Author hopes to further Asian representation in children’s literature

The writer of a brand new youngsters’s e-book is hoping it should assist improve Asian illustration in Canada’s literary panorama and encourage youngsters to embrace the issues that make them completely different.

A former educator, first-time writer Melody Kiang says the e-book, titled I’m Different, I’m Great, relies on her private childhood experiences.

“I actually was born and raised here in Toronto but I moved to Singapore for a few years because my parents were working there,” she explains.

“I picked up a Singaporean accent and I didn’t think anything of it, but when I came back to Toronto, I had a very thick accent and my teachers couldn’t really understand me, my friends couldn’t understand me.”

She says she felt misplaced and insecure as a result of she didn’t sound like everybody else and likewise started to really feel remoted.

“Quite a lot of my pals really ran away from me after I was youthful as a result of they had been, I believe, embarrassed to play with me as a result of they couldn’t perceive me,” she says.

The e-book’s important character Mei Mei offers with related experiences. Kiang says whereas she was despatched to English as a Second Language courses and speech remedy as a baby, Mei Mei appears to be like inwards.

“Her mom really encourages her to look within herself to see — what are the good qualities about yourself? What are you happy about? What are you proud about?” explains Kiang.

“So she really goes through the motions and thinks it through and says to herself, ‘oh, I’m really good at taking care of my friends,’ or ‘I’m really good at taking care of my brother,’ — and when she finds those type of qualities, she’s actually discovering that she’s more than just her accent.”

Kiang feels the e-book will probably be relatable to first- and second-generation immigrants, with a core message that your accent or something you’re feeling insecure about will not be tied to your true value as an individual.

“I myself am actually a second generation Asian immigrant. So this book was actually written for all the families out there that struggled with what I struggled with,” she says. “I know a lot of children, as they grow up, they have a lot of insecurities about themselves. You can feel insecure, but don’t let the insecurity define you.”

She additionally hopes a wider viewers will see the e-book as an accessible approach to strategy subjects of inclusion and acceptance with youngsters and goals to convey extra range to youngsters’s literature.

“This book is a lot about inclusion and diversity. As a teacher, as an educator I didn’t actually see a lot of books about Asian families [in bookstores]. So I actually wanted to diversify children’s books,” she says.

To complement the e-book, Kiang created free exercise sheets on-line for folks to print and full with their youngsters as they learn it.

After the optimistic suggestions about I’m Different, I’m Great, Kiang is now engaged on her second e-book.

“It’s called Grandma’s Dumplings, and that story revolves around the same character Mei Mei, but she’s actually making dumplings with her grandmother and understanding her culture — understanding the foods that she eats and why it’s so important to the culture,” she says.

Click right here for a glance inside I’m Different, I’m Great.

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