Lawrence Yep

Years ago I considered doing reviews of children's books for publication and chose a book from the  new section in our library to practice reviewing. It was written by Lawrence Yep and I enjoyed it a lot.

The next day I went to see my new physical therapist, who turned out to be Lawrence Yep's nephew!

I never published that practice review, but have read many books by that author and enjoyed them a lot. He has written a lot of middle grade ones set in historical China, some about Chinese people in the California during the Gold Rush, and others set in San Francisco's Chinatown.

But recently I've discovered some completely different books by Yep.

They're American Girl books about a young ballerina. The only thing they have to do with China  is that the books are printed there. ;-)

And these books are as well written as his others.

In the About the Author section at the end of the American Girl books Yep says he became interested in ballet because of seeing The Nutcracker as a boy, and because his wife bought him season tickets to the San Francisco Ballet.

That reminded me of the many times we took kids from the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley to see The Nutcracker every year. While they couldn't hear the music, the kids always enjoyed the performance.

And if you go to my website  http://www.janetanncollins.com  you'll see a mention of the time I performed with the San Francisco Ballet even though I don't know how to dance.

But, to get back on topic, I want to recommend all of Lawrence Yep's books. He's an excellent writer.