Good morning. How are you doing today? Absolutely fantastic. I got to
tell you how important this book is not only to young adults and children,
but adults as well, because I wanted to make sure that they didn't tell
me what your name is because it can be taken in so many different ways.
Now I work with a gentleman and and he calls himself Johan, but
from his country it should be Johann. So I'm I'm gonna take a guest
in your name Joanna. Ho Is that right? So? I mean,
I mean, I mean, do you see how I mean how important this
book is because you're going to teach us and share in a really good way.
I mean because look at look at the illustrator. Is it KAA Lee?
You're pretty close, man. I mean that's why this book is so
important. Yeah, I mean, so, say, my Name covers six
different kids and from very different backgrounds. So Kami's Panye, person Une and
Navajo, Mexican and gay, and talk about the stories and the beauty and
meaning behind their names. And I think it's saying the importance of shaking them
correctly. Yeah. Because I'm a wedding DJ and I have to phonetically spell
out every name, because when they're coming into that room and I say it
wrong, They're going to hold onto that for the rest of their life.
They're gonna say that DJ what what a nimble? Well he was bad.
Where did the idea come from to put a book like this together? Because
I can't wait to share it? Oh, thank you so much. You
know, it really started when I was a kid. I used to answer
the phone, our landline, you know at the time, and people would
ask my mom, and her name is Wandling. She's an immorgrant from Tawan,
so her name is w A n l I n g and people would
say things like thaks a wing ling or wang long or one time I even
remember Wendy, and it was just like pretty horrifying and shocking that people wouldn't
even try to pronounce it even finically, like the letters they were using were
all wrong. And and then I became an educator, and you know,
I hear some of these stories of students who had teachers or coaches who wouldn't
say their names, who gave them nicknames, and then for me personally,
like my last name is Ho. You can imagine the jokes that came when
I was in middle school and high school, even when I introduced my part
friends and teacher. So it was a process for me to even learn how
to really love my own names. And it didn't really happen until I was
an adult off a teacher. You know. One of the things that that
is interesting is that we would rather get the name wrong and then learn it
when they when they correct us, and and that that, I mean,
that's that's a horrible human habit. Yeah. I think sometimes we feel embarrassed,
you know, or you're you're afraid to ask how to pronounce it.
But I actually think what I would encourage folks to do is just to ask
that that actually shows so much care that you would take the extra second and
get it takes to ask someone how to say their name correctly. Yeah,
so much, because it just shows that you care. Yeah. Yeah.
And to show you how much this book has changed my adult life is that
I work with a girl and her name is Shania, and it's it's s
e a in e A and I say, and I keep telling her,
I say, it should be seen me and she goes, no, it's
Sean, and she pointed out Sean Eya Shania and I'm going, oh my
god, why did it take me two years to ask such a simple question.
It's because of this book that is changing me. Oh that's really beautiful.
Thank you for sharing that. So and you know how schools are these
days and go into the doctor's office. I mean, I would love to
see this book in every doctor's office. Yeah. I actually had someone comment.
I was like posting about it on Instagram and there was someone who was
like, I want it in every doctor's office because every time I go to
the doctor, they butcher my name, and then that makes me wonder about
they can't even say my name or they even try, like am I going
to get good care? So that was I had never actually thought about the
doctor's office until I saw that comment. But I think that's a great point.
The illustrations in this book. Did the pictures come first or did the
storyline? Because I mean, everything comes together and you are so authentic with
the different cultures. Oh yeah, you know that. I can't say that
that comes purely for me. I did so much interviewing each of these characters,
and their background comes from a person or multiple people or places that are
very dear to me personally. So I had a lot of help interviewing very
close friends and co workers as I was writing the book, so that I
because I'm writing outside my own experience, in my own background, with the
exception of the first girl who's Chinese and that name is my name, I
wanted to make sure, as you were saying, that it was truthful and
authentic and I wasn't doing harm by trying to represent so many different stories.
And so some of the names actually are my dear friends who are like,
hey, why don't you use my mom's name, or hey, why don't
you use my sister's name. This is what it means, and this you
know, this is how we introduce ourselves. And same with the art so
Quale she is Vietnamese, she lives in Vietnam, and it's also meant none
of these are her background. And so it was so much research and so
many rounds of feedback, which is unusual. Usually an artist and an author
don't communicate at all in the process of making a book. But because we
had to solicit so much feedback and so many from so many different people for
all the different backgrounds to make sure that things were represented the way they should
be represented. Do you remember where you were when these words came into play.
My name is a window to my world, a door to my destiny,
a key to unlock the dreams of my ancestors. That should be a
mantra at every business on the planet, because saying someone's name is so important
to them. I was I wrote this book. It was like winter break
because I live the vice principal and a high school for many years, and
I was on my winter break. So I have three time and it's a
story that I had been working on for some time that I put away and
I remember exactly what I was seeing. So I was sitting on my couch
and I just like sat there the whole day. Literally I didn't really accept,
you know, for you to eat a little bit, and I was
just writing and then from there, you know, revising, et cetera.
But the book, this book actually came to me, uh drill, because
we quickly over the course of a couple of days as I was really really
working through it. Then after that was mocked and not the round, the
feedback of making it better and even a pronunciation guide in the back, which
which is just so fascinating, and I didn't want to go back there at
all when I first started the book, because I didn't want it was almost
like cheating on a test, you know, where they always had the answers
in the back. I wanted to make sure I could get something right first.
The kid, I'm like, let me kick in the rock and I'm
supposed to do because this is too hard now with this book out now that
but you're a writer and you're a very creative mind. I realize that we're
promoting this book right now, say my name, But as a creative person,
you've always got to be working on something. What is it or can
you even talk about it? Yeah? I have several books coming out,
So this one is out today. I have books Another one out in October.
It's called On the Tip of the Wave. It's the story of Chinese
artists at this hightway ways work around the refugee crisis. And then next are
of three so just in the spring, there's the third Ice book. It's
called The Eyes That Read the World Wonders and it's about a Korean adoptee who
is adopted into a white family. And then We Who Produced Pearls is out
in April, and that one is really an anthem for Asian America. So
those are all picture books. I'm working on novels still, but those are
not. Hopefully those would be in a few years. Yeah. See,
and even picture books, they inspire young adults and even you know, elementary
school students to become writers. I mean, if it wasn't for my second
grade teacher, I would not be a writer. She believed in me.
And it's and that's what I love about books like this. I love that
so much, and I love that you have a teacher story. I feel
like so many of us do. Teachers make such a huge impact for both
good and harm, and my hope is that we can all learn to be
the ones that are doing exactly what your second grade teacher did, you know,
believe in students and see them from who they do. They are.
Wow. So where can people go to find out more about you and your
books because I want them to feel your love, because I mean, you're
you're such a giving person. Thank you so much. They can go to
my website it's Joanna Hole right they O A N N A H O W
R I T E S dot com and also on you know, social media
Instagram to talk those things under the same, so Joanna Whoe. It's pretty
much everywhere. Please come back to the show anytime in the future. The
door is always going to be open for you. Oh, thank you so
much for having me with such an honor. Will you'd be brilliant today?
Okay, okay, you too,