now Ralph lives in Portland. He e-mailed Vick to tell him about a book he thought he'd might want to cover. It was a picture book for children; "Watercress" by Andrea Wang.

On this episode, we highlight the latest book and publishing news in Asian American literature for our August 2022 mid-month check-in, including the big news that's rocking the publishing industry right now.New books and authors mentioned in our publishing news:Worthy: The Brave and Capable Life of Joseph Pierce by Andrea Wang; illus by Youa VangThe Art Spy: The Untold Story of World War II Resistance Spy Rose Valland by Michelle YoungHaru, Zombie Dog Hero by Ellen OhFamily of Friends by Varsha Bajaj; illus by Ishaa LoboTemporary Bodies by Anuradha D. RajurkarYasmeen Lari biography by Marzieh Abbas; illus by Hoda HadadiGrief in the Fourth Dimension by Jennifer YuThe Runaway Dosa by Suma Subramaniam; illus by Parvati PillaiFood for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World by Mia Wenjen; illus by Robert Sae-HengThe Carpet and Sour Cherries by Dezh Azaad; illus by Nan CaoCall Me Adnan by Reem FaruqiPlay the Game by Amar ShahChickenpox by Remy LaiIn This Family by Shelly Anand; illus by Meenal PatelWhen a Rhino Has to WAIT by Dazzle Ng; illus by Estrela LourençoAnd Break the Pretty Kings by Lena JeongCamp Scream by Sarah C. Yung; illus by Kelsey Eng and Laan ChamHome in a Lunchbox by Cherry MoMichelle the First: How Action Hero Michelle Yeoh Danced, Acted, and Dreamed Her Own Path by Kristen Mai Giang; illus by Kuri HuangVanya and the Wild Hunt by Sangu MandannaWings to Soar by Tina AthaideNavya Sings for Navarathri by Lakshmi Thamizhmani; illus by Avani DwivediA Name for Sister by Charlotte Cheng; illus by Sophie Diao*Support the podcast by purchasing books at our bookshop *---This episode was sponsored by the Ma-Yi Theater Company:From Ma-Yi Theater Company (The Chinese Lady, Teenage Dick) comes a generation-spanning new journey through the historical and fantastical. Mixing traditional Korean fables with the horrors of the Korean War, Daniel K. Isaac's epic new play is a funny and deeply moving analog for the experiences of the Korean American diaspora. Isaac deftly moves his characters through time, tracing the legacies of trauma that are passed from one generation to the next, and the various coping mechanisms each one uses to soldier on.Playing August 23 - September 18 at the  La Mama's Ellen Stewart Theater in New York CityTickets on sale now at: http://ma-yitheatre.org/ - use promo code BOOKSANDBOBA for discounted tickets.---Follow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:FacebookTwitterGoodreads GroupThe Books & Boba August 2022 pick is Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba JaigirdarThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

In this episode, Marcy and Jennie talk to Andrea Wang, author of Watercress, a 2022 Newbery Honor Book, Caldecott Medal Winner, and APALA Award Winner. Andrea Wang is the award-winning author of The Nian Monster and Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando. She was inspired to write Watercress by her experience growing up in rural Ohio as a child of Chinese immigrants. Andrea holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing for Young People. She lives in Colorado with her family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we have a very special episode. I'm speaking with the team behind this year's Caldecott winning picture book, Watercress: Andrea Wang and Jason Chin. In case you're not familiar, the Caldecott is basically the Academy Award for picture books, so this is very exciting! Watercress also won a Newbery Honor and the Asian Pacific/Pacific American Award for Literature too.

Join us as we finish the story of Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger Disaster. In part 2, Hailee tells us how Christa won the Teacher in Space position out of thousands of applicants, how she trained for weeks and gives brief bios for the rest of the Challenger crew. We will also learn how this disaster very well could have been avoided. What We're ReadingVerity by Colleen HooverThe Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny ColganThe Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny ColganThe Love Hypothesis by Ali HazelwoodWatercress by Andrea Wang and Jason ChinA Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C & Erin E. SteadIf you are interested in any of the books we talk about on this episode, please consider using our affiliate link through Bookshop.org!Recommended ReadingNon-FictionThe burning blue: the untold story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger disaster by Kevin CookTruth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster by Allan McDonald and James HansenBringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew by Michael D. Leinbach and Jonathan H. Ward.Hidden Figures by Margot Lee SheterlyHow We Got to the Moon: the people, technology, and daring feats of science behind humanity's greatest adventureby John RoccoFictionWe Dream of Space by Erin Entrada KellyPlanet Earth is Blue by Nicole PanteleakosLinksHistory of SpaceflightThe Space RaceNASA Group 8Teacher in Space Program Christa McAuliffe 1970s: Kennedy Dispatches Probes to Far Reaches as Apollo Ends1980s: All Eyes Focus on Space Shuttle35 Years Ago: Remembering Challenger and Her CrewUtah engineers' warning was ignored before Challenger explosion 30 years agoChrista's Lost LessonsRogers Commission ReportChallenger Engineer Who Warned Of Shuttle Disaster Dieshttps://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/02/06/146490064/remembering-roger-boisjoly-he-tried-to-stop-shuttle-challenger-launchSupport the show

Join us as we finish the story of Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger Disaster. In part 2, Hailee tells us how Christa won the Teacher in Space position out of thousands of applicants, how she trained for weeks and gives brief bios for the rest of the Challenger crew. We will also learn how this disaster very well could have been avoided. What We're ReadingVerity by Colleen HooverThe Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny ColganThe Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny ColganThe Love Hypothesis by Ali HazelwoodWatercress by Andrea Wang and Jason ChinA Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C & Erin E. SteadIf you are interested in any of the books we talk about on this episode, please consider using our affiliate link through Bookshop.org!Recommended ReadingNon-FictionThe burning blue: the untold story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger disaster by Kevin CookTruth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster by Allan McDonald and James HansenBringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew by Michael D. Leinbach and Jonathan H. Ward.Hidden Figures by Margot Lee SheterlyHow We Got to the Moon: the people, technology, and daring feats of science behind humanity's greatest adventureby John RoccoFictionWe Dream of Space by Erin Entrada KellyPlanet Earth is Blue by Nicole PanteleakosLinksHistory of SpaceflightThe Space RaceNASA Group 8Teacher in Space Program Christa McAuliffe 1970s: Kennedy Dispatches Probes to Far Reaches as Apollo Ends1980s: All Eyes Focus on Space Shuttle35 Years Ago: Remembering Challenger and Her CrewUtah engineers' warning was ignored before Challenger explosion 30 years agoChrista's Lost LessonsRogers Commission ReportChallenger Engineer Who Warned Of Shuttle Disaster Dieshttps://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/02/06/146490064/remembering-roger-boisjoly-he-tried-to-stop-shuttle-challenger-launchSupport the show

A 35 ans, cette contrebassiste, compositrice et chanteuse de jazz norvégienne mène déjà une carrière exemplaire. Elle conjugue au présent… The post S05E24 Ellen Andrea Wang first appeared on Radio Campus Angers.

Andrea Wang is on the #ReadingWithYourKids #Podcast to celebrate her latest #PictureBook Watercress. Andrea tells us this multi award winning book was inspired by memories of being the only Asian child growing up in rural Ohio community. Click here to visit Andrea's website - https://andreaywang.com/about/ Click here to visit our website - www.readingwithyourkids.com

I cannot tell you what an honor it was to do this week's episode. I am proud to introduce you to Andrea Wang, who is the 2022 Newbery Honor Book Award recipient and the Asian-Pacific American Award for Literature recipient for the book Watercress (this book also won the Caldecott medal). She shares the story behind this semi-autobiographical book that has received such acclaim. You will learn more details about the story and its impact on the literary world and those who have read it. A special moment is when she recounts the day that she learned about winning the Newbery Honor. Andrea also shares such wisdom about her life as an author which was a second career for her. Her wish is that listeners or readers who might have felt “othered” will find hope and connection to her story. Her love of reading and picture books is contagious— this is a special episode. I hope you enjoy getting to know Andrea better. Below you will find the Amazon affiliate links for the books mentioned in this episode. Just click to purchase. Watercress Luli and the Language of Tea The Sweetest Scoop Lift Ways to connect with Andrea: Andreaywang.com (website) @andreaywang (Twitter) @andreawhywang (Instagram) andreawangbooks@gmail.com (for author visits) Open The Magic, Courtney Hinshaw -------Come hang out!-------- @ramonarecommends {instagram} Ramonarecommends.com Magic Wear Shop --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/courtney-hinshaw/support

Andrea Wang is an acclaimed author of children's books. Her book Watercress was awarded the Caldecott Medal, a Newbery Honor, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, a New England Book Award, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor. Her other books, The Many Meanings of Meilan, Magic Ramen, and The Nian Monster, have also received awards and starred reviews. Her work explores culture, creative thinking, and identity. She is also the author of seven nonfiction titles for the library and school market. Andrea holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing for Young People. She lives in Colorado with her family. During this podcast, Andrea talks about winning awards, her writing process, early family life, and what it means to put your heart into your work. Website: https://andreaywang.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndreaYWang Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.c.wang Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreawhywang/

Listen to why youth librarian, Lisa K thinks you should read The Many Meanings of Meilan by Andrea Wang. Written for: 4th-6th Graders Genre: realistic fiction Themes: Chinese culture, identity, racism, family, friendship Check it out here: https://search.westervillelibrary.org/iii/encore/search/C__St%3A%28the%20many%20meanings%20of%20meilan%29__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold

Authors Andrea Wang and Grace Lin answer the question What's your favorite genre?  and kid reviewer Zahabia reviews Watercress by Andrea Wang

Books are such a powerful teaching tool because they give us glimpses into experiences beyond our own — which is something children's book author Andrea Wang is an expert at. Andrea's books are beautiful for many reasons — they'll make you laugh, they'll make you cry, and they'll help you better understand Chinese and other Asian cultures. I can't recommend her picture books and middle grade novels enough for you and your kiddos. Andrea previously joined me on the podcast to discuss how we can bring Chinese culture into our homes, and she graciously agreed to speak with me again, this time to unpack two specific Asian stereotypes and how we can teach our children to be in solidarity with the Asian community and push back against these stereotypes.   In this conversation, Andrea and I discuss: Asian stereotypes surrounding food and how we respond to them. Stereotypes about Asian names and how we can be more sensitive. Her recent books — “Watercress” and “The Many Meanings of Meilan.”  How children's books can serve as a springboard for teachable moments. How Andrea's books include relatable experiences. Andrea's hope for her books to show common humanity among races.   Race Talk Roadmap Our Race Talk Roadmap is the tool you need to begin conversations about race and racism with your children! We have a list of three tips for parents of older children and a list of three tips for parents of younger children. Visit firstnamebasis.org/racetalk to get the Race Talk Roadmap sent straight to your inbox.   Ally Elementary  Parents have been asking for a practical, interactive way to implement the anti-racist strategies that I lay out in the First Name Basis Podcast. So this October we are launching “Ally Elementary: Anti-Racist Education For Families."  During this five-week program parents will work together with their children to create a culture of anti-racism in their home, and I will be there to guide them every step of the way. We will use hands-on activities to teach our children about everything from the untold story of how race was created to how they can disrupt racism in their everyday lives. I am so excited to watch the families in our community make a meaningful transformation and improve their communities through anti-racist action. Click here to the waitlist!   Articles, Studies, & Podcasts Referenced In The Episode  First Name Basis Podcast, Season 2, Episode 3: “Bringing Chinese Culture Into Our Homes”   Andrea Wang's website Andrea Wang's Instagram Andrea Wang's Twitter Andrea's books: “The Many Meanings of Meilan” “Learning About Asia” “Magic Ramen” “Watercress” “The Nian Monster” “Lilu and the Language of Tea” (coming soon!)   Uzoamaka Aduba talks about the importance of her name    “A Different Pond” by Bao Phi and illustrated by Thi Bui   “AsianAm TikTok creator Kim Saira on James Corden late show, calls 'Spill Your Guts' racist” Song Credit: “Sleeper” by Steve Adams” and “Dive Down” by VYEN 

Children's and middle-grade author Andrea Wang talks about her two new releases for young readers—both exploring Chinese-American identity and growing up in the Midwest. Watercress is a gorgeous picture book about feeling out of place, about family and about family history. The Many Meanings of Meilan finds a middle-grade girl dealing with the upheaval of a big move to a small town, racism, and growing up.Lesley University is located in beautiful Cambridge, Massachusetts. Learn more about our low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program.About AndreaAndrea Wang is the award-winning author of picture books The Nian Monster (Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor) and Magic Ramen (Freeman Book Award Honor). She has two books releasing in 2021: Watercress (2021 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award, JLG Gold Standard Selection, starred reviews from BCCB, Horn Book, Kirkus, PW, and SLJ); and The Many Meanings of Meilan, her debut middle grade novel. Her work explores culture, creative thinking, and identity. She is also the author of seven nonfiction titles for the library and school market. Andrea holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing for Young People. She lives in the Denver area with her family. 

On this episode, we chat with author Andrea Wang about her new middle grade novel The Many Meaning of Meilan, a coming of age story about a Chinese American girl who finds strength in the many meanings of her name as she struggles to adjust to moving from Boston's Chinatown to a small town in Ohio. We chat with Andrea about her journey to becoming a childen's book author and her inspirations for writing her novel. We also share some of our own experiences with our uncommon Asian names.Follow Andrea on IG at @andreawhywang and check out his book The Many Meanings of Meilan at your local bookseller!*Support the podcast by purchasing books at our bookshop *Follow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:FacebookTwitterGoodreads GroupThe Books & Boba August 2021 pick is Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy RibayThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

Listen along as FPL Director Mr. Carl reads “The Nian Monster” written by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Alina Chau. ⋒ ⋒ ⋒ Interested in hearing a favorite picture book? Leave the FPL storytelling squad a {secured} recorded request at https://anchor.fm/fpl-dial-a-story/message!

资深DJ有待介绍爵士乐发展史上各流派和代表人物，深入浅出，雅俗共赏。

For Andrea, how Watercress is a moving autobiographical story of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage For Jason, how he worked in an entirely new style, inspired by Chinese painting techniques For both, their collaboration and how their childhood experiences with their parents shaped their book For both, why it is important for children to understand their family history

For Andrea, how Watercress is a moving autobiographical story of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage For Jason, how he worked in an entirely new style, inspired by Chinese painting techniques For both, their collaboration and how their childhood experiences with their parents shaped their book For both, why it is important for children to understand their family history

For Andrea, how Watercress is a moving autobiographical story of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage For Jason, how he worked in an entirely new style, inspired by Chinese painting techniques For both, their collaboration and how their childhood experiences with their parents shaped their book For both, why it is important for children to understand their family history

For Andrea, how Watercress is a moving autobiographical story of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage For Jason, how he worked in an entirely new style, inspired by Chinese painting techniques For both, their collaboration and how their childhood experiences with their parents shaped their book For both, why it is important for children to understand their family history

For Andrea, how Watercress is a moving autobiographical story of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage For Jason, how he worked in an entirely new style, inspired by Chinese painting techniques For both, their collaboration and how their childhood experiences with their parents shaped their book For both, why it is important for children to understand their family history

For Andrea, how Watercress is a moving autobiographical story of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage For Jason, how he worked in an entirely new style, inspired by Chinese painting techniques For both, their collaboration and how their childhood experiences with their parents shaped their book For both, why it is important for children to understand their family history

In this episode, illustrator Jason Chin takes us behind the scenes of his book WATERCRESS, written by Andrea Wang.This episode is sponsored by Read the World: Rethinking Literacy for Empathy and Action in a Digital Age by Kristin Ziemke and Katie Muhtaris and published by Heinemann.

Children's picture books often contain stories that grown ups can benefit from too. That's certainly true of Andrea Wang's new picture book, Watercress, an autobiographical tale of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage. With illustrations by Jason Chin, Watercress takes taste memories to new highs and lows as Andrea recalls a moment in her childhood when her family foraged for the perennial plant on the roadsides of her rural Ohio home. Andrea and Jason join Louisiana Eats for a conversation about the heart-rending book before we speak with New Orleanian Christina Quackenbush of the Filipino food pop up Milkfish. Christina was born in the Philippines and raised in Indiana farm country before finding a career in food. She tells us about her contribution to The New Filipino Kitchen, a collection of 30 recipes and stories from chefs and home cooks of the Filipino diaspora. Next, we speak with cooking teacher and author, Hsiao-Ching Chou. Her book, Chinese Soul Food, offers recipes for beloved Chinese restaurant dishes – like pork spare ribs and chili wontons – which she demystifies using ingredients you're likely to already have in your pantry. Finally, we join Chef Michael Gulotta in the kitchen of his New Orleans Market District restaurant Maypop. Michael explains how he's bending the rules and blurring the lines on where Southeast Asia ends and South Louisiana begins. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

Children's picture books often contain stories that grown ups can benefit from too. That's certainly true of Andrea Wang's new picture book, Watercress, an autobiographical tale of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage. With illustrations by Jason Chin, Watercress takes taste memories to new highs and lows as Andrea recalls a moment in her childhood when her family foraged for the perennial plant on the roadsides of her rural Ohio home. Andrea and Jason join Louisiana Eats for a conversation about the heart-rending book before we speak with New Orleanian Christina Quackenbush of the Filipino food pop up Milkfish. Christina was born in the Philippines and raised in Indiana farm country before finding a career in food. She tells us about her contribution to The New Filipino Kitchen, a collection of 30 recipes and stories from chefs and home cooks of the Filipino diaspora. Next, we speak with cooking teacher and author, Hsiao-Ching Chou. Her book, Chinese Soul Food, offers recipes for beloved Chinese restaurant dishes – like pork spare ribs and chili wontons – which she demystifies using ingredients you're likely to already have in your pantry. Finally, we join Chef Michael Gulotta in the kitchen of his New Orleans Market District restaurant Maypop. Michael explains how he's bending the rules and blurring the lines on where Southeast Asia ends and South Louisiana begins. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

In this episode, author Andrea Wang takes us behind the scenes of her picture book WATERCRESS, illustrated by Jason Chin.This episode is sponsored by Read the World: Rethinking Literacy for Empathy and Action in a Digital Age by Kristin Ziemke and Katie Muhtaris and published by Heinemann.

Bassist, singer, and composer Ellen Andrea Wang has distinguished herself as an inventive artist, blending genres in new and unprecedented ways. Wang received the Kongsberg Jazz Festivals great musician award in 2015. The prize is awarded to a musician who has a leading position on the Norwegian jazz scene. We believe she's talent on the rise and a force to be reckoned with. In the episode, Ellen shares her background, education, and musical journey.    If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, etc.    Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com

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