Suburban Mosaic picks send readers on cultural and personal journeys

Children's author and illustrator Grace Lin knows about living across two cultures.

As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, growing up in a Caucasian community in upstate New York, she searched desperately for Asian role models - in books, television or movies.

Finding few, she set out to create her own, starting first with children's picture books - including her award winning "The Ugly Vegetables" - before trying her hand writing a children's novel, "Year of the Dog" in 2006.

"I wanted to write something of substance, or books that were real," Lin said in a phone interview.

Lin was surprised to learn that first novel was chosen as one of the selected readings for the Suburban Mosaic Book of the Year, a community reading program for residents in Northwest Cook and Lake counties.

"Wow," she said after hearing the list. "I'm in good company."

There are five books in all, one for different age groups. Each was selected to build on last year's theme of immigration, and at the same time get readers of all ages to reach a deeper understanding of other cultures.

John Brennan of Mount Prospect has been involved with the Suburban Mosaic project since its inception. He points to the national "One Book, One Community" concept started in 1996, with the goal of drawing people together based on a shared reading experience as its model.

"The only difference is that we have five books, for different age groups," Brennan says. "But all of them deal with issues of racial and social justice."

This year's titles include: "Digging to America," by Anne Tyler for adults; "Persepolis, The Story of a Childhood," by Marjane Satrapi for high school students; "American Born Chinese," by Gene Luen Yang for middle school students; and "The Other Side," by Jacqueline Woodson," for kindergartners through second-graders.

Suburban library officials say it appears they picked some winners. "They're moving off the display like crazy," says Linda Burns, who works with both the adult and teen sections at the Mount Prospect Public Library. "They're the best we've had in a couple of years."

Selection committee members always try to pick interesting reads, but this year they also looked for more character-driven stories as a way for readers to identify more with their cultural issues.

"All of them," Burns says, "focus on characters finding their identity by living across cultures."

Lin said her book was written in part as a sequel to "The Ugly Vegetables," in which she writes about her mother's garden filled with Chinese vegetables, while their neighbors grew beautiful flowers.

"The community comes to find out that these vegetables have value, too," Linn says.

In her novels, she tries to develop deeper characters that connect with young readers, and not just Chinese Americans.

"Year of the Dog" is targeted to third- through fifth-graders. In it, a young Taiwanese American girl sets out to apply the lessons of the Chinese New Year ­- including making best friends and finding oneself - to her own life.

"I hope girls like me find a character in my books they can identify with, but it's also important that a mainstream audience see something of themselves in the characters," Lin says.

Similarly, Tyler's book profiles a friendship formed between two Korean-born girls raised by their adoptive families, including one that is Iranian American.

"This year we returned to a fiction selection for adults after two years of nonfiction, and it looks like a good move," Burns says. "Anne Tyler is a prolific author who's well known and her books are very popular."

Likewise, the high school selection, "Persepolis," comes after the release last year of the popular animated movie by the same name. Young readers are familiar with the story of the young Iranian girl coming of age during the Islamic revolution, and are interested in reading her autobiography, Burns reasons.

Both "Persepolis" and the middle school selection, "American Born Chinese," are graphic novels, told in almost comic book form, which also resonates with young readers, committee members found.

"Graphic novels are very hot right now," says youth librarian Tina Martin at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. "We're trying to stay in the mainstream with our selections, and hope that people like them, and read them."

The program is co-sponsored by the Daily Herald. For more information on the program, this year's books and authors, as well as participating libraries and schools, visit www.suburbanmosaicbooks.org.

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