Scholastic

Yellow might still be a painful word to many Chinese, but it’s also the colour of gold, of Chinese royalty—just as I made sure to portray it in Caster. To begin remembering is to reclaim that power for good. And that is the power of story.

It is the truth of my childhood, remembered in my new book, Girl Under a Red Moon, in a little town called Yellow Stone in southern China.

Stories hold a lot of power. Stories tend to be a form of escape for so many people; but just as often, they serve as a way for people to see their own experiences reflected by authors and writers who have gone through the same thing. People who offer comfort to readers who are confused or hurting or scared. I struggled for a long time. Because rarely were there books I could turn to. 

Stories give us a place in which to locate our shared histories; stories are an affirmation of our selves. Stories of the past give birth to the narratives of today. Stories of the present allow dreams of the future. The stories I read gave me the courage to write my own tale.

Our job, as writers, publishers, editors, librarians, and teachers, is to share with young people stories that heal, uplift, celebrate, and empower. The power of story is the power of finding one’s own voice.

Lety is a story about Lety Muñoz, an English Language Learner (ELL) and immigrant, who volunteers at an animal shelter and becomes a shelter hero.

For many young LGBTQ people, Max and Jordan from The Music of What Happens may be the best mirror of their own lives that they’ve ever read. It may be the first time they’ve seen themselves in a story, and that’s a lifeline.

In Anh Do's chapter book series, WEIRDO, the author created a character whose first name is Weir, and whose last name is Do. He’s a school kid who feels like he doesn’t always belong, but who learns to embrace his uniqueness.

When I was in the seventh grade, or eighth, or maybe it was ninth, I was presented with a brief bit on Reconstruction. The gist: Reconstruction was a terrible time in American history, terrible in part because a number of black men held political office and, boy, oh, boy, did they made a mess of things with their corruption, their ignorance.