Book
Wonderfully Made 奇妙的傑作 is a picture book for children ages 5 – 10, the author shares her story and struggles of fitting in as a child immigrating to a new place. Along the way she met Indigenous friends and learned about their stories that helped transform her journey in embracing her own cultural roots.
Themes in the Book
Immigrant & newcomer struggles
Colonial history & treatment of Indigenous People
Racism, diversity, empathy & inclusion
Embracing one's cultural heritage
While these can be heavier subjects, there are valuable lessons that children can understand even at a young age. It is never too young to educate especially through stories. The target age group is for children 5 - 10.
What inspired me to write my story?
My family immigrated to Turtle Island (Canada) in the 1990's from Hong Kong. In this book I share my story of struggles with fitting in as a child immigrating to a new country. My book will describe some of the cultural clash and identity crisis I encounter.
As I grew up I had the honour of meeting Indigenous people who became my friends, I learned about their culture and stories including their personal experience in “Indian Residential School”. This is one of the major turning points in my life that opened my eyes to see the suffering and resilience of Indigenous people. The story will also describe how it transforms my identity as I learn to embrace my own cultural root.
My dream is that even if one child can relate to the struggles, see themselves as part of this story, see their newcomer classmates going through this journey, and gain more empathy and understanding, then my goals for this book have been achieved!
Representation Matters
In September 2019, I saw an infographic online about the lack of diversity there are in children's book characters for the year 2018. Did you know that less than 25% of the books are written to reflect children of colour? Only 7% of America’s children’s books have Asian characters and only 1% have Indigenous characters. While I cannot represent all children of colour, at least I can share my own heritage, my story and maybe a bit of the Indigenous people's as well.
Bilingual Version 中英對照
The Chinese language is beautiful. The bilingual version showcases the uniqueness of Chinese traditional characters with Mandarin pinyin 繁體字加普通話拼音. Both kids and adults can read and follow along with the Chinese pronunciation.
The Chinese book title is 奇妙的傑作 which literally means "Wonderful masterpiece".
Illustrator of "Wonderfully Made"
Melanie Choi is a Vancouver based illustrator and designer. She specializes in digital illustrations and mixed media. Drawing much of her inspiration to create from her family's Hong Kong background. Melanie has a BFA in illustration from Emily Carr University of Art + Design . You can find her personal works on:
Website: www.melaniechoi.com
Instagram: @mel.melk.milk and @mel.choi.designs