Cynthea Liu
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Great News!
WOOBY AND PEEP is coming in 2013!
PARIS PAN will be released in Germany!
PARIS PAN is a Scholastic Book Clubs selection!
PARIS PAN and THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA are both APALA Book List selections!
PARIS PAN is an Oklahoma Book Award finalist!
PARIS PAN, nominated for Texas Lone Star Reading List 2010
THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA is a NoveList Best and a Grab-and-Go title!
PARIS PAN is part of the Accelerated Reader program and Scholastic Reading Counts!
Reviews
"The book is well paced and Paris's desire for friendship will ring true with middle school readers." School Library Journal"Liu's story, refreshingly, features a Chinese American narrator whose ethnicity is not at the story's center." Horn Book
Paris Pan Takes the Dare draws you in and won't let you go until the end." TeensReadToo, Gold Star Award for Excellence
"Liu's latest book, Paris Pan Takes the Dare, is a stylish, character-driven story with an appealing, spunky heroine." Chicago Sun Times
Category Archives: Interview Questions
How did you do research for THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA? Have you been to China before?
The information I used for the book came from both primary and secondary sources. Mainly primary. When I heard about the S.A.S.S. proposal I knew I had to set the story in Xi’an, China. Most people think of Beijing [...]
How do you manage to get everything done with a baby, your books, and your websites Writing for Children and Teens and AuthorsNow!?
My secret weapon is a wonderful college student named Julia who comes in each day and helps me with Baby Liu. I also drink lots of coffee and stay up often. Before I had Julia’s help though, I survived by [...]
Do you plan your books out carefully beforehand or fly by the seat of your pants?
Usually, I just sit in front of the computer and start typing. For THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA, I knew I was doing something about an adopted teen returning to China. So I did a lot of online research to [...]
Is there anything you learned about writing when creating THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA?
The plotting wasn’t nearly as difficult as writing the story itself. It was incredibly hard to write in the same tone as the series. S.A.S.S. books are very commercial so I had to adapt my writing to ensure the style [...]
Any advice for future authors?
Woah. You have asked the “write” question. Do I have advice! I have a whole website and book devoted to advice for aspiring authors, called WRITING FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS: A CRASH COURSE. (http://www.writingforchildrenandteens.com/for-writers. My advice? Take the crash [...]
How do you deal with writer’s block?
Hmmm… I’m not really sure how I deal with it. If I can’t write, I quit for the day. Does that make writer’s block worse? Or would it be better if I tried to write through it? I have no [...]
What made you start writing?
A job I was starting to love slightly less than the IRS, an old idea for a story featuring a talking dog, and a love of reading great children’s books when I was a kid.