Mia Wenjen is half Japanese & half Chinese American and married to a Korean American. This unusual ethnic combination made her seek out all kinds of Asian representation in children’s books for her three kids. She started a blog, PragmaticMom.com, to share her favorite books, and Multicultural Children’s Book Day to celebrate diverse KidLit.
Her debut picture book, Sumo Joe (Lee and Low, 2019) was selected as a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. She wrote Asian Pacific American Heroes for Scholastic (2020) and Changing the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes as a Kickstarter pandemic project.
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World released spring of 2023 through Barefoot Books. It is a Junior Library Guild Gold selection and earned a starred review from School Library Journal.
We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court (Red Comet Press) and Boxer Baby (Eifrig Publishing) releases in 2024. Postcards from Malcolm X: How Yuri Kochiyama Became a Civil Rights Activist (Red Comet Press) releases in 2025.
Follow her @pragmaticmom on social media.
Valarie Budayr is the CEO of Audrey Press and is an award-winning children’s author of The Fox Diaries: The Year the Foxes Came to our Garden, A Year in The Secret Garden, The Ultimate Guide To Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, and Dragons Are Real. She is passionate about making kids’ books come alive and is proud to be a play and reading advocate. Valarie’s mission is to inspire children, families, and communities to experience our world together while having fun.