Author-Illustrator Interview: Ying-Hwa Hu Reflects on Inspiration & the Magic of Picture Books

By AJ Eversole

Today we welcome author-illustrator Ying-Hwa Hu to Cynsations to share insights on her craft and what fuels her creative spirit. We’re also highlighting her solo author-illustrator debut, Ten Blocks to the Big Wok (Lee & Low, 2022), a colorful celebration of Chinese culture.

When and where do you write?

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Guest Post: Janet Wong & Sylvia Vardell Take Us Behind the Scenes of their New Poetry Anthology

By Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

Janet: More than a year ago, back in February 2020 (although it seems like 2010…) we had an open call for poems for HOP TO IT: Poems to Get You Moving (Pomelo Books, 2020). Our plan was to curate an anthology of 75 poems that encourage movement—short poems to help “get the wiggles out.”

We first thought about doing a movement-themed book at the end of 2015,

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Authors Interview: Cynthia Leitich Smith & Kim Rogers on Ancestor Approved

By Cynthia Leitich Smith and Kim Rogers

Cynsations Native Books Reporter Kim Rogers’s poem, “What is a Powwow?” and her short story, “Flying Together,” appear in Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Heartdrum, 2021). The anthology is a collection of intersecting stories and poems set at a powwow that bursts with hope,

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Jingle Dancer Named to Montessori Life’s Best Mulitcultural Books List

Jingle Dancer Named to Montessori Life’s Best Mulitcultural Books List

Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Morrow/HarperCollins, 2000) has been named among best Multicultural Books for Early Childhood Educators in the most current issue of Montessori Life, Volume 19, Number 1, 2007. See page 97. Thanks to Debbie Gonzales for letting me know about this honor.

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