Email: PragmaticMomBlog (at) gmail (dot) com.
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I am half Japanese American (3rd generation), half Chinese American (2nd generation), and married to a Korean American (1st generation). I have three kids, a husband, and a Golden Retriever. We are located in Boston, Massachusetts.
I am co-creator of Multicultural Children’s Book Day. It’s January 25, 2019. This is our 6th year.
I am co-organizing KidLitCon 2019 in Providence, Rhode Island. This is our 11th year.
I am judging first round of Cybils Awards Picture Books and Board Books.
I co-authored HOW TO COACH GIRLS with Alison Foley.
My debut picture book, SUMO JOE, is out May 2019 through Lee and Low. Nat Iwata is the illustrator.
I started a company more than thirty years ago out of a dorm room with two friends. Now, Aquent has 27 domestic and 10 international offices supplying creative, digital, and marketing talent globally.
I have an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management.
My books:
BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 is a book that I created to highlight books written by authors who share the same marginalized identity as the characters in their books.
You have really put a lot of time in your blog and it is really a good one. Thanks for sending me a link. jrwhiterabbit absolutely moms is where you posted the notice. Thanks again.
Thank you so much!
Hello! I just read with interest your 2013 blog post about the ten best books set in Appalachia. I would like to add to your list DAHLIA IN BLOOM, a middle grade historical fiction novel aimed at readers ages 7-12. Set in 1933 in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this book chronicles the story of Dahlia, a young girl whose family leaves their isolated ancestral home to become tenant farmers during the Great Depression. DAHLIA IN BLOOM received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and was a featured indie in the June 1 issue of Kirkus Magazine. It is available in both print and digital format from Amazon, as well as from Ingram Distribution and select independent book stores.
Hello,
Are you available to Skype on WRAD, Wed., Feb. 5 at 9:15 CST? I have first grade. My skype is dthomaslms. We are located in Overland Park, KS. My phone is 9136200894. Thank you for your consideration.
Hi, Great site!! I am trying to access Home Team as you recommend. Cannot find it. I live in Jamaica and want to engage remotely with my grandson in Canada.Would appreciate your thoughts.
I’m not sure what Home Team is.
Hello,
I found this site when searching for “japanese immigration children’s books” online. After reading through the list you put together on one of your posts, I too am a tired of a majority of books about the Japanese American experience either being about Pre-WWII or the internment. I am a recent ex-pat returned to America after 7 years in Japan and am writing here to gauge your time and if I can write a longer email to you in request for advice on my grad project I am working on in collaboration with my 8-year old daughter(born in Japan and immigrated with me on my return) that is centered around her immigrant experience and separation from her ma who was stuck in Japan for year plus. Please email me back at your convenience. Cheers.
Hi Jeffrey,
Sure! Happy to help out! Here is a few book suggestions:
Dear Juno (Korean American but about being separated from family in Japan, in this case, grandmother)
Japanese American books: https://www.pragmaticmom.com/2011/05/top-10-japanese-american-childrens-books-ages-2-16/
Being separated is a theme for some of adoption books of Asian babies: https://www.pragmaticmom.com/2015/11/adoption-books-for-kids/
Hope this helps! Feel free to email me if this is not what you need.
Hi Jeffrey,
Also, Japanese bilingual books for kids: https://www.pragmaticmom.com/2011/09/bilingual-japanese-book-recommendation-request-soldier-sons-kids/
in case you want your daughter to maintain her fluent Japanese.
Hi Jeffrey,
One more … Books for Young Activists
No Steps Behind: Beate Sirota Gordon’s Battle for Women’s Rights in Japan by Jeff Gottesfeld, illustrated by Shiella Witanto
About an Expat girl who moved to Japan and ended up helping to write Women’s Rights into the new Japanese Constitution.