Books written by me, Mia Wenjen.
I am thrilled to announce a new picture book with Red Comet Press. Kung Fu Crane Girl will be illustrated by debut artist Yujie Huang. This is the *true* story of the girl who created karate. Just for a little background, karate originated from Crane style Kung Fu in Southern China. Kung Fu Crane…
I follow Simon Tam on LinkedIn and was so touched to read this: While waiting at the airport recently, an older Asian man approached and asked if I was “Simon from The Slants” — something that doesn’t happen much, especially since the band mostly retired seven years ago. He was a violinist, and he’d been…
To fold an origami crane, you will need a square piece of paper. It does not have to be origami paper. Here are the instructions via a diagram from the U.S. Park Service, though personally, I find the diagrams to be confusing: This is an activity for Barbed Wire Between Us. …
I used the Boston Public Library’s children’s book lists for years when my children were young. We used to read ten picture books every night because picture books worked for all three ages, and my kids expected each book to be outstanding. This meant that I had to seek out award-winning books so as not…
In Japan, the crane (tsuru) is a symbol of peace, good fortune, and longevity. It is a bird of happiness and spreads good luck. It is believed that folding 1,000 paper cranes (senbazuru) will help to bring about hope, healing, and peace. These children’s books featuring origami cranes also send a message of hope and…
In Conversation: Mia Wenjen and Jolene Gutiérrez Mar 31, 2026 Mia Wenjen and Jolene Gutiérrez both grapple with the cruelty of internment and family separation in their new picture books Barbed Wire Between Us and Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp, respectively. The two authors spoke about depicting difficult subject matter for young readers,…
This song is based on the powerful book – Barbed Wire Between Us – that follows two little girls held in the same detention camp (Fort Sill, Oklahoma) decades apart. Sadly, their story of family separation and illegal detention echoes recent news about places such as the ICE detention facility at Dilley and others, causing…