Please welcome Kat Zhang today! You might remember her from her middle grade mystery, The Emperor’s Riddle!
The Emperor’s Riddle by Kat Zhang
I really liked this clue-solving adventure set in modern-day China. It’s a “Pirate
Treasure Map Meets Ancient Chinese Hidden Treasure” epic quest that Mia Chen and her older brother must solve in order to find their missing Aunt Ling. Time is running out as her Aunt’s nemesis, Ying, is on the trail too. [chapter book, ages 8 and up]
Today, I am thrilled to reveal the cover for Kat Zhang’s debut picture book, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao. We are also doing a giveaway of both her books! We are giving away 1 signed copy of her Middle Grade book, The Emperor’s Riddle and one signed F&G of Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao! Please fill out the Rafflecopter at the bottom to enter.
————–
As a child, bao-making was one of my favorite things to do with my parents. I loved the gloopy
mess of the flour and water before it properly combined. I loved the sight of my father
kneading the dough on the kitchen counter, flour poofing into the air every time he slapped the
dough down. I loved getting my own piece to play with, which I inevitably shaped into a rough
bao-dough-man.
My parents would put him in the steamer along with the other bao if there was room, and he
would emerge swollen and misshapen—which wouldn't matter much as I gleefully ate him one limb at a time.
We made bao less and less as a family as I got older, but in the last few years, I began making
them again. It is no less fun (and delicious) than I remembered it to be. However, as a grown-
up, I was responsible for shaping my own bao, rather than simply regulated to making bao-
dough-men.
Quickly, I learned that pleating baos is not as easy as people make it look! As I persevered in my slow bao-pleating journey, a story idea began forming along with each imperfectly-formed bao. I’d always wanted to write a picture book, and this seemed like just the right story to tell: a little girl’s journey toward the World’s Most Perfect Bao.
And so, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao began! Of course, words are only one half of a picture book and the story sat incomplete until the wonderful and uber-talented Charlene Chua gave
life to Amy and her family (and her various bao!) through her illustrations.
I am so excited to share the book with the world this fall and to share, by proxy of Amy and her family, a little of the joy I experienced as a child whenever I made bao with my family. Not only that, but the wonderful team at Aladdin agreed to let me include a bao recipe in the book so that hopefully other children will get to experience bao-making for themselves!
Fall is still months away, but today I am thrilled to reveal the cover for Amy Wu and the
Perfect Bao! It is the perfect cover for this book, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
To celebrate, I am going to give away 1 signed copy of my Middle Grade book, The Emperor’s
Riddle and one signed F&G of Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao!
And now … for the cover of Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao!
Kat Zhang Middle Grade and Picture Book GIVEAWAY!
We are giving away 1 signed copy of her Middle Grade book, The Emperor’s Riddle and one signed F&G of Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao! Please fill out the Rafflecopter at the bottom to enter. We can only mail to U.S. addresses.
Kat Zhang spent most of her childhood tramping through a world woven from her favorite stories and games. When she and her best friend weren’t riding magic horses or talking to trees, they were writing adaptations of plays for their stuffed animals (what would The Wizard of Oz have been like if the Cowardly Lion were replaced by a Loquacious Lamb?). This may or may not explain many of Kat’s quirks today.
By the age of twelve, Kat had started her first novel and begun plans for her life as a Real Live Author (she was rather more confident at twelve than she is even now). Said plans didn’t come into fruition until seven years later, when her agent sold her Young Adult trilogy, The Hybrid Chronicles, to HarperCollins. The series, about a parallel universe where everyone is born with two souls, concluded in 2014.
To learn more about Kat Zhang, please visit her website and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
To examine any book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Multicultural Books for Kids on Pinterest.
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Children’s Book Activities on Pinterest.
My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- 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 longlist
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Looks great can’t wait to read.
Thanks so much Chris! Me too!!
“What are your favorite #OwnVoices diversity poetry books?” I don’t know much about this subject, but I see at Amazon there’s the book “Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship” by Irene Latham , Charles Waters.
Great suggestions John! Thanks for entering!
Love the Amy Wu cover! It looks like a fun read. Congrats to you, Kat!
I’m not sure your question about diverse voices in poetry is the one you wanted for this book? Maybe it is–it’s still a good question and I’m still gathering my thoughts about a favorite! I’m excited to read this book because I have eight nieces and nephews who are enrolled in Chinese immersion grade schools in Utah and they are so excited about learning about Chinese culture from their teachers, each of whom were born in China and are giving the kids a day-to-day gift of multiculturalism, which can be sadly missing in some places.
Hi Beth,
I think you are right! Let me change that question! Thanks!
I have really fond memories of making bao and dumplings with my family, too. I can’t wait to read this book! Congrats on a gorgeous cover, too!
Hi Andrea,
I love the cover too! I think I need a bao-making lesson from you! Our family ones were never as good as a dim sum restaurant. The bread part always came out weird.
Mmmmmmmm Baozi!!!! I can’t wait to read these books, I love to find books that center Chinese culture and language! I think the first Cilla Lee Jenkins book might be my current favorite in that category so far. Looking forward to the new one coming out soon! But I also haven’t read any of Kat Zhang’s books. I’ll need to remedy that!
Hi Becky,
Her middle grade mystery is terrific! I hope you get a chance to read it!! I am a huge fan of Cilla Lee Jenkins too! Hilarious and subversive in highlighting racist microaggressions which is my cup of tea!
Boy, you don’t make entering the contest easy, but I must try! The bao demands it!
Hi Stan,
I hope the Rafflecopter wasn’t too hard to use! Thanks for entering! Power to the bao!
This looks really fun. I can’t wait to read it!
I’m so glad that you like it too Olivia! Thanks for entering!
How exciting! I have little nieces and nephews I can pass the picture book to when I’ve read it, and The Emperor’s Riddle is on my to-read list already! Thanks for running this fun giveaway!
Thanks for entering Sarah!
This book looks great! My daughter also loves the Cilla-Lee Jenkins series.
My 10 year old daughter loves to read (fantasy and mysteries are her favorites). I think she’d enjoy The Emperor’s Riddle very much (me too). Last book we read that takes place in China is Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin. We hosted a fun book club around it. We hope to do the same with either of these books in the giveaway.
My favorite book about Chinese culture is ‘The House Baba Built’
A wonderful needed book….for families that need to learn about Chinese culture in any way shape or form. Some of my children are from China. We love celebrations!