Bianca with Eva Chen and Sophie Diao on I Am Golden

In this episode, I talk with New York Times bestselling author
Eva Chen and illustrator Sophie Diao about their picture book I
Am Golden, a moving ode to the immigrant experience, as well as a
manifesto of self-love for Chinese American children.


Eva Chen is a first-generation Chinese-American
who grew up in New York City. She blames her deviation from
pre-med at Johns  Hopkins University on a love of fashion
and beauty instilled in her by her mother, whose perfect bob and
lipstick made a permanent imprint on her impressionable young
mind. Previously the editor-in-chief of Lucky, Eva has also
written for ELLE, Vogue, Teen Vogue, Vogue China, the New York
Times, and The Wall Street Journal.  She is currently the
head of fashion partnerships at Instagram, where she is guilty of
the occasional duck-face selfie. Eva lives in New York City with
her husband and two children. She is the author of Juno Valentine
and the Magical Shoes, A Is for Awesome, and Juno Valentine and
the Fantastic Fashion Adventure.

Sophie Diao is an artist in San Francisco. As
research for the book Sarah and the Big Wave,  she surfed a
wave that she's pretty sure was over one foot tall. She loves
illustrating natural wonders and is the talent behind many a
 Google Doodle.


Order a copy of I Am Golden on Bookshop.org or Amazon.


Visit Eva Chen at https://www.instagram.com/evachen212/.


Visit Sophie Diao at https://www.sophiediao.com/.


Resources:


Chinese Tomato Egg Stir-fry:
https://thewoksoflife.com/stir-fried-tomato-and-egg/.


Scholastic Book Club: https://clubs.scholastic.com/.


Books of Wonder: https://booksofwonder.com/.


Book Con and Book Expo: https://www.bookexpoamerica.com/.


Transcription:


You can read the transcription on The Children's Book Review.


Discussion Topics:


A story summary of I Am Golden.

Asian-American Identity

Asian-American Hate Crimes

All about I Am Golden

Creating the book cover artwork

The author and illustrator collaboration

Becoming readers.