My Media Interviews: Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month #AAPIHeritageMonth

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month which celebrates and pays tribute to Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. According to History.com, “The AAPI umbrella term includes cultures from the entire Asian continent—including East, Southeast and South Asia—and the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.”

On my blog, I’ve written a lot about Asian culture. Some have been deeper, reflective content such as Asian American Experience: A Story About Fitting In and Self-Love and Chinese School Torture and Hopes for My Daughter. Others have been lighter topics like Five Ways to Use Chopsticks in the Kitchen and Chinese Soup Dumplings – What They Are and How to Eat. Through it all, I wanted to simply share Asian culture with my readers.

Teaching About Chinese Culture Through Curious George

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to reach even more families through the release of my debut book IT’S CHINESE NEW YEAR, CURIOUS GEORGE [January 2023, Clarion Books/HarperCollins].  Using my own experiences growing up in a Chinese American household, I highlighted key traditions celebrated during the Chinese New Year. Vibrant illustrations by Rea Zhai brought the book to life.

My new book has offered another way to bring awareness about Chinese culture to children through the fun adventures of Curious George and his friend Mei. For Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, several media outlets interviewed me which I wanted to highlight here.

News12 Interview

On the first day of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, News12 Long Island interviewed me at Huntington Public Library. Earlier this year, I held my book launch event here. Fun Fact: I also work at this library in the Youth & Parent Department!

News12 had heard about my book launch event back in January and kept my information. When they wanted to feature someone local in honor of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, they called me.

News12 reporter Krista McNally conducted the interview. She asked me about IT’S CHINESE NEW YEAR, CURIOUS GEORGE and also interviewed Joanne Adam, the Library Director. News12 aired the story on the evening of May 1, 2023.

As typical with filming, the interviews were edited down to a short segment. Unfortunately, Joanne’s interview was not included. This was too bad as she had discussed the importance of multicultural children’s books and how libraries can play a role in providing access to children. Nevertheless, the segment was still impressive, and we were grateful for the opportunity with News12.

View my News12 Feature Here

UM ALUM Magazine Feature

I was in the Class of ’94 at the University of Michigan. As with many U of M students, once I graduated I still felt strong ties to my university. When my book launched, the editor of UM ALUM magazine reached out to interview me for their Spring 2023 issue. The magazine recently included the interview as the lead story in its newsletter. It was also published on its website.

Here’s a snippet from the article:

Though she didn’t learn how to get a book published while at U-M, she leaned on her rigorous classroom experiences to get her through the rejections.

“Just learning that tenacity and having to persevere and overcome obstacles, that was huge. In the book author industry, you have to have a lot of perseverance.”

Adcock’s debut book, “It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George,” hit shelves on Jan. 3. In the book, Curious George joins his friend Mei and her family as they prepare for and celebrate Chinese New Year. The story acknowledges the broader Lunar New Year celebrations before focusing on Chinese-specific traditions, from finding red clothes to wear to fireworks and a dragon dance.

Read the full article HERE.

World Journal Newspaper

Voyage Michigan Magazine

After my feature came out in UM Alum magazine, I was contacted by Voyage Michigan Magazine. This magazine highlights Michigan’s most inspiring stories. Voyage Michigan was interested in hearing about my journey from my Michigan roots to becoming a children’s book author in New York.