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<\/a><\/p>\nShe’s come to a place in her life where she wants kids to see the face behind the books. So many kids out there need voices like this.<\/p>\n
She talked about her childhood and how children’s books shaped her.<\/p>\n At 9 years old, she was terrified of Where the Wild Things Are<\/em>. Her father loved to watch war movies with his kids, and she had just watched Apocalypse Now<\/em>. The images of the wild rumpus made her think of Vietnam. To her Max was a kid lost in a very real jungle.<\/p>\n It was tough to find a book a little immigrant girl would relate to. She took books as a chance to help parse the culture.<\/p>\n She was only 2 when they left Vietnam. She didn’t know much about the war. She didn’t know much about her own culture, let alone about American culture. TV was confusion – reflection of culture without explanation. Books, though, let her into the secret world of westerners.<\/p>\n She thanks the teachers and librarians who knew the kid she was inside.<\/p>\n She loved The Witch of Blackbird Pond<\/em> because she was an outsider like Kit.<\/p>\n She loved The Westing Game<\/em> because she loved puzzles.<\/p>\n She wasn’t given books about Asian girls just because she was an Asian girl.<\/p>\n She’s not claiming her story speaks for anyone but herself.<\/p>\n “You don’t have to look like the kid in the book to be the kid in the book.”<\/p>\n “Books are looking for kindred spirits.”<\/p>\n Her mother read them books about Vietnamese princesses – who had it rough<\/em>!<\/p>\n When they finally read the Disney Cinderella – it was a big disappointment with no gruesome death for the stepsisters.<\/p>\n From 5 years old, she was dropped off at the library with her brother. Her favorite book was Where’s Wallace?<\/em> by Hillary Knight. She looked at it for evidence of ordinary life. She envied Wallace – an orangutan who could fit in perfectly! “I’ve spent my entire career chasing Wallace in one form or another.”<\/p>\n “Amelia Bedelia is my hero.”<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n