What Makes a Personal Memory Worth Writing About?

Navigating Night is my tenth publication and my sixth picture book. Most of my picture books to date have been biographies about fellow Chinese Americans, starting with Paper Son, about the artist Tyrus Wong, in 2019 and continuing with Seen, a story about the photojournalist Corky Lee, in 2027. And hopefully for many more books after that.

It’s a rewarding side gig that indulges my love of history and research. (I double-majored in English and journalism in college, but I rarely get to use that second degree.) I still pinch myself at my luck. I’ve gotten to spotlight incredible people, visited amazing local museums, and made lifelong connections with many families.

It’s also a heavy responsibility. I’m taking the entirety of someone’s life and distilling it into a short text that’s accessible for children. I’m planting seeds that I hope the illustrator can water into a garden. I don’t shy away from the painful realities of racism or death, but I also want to weave in the inspiring themes that will resonate with young readers. I want to highlight why someone is worth remembering, why they deserve recognition and a place in the history books.

And so it is with some selfishness and guilt that I ended up writing Navigating Night. It is certainly a departure from my usual body of work. Instead of someone else, I applied my writing tools inward, drawing on my own memories and researching my own feelings. Throughout the process, I wondered if they were worth sharing with anyone else. What made a memory worth sharing anyway?

I should also say that I owe a great debt to Watercress, written by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Jason Chin. Until I had read that story, I didn’t know anyone could write about themselves in a picture book – much less get it published. And with Watercress, I identified so strongly with the main character’s initial resentment of her circumstances. And I shed plenty of tears at the end. This book gave me so much confidence that my project was worth pursuing. (Thanks, Andrea!)

Back in the ‘90s, my parents ran a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant buffet in a small Georgia. They managed a small takeout business after stocking up the hot bar with all the classic dishes: Mongolian Beef, Kung Pao Chicken, Moo Goo Gai Pan. You name it, my dad can cook it.

Around 5:30 pm or so, the phone calls would trickle in. (Other than maybe Friday or Saturday night, they rarely poured in. We strategically set up shop in a small town, and most people knew us as a buffet place.) Nonetheless, I would also take down customer orders from a handful of regulars over the phone, and call them out into the kitchen for my dad.

While he made the dishes, I looked up street names on a map, and marked our evening destinations. While we were away, my mom and grandma held down the fort. While neither of them could handle the fiery wok stove, they could at least drop a few critical dishes like egg rolls and crab rangoons into the deep fryer while they waited for me and my dad to get back.

Looking back on those nightly drives, I remember the brilliant, brave ways my dad learned to adapt to his environment. In a country where he didn’t understand the language, he built a business, raised a family, and learned to live a new life. I am struck by the amount of trust he placed in me to help him establish that life.

Because in the end, my goal with Navigating Night is not that much different from my other books. I write to illuminate the Chinese American experience. And whether it is I.M. Pei, whose buildings mark major cities across our globe, or simply myself making Chinese food deliveries with my dad. They are both worth remembering as essential elements of our shared history.

That’s what I wanted to honor with Navigating Night.

JULIE LEUNG is an award-winning author of numerous children’s books. Her picture book, The Truth About Dragons, was a 2024 Caldecott Honor Book and winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. She is also the author of Paper Son, Mr. Pei’s Perfect Shapes, and The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee, all of which received multiple starred reviews. By day, she works in book publishing.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION: You can win a 20-minute virtual author visit and a copy of Navigating Night by Julie Leung, donated by Penguin Random House. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment about this post by Wed., May 13, at 6:00 p.m. EDT. The winner will be randomly selected by Stacey Shubitz and announced at the bottom of the preview post by Monday, May 18. You must have a U.S. mailing address and provide a valid e-mail address when you post your comment. If you win, Stacey will email you for your mailing address. She will choose a new winner if you do not respond with your mailing address within five days.