Hello!  Happy Autumn! 

This is a chock-full news newsletter! So much to share--my 2022 Calendar is available to purchase,  you can now register for my free Q&A webinar in October, applications for the Kids Ask Authors Book Review Club are open and a peek at my new "zoom room" that I'm eager to visit your school from!

And, of course, as this is the Autumn newsletter, I offer many ways to celebrate the Moon Festival! Unfortunately, one thing I'm not sharing is our directions on making bunny buns as we are still perfecting our recipe...but maybe next newsletter! In the meantime, please enjoy making a bunny-scope and reading my favorite moon book!
2022 WTMMTM Trilogy Calendar! 
The 2022 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Calendars are here! They are limited edition, autographed by yours truly...AND as a newsletter subscriber you can get 10% off! 

The calendars are being sold exclusively at the  the Carle Museum shop, where you can also get autographed copies of my books! Use LIN2022 for 10% off the calendar and any of my books! 

Last year we ran out before December, so best to get them as soon as possible! Might as well get your holiday shopping done early, right? 

Get Ready for the Moon Festival! 
Psst! The Moon Festival is September 21st! 

The Moon Festival is one of the most popular holidays in Asia. Much like Thanksgiving, families gather together and give thanks. But they do it while honoring the moon (it is the night when the moon is supposed to be the biggest and brightest in the sky). So, they share stories about the moon and eat mooncakes!

So, that means now is the time to order your mooncakes and your moon books!

Since the Moon Festival is my favorite holiday, I have lots of moon books you could use! Thanking the Moon is a picture book that shares the customs of the holiday and  my novels  Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Starry River of the Sky integrate many of the Chinese moon myths in the story. But my favorite book to share during the Moon Festival is  A Big Mooncake for Little Star as it features my own daughter as Little Star:


 
A Big Mooncake for Little Star is dear to my heart for other reasons too, which you can learn about in this video:

 
Moon Festival Crafts & Activities! 
After you've read your moon books, celebrate the Moon Festival with some bunny crafts!

Why is the bunny so prominent in the Moon Festival? Well, because in Chinese culture, they say they see a bunny--not a man's face--on the moon.  Do you see it?


It's a little difficult, so I made this brand-new craft to help:

A Moon Festival themed telescope!  Make this easy, fun craft with THESE DIRECTIONS and you'll always see the bunny on the moon.

She's looking at the bunny on the moon with her Bunny-scope!
What you see when  you look through your Bunny-scope!
You can also do these fun bunny activities, too!

You can also make your own bunny mooncakes! Here's the video we made last year:


Hope you have a wonderful Moon Festival!
Sign up for a FREE Q&A Webinar 
Every season, I offer one free 20 min Q& A session for classes and book clubs who have read my books!  Registration is now open for the fall session!


GUIDELINES: 
  • All participating students must have read at least one of Grace's books
  • The questions should be prepared and sent ahead of time 
  • Please do not record Grace's Zoom sessions 
  • For personally signed books, we suggest purchasing at Grace's local bookstore High Five Books and she can sign the books before they are shipped out.
When: Oct 13, 2021 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 
Topic: Q&A with Grace Lin! 


After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Apply for the Kid Book Review Club! 



a member of this past year's Kid Book Review Club and some of the books she received!

The Kids Ask Authors podcast will be re-launching the week of September 6th with NEW episodes! Stay tuned for our 100th episode that is quickly approaching!  Also...


We are opening up applications for a new Kid Book Reviewer Club!
 
October 31st is the deadline for applications. Do you know a kid who would be a great reviewer? Have them follow the instructions here and apply now! 

What kids get:

We will send kids advance copies of books-books that are not in the stores yet- and new books by great authors, all for FREE! 

What kids do: 

Every month the reviewer will read one (or more) of those books and prepare a review (we give you a little form to help you, it's super short). Then, come to the Book Reviewer Club meeting and record your review with ME!

Sounds awesome, right? APPLY HERE! 

Grace Happenings 

In reaction to the Anti-Asian Hate and in honor of Asian American Pacific Heritage Month, I curated the virtual online picture book exhibit Asians, Everyday.

This exhibit  features the art from picture books that depict Asian Americans living their everyday lives as part of our ordinary world.  You can read more about the genesis of this exhibit in this article, "Part of the fabric of us: Virtual exhibit at Eric Carle Museum responds to anti-Asian attitudes."



Thank you, Children's Literature Association!

Okay, this might be my favorite award ever! "Dim Sum For Everyone!" was my 2nd book, published long ago with a couple lovely starred reviews but little fanfare. However, it slowly kept going, finding readers one at a time, book by book...and now, 20 years later, has been awarded the Phoenix Award! 

The Phoenix Award, given by the Children's Literature Association, is given to a book for children first published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award at the time of its publication but which, from the perspective of time, is deemed worthy of special attention."
 


I was so honored when ALSC invited me to do a design to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Newbery! You can shop for some products HERE with my design logo on it! 

My design is an homage to the Newbery books that I've read and loved (but not all! I could not fit everything! And some I could not think of an good symbolic item). Each object in the image symbolizes a Newbery book-can you guess which one? 

Listen to the latest episode of the Book Friends Forever podcast to hear more details about Alvina's wedding celebrations this summer and our chat with Donna Freitas on the complex topic of restorative justice! 

Alvina and I created a Patreon page  for our podcast and we would love to have your listener support. You can join for only $1.00 per episode! Thank you!


On Thursday, August 12th, I had the pleasure of being a guest panelist on an episode of Little Free Library Unbound!  Along with Claire Fuller, and Karina Yan Glaser, we discussed the unique experience of being both an author and a Little Free Library steward!

I had some technical difficulties (my internet connection went array!) but you can watch the episode here .
Little Free Library Unbound - Chapter 8: Authors and their LFLs

I'm proud to say that I finally finished the art of my new picture book! "Once Upon A Book" is a story co-written with Kate Messner about a girl that goes into a book! I love the illustrations I did for this book (you might recognize the main character), but the art took me so long that I missed my deadline! So "Once Upon A Book" will not be in stores in Jan (or Feb) or 2023! But it will be worth waiting for, promise!




The book I am working on now  is a biography about Maya Lin for the "She Persisted" Children's Chapter Book Series.This book will be coming out in November 2022! 

  

On the homefront! 

I'm happy to say that our chickens are doing well. Our new poulets-- Mendena Henna, Chickie Lulu and Havoc are starting to lay eggs. We think Havoc is the one laying the Green ones!



I'm so excited to present in my brand new "zoom room!"
After a year of virtual visits and zoom meeting using an ironing board, I decided I needed an upgrade. So we transformed a small storage area in my house into a  "zoom room"!   This is  a designated place for podcast recording and virtual school visits! The walls are covered sound dampening felt since it is right near the house boiler. I can't wait to start doing school visits there...hope to see you soon in my  new zoom room! 

the new zoom room
the old ironing board


School Visits

Speaking of visits, I would love to virtually visit your school!











Virtual school visits have been truly wonderful! I reconfigured all my presentations for zoom so that they have as much (and maybe even more!) engagement, excitement and education as my in-person visits. Plus, I have been able to visit so many more schools--sometimes multiple states and countries all in a day.   It's been great fun and I would love to visit your school!

Please schedule your virtual visit for the fall (and beyond)! More info HERE.


And that's it until my holiday newsletter! The full moon represents peace, togetherness and harmony so I hope your autumn is full of those things, too!

Best,

Grace 


Like us on Facebook  Follow us on Twitter