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Dear 16-Year-Old Me

on December 12, 2011

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Author Interview: Kim Wayans and Kevin Knotts

Today's interview is a real kick for me. I grew up watching the comedy TV show In Living Color , starring the Wayans family. That show was HILARIOUS. And I am still a really big fan of the Wayans family. I don't think any other performers make me laugh as hard! When I found out through Twitter that Kim Wayans and her husband Kevin Knotts had written a children's book series called Amy Hodgepodge , about the life of a fourth grader, I was immediately intrigued. When I found out that the main character of the series, Amy Hodges, was Japanese, Korean, African American, and Caucasian, I nearly fell off my chair. How exciting! I've asked Kim and Kevin some questions about Amy Hodgepodge and they were very kind to answer. Below is our interview via email. I hope you all get a kick out of it too! When did you decide to write the Amy Hodgepodge books? Where did you get the idea for the books? And is there a particular reason you made the main character, Amy Hodges, Japanese...

Author/Illustrator Interview: Peter Brown

Woohoo! I am excited about our guest today, Peter Brown, the author and illustrator of The Curious Garden (Little, Brown Young Readers, April 2009). Check out that picture of Peter up a tree. Isn't it amazing? I love that picture. The Curious Garden is the inspiring story of a curious boy named Liam who discovers a few scraggly plants on an abandoned railway. Liam lives in a city devoid of nature and color, so he decides to nurture the plants. Soon the plants grow into a very pretty garden. The garden is curious like Liam, so it decides to spread and explore the rest of the railway. The garden's curiosity doesn't stop there. With the help of Liam and more "gardeners," the garden spreads throughout and explores the rest of the city, turning the city into a truly wondrous place. The plants end up covering almost everything! I love how The Curious Garden celebrates beauty in nature and how it encourages both big and small readers to try to make a difference - to t...

"I Hate My Mother!": Magnetic levitation, a grain of rice & 3 women

A Filipino YA novel in English "I Hate My Mother!": Magnetic levitation, a grain of rice & 3 women (Cacho Publishing House, 2007) introduces readers to finding a mother's wisdom in a grain of rice, the parallel between human relationships and magnets, and Bell, her mother, and her sister Cory. This book made me happy. Not because it's a bright and cheery novel - in fact it has its funny moments but is mostly a serious novel. But because good books make me happy, and this is definitely a solidly good book. I have heard once that children love their parents and then love them again as adults. "I Hate My Mother!" is about that time in between, when teenagers "hate" their parents. Written in that unique way Filipino teenagers use English, and generously peppered with Filipino words and phrases, "I Hate My Mother!" traces the transformation of Bell's awe of her mother's wisdom as a little girl to her bewilderment, annoyance, and...

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