Episode #140: Chop Suey! Year of the Tiger
Happy Lunar New Year! Grace and Alvina celebrate the Lunar New Year by sharing the story of the 12 animals of the zodiac, talking about the significance of the Year of the Tiger and looking back on the last year of the tiger (2010), and getting some book recs from Alison Morris!
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“How have you been?”
Grace has been busy with trying to find time for work and is hoping for a full week of school one of these days! Luckily she has a bunch of school visits again. Alvina was happy to safely host some family members that came to town. Work has been busy with wrapping up on 2021 and awards season. Her Mock Caldecott award goes to Unspeakable by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper.
The Book Friends have decided to devote this entire episode to the Lunar New Year!
How are they celebrating? Grace is making dumplings and red bean paste. She also has a new paper tiger craft. You can find that and all kinds of fun Lunar New Year activities in her newsletter. Sign up HERE! She also had a special storytelling Lunar New Year episode on her other podcast Kids Ask Authors! Grace reads from “Legend of the Fortune Gods”.
Alvina is going to make dumplings and may use her new air fryer! They’re going ice skating on Lunar New Year’s Eve.
12 Animals of the Chinese New Year
Grace reads the story of the Chinese New Year animals but if you would like to learn more you can find this in her book Year of the Rat! Here’s a video of Grace reading her book:
Year of the Tiger
Grace and Alvina discuss what the Year of the Tiger means. If it is your year, it doesn’t mean that you’re lucky, it just means that it’s a very important year! The events and decisions of this year will set you up for the next twelve years.
The book friends talk about what happened for them in 2010, the last Year of the Tiger. Grace got married! Alvina moved to Brooklyn and moved in with Greg. Listen to find out what other events shaped the next twelve years of their lives!
“Do you think we will be recording this podcast in twelve years?”
Book Recommendations from Alison Morris:
Alison Morris is a nationally recognized children's book buyer with an infectious enthusiasm for reading and 20 years' experience matching books to readers. As the Senior Director of Title Selection for nonprofit First Book, she oversees the curation of children’s and young adult books on the First Book Marketplace, hand-selecting a diverse range of titles that speak to and address the needs of kids in underserved communities, with a keen eye to inclusion, authenticity, and kid-appeal. She previously served as Senior Editor at Scholastic Book Clubs, Children's Book Buyer for Wellesley Booksmith and The Dartmouth Bookstore, and was the founding blogger of the ShelfTalker children’s book blog for Publishers Weekly. She'll be joining us from her home near Washington, DC where she spends LOTS of time discussing books with her husband, illustrator and graphic novelist Gareth Hinds.
Special Tribute:
The Book Friends were going to have a tribute episode to memorialize all the authors and illustrators we lost in 2021, but instead they decided they will play the recorded tributes at the end of these episodes until Lunar New Year (or whenever they run out of tributes.) The Book Friends would love to hear your memories of these authors and how they touched your life in some way or another. On the bookfriendsforever.com menu, click “Record your author/Illustrator Tribute” and record your memories through Speakpipe. Some of the authors and illustrators we lost: Jerry Pinkney, Tomie DePaola, Beverley Cleary, Lois Ehlert, Eric Carle, Patricia Reilly Giff, Floyd Cooper, and Gary Paulsen. We encourage you to leave a memory and we’ll share it on a special upcoming episode! Thank you!
On this episode, you’ll hear a tribute to Floyd Cooper by Kathy Price.
Gratefuls:
Alvina is grateful for being able to host their family safely in their condo. It felt like pre-pandemic or post-pandemic times. They’ve worked really hard at making their condo feel like home. Grace is grateful that Hazel is reading her books and is interested in them! Alison is grateful for so much good content right now to listen to, read, and watch. She highly recommends El Deafo on Apple TV!
Thank You!
*If you’re a patron, don’t forget to check out this week’s Random Questions feed! Authors Kim Ventrella and Grace Lin answer the random question: “You are now banned from the local library. What would be the reason for it?” Click here to listen! If you’re not a patron already, join today!
Thank you for tuning in! Thank you to Hachette Audio, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, and Alex at Pacyworks Studio for producing and editing this podcast. Be sure to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and tell a friend about us. (Use the hashtag #bookfriendsforever.)
You can find Alvina @Planetalvina on Twitter and TikTok and @Alvinaling on Instagram
You can find Grace @Pacylin on Twitter and Instagram and @gracelinauthor on TikTok and @authorgracelin on Facebook
Alison Morris is @AlisonLMorris on Twitter and @kidlitgirl on Instagram
Order the 2022 WTMMTM CALENDAR: https://shop.carlemuseum.org/category/books/autographed-books/grace-lin
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