Asian-American children's books

I first learned about author/illustrator Grace Lin through her drawings in The Seven Chinese Sisters by Kathy Tucker. Elissa loved this book, which features seven feisty sisters, each with a different talent that come in useful when the youngest sister is snatched away by a hungry dragon. The illustrations are so much fun--lots of swirls in the skies and patterns everywhere, which I later learned are a hallmark of Grace's drawings.

Then my parents returned from a Taiwanese med school reunion and brought me Grace's business/demo card advertising her website. It turns out Grace's dad was a fellow classmate of my dad. We started checking out more and more of Grace's books. My favorites are The Red Thread (a beautiful adoption fairy tale that brings tears to my eyes), The Ugly Vegetables (a primer to Chinese veggies), and The Year of the Rat/Dog/etc. (primary-grade books that are like Ramona the Pest for Asians).