At King Library, San Jose

Sunday, June 28

2 to 3:30 PM

Partners in Reading
San José Public Library
150 East San Fernando Street
San José, CA 95112

Phone: (408) 808-2357

I'll be doing a program planned around "Foo the Flying Frog of Washtub Pond" this Sunday at the above venue  This little book is prefect for kids to read together as the characters are written as personalities in a play.  When I present the book, I am Foo and the narrator, while kids play Sue-Lin the Salamander and Mao-Mao the Mudpuppy.  Foo was recently awarded a Gold Seal from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Book.

My main focus on Sunday will be the reading and discussing of "Hannah Is My Name," based on my own family's story of immigration.  I love introducing this vital American issue.  One child in school was suprised to learn that it wasn't just Mexican immigrants who needed green cards. This boy was himself Mexican.  I  ask children:  What if you moved from a familiar place, where you had friends, where you spoke the language fluently to a foreign country where you didn't know a soul, couldn't communicate, and wasn't used to the new foods?  What if your parents had to learn entirely new skills so they can make money to feed you?  What if it was illegal for them to work?

More often than not, kids have not traveled outside of the United States and are surprised to find that in other countries, things are done in an entirely different way.  When we moved to San Francisco, I had to change my name.  The foods I ate for breakfast in this new country--like cinnamon roles and cereals--were sweet, while in Taiwan and Japan we ate noodles, which were on the salty side.  When I was first accosted by a spiney artichoke, I had no idea how to attack the creature.  And when my father was handed a tablet of Alka Seltzer for his headache, he broke it in half and tried to swallow it.  You can guess what happened. One day were given a stick of salami as a gift.  Since it was reddish meat, it looked raw, so we boiled it.

I try to instill the thought that no one is plain old American, even if a family has been several generations in America.  We are all immigrants or have immigrant roots from far ranging places.

When I am on tour for my adult books, invariably, people come up to say with regret in their voices that they never asked about their family history.  They didn't know what song their parents danced to.  Now that their parents are gone, it's too late.

When I visit schools and libraries, I encourage children to begin asking questions so that they are never "too late."

Hannah is My Name has garnered the National Council for the Social Studies Notable Book for Young People.  I am pleased Hannah has been widely used for study in the schools.

Click here for the study guide created by this venerable institution in PDF format.

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Belle Yang Redroom Retrospective:  Words and Images

Youtube videos of Belle Yang's CINE award-winning documentary, "My Name is Belle" and Belle reading "Foo the Flying Frog of Washtub Pond.