When I began going through old notes in the trunk at my family home, I gravitated towards Christmas themed ideas first. They seemed the easiest stories to manifest . After the first book Santa's Choice and the additional story, Reindeer Training, I was up for something different.
The title typed on the notes was The Gift of Su Lee. Su Lee was a little boy going to Mission Bible School and being Americanized while his traditional Chinese father ,Yun, was
hesitant to leave his traditional values . I decided that Su Lee become a young girl instead and her name would be Sun Lee .
That was the easiest thing about fleshing out this story. I needed to place the characters in Post World War China and fix in my mind what I wanted in illustrations.
While scrolling through some artists on a site on Facebook I was instantly struck with one image that had a distinct Chinese character . It showed a few characters and a village.
The artist was Cher Jiang who lived in Missouri.
Upon reading more about her, I was excited and concerned. An internationally acclaimed artist who had worked in textiles , acrylics, oil , fashion design and not to mention on numerous books and magazines winning awards along the way. Would she even have time to consider my project ??
When I told her about my book she asked " why do you want to publish a story about a Chinese girl ?!"
I told her about the notes I found and that it was impossible for me to create the right book without authenticity in the illustrations. I told her out
of the hundreds of images I saw online , her art captured exactly what I wanted. I wanted a Chinese illustrator. The Chinese American artist Cher Jiang started drawing for me.
She has completed illustrations for three of my books now, and it has become a delightful partnership.
The thing I like best in The Gift of Sun Lee is the love and honor that exists between father and daughter. When the beggar is the receiver of Sun Lees' rice, the father to delight his daughter , confirms that the holy one has been fed. What do you like about this story that started as notes in a trunk dated 1947 and was fleshed out and published in 2021?
I attach a coloring page that Cher created which comes with the book.
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