Something Heavy

A few weeks ago something heavy arrived at my door. Believe it or not, it was the actual SCBWI Golden Kite Award “trophy” which THE OTHER SIDE OF TOMORROW had won for middle grade fiction February 2025. (The book was published November 2024, Harper Alley. You can hear my speech on You Tube, start at 54:44)

I wasn’t sure if I should post about it now, seeing it’s been a year and a half, but I asked someone, and they said yes.

I’m proud of this book, my first novel, turned graphic novel. But more than that, I’m grateful to God for guiding my writing journey and for my agent, editor, illustrator Deb JJ Lee, and all the readers who have supported this story. I love hearing from readers and students how much this book has touched them.

Here’s are photos of the award. It even came with gloves so I don’t get fingerprints on the crystal!

SCBWI Golden Kite Award

So to revive this baby, I thought I’d share:

10 Things You Might Not Know about THE OTHER SIDE OF TOMORROW

1. It’s based on the true Asian Underground Railroad that is still in use today.

2. An earlier draft won an award at the Scholastic Asia contest in Singapore.

3. This started out as a picture book, and now this lyrical graphic novel-in-verse has been translated into Turkish and French!

4. I met many North Koreans when I lived in South Korea, one of which was my husband’s hair dresser.

5. I have been to the DMZ, the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas.

6. A Major in the U.S. army who lived in S. Korea at the same time as me helped me plan the break-out-of-prison scene.

7. A North Korean refugee sensitivity reader proofread this story.

8. This book is my second book about North Korea. My first book was Rice from Heaven: The Secret Mission to Feed North Koreans, a picture book.

9. I used Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars and Avi’s book Crispin as mentor texts. These Newbery Award winning books helped because my book received many awards. See list here.

10. In the beginning of the novel, Samchon (Korean word for uncle) Tae is based on a twelve-year-old North Korean boy’s real uncle who was a painter and paid a broker for him to cross into China. (Hubby & I interviewed the boy.)

If you’ve read this book, would you please leave a review on Amazon and/or Good Reads as well as share about it? Thank you to everyone who already has! And if you haven’t read it, I’m giving away a stickered copy. In the comments, let me know if you’d like to be in the drawing that ends Saturday, August 8th.

And if you’d like to read an interesting take on North Korea, check out this article: Pyongyang’s Lights Are North Korea’s Greatest Lie. Not only is the trophy I received heavy, but North Korea is a heavy topic. Fitting, huh?! Now onto lighter things~

Summer update: My summer is pretty much over. I’ve already been into my classroom a few times. We teachers officially start August 13^th, with the first day for students being August 24^th, the first day after the Iowa State Fair. Can you believe that’s a law here?! Thankfully, I have a great custodian who followed my map exactly, and for the first time in 23 years of teaching, I didn’t have to move heavy furniture!

This was a lay low summer for my family, meaning no big vacation like last year when we went to Alaska & Texas. This summer hubby and I went to Chicago to meet up with friends we taught with in Korea. Then I tagged along on hubby’s business trip to Minneapolis to meet up with two author friends. I loved finding The Princess & the Grain of Rice at two bookstores in Minnesota: Wild Rumpus and Red Balloon Bookstore. I signed their copies. Hubby & I also celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary at the aquarium at the Mall of America.

Minnesota Trip

But one huge thing I’m proud of—I finished researching and writing God’s Little Botanist, the 4^th book in the Big Adventures for Growing Minds series. And thankfully, none of my plants died. (In a previous post I told you I’m horrible with plants.) This book doesn’t publish until 2029. Meanwhile, I’ll go back and forth with my editor getting the manuscript perfecto! I’m thankful to my critique groups for all their help and advice! If you’re not in a critique group, you should join one. IMO, they are so crucial to the writing journey. I’m in 3! I also saw updated colored illustrations for the 3rd book, God’s Little Zoologist. The illustrations are amazing, from Marta Alvarez Miguéns!

Events:

August 9^th Story time, reading The Princess & the Grain of Rice at Reading in Public Bookstore, Valley Junction, Des Moines, Iowa

September 26: Brooklyn Book Festival, NYC! I’m thankful to participate in this; however, I’m also a little worried/scared finding my way by myself. If you’re nearby, please let me know. I’ll arrive Friday the 25^th. If you want to host me for a story time at your school or bookstore that Friday, let me know ASAP! At the festival, the illustrator, Cindy Kang and I will be sharing about and I think signing our forthcoming book, The Kimchi Fridge, which publishes October 6^th.

So that’s my summer wrapped up in this post. How was yours? Don’t forget—if you want to win a copy of The Other Side of Tomorrow, leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!