My debut picture book, Sumo Joe, turns 6 today. I had entered the Lee and Low New Voices competition, and … I didn’t win! I did get an offer for editorial support from the Lee and Low team and seven months later, after at least four rounds of revisions that included a new backmatter section, I received an offer to publish the book.
Now, six years later, Sumo Joe is still getting checked out of my public library. And it got a third printing despite only one accolade: the Bank Street College’s The Best Children’s Books of the Year list.
Sumo Joe by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Nat Iwata
In this sweet and funny story, Sumo Joe and his friends enjoy pretending to be sumo wrestlers. But when his little sister wants to join their boy-only game, what should Sumo Joe do?
On Saturday mornings, Sumo Joe is a gentle big brother to his little sister. But on Saturday afternoons, he and his friends are sumo wrestlers! They tie on makeshift mawashi belts, practice drills like teppo, and compete in their homemade dohyo ring. They even observe sumo’s ultimate rule: no girls allowed! But when Sumo Joe’s little sister wants to join in the fun, Sumo Joe is torn between the two things he’s best at: sumo, and being a big brother.
Fists, feet, and martial art forms collide in this sweet yet spirited rhyming story by author Mia Wenjen and illustrator Nat Iwata.
Sumo Joe is included on Bank Street College’s The Best Children’s Books of the Year list. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
To celebrate, I’m giving away 6 copies of Sumo Joe.
To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter below. I can only mail to U.S. and APO addresses.
p.s. Related posts:
SUMO JOE Illustrator Nat Iwata
Fold an Easy Origami Sumo and the Tokyo Olympics
Meeting My Editor for SUMO JOE
6 Children’s Books Featuring Sumo
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My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
The Traveling Taco:
- Reading Rockets’ Summer Reading Guide 2025
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court
- ALSC Notable Children’s Book
- 2025 Carter G. Woodson Book Award Middle Level Honoree
- Orbis Pictus Recommended Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
- 2024 Julia Ward Howe Prize for Children’s Literature Winner
- California Eureka Non-Fiction Award Honor Book
- Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
- Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year 2025
- Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- ⭐ Starred review from School Library Journal!
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- dPICTUS 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Nautilus Silver Winner, Nonfiction Children’s Picture Book
- Sunshine State Young Readers Award Orange Blossom List for Nonfiction
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Bank Street College’s The Best Children’s Books of the Year
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
One of my favorites is “Every Peach is a Story” by David Mas Masumoto. I am 61 years old, and grew up in Southern California. It was my privilege to grow up around people whose heritage was those hardworking, wise Japanese-American farmers. I knew some of those elders–my friends’s grandparents and parents, and I remember them with deep love and respect.
no fav
One of my favorites is The Star Festival.