Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Meet the Author - Grace Lin and Lily Toy Hong

Grace Lin

Grace Lin grew up in Upstate New York with her parents and two sisters.  While the other sisters became scientists, Grace became an artist.  Surprisingly enough, being an artist was not Grace's first choice.  She first dreamed of being a champion ice skater, and drew many pictures of herself twirling and dancing on the ice.  Unfortunately, Grace had neither the talent nor coordination to make it to skating stardom.  However, the pictures she drew of herself held much promise and quickly became Grace's career focus.  

Grace's first book, THE UGLY VEGETABLES, was published in 1999 and was quickly heralded.  It was a best seller.  She followed that success with over a dozen more books including DIM SUM FOR EVERYONE! and LISSY'S FRIENDS.  Her first children's novel is THE YEAR OF THE DOG published in 2006.  She followed that with THE YEAR OF THE RAT.  Her newest novel, WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON was awarded the 2010 Newbery Honor and is the Beehive Award winner for 2011. 

Here are some of her book titles:

The Year of the Dog  Where the Mountain Meets the Moon  Ugly Vegetables  Fortune Cookie Fortunes  Lissy's Friends


Lily Toy Hong

We are excited to spotlight Lily Toy Hong this month for Meet the Arthur.  Lily is Ms. Pendley's sister.  Lily  has lived most of her life in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She grew up in a large Chinese-American family,  the seventh of nine children.  Lily lives in Sandy Utah with her husband and two sons.  She studied art at Utah Technical College and Utah Steate University.  She worked for a greeting-card company before becoming a freelance designer and illustrator.

Lily uses her creative talent every day.  She paints, crochets, and knits.  She is always working on a creative project.  Beside working on her art, Lily enjoys learning more about Chinese culture, gardening, and dating rice every day.

Lily's books include:

Two of Everything               The Empress and the Silkworm                 How the Ox Star Fell from Heaven

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