Hello, and good morning you too. How are you doing good? He
I am so excited to talk to you about this book because it's one of
those books where it's like, where's it been? Because I didn't have this
when I was a child. There was you know, this is nothing new,
but yet we're just starting to finally get out here and talk about it.
Yep. Could not at that myself, to bring it together as a
team, because this is a collaboration here, What was it like to bring
the story together? Oh, I can say this is Jolana. It has
been such an honor for me to be able to work with Liz. Who
is This book that leads to its Wonders is about a Korean transracial adoptee,
and it is very much Lizz's story, and I just feel so honored to
be able to have worked on this project with her. She has been so
courageous to share her heart, all the love and the pain and the process
of even searching for her birth family as an adoptee, and it is it
just takes so much to be able to share such a personal story with the
world. And it feels like not only did I gain a very close friend,
but I've learned so much from her about adoptees, but just about human
being in general, and so it's been beautiful for me. Wow. So,
Liz, as an adult, we're expected to understand the journey of adoption,
but when I was a kid, I didn't understand it. And that's
the thing about that I love this book, is that I've taken the time
to really get into this story because you're giving us that chance to walk in
someone else's shoes. I think that's definitely been the hope, and thank you
so much for saying that. I have to say that I just also want
to be really aware that I am so proud and grateful to be able to
share my story and my journey, and also for folks to know who read
it, that this is not meant to speak or behalf of all adoptees all,
even though transracial adoptee might seem like a small or specific identity, that
our experience is very so much And so I also just hope that folks you
read it, if you are an adoptee, that there might be one or
two things that resonate with you, even if it doesn't near your own experience.
I think one of the things that I had a difficult time dealing with
was the next year that I went back to school and I had a different
last name and people looked at me and treated me differently, And I think
that, you know, that's a tough thing to deal with very much.
So I mean even things like growing up, even as a child, if
I went into a restaurant with my adoptive family, you present as white and
I'm very much Asian, that the hosts at the restaurant might greet me separately.
Or if I'm in a store, people will, you know, greet
my family and me separately because they don't assume that we go together. I've
even had like upward moments and I'm paying for something with a credit card and
someone will look at my last name on it and be like, how is
that your last name? Like are you married? Did you take someone else's
last name? And I understand that people's curiosity is a very powerful feeling and
emotion, and at the same time, people also need to be aware that
they are not entitled to adopt these whole life stories trauma, all the answers
that they just happen to be curious about in a moment. Joanna you can
walk through any grocery store and see how this book is very much a part
of our lives. And I think that it's going to be used as a
tool so that we can, you know, learn how to accept that we
don't all have to come from mom and dad. Men. There's true love
there and we've got that open space to be a family. Yeah. Absolutely,
And I think that this is this is Joranna, And I think that's
something that's really powerful about sharing a story like this in the picture book form,
is that it can speak both to young audiences and to adult audiences and
put your books because of the way that they are written, because of the
illustration, because we're really intentional about putting in layers that makes this story accessible
for children, but also to adults. They can look at it and see
with different eyes, having gone through more of life themselves. And so I
think that as they've mentioned, you know, as a child, this is
a story that really is one that is her story and one that maybe she
wanted as a child, but also as an adult, we can read it
with different eyes. And when you talk about the grocery store, I think
it's something that I hope readers can really use to examine some of the questions
and some of that curiosity in safe spaces with with their loved ones. Now,
Liz, there's something that's happening in my own personal life with with somebody
that we know that the child is from Japan. The parents are American,
but they really are trying to get the young boy to understand Japanese culture,
and it seems like that they're pushing him in every single direction. Can parents
over push, Yeah, definitely. This was a one hundred percent When I
was younger, I think my parents only tried once. They sent me to
like koreem culture summer camps. I really didn't have any positive, like super
positive experiences. It was pretty uncomfortable. It felt like it was something that
was being done to make the parents feel better, not necessarily something for the
kid. Every adoptee's journey, and you know, the process of understanding your
identity and your path is going to be different for everybody, and for me
as a kid, I was honestly not thinking a ton about being adopted or
the trauma or loss a whole lot when I was, you know, six
or seven years old. I was just trying to figure out who I was
sitting with a lunch at school and like because on the one hand, I
can hold space for the fact that there is law in Greece and all of
these open ended questions that I would love to have the answers to, but
I don't know if that will ever happen. And at the same time,
I can hold space for the fact that I really love my adoptive family.
I love them the most. They're amazing, Joanna. One of the greatest
things about this book is that you include the father. So many stories don't
include dad. It's always mom and the kids and things like that. And
so to see the father fishing I mean, and to have the lines all
tangled up and everything, I laughed like a kid. I love that.
So part of the reason that made it into the book is, you know,
I actually have been a huge lid band for a long time. Liz
is a super well known educator and Andrei by Seri theater, and she has
made such impact all over the world in many arenas, and so I have
been following her online for many years. And I knew that she went flag
mashing, and she went fishing with her dad, and it's something that she
shared with him and something as we talk, and as you know, there
were so many ideas that she shared about her story that felt important to capture,
and the fishing scene just felt like the perfect way to both capture this
core memory of hers and also many of the things that she shared about the
beauties and the challenges as an adoptee in even in a really loving family.
I love the way that you shake hands with your readers in the very beginning,
Liz, with the dear reader note. I think that that's so important
before they bust into the book. Yeah, that part was really really important
to me. You know, some of the things that I've already mentioned about
not wanting people to think that this is the one single story of adoption,
really wanting to speak to adoptees who might be reading it that, however,
they might be feeling like their feelings, their experiences are valid. It might
look similar, it might look different, And I think, as I wrote
that, my hope really is to just one day be able to look back
and note, this book is like one of the many threads that make up
this beautiful tapestry of adoptee literature out there. I hope we get there.
I was going to ask you that this can't be the only time you're going
to be doing this, and because I was so touched by it, There's
got to be other stories. Oh absolutely, and there definitely has been.
I think more books coming out these days featuring adoptee stories, which is amazing.
However, could always use more. Now, Joanna, will you write
stories about you know? Because you know, and a lot of these have
been about younger girls or younger boys, But how about that story of the
transition into teenhood or from transitions from teen into adult. Will we see anything
like that where we're actually growing with your your characters? I said that,
sure me. I have written so I have a young adult novel. It's
called The Silence That Binds Us, explores and Asian racism, black and Asian
solidility, and also just the power of finding your voice and the consequences that
often come with that. I don't know that I will pull characters for my
picture books up to your young adults. That I certainly do write for multiple
different age groups, because there is so much more you can say, even
in you know, depending on the forms that we're telling stories through. How
did you go through the editing process, Liz, because so many times we
have so many words inside of us. But in a book like this,
a picture book, you know, being concise is valuable. It's so true
because it's funny. The first book that I wrote and published was a book
on antibias education for teachers, and when you write for adults, you don't
really have this cap on words. And so going from you know, use
up all the word sentences, like all these examples you like, and then
being told, okay, so you have like thirty two pages and let's go
on for a max of like five sentences for spread was a type of editing
I've never experienced. I truly think that writing picture books is the hardest type
of writing I've ever done. And I've done a lot of different types of
writing, and so when it come came to editing, and I'm so grateful
to have, you know, such an amazing collaborative partner like Joanna, that
we were both really open to feedback if there were ever, you know,
questions or challenges that we've brought up around certain words selection Like for example,
I think I remember one piece what we were editing early on was language that
I felt kind of implied ownership, and that's something that I think a lot
of adoptees are very sensitive about, like can we change some of these words
to like, you know, convey a different idea or feeling? Oh my
god, you know you just you just shot me back to a part of
a Mark Twain's book where he talked about that, you know, as we
grow older, never lose our act sense as as regular people, as creative
people, but always stay true to who you are. Yeah, yeah,
I love it. Where can people go to find out more about the two
of you this collaboration as individual writers, just so that people can give you
a lot of love, because you guys are so courageous to be able to
share stories like this. This is Joanna you. People can find me at
Joanna l j O A n n A h O Wrights w r I T
e s dot com. That's my website, but Joanna hole Wrights is also
my handle on most social media platforms. I love it, Liz, How
can we find you? On Instagram? My handle is at teach and Transforms
and my writing website is www dot Liz klinlock K l e I n r
o c K dot com. I love it. You guys have got to
come back to the show anytime in the future. You know the door is
always going to be open for you. Thank you for having us. Will
you be brilliant today? Okay, okay, you too.