Multicultural Children’s Book Day Spotlight: Andrea Cheng
Today’s spotlight is on Andrea Cheng and her third book in the Anna Wang series.
Andrea Cheng is the daughter of Hungarian immigrants. She writes picture books and middle grade and young adult novels, and also teaches English as a Second Language and children’s literature. She walks daily near her Ohio home. She writes the Anna Wang series (The Year of the Three Sisters).
1. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet and why?
I really like the letter “A” because my name, Andrea, starts and ends with it. So does Anna Wang’s first name!
2. What do you want readers to know about your latest book?
The Year of the Fortune Cookie is the third Anna Wang novel. In this sequel to The Year of the Book and The Year of the Baby, Anna goes to China with her teacher who is adopting a baby girl. Readers can see how Anna matures and develops a more global view of the world.
3. As an author, how do you know when you have discovered an idea for your next book?
Sometimes I have an image in my mind that will not go away. I am a bicycle commuter, and often the image stems from something I see as I am riding—a small boy hiding in an alley, a cat crouched on a rooftop, a group of girls sitting on a front stoop. Then I write the story around this image. I think of it like a seed that takes time to germinate and grow.
4. What was the catalyst for creating your latest book?
In The Year of the Book and The Year of the Baby, Anna has lots of questions about her identity as a Chinese American girl. I wanted readers to see her in China, where she feels like both an insider and an outsider. Maybe we all feel like this sometimes—part of things and outside of them at the same time.
5. What’s next?
The fourth Anna Wang novel, The Year of the Three Sisters, is coming out in April 2015!
More books by Andrea Cheng:
For more information about Andrea Cheng, please visit her website!
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