Spotlight On... Author-Illustrator Allen Say

--by Hanje Richards

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Allen Say (born James Allen Koichi Moriwaki Seii in 1937) is an Asian-American author and illustrator best known for his book Grandfather's Journey, a picture book detailing his grandfather's voyage from Japan to the United States and back again, which won the 1994 Caldecott Medal. This story is autobiographical and relates to Say's constant moving during his childhood. His work mainly focuses on Japanese and Japanese-American characters and their stories, and several works have autobiographical elements.

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Say was born in Yokohama, Japan, to a Japanese family: a Japanese-American mother and a Korean father who was adopted by British parents. At age 12, four years after his parents' divorce, Say went to live with his grandmother but received her permission a short time later to live alone. The boy apprenticed himself for many years to his favorite cartoonist, Noro Shinpei, an experience detailed in his autobiographical novel The Ink-Keeper's Apprentice. In time, Say came to think of Shinpei as his "spiritual father," as well as a mentor.

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Boy of the Three Year Nap (by Dianne Snyder; illustrated by Allen Say) - Taro is a Japanese boy whose penchant for sleeping is the butt of village jokes, much to the chagrin of his poor widowed mother, who works hard to provide them with necessities. Taro cannot be coaxed into working, despite his mother's pleas, until he falls in love with a rich merchant's daughter and hatches a scheme to make himself wealthy. An engaging, almost universal trickster tale. (Caldecott Honor Book)

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Emma’s Rug - As a small child, Emma has two noteworthy practices: she stares for long periods at the fuzzy white rug she has had since birth, and she spends quite a bit of time drawing intently. When she enters school and garners many prizes for her artwork, it becomes clear that the seemingly blank rug is the source of her inspiration.

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Grandfather’s Journey - Home becomes elusive in this story about immigration and acculturation, pieced together through old pictures and salvaged family tales. Both the narrator and his grandfather long to return to Japan, but when they do, they feel anonymous and confused: "The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other." (Caldecott Winner)

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Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice - Author/illustrator Allen Say draws on his boyhood in postwar Tokyo for this autobiographical novel about a talented boy's artistic education. A 14-year-old boy lives on his own in Tokyo and becomes apprenticed to a famous Japanese cartoonist.

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Lost Lake - Luke and his father, who is disgusted by the tourists surrounding the once secluded lake of his childhood, hike deeper into the wilderness to find a "lost lake" of their own. This is an absorbing story which takes readers on two journeys. The obvious trek is into the wilderness, but there is a parallel route which follows the boy and his father as they develop a deeper understanding of one another.

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Stranger in the Mirror - One morning Sam wakes up and looks at his reflection in the mirror. Overnight he has changed, and he sees a stranger's face staring back at him - an old face. Sam has suddenly aged. As a result, his classmates won't play with him, and at home his family treats him like a different person. On the inside, though, he is the same Sam - why can't anyone see that?.
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Tea With Milk - At home in San Francisco, May speaks Japanese and the family eats rice and miso soup and drinks green tea. When she visits her friends' homes, she eats fried chicken and spaghetti. May plans someday to go to college and live in an apartment of her own. But when her family moves back to Japan, she soon feels lost and homesick for America. In Japan, everyone calls her by her Japanese name, Masako. She has to wear kimonos and sit on the floor. Poor May is sure that she will never feel at home in this country. Eventually, May is expected to marry and a matchmaker is hired. Outraged at the thought, May sets out to find her own way in the big city of Osaka.

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Tree of Cranes - Heedless of Mama's warnings, a Japanese boy cannot resist playing at an ice-cold pond "filled with carp of bright colors." When he comes home, he is immediately treated for a cold, with a hot bath and rice gruel. His mother's attitude chills him more than the weather, though; he cannot understand why she seems to be ignoring him. As he recovers from a bad chill, his mother busily folds origami paper into delicate silver cranes in preparation for the boy's very first Christmas.