fling93 loves fishies

Okie-Dokie, Artichokie!

My sister works in the children’s book publishing business, and one of her best friends, Grace Lin, is an award-winning writer/illustrator of children’s books, so I’d like to pass on her promo for her latest book:

It’s time to start holiday shopping! Most of you have a child or a child-at-heart adult on your shopping list, so I thought I’d help you out with this shameless reminder that my holiday book, Okie-Dokie, Artichokie! has just come out….

Okie-Dokie, Artichokie! is a fun book and perfect for the holidays. Meet Marklee, a monkey, and his new neighbor Artichoke, a giraffe. Marklee thinks Artichoke is an old grouch. Whenever Marklee makes any noise, Artichoke bangs on the ceiling. Can they ever be friends? In this combination holiday and friendship story, misunderstandings are resolved with sweetness and humor.

Our copy just arrived yesterday, and yes, it’s quite a cute story with an important message. But the best thing about Grace’s books has got to be the lovely artwork. The animals are adorable, the colors just leap off the page, and buried in some of the pictures are some cute details (characters in some books often make tiny cameos in others).

Grace is also the writer and illustrator of Olvina Flies, Dim Sum for Everyone, and my personal favorite, The Ugly Vegetables. You can find more info on them at her website (also check out the section about her family). Yes, we own them all. The latter two feature Asian-American children as their main characters, a niche Grace fills because she noticed she grew up without storybook characters she could fully identify with.

I should also mention that my sister, Alvina, was the inspiration for the name of the lead character in Olvina Flies. In Alvina’s own words:

For those of you who haven’t heard this story (and I’m sure most of you have by now), Grace is a childhood friend, and was my roommate in Boston. As a freelance illustrator, she often had no human contact until I came home from work, so she would immediately come to the door when I got home and ask, “Did anything exciting happen at work today?” Of course, nothing very exciting ever happens at work, so I would stretch to try to find SOMETHING amusing to tell her. This one day, all I had to offer was, “Uh, well, a foreign publisher sent me a fax today, and they spelled my name with an ‘O’: Olvina!”

And Grace, naturally, said, “Olvina! That’s a perfect name for a chicken!”

Grace loves chickens, and had been wanting to do a children’s book about a chicken for a long time. She started brainstorming ideas right then and there, and that’s how this book was born. That was about 3 years ago, and Olvina Flies is finally here! So run out right now and buy it! I want Olvina to be a household name!

This book is also special because it’s one of Grace’s first children’s books where she gets to illustrate animals instead of Asian children—not that there’s anything wrong with Asian children! But her animals are adorable, and in the tradition of Richard Scarry.

If you have a sharp eye, you can spot Marklee in the book. More prominently featured is Olvina’s best friend, a chocolate-loving pig named Will, named after Alvina’s real-life boyfriend who doesn’t actually like chocolate (but is otherwise a nice guy).

One of these days, she oughtta do a book about a cute little fishy (but not named Sushi!).