My name is Jerry Zhang, and I am a father of two young daughters one is about four years old and the other is only about one. I come from China and now live in the USA.
One day, my older daughter, Madison, told me she didn't want to be Chinese. Those days she was crazy about the book characters Madeline and Eloise. She kept asking me why she was Chinese and they weren't, and how she could have blonde or red hair like them.
This made me look for books with Asian (亚洲的) characters for Madison to read. However, I only found a few, and they were heavily cultural, and Madison didn't connect (把……联系在一起) herself with any if the characters in them. And she wasn't interested in them at all. Then she told me again that she didn't want to be Chinese, and it broke my heart.
In most of the books for children in the USA, the characters look like Americans. Few of them have Asian faces, although there are over 17 million Asians and Asian Americans in this country. I think it's important for Asian children to see themselves in books as interesting and smart kids.
So I created (创作) a book for Madison. Pepper Zhang in the book is an Asian girl. Her imagination (想象) takes her on a trip to creativity and art! I want my children to know-that being Chinese or being Asian is a great thing, too.
