The seed of inspiration for author Grace Lin’s ninth and newest children’s book was actually planted almost 20 years ago, right after the release of her 2004 book “Fortune Cookie Fortunes.” She found that in so many cases, when speaking about fortune cookies, people would say, “Oh, fortune cookies aren’t really Chinese . . . with some sort of disdain or disgust. Lin added “as an American-born Asian person who has struggled with her identity . . . I could easily see the same words about me.”
So, Lin took it upon herself to “show this kind of food some respect,” though she says that it took her many years to ultimately put this book together because she needed to find self-acceptance in her own identity before she could make it.
