Connect Canyons
Ep 85: Celebrating Canyons Culture Through Picture Books and Young Adult Books
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and when you add beautiful illustrations to a book, you open up a new world of adventure and learning for young children. For many, picture books are the first introduction to the world of literature.
This week we have a special guest, award winning author and Canyons parent Emily Inouye Huey. We also hear from Mariah Wall – Canyon’s Elementary Library Coordinator and Karen Kiu – A Canyons parent with a passion for reading. They discuss Huey’s books ‘Beneath the Wide Silk Sky’ and her picture book ‘Wat Kept Playing – The Inspiring Story of Wataru Misaka and His Rise to the NBA.’ They also discuss the importance of accurately portraying various cultures in books for young students.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and when you add beautiful illustrations to a book, you open up a new world of adventure and learning for young children. For many, picture books are the first introduction to the world of literature.
This week we have a special guest, award winning author and Canyons parent Emily Inouye Huey. We also hear from Mariah Wall – Canyon’s Elementary Library Coordinator and Karen Kiu – A Canyons parent with a passion for reading. They discuss Huey’s books ‘Beneath the Wide Silk Sky’ and her picture book ‘Wat Kept Playing – The Inspiring Story of Wataru Misaka and His Rise to the NBA.’ They also discuss the importance of accurately portraying various cultures in books for young students.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyons School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more. We meet national experts too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us.
Speaker 3:They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and when you add beautiful illustrations to a book, you open up a new world of adventure and learning for young children. For many, picture books are the first introduction to the world of literature. Welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, frances Cook this week. I'm joined by Mariah Wall, canyons Elementary Library Coordinator, and Karen Liu, a Canyons parent and librarian. Our special guest today is award-winning author and Canyons parent, emily Inouye-Huey. Thank you all for being here, thank you, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2:Thank you all for being here, thank you, thank you for having us, it's good to be here.
Speaker 3:Thank you. So Emily has published two books, one for teenagers called Beneath the Wide Silk Sky, which I cannot heap enough praise upon. I read this in about four days and could not get enough of it. And then you tell the beautiful story of a local basketball player in a picture book called what Kept Playing the Inspiring Story of Wataru Musaka and His Rise to the NBA. I'd like to start things off, Emily. What inspired you to write these books and how did you decide to write them in such different styles?
Speaker 5:Let's see. Both of these books, I would say, have at least something to do with my family, and so they're, at least in part, inspired by love for real people. The first book is about the Japanese American, their forced removal and incarceration during World War II, and so that's something that my grandparents went through. My dad was born in one of those prison camps, and so I had some feelings about that, and really, for me, young adult literature is always about hope. Right, it's always about finding. It's always about your identity, finding your identity and finding hope in life, and I feel like I wanted to write a story about that for my grandma who, you know, when she went through it, probably didn't know whether it was all going to work out. So I think that was it's it's it's a more serious book, and I think that's why it's for teenagers, but I think that's that's something that it does have in common with the picture book.
Speaker 5:The picture book is about a Japanese-American man from Utah.
Speaker 5:He lived in Ogden and then eventually ended up playing for the University of Utah, where he won a couple national championships and then eventually became the first person of color to play in the NBA, and he did this all in the 1940s, at the time when most Japanese to play in the NBA, and he did this all in the 1940s, at the time when most Japanese Americans were in prison camps. And so, um again, he's someone I knew I he let's see his brother married my aunt and so I saw him at a lot of family functions and had a lot of respect for him. And I think the reason it's you know, it's a picture book which we're going to talk about picture books today. The reason it's a picture book is I had a very specific person in mind when I wrote this book, and that was my young son, who was picture book age when I was writing it. He's now started to do chapter books. It was really about writing it for him specifically and for kids who are in that phase of learning what they can do.
Speaker 3:You know that's such a young age and I think, particularly for people of color, it's important to have that representation in picture books. Can you speak to that?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I mean. So. I grew up in Utah. I grew up in Provo, which I think it was 2019. I saw it in some news article and they called it the most homogenous city in the country, and I grew up there in the 80s and 90s. I definitely noticed. I think I was in third grade.
Speaker 5:I remember in third grade noticing that I didn't look like everyone else, and so my mom I'm so just, I know no one can see me I'm half Japanese. Well, I don't know how I feel about the word half, to be honest, but I'm my dad's Japanese and my mom's Caucasian and, um, my mom really saw this need for me to see myself represented, and so she went to the BYU bookstore and bought me every book she could find about Asian characters. But at the time, what was available? I don't know if you've ever seen like the Five Chinese Brothers. Every single character has a bright yellow face. They all look exactly the same. You know it's.
Speaker 5:Those kinds of books are the kind of books that were available at that time, and so I know what it's like to read something like that and feel uncomfortable, maybe feel erased. I think we have so many better options now, and I know seeing my kids, seeing what they pull off the shelves. They almost always, if there is a book about something that's close to their culture and they see it. They usually want to just at least shuffle through it. And I don't know what that is, but I think it's just a desire to know your place in the world and know that there is a place for you in the world, and that's something that I think we're all working on as a big group. What's that called A group project? Yeah, big group project.
Speaker 3:Mariah, did you have a question?
Speaker 4:Emily brought up that there's a lot more options now and it's taken a really long time for picture books to get there, like if you start at the beginning of picture books and most of my knowledge is western history, so I can say that that it is biased that way. The first picture book comes out in the 1600s and that's Orbis Pictus, and it's this visual dictionary for kids which if we looked at it now we would think it's very, very boring. And then it takes almost four centuries for books to move beyond morality tales and like hitting you over the head with a lesson. And in the 20th century they are not representing most people and there's been a big push to try and change that. So now, luckily, we can find books on homelessness and the foster care system and people who have different family structures. Refugeeism is in our picture books. They tackle war and more and more students are seeing themselves represented and it's increasing the desire to read and the enjoyment of reading.
Speaker 2:I think it's so important for us to remember that these stories are universal, despite the outer cover. Right, we don't judge books by covers Sometimes we do, but the stories contained stories are universal, despite the outer cover. Right, we don't judge books by covers Sometimes we do, but the stories contained within are universal and some of these stories told aren't necessarily of the same backgrounds or experiences as a community's, but those stories are meaningful nonetheless and they can add value and contribute meaning to that community Absolutely less and they can add value and contribute meaning to that community.
Speaker 5:Absolutely yeah. I have a cousin also in the district who she always says she really wants to make sure her kids have cultural literacy. So even if you know they weren't Asian themselves, she would want them to be able to understand people of Asian descent or because we are Asian, you know she wants them to be able to understand people from lots of different cultures, from lots of different situations, because all of that goes into being a productive, good member of society who can get along in this world and can make positive contributions.
Speaker 3:I think that's such a great point. It's so important for us to understand where we all come from, right. We all come from such unique backgrounds. We all have different you know cultural beliefs. We all have different ways of even just sitting down for family dinner. You know that can be different family to family. Emily, I'm curious how do you incorporate those aspects of your heritage into your writing and what message are you hoping to convey?
Speaker 5:I think, like for me a lot of the time, if I am honest with myself and I give myself permission, obviously there is already a standard structure for picture books, there's a standard structure for writing in general, right, and it is. It is this Western structure. But if you give yourself permission to put something that just feels really uh, what's the right word? Specific and, um, alive to you, often that's what will come through. And people it's interesting how people will pick up on that and they'll. Those are the things they'll often comment on. But I think by being specific like that it's it's a window into who you are and your culture and your life. But it's also how you become like have a connection with everyone, because obviously all of us have these inner lives and these lives that have all this backstory and we are all human. And so it feels right to us, it feels real to us when we read something that's authentic like that. It feels right to us, it feels real to us when we read something that's authentic like that.
Speaker 5:And then, as far as like a message I want to convey, I think a lot of children's book authors, there's like lots of different messages you're trying to get across, but almost always you're trying to get across an idea of hope, an idea that if you keep trying, you know. Like. Here's this basketball player who was five foot seven. He wasn't supposed to be able to play basketball right. He lived in this time when most people who looked like him were in these prison camps, so there weren't a lot of expectations for him to be able to have phenomenal success. But in this story it's about tenacity. When you just keep trying, you have a little grit. Impossible things can be possible, and I think most books at some level come down to some of that message.
Speaker 3:Perseverance in the face of of people. You know, like you said, people were booing him and you know who is this little, this little cute guy, as they call him?
Speaker 5:Yeah, the radio announcers called him that cute little guy, which I can't imagine was exactly what he wanted to be called, but by the end, you know, when he was like super successful, they were saying a lot of different things than that. So he proved himself and, I think, just this hope in people too, because his teammates, you know, learned to stand between him and the crowd when it was threatening him or booing, and just make a kind of wall between him and them to protect him. And so there's that element of hope in people, hope in the goodness of this life.
Speaker 3:It's beautiful.
Speaker 4:I'm thinking about how Watt's teammates had to see what he went through before they knew they needed to make that wall. And I'm thinking about how picture books can kind of be like that for children and students, especially because they're so visual. You literally see what has happened to others in our society and you build more empathy and I think it empowers them to be that wall for others.
Speaker 5:I love that. I just read an article like just this week Not an article, yeah, I guess it's an academic article. There were these universities in the UK they did 70 studies about reading and they found that and reading fostered more empathy than watching movies or you know. I just thought that was really or TV, sorry, but I just thought that was really interesting. I think I mean that makes sense to me as someone who reads, like it makes sense to me. My husband will hate if I tell this story, but I'm going to. I was with my husband when I first, when I got my first book deal, my husband said oh, I should probably read your book.
Speaker 5:You know, I want to know what it's about, and he had read maybe like I, just I just can't really remember him reading. He reads a lot of nonfiction, but I can't remember him reading much nonfiction the entire time we were married, and so he's reading my book and he's sitting in bed and I'm just waiting for him to quit, right.
Speaker 5:And he suddenly looks up at me and he says you can hear them thinking Because you know that's different in a book, right In a movie or a TV show. And I really believe in that. I really believe like books have the power to put us almost like an avatar right Our mind kind of mills with this character and we have their experiences. And once you meet someone to that degree you can't help but have empathy, for whatever kind of experience that they've had.
Speaker 5:And I think, if you read widely, I mean that same study showed that a lifelong reading habit actually fostered more empathy in people, and so I don't know that's a study, but it all makes sense to me already, right it's? What we see when we, as teachers, we see the little kid who has their nose buried in a book and they're always nice kids, you know, because how can you not be when you understand people like that?
Speaker 3:I think you do that so well in Beneath the Wide Silk Sky with the main character, sam. You know she said we've seen these stories from an adult's perspective generally right in the movies and TV shows. But to be inside the mind of a teenager who's trying to understand why these things are happening to the people that she knows and loves, I think you do that so well and you bring up such poignant. There were some times where I listened to it as an audio book and I. There are some times where I rewind it and or I guess that's an old phrase I would go back a couple of seconds. There are times where I would. I would go back and reisten because you just have such poignant phrases. Her friend Hero says the prejudice isn't about us, it's about them. Yeah, they're the ones who should ask why they aren't. And I thought that was just so beautifully put, you know, and just put you in those shoes of these teenagers.
Speaker 4:That line stopped me in my tracks while I was binge reading it. I read it in three and a half hours. I felt like every character was so sensitively portrayed and so well-rounded and that idea of why wouldn't they be? It's all about them Made me just. I have I understand so many of the issues going on today, but that really put it into perspective of it's not about that person who's being?
Speaker 5:hurt. Well, thank you, yeah, well, I mean one of my big questions, something that's haunted me, is this study that said that 93% of Americans thought it was a good idea to put these Japanese Americans in camp. Now, in my lifetime, everyone who's ever heard what happened to my grandparents has said that's shocking. It's something that we can't believe happened. And so that disconnect, that juxtaposition of people who think it could never happen and then 93% thought it should happen, that haunts me. Like what is it that we can be convinced to do with the right propaganda, the right circumstances, the right fear, right? And so I came at this book with that real question of why did this happen?
Speaker 5:And for me, during the writing of it, there was a part of me that thought, oh, I had this kind of experience of realizing. You know, it's more about kind of that same idea of, well, it shouldn't have happened, there's really no reasonable reason for it to have happened, but it did. And so it's more about okay, let's find a way to get through it and find ourselves anyway, you know, and so, yeah, Well, I think that's a great point.
Speaker 3:It's like your characters say there's a phrase that they say over and over again, nothing to be done about it, but it's what happens after that. Okay, I may not be able to do anything about this situation, but how can I?
Speaker 5:make the best of it. Yeah, shikata ganai, from the Japanese that nothing to be done. But really, when nothing to be done is the way it is, then okay, what's next? What will you do to just get through this hard situation?
Speaker 4:So yeah, I think maybe in the context of this conversation, like having shared reading experiences of a variety of books that show multiple perspectives, can be part of that what's next for us?
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 5:And I think the more widely and deeply our kids read. You know we are in this very divided time and it's sometimes hard on both sides we're not siding on either side here, but it's hard on both sides to recognize the humanity in people who disagree with you so strenuously right. But I think if we can read widely and deeply then we can come to a point where we can recognize humanity in people who may really be hard for us and I think that's a chance if our kids can do that. I hope that we keep fiction as a priority in our education because if we can do that, then that's the chance for a better cooperative voting body in the future.
Speaker 3:I feel like you were able to convey that same message of hope and perseverance in a much more simplified way that our kiddos will be able to understand, and it's so beautifully illustrated as well. I think it's just the perfect key to get that conversation going.
Speaker 5:Well, thank you. You know, Wat Misaka was a person who believed in people, and he was someone who looked for the good in situations Beyond just being an amazing basketball player. He's like the kind of human being you can look up to for who he is personally, and so I think partly that was just a gift when I chose the subject.
Speaker 2:If you look online anywhere, you can see a definition of what is cultural authenticity, and it's really the extent of a book reflecting the worldview of beliefs and values that depict the accuracy, with accuracy I should say, of everyday life and language of a specific cultural group. And so I would love to ask Emily, like what other books? Well, and both of you also, mariah what books shaped you or were meaningful to you? For me, when I go through this definition of cultural authenticity and this really important essay, I like to focus on, obviously, literary quality. You know the importance is it a high quality story? The origin and authorship of who wrote it? So, yes, I'm definitely reading Emily's stories, right? What are their backgrounds and experiences? What might they have told in the story? Why did Emily share about these stories? Like that's something important.
Speaker 2:Believability Are these characters stereotypes or caricatures? Like you talked about the five brothers and their stereotype, right? So, to me, something that is really meaningful to me now is like Joanna Ho's book Eyes that Kiss in the Corners, right? That's a great book that would have been really meaningful to me as a child. We look at accuracy of details and authenticity of values, perspectives, whose perspective is portrayed, who is telling the story Like Maisie Chen's Last Chance right Audience. Who is the intended audience? Is it the? Is it written for children from that culture or to inform children from other cultures about a culture? And I love Meg Medina, for instance. She has wonderful, wonderful books for children, and so again I come back. I've mentioned Eyes that Kiss in the Corners. Is there a book, emily, that when you were a child, aside from that, or maybe as an adult now, that you've got children.
Speaker 5:I said Kiss in the Corners wasn't available when we were kids. Yeah, that's right Again, I actually just told the Canyons librarians how important the Babysitter's Club was to me, you remember.
Speaker 3:Claudia.
Speaker 5:Yes, claudia, that representation of an Asian American who wasn't the stereotype, you know, and I, you know, she influenced me so much that I wore my hair on the side of my head, like she did, you know, side ponytail for like two grades yeah, I mean, that was one that was important to me as a kid. There are so many better ones now.
Speaker 5:I mean there's just I mean I'm not hating on the Babysitter's Club, it was very important to me but I'm just saying there's just so many more options now of different books to read. Gracelyn is one that I come back to over and over again for my own kids my husband's Chinese, so that is also part of their culture. Yeah, gracelyn, and then I do have all of Joanna's books.
Speaker 2:I love Gracelyn. So, Mariah, I guess for you or for your students, what are you seeing fly off of your bookshelves?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I was thinking about I didn't have to look very far to find people who looked like me growing up.
Speaker 4:But one of my first jobs in a library was in a very diverse school. I think 95% of our kids were students of color and I came into their library and I found maybe five books that represented them. So in the three years I was there I made this huge push to diversify our library to let there be more windows and mirrors for them to see themselves through. And the happiest memories I have from that school is when a little student who had come from Sudan she was in first grade she found an early reader series I'm blanking on the name I wish I could remember, but it has a little girl in a hijab and she came up to me she said this is me, look, this book is about me. And she was excited to read. And she read the entire series, some that I have personally loved.
Speaker 4:I agree about Gracelyn. I think her when the Mountain Meets the Moon series is absolutely perfect and I try to peddle that to as many students as I can. I absolutely perfect and I try to peddle that to as many students as I can. I also love Julia Alvarez. Her novels are so beautiful, so poignant and important. I think Other picture books. I've been purposely trying to find some universal stories that will appeal to many people but also represent our rapidly diversifying student body. We have so many new students coming in um, and the caldecott winner this year, big, is such a beautiful representation of people. Oh my gosh, I cried when I read that book.
Speaker 4:Watercress is another. There's so many good ones now.
Speaker 2:Watercress by Andrea Wong is so great. So I think it comes down to when we talk about book selection and book collections. I talk about this with my libraries. It's really understanding your community needs and wants. Who is in your community? How do you invite them into your library? If I'm serving in a library in a rural community versus an urban community, that collection may look a little different. Are you including books of people with disabilities or neurodiversity?
Speaker 2:And, Mariah, you mentioned earlier family structure. We know we have single parent families. I was a single parent for a long time. We have blended families. I now am part of it. My children are in a blended family. We have adopted families. You know, when we meet those community needs, we also want to have a well-rounded collection.
Speaker 2:And again, Mariah mentioned stories with multiple perspectives and experiences and I think that helps us as we shape our collection and make those selections. And again, coming back to the mirrors, windows, sliding glass doors you talk about Dr Rudine Simbishop, thank you, her groundbreaking essay in the 90s where it discusses how important it is for children to see themselves and as a story, understanding ourselves, feeling like we're reflected in that story, but also being able to look out of the window and understand another child's story right, and then having that sliding glass door, the ability to walk in between those worlds, Having relatable stories that resonate with us, will validate our own humanity. And we need those stories that teach us about other people who may be different from us, so we can learn to be empathetic and compassionate towards others and we can value their humanity. And that's why I loved listening to Emily talk about hope and humanity. How does this connect us all together? And I think that's such an important reason for fiction, right For books and for informational books, but it is connecting in our humanity.
Speaker 3:That's beautifully put. Emily. I'd like to give you final words here as we wrap up. What would your message to our Canyon students who maybe feel like they don't have that mirror or sliding door or they're not being seen or heard? What would you say to them?
Speaker 5:I think, first of all, I want to say I'm sorry.
Speaker 5:I'm sorry that if you feel that way, I feel like as an adult in this community, I'm sorry that we haven't fixed things to the place where you do feel those things that you do feel seen, that you do feel included. And secondly, I want you to know that there are armies of people working on this, and you know I'm thinking about some of my author friends who are trying to create, you know, this massive group project of trying to create libraries that include everyone. I that you know not just include everyone, but you know, show people in their dynamic. You know their quirkiness, their just, their beautiful humanity, right, just the, their beautiful humanity, right. And um, I think, maybe, if, if we're we're not there yet, maybe you can be part of that project too. We would love to um have your story so they you know, not everyone has to write a novel, but um, use your voice, because if you're not feeling like you're included or seen, we need to have that. We need it even more than if you do feel that you are seen.
Speaker 3:I don't think I can say anything better than that. That's beautifully put. I think conversations like the ones we're having today, like the ones that are being portrayed in the books that we're seeing in our libraries and that people like Emily are putting out, are just one ripple in the pond right as we move forward. I want to thank you all for being here. Emily, thank you for sharing your insights. As you mentioned, it's important for our students to find ways for our students to feel like they are part of an important part of our community and that they belong.
Speaker 4:So thank you all for joining us today.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having us. Thanks for having us. Thank you and thank you for listening. If there's a topic you would like to hear discussed, send us an email to communications at canyonsdistrictorg.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect Canyons. Connect with us on Twitter, facebook or Instagram at Canyons District or on our website, canyonsdistrictorg.