The first time I met my agent in person, she asked me what my biggest goals were as a creator of books for young readers. Without missing a beat I said, “to connect with kiddos who get and love my stories.” There’s a reason why I think this was at the top of my list. 

As a child, I was saved by enchanting worlds and empowering stories. My soul yearned for the magic I found in alternate realities (especially those crafted by Hayao Miyazaki, Fujiko F. Fujio, and Kenji Miyazawa). As a grownup, I now create fanciful worlds of my own where I belong and feel embraced. I want to evoke the wonder of this magic for myself and for other dreamers, and meet these kindred spirits so we can revel in it together.

Sooner than I thought possible, this hope has come true in so many different ways.

Since getting Between Words out in the world, I’ve had the chance to connect with readers of every age who resonated with this book, and who have inspired me in turn. Here are just a few of these moments:

Connecting through play

I’m grateful to the classrooms at a local preschool who hosted my first author visits. We had so much fun collaging beautiful stone piles and sharing them with each other!

I want to give a big shoutout to the Butterflies who came up with the GENIUS idea of “stacking” everybody’s pieces into one long stone “pile” that we could leap frog over! I would never have come up with this myself. I continue to be in awe of how kids are masters of uninhibited and instantaneous play. I can only hope to continue relearning this skill at their feet.

Connecting through magical worlds

My friend Aimee is an amazing art teacher at a local elementary school. I was already thrilled to hear she’d shared my artists’ statement about how I love to “create portals into worlds where we find belonging” with her third-graders, but then I LOST MY MIND when she shared some of the worlds her class created based on this prompt!!! 

I was so delighted when Aimee invited me to visit the school to see these works of art in person. I LOVED getting to see so many magical portal worlds where these young artists’ characters found belonging. There were playground portals, world-saving robots, cloud realms, portal nebulae, scuba cats, fierce dragons and so. Much. More. A few of the kids even worked together to make worlds that LITERALLY CONNECT.

Aimee also kindly asked if I might read Between Words to the class. I’m forever grateful for how engaged and enthusiastic these kiddos were! I loved their ponderings, everything they noticed in the illustrations, and their answers to the questions I had for them.

One of the best moments happened when I asked the class what they thought “belonging” meant and one kiddo answered:

“Belonging means; when you’re not there, that world isn’t right.”

🎤 Mic drop. 

That concept — that the world is right because every single one of us is here — is one that I’ve only recently started to open up to and resonate with. If these young humans who already know and embody such profound and complicated truths are growing up to become the future stewards of our world, maybe there’s hope after all? 

Connecting through common passions

I recently got to share my origin story and picture book-making journey with some incredible elementary school students (2nd-5th grade) right in my neighborhood. From the first moment to the last, this author visit felt like a beautiful culmination of my life experiences. My childhood struggles transformed into a gift, opening a portal for connections that reminded us all we’re not alone.

One of my favorite moments was getting to meet a boy whose face lit up when he heard that I had a Mexican mom and a Japanese dad. I was explaining how I felt like an outsider in Mexico even when I spoke fluent Spanish because I didn’t look the part, and struggled even more in Japan because I appeared to be Japanese but couldn’t speak the language. 

The boy’s hand shot up because he needed to let me know that he had one parent who was Mexican and another who was Korean. Needless to say, I told him how EXCITED I was that we got to share this kinship! The teacher later mentioned that he was a new student still trying to find his way, and how special it must have been for him to connect with me. I hope that by seeing a reflection of his experience in mine, he feels inspired to share his own story someday.

And speaking of connections, I was delighted to find out that so many kids are not only familiar with, but also love what are apparently timeless classics like Totoro, Dragon Ball, and Zelda. (My earliest sources of inspiration!) 

This opened up the floodgates to swapping recos for favorite chapter books, graphic novels and movies. It also prompted questions about when, why, and how I started writing my own stories. I was blown away by these young minds who already understood and appreciated the importance of imaginary worlds that provide comfort, hope, and alternative realities that we can actually bring into this world. This truly made my heart soar. 

I also loved getting to mention this relevant takeaway: that you make some of your most glorious friendships by sharing your interests and passions—like Kai making his first friend by sharing his love of stacking stones.

The last thing I talked about was the idea that storytelling is a powerful magic: I likened it to taking something you yearn for and giving it form in the world—whether as a book, a song, a dance, or even (as one clever kiddo suggested) as code!—and how this act becomes the first step for turning your dream into reality.

I noted how this is a funny, meta reflection of what’s been happening since I decided to make Between Words. This book that was born out of my childhood yearning for connection and my wish to feel like I belonged, has helped me find so many kindred spirits and my place in the world.

Case in point, one of these good eggs I’ve been lucky enough to meet is Jolene—the wonderful writer and librarian who invited me to visit the school. In a recent catchup, she handed me beautiful thank you cards and notes from these kiddos! (I’ve never felt this “cool” in my entire life. 🥹)

It’s true what they say about giving what you’re hoping to get. The enchantment, empowerment, and feeling of being embraced that I so yearned for and now hope to create for others, is already returning back to me in tidal waves of magic I couldn’t have imagined.

I’ll end this by echoing a sentiment I shared on the last slide of my author visit presentation:

I hope you tell YOUR story, and I’ll get to read it one day.