Yay

One of my recent picture books, What Will You Be, Sara Mee? by Kate Aver Avraham, is a CCBC Choices 2011 (download here) title, one of "the best children's and young adult books published in 2010" in the opinion of the Cooperative Children's Books Center.

Here's the first character sketch I did of Sara Mee,

and here's her brother Chong,

who narrates the story.

Thanks, CCBC!

Catching Up

A short break from the focus on white conditioning to share some recent happenings in my publishing life:

1. NEW BOOK!

What Will You Be, Sara Mee? by Kate Aver Avraham, was released in February from Charlesbridge. In it, six-year-old Korean-American Chong tells the story of his baby sister's tol, the traditional celebration of a child's first birthday.

I got a lot of help with visual details from my friends here in Portland, Won-Bae and Ip-bun Park of Sun Oriental Market, and their son Se-jong and his wife Ji-yun, whose daughter Chae-hee was the model for Sara Mee. Yesterday I took copies of the book to the Parks. Chae-Hee, now three years old, instantly recognized her baby self , and her six-year-old brother Tae-soo clasped the book to his chest, claiming the book as his own.

I'll be mailing out a copy this week to my friend Noah in Michigan, who was the model for Chong. In June of 2008 I spent a week with his family in Flushing, MI, while presenting at the Korean Culture Camp of Eastern Michigan.

Last month, the book was awarded the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Book Award.

2. After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance (Charlesbridge 2009), which my son Perry and I wrote and I illustrated, has been getting a lot of wonderful recognition, including:

- Notable Books for a Global Society from the International Reading Association

- 2010 Teachers' Choices List from the International Reading Association

- NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People

- CCBC Choices 2010 - Historical People, Places,

and Events

- The Maine Literary Book Award, Children's/Young Adult Category, from Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

3. Earlier this month, Catherine Anderson,

wonderful writer, poet, mother, teacher, friend and co-explorer of the world of race, whiteness, and multiracial families, who posts at her blog, "Mama C and the Boys," gave me a fabulous gift - a Beautiful Blogger Award!

I am belatedly completing her challenge to post this. The next part of my challenge is to find other bloggers to award it to. I'm on the lookout.