Grace Lin Book Club for Kids
Do you remember that Manic Sunday I had in order to get five 5th grade girls including PickyKidPix to a book club for kids event? Well, it was well worth it! Grace Lin was so much fun to meet!
We arrived a half-hour early to this amazing spread!
Beautiful centerpieces celebrating Asian culture at Grace Lin book club for kids sponsored by The Foundation for Children’s Books (FCB) in Newton, MA. They brings authors like Grace Lin to present at underserved schools in Boston.
Grace Lin with baby and husband talk to kids about what inspires her and how she writes and illustrates her wonderful multi-cultural books for kids. East of the Sun and West of the Moon was the book that most influenced her for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Starry River of the Sky.
This book, and others like it, including Chinese Folk Tales and Mythology books like The Frog Rider fascinated her with their beautiful full-color illustrations.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM2DmN6f5Wo?feature=player_detailpage]
Newbery Honor Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is going to be a Trilogy of Companion books that cover the earth, fire, water, and air. Can’t wait for the next one!
Grace Lin’s semi-autobiographical Pacy series is also a favorite of mine and other kids who came to the book club! One little girl asked her which series she liked better and what were her favorite books.
Grace loves …
Alvin Ho series by Lenore Look
Clementine series by Sara Pennypacker
Betsy Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White (and other old-fashioned books).
Her favorite book of all time as a child? Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery! She even went to Nova Scotia to visit the house.
Her favorite book to write? She says Starry River of the Sky because it’s the first boy character she’s ever written and she was able to create color illustrations in a chapter book format.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nxigOmhE3M?feature=player_detailpage]
Grace Lin Teaches Us How to Draw a Power Tiger
Grace taught us how to draw a “power” tiger. The secret to power is using the Chinese character for Wang which means power and also to use an auspicious number. 6, 8 and 9 are lucky numbers because the way you pronounce it in Chinese also sounds like other lucky words. 4 is not a lucky number. It sounds like the word for death.
Did you notice how the kids drew the tiger with the lucky symbols? Can you guess how they used the lucky numbers?
How to craw the tiger? Start with the big U for the tiger’s lower face. Add 2 C’s for ears. Connect the C’s with a line. Draw a triangle nose. Color it in. Draw the loops below and above. Add the dots for eyes. Draw the Wang symbol and make as many whiskers as you please. Remember the numbers for good luck though!
I hope you enjoyed the Grace Lin book club for kids as much as we did. If she comes to your area, I highly recommend seeing her!
p.s. Jump Into a Book has a wonderful post on Grace Lin with more activities if you are planning a book club on Starry River of the Sky or a Chinese New Year party for kids. Included in her post are: video of Grace Lin talking about her book, an interactive read-aloud with a game, recipe for Moon Cakes, and a translation for the names of the characters in the book.
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Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
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Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
I had the opportunity to attend KidLitCon this past fall. Hearing Grace Lin speak was the highlight of the conference for me! She seemed so nice, and her talk was personal and thoughtful. I see she likes a lot of the same chapter books that I do too! -Amy
Hi Amy,
Isn’t a bonding experience when you find an adult that likes the same books you read as a child?! I know I’ll like that person with such excellent taste in books!:) Grace Lin lives near me so I was always hearing about how a friend at another school got to meet her and how lovely she is. Frankly, I was starting to get a little jealous since I’m such a huge fan of her work! So, I was THRILLED to have the opportunity to meet her and bring my 5th grade girls’ book club to the event. It was crazy trying to get the girls there — they are all so busy — but well worth it! I blogged on our logistics to get them there at Just Another Manic Sunday: http://www.pragmaticmom.com/2012/12/manic-monday/ . Thank goodness one of the moms is very good a logistics because I am not!
How fun to get a chance to meet a favorite author.
Hi Asianmommy,
It was such a thrill to meet Grace Lin. I felt like everyone I knew met her someway or another except me. She lives 20 minutes from me and does a lot of author visits and charity events but I never seemed to make anything. I hope to catch her more now that I am trolling the lists of author visits at our local bookstores.
I love power tiger! And now I shall renounce the number 4 forevermore. How cool this must have been to hear her speak- I’d love the chance to see her.
Hi Jeanette,
The number 4 doesn’t seem so bad, right? I forget that it’s a symbol of bad luck for Asians (even though I’m Asian) because 4 is such a nice, round number. Ah, superstitions are so etched in strange things. Yes, please remind me to renounce 4 forevermore too! We can start the Forswear 4 Forever Club!
Oh, I love those tigers. So cute and easy to do. I really admire people who both write and illustrate; I draw and paint sometimes as a hobby, but it doesn’t come as naturally to me as words do.
Hi Elle,
I’d love to see your illustrations. Sounds like a picture book might be in the works for you someday soon! It was fun to learn to draw a tiger with Grace Lin. She makes it seem so easy!
Hi there, this is such a lovely post. The video clip looks great and it’s interesting to note Grace Lin’s favorite books. Wonderful! It must have been quite an experience hearing her speak – the earth, fire, water, air series also sound very promising. Looking forward to it. In the meantime, I have to get myself a copy of Starry River of the Sky. 🙂
Hi Myra,
Thanks so much! It was so much fun to meet Grace Lin. She’s so lovely and warm! Let me know what you think of Starry River of the Sky. I hope you like it as much as I did!
She sounds amazing, and her books are fantastic. How awesome to meet her!
Hi MaryAnne,
She lives in Somerville so she does a fair amount of author events in the Boston area. She is so nice but I suspect that you’ll have a chance to meet her as well when your kids are reading her books. She does school visits too!
Seems like a great meeting for the girl with the author/illustrator Grace Lin. And drawing the tiger is really cool.
Thanks Giora,
Yes, the girls loved meeting author Grace Lin. It was a fun book club for kids outing and they were all big fans of her work so that made it even more special! Plus, Grace Lin is so nice! The kids also liked meeting her baby!
Great post! I would have loved to be there!!!
Hi Ann,
I’ll let you know if she’s at an event in the Boston area. She does quite a few though it’s a drive from the Cape.
Looks like an amazing experience which really brought the books to life. I’m off to order on amazon now!
Thanks for linking to the Sunday Showcase
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for hosting Sunday Showcase!! I hope you enjoy Grace Lin’s book as much as we did!
Two years ago, I met Grace Lin at a literacy festival. How awesome that your club got to meet and do a craft with her.
I didn’t know her second fantasy book was out. That’s going on my wish list!
Hi Allison,
Grace said there will be 3 companion books in total for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. She’s starting to work on the 3rd one now, but she didn’t give many clues. Each book covers one of the elements though.