Episode #149: What part of your book did you have to do the most research for? with Christina Matula
Welcome back to Kids Ask Authors! On today’s episode, we welcome Christina Matula with Grace to answer a thoughtful kid question! Thank you so much for tuning in!
TRANSCRIPT:
Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books including the middle-grade novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and the picture book A Big Mooncake for Little Star. Today, I am here with Christina Matula, the author of the middle-grade novel, The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei, which is the first of a series, a series of three actually, with the second one, The Not-So- Perfect Plan that will be out in April 2023. Hi, Christina.
Christina Matula: Hi, Grace. I'm so happy to be here.
Grace Lin: Thanks for coming on. Are you ready for today's question?
Christina Matula: I am.
Grace Lin: All right. Today's question is from a kid named Anna and they ask...
Anna: What part of your book did you have to do the most research for?
Grace Lin: What part of your book did you have to do the most research for?
Christina Matula: That is a really good question. If you would've asked me that before I started to write the book, which is set in Hong Kong, I would've guessed that it would be something different than what it actually turned out to be.
The book's about 12-year-old Holly-Mei who moves from Toronto to Hong Kong when her mother gets a new job, and she has to navigate a new world of private school, friendships, and expectations. And Holly-Mei happens to be mixed Taiwanese just like me. And the book starts out in Canada where I'm from. And I could use places and memories from my own childhood, like the Chinese restaurant that we went to on special occasions and the 70s-style bungalows in my neighborhood to create Holly-Mei's life in Toronto.
But most of the book is set in Hong Kong where Holly-Mei moves with her mother after her promotion. And I was living in Hong Kong when I wrote the book. So writing about the feeling of being new and finding my place in a foreign environment came pretty easily. I spent 14 years there. And it's not a very big place despite how it sounds. It's got a huge population.
So I was able to see and experience a lot, a super urban city at the foot of lush green hills. And it has everything a big city would have, museums and the ballet, but also hiking and beaches and swimming in the ocean right outside my front door. So you'll see that in Holly-Mei book. And there's also cultural festivals like Mid-Autumn and Lunar New Year and Dragon Boat. And especially the food, there's an amazing array of Chinese food which I talk a lot about in the book.
Grace Lin: Yay. My favorite.
Christina Matula: And I spent a lot of time learning the language, which in my case was Mandarin because of my Taiwanese heritage, which opened up a window into the Chinese culture that I didn't have growing up. So what would seem like it would need a lot of research actually came easily because I was experiencing life in Hong Kong firsthand.
Grace Lin: That's cool. It's kind of like write what you know.
Christina Matula: Yeah, exactly. And it was so much fun actually just remembering what I love to do or going to places that I'm like, "Oh, I'm going to write a scene about dim sum." So I'm like, "I'm going to go to City Hall, my favorite restaurant, and just kind of immerse myself."
But what I found the hardest and took a lot of time and research was crafting the relationship between Holly-Mei and her grandmother, Ah-ma. In the book, Ah-ma is from Taiwan. And she immigrates to Canada with her young family, which includes Holly-Mei's mom. And when she became a widow, she moved in with Holly-Mei and her family. And as the parents worked a lot, she and her granddaughters became close. And in the book, she's a guiding light for Holly-Mei.
But growing up I only had one grandparent, which was my own Ah-ma, my mother's mother, and she lived in Taiwan and we didn't really visit her often. In fact, I only met her twice before I was 18. And we didn't share a language. I spoke English and French like a good Canadian, and she spoke Taiwanese and Japanese. So even if I had learned Chinese at Chinese Saturday School, which, well, I was supposed to, but I ended up quitting, it wouldn't have helped.
So I did feel a connection to her on her visits through food. She was always feeding the cousins whenever, well, the two times I visited as a child, and was it fresh fruit from the market or mangoes from the garden. And I have happy memories about those times, but they were very few. And mostly I felt like you know Minh Le and Dan Santat's book Drawn Together? I love that book. And about a boy who doesn't share a language with his grandfather and he doesn't have a connection until they discover that they share the language of drawing and it's really moving. And I wish I could have had that same strong bond with my own grandmother.
So when I wrote about Holly-Mei and her Ah-ma, I had to mix in memories of my mother. So in the book, she's making dumplings from scratch with Ah-ma, but that's my memory from as a child with my mother. And I really had to think about what my own children's relationship is to their grandparents because they're lucky they have four living grandparents.
Grace Lin: Wow, how nice.
Christina Matula: I know. And I didn't know what I was missing until I had kids and I was like, "Oh, this is what it's like to have a grandparent." And I had to put myself in my kids heads, when do they reach out to their grandparents and what do they talk about when I'm not around and what are the memories they're creating together, because I didn't have any of that.
So I had to think about what's an ideal relationship with a grandparent? And for me, that was the hardest part to research because I couldn't draw on my own memories. So I couldn't write what I know because I didn't know.
Grace Lin: But in a nice way, it's kind of like you're writing what you wanted to know because you were saying how you didn't have that relationship with your grandmother, which actually I completely relate to. Same thing with me too. I barely saw my grandmother as well. And so it's kind of nice. It's kind of like you built one fictionally.
Christina Matula: Yeah, it's kind of like my ideal relationship. And then so I've built that in my head. And also I try when I can nurture my own kids to take advantage of the fact that they're so fortunate and to build on their relationship with their grandparents.
Grace Lin: Ah, so that's awesome. I guess it's kind of all books. It's kind of really nice that it's a mix of fact and fiction and also dream fulfillment.
Christina Matula: Yes. Exactly.
Grace Lin: That's how I feel like with my books too. A lot of people always ask me, "Oh, is Minli you?" in my book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, the main character. And I'm like, "No, she's not me, but she's who I wish I was like." It's like wish fulfillment because she's very brave and she's very smart and she's very witty. And so that's how I kind of wish I was like. So I think all books are kind of like that a bit.
Christina Matula: Well, I feel like you have the seed of Minli in you for sure.
Grace Lin: Aww. Well, thank you so much. That was a great answer. And I think Anna will learn so much from that. So thank you Anna for asking that question, and thank you Christina for answering it.
Christina Matula: Thank you so much for having me.
Grace Lin: Bye.
Christina Matula: Bye.
Today’s KID BOOK REVIEW comes from Mina! Mina is reviewing, The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei by Christina Matula.
I'm recording on a book called The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei.
The author and illustrator of this book is Christina Matula.
This book is about a girl in seventh grade named Holly-Mei, who lives in Toronto, Canada. When her mom gets a new job, the whole family moves to Hong Kong. Holly-Mei is excited, but misses her grandmother and good friend in Toronto. Holly-Mei thinks it's going to be easy to fit in at her new school, Tai Tam Prep, but it is not as easy as she thought. In Hong Kong, there are new things that Holly-Mei is not used to, like when a girl from her school named Gemma poured milk into Holly-Mei's cream soda. This shocked Holly-Mei because she thought it was, but she thought it was delicious.
Gemma starts out unkind to Holly-Mei because Holly-Mei becomes friends with one of Gemma's friends. Later, Holly-Mei realizes that Gemma is jealous. Gemma tells Holly-Mei about how her older brother, Justin, was sent to boarding school, and if Gemma doesn't do well in school, she will get sent to boarding school as well.
Dad, Holly-Mei is really nice to Gemma, and Gemma is nicer to Holly-Mei. She and Holly-Mei eventually become friends. I like this book because I have connection with Holly-Mei. I am also an Asian girl who just moved to a new state for her mom's work, and I had a similar situation at school with another student.
Thank you Mina!
More about today’s authors:
Christina Matula is from Ottawa, Canada and is of Taiwanese-Hungarian heritage. Being a child of immigrant parents, she has always been curious about other cultures and far-off places. Moving to Hong Kong gave Christina the chance to explore her Chinese cultural roots (amazing food, fascinating festivals) and learn some Mandarin (constant uphill climb). She loves eating dumplings, playing field hockey, and hiking. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Hong Kong. She is also a former Board Member of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong, which advocates reading aloud with children and provides quality books to local underserved communities. She now lives in Helsinki, Finland with her husband, two children, and puppy. Christina is represented by Carrie Pestritto of Laura Dail Literary Agency.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
Grace's new picturebook, "Once Upon a Book" is now out! Get an exclusive art print with the purchase of the book at participating independent bookstores. More info:
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