Celebrate Multicultural Book Day and Chat with Erin Yun!

Today is a really important day that I had not previously been made aware of, Multicultural Children’s Book Day! Follow the #ReadYourWorld today and join the conversation on how to get more multicultural books in the hands of our young readers. You might also make new connections and grow your TBR pile! You can read more about Multicultural Children’s Book Day at their website.

The best way to celebrate this awesome day is to celebrate an awesome author, Erin Yun. Her debut novel, Pippa Park Raises Her Game, makes it’s way into the world on February 4, 2020.

Readers will cheer on Korean American Pippa Park in this compelling middle grade reimagining of Great Expectations. Navigating friendships and cyberbullying at a new school, Pippa reinvents herself and discovers who she really is. 

Life is full of great expectations for Korean American Pippa Park. It seems like everyone, from her family to the other kids at school, has a plan for how her life should look. So when Pippa gets a mysterious basketball scholarship to Lakeview Private, she jumps at the chance to reinvent herself by following the “Rules of Cool.” 

At Lakeview, Pippa juggles old and new friends, an unrequited crush, and the pressure to perform academically and athletically while keeping her past and her family’s laundromat a secret from her elite new classmates. But when Pippa begins to receive a string of hateful, anonymous messages via social media, her carefully built persona is threatened. 

As things begin to spiral out of control, Pippa discovers the real reason she was admitted to Lakeview and wonders if she can keep her old and new lives separate, or if she should even try. 

Summary from Amazon

Alright, so now that I have hooked you into this book (go ahead, open a new tab and preorder. I will wait) let’s learn more about Erin Yun!

3 Little Known or Interesting Things About You

1. I’m obsessed with personality quizzes and take them for my characters.
2. I ran a bubblegum-selling business in middle school until it was shut down.
3. I tried out for the Quidditch team . . . but didn’t make the cut.

Must Have Info for Harry Potter and Percy Jackson Fans

Hogwarts House: Depending on when I take the quiz, either a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor

Camp Halfblood: Cabin #7 – Apollo.

What is your writing Kryptonite?

Distractions. I can’t write in my apartment unless everyone else is asleep.

How do you balance making demands on the reader with taking care of the reader?

The book is inspired by Great Expectations, so if readers want a challenge, they can compare the themes and characters. At the same time, though, I try to take care of readers by having the book stand on its own feet—no Dickens required!

What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?

I have many favorites, but I recently read Midsummer’s Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca, which features a baking competition, and it had my mouth watering.

As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot or avatar?

A can of Diet Coke.

About Your Books

Describe the journey of writing your book, Pippa Park.

Writing the first draft took a little less than six months, while the editing was probably another six months. It all seemed to go by so fast! Especially since the release date is coming up on February 4, 2020.

Favorite line or quote from one of your books.

I like the very last lines the best—“For the first time in the whole semester, I didn’t feel like I was pretending. I just felt like me: a little awkward, a little too enthusiastic, a little uncool. But a hundred percent Pippa Park.”

Describe the character that is most like you.

Probably Pippa Park—we’re both enthusiastic and a little awkward, and when we open our mouths, there’s no way of knowing what’s going to come out.

Advice

Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?

Do everything you can to make your characters real. Real people have flaws, and so should your characters. Make sure that they’re three-dimensional by really understanding them. I like to get closer to my characters by sketching them, taking personality quizzes, and creating playlists of songs.

Leave us with some wise words. What advice would you give the readers of this interview?

If you want to be a writer, read. It will help you strengthen your voice, find what works and what doesn’t work for you in a book, and gain new energy when you’re feeling burnt out.

Where can we follow you and order your new book?
Pippa Park Raises Her Game website
Fabled Films Press Twitter
Author Erin Yun’s Twitter

Buy Pippa Park Raises Her Game on:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound

Thank you Erin Yun! I am really excited to read your book and share it with the world and my students.