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| photo: Aaron Blumenshine | |
Stacey Lee, a native of Southern California and a fourth-generation Chinese American, practiced law for several years before retiring to start writing books. She is the author of historical and contemporary young adult and middle-grade fiction, including The Downstairs Girl, Luck of the Titanic, and Kill Her Twice. Heiress of Nowhere (Sarah Barley Books/Simon & Schuster), her eighth YA novel, was just released.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
An orphan inherits her employer's massive estate after his murder and must find the killer--who may or may not come from the sea--before she becomes the next victim.
On your nightstand now:
Randy Ribay's The Awakening of Roku, the sixth book in the Avatar the Last Airbender Chronicles series. I regularly watch the animated series with my kids (who are now adults), and I've loved seeing YA authors expand that universe. Randy Ribay brings nuance to questions of power, responsibility, and moral compromise--some of my favorite themes to explore in my own books.
Favorite book when you were a child:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle--it was a "new book" back then and we all couldn't get enough of it. I mean, how brilliant is it to stick actual holes in the book through which kids can stick their wiggly wormy fingers? And let's not overlook its greatest achievement: it made me want to eat vegetables.
Favorite book to read to a child:
Okay, it's a little bit of a cheat since it's practically wordless but Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann was a favorite in our house. A mischievous gorilla steals the zookeeper's keys and quietly unlocks all the cages--pure visual comedy. I love the shared giggles as you turn each page, and that sly, perfect ending. Go ahead, reread. I'll wait.
I also adore reading Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems. First, I'm glad naked mole rats get their day in the sun. Second, this is a joyful, accessible story about someone who dares to be different.
A more recent favorite is Joanna Ho's Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, illustrated by Dung Ho, which I buy anytime I need a baby gift. It's a luminous celebration about a girl who learns to love her Asian-shaped eyes by seeing their beauty reflected in her mother and ancestors. The pictures are as gorgeous as the message.
Book you've faked reading:
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I tried. I truly did. I respect its place in American literature, but I just couldn't make it through. It was just too unrelentingly bleak for me at the time. Sorry, Steinbeck--it's not you, it's me.
Book you're an evangelist for:
L.A. Meyer's Bloody Jack. I will press this series into anyone's hands. It follows a scrappy London orphan who disguises herself as a boy and joins the British navy. It's swashbuckling, romantic, funny, and deeply empowering. That series made me fall in love with historical fiction and showed me how a bold, complicated girl could steer the entire narrative. I owe a great deal of my writing life to L.A. Meyer.
Book you've bought for the cover:
All of Elizabeth Lim's novels, especially Six Crimson Cranes, cover illustrated by Tran Nguyen. The cover is breathtaking--lush, intricate, transportive. The happy surprise is that the stories inside are just as enchanting as the artwork.
Best book an adult handed to you when you were a child:
A children's librarian once handed me Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Reading Anne's words--written while she was in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands--changed me. What struck me most was her stubborn belief in people's goodness despite unimaginable fear and confinement. She was thoughtful, hopeful, flawed... just a regular teenager in extraordinary circumstances. It was one of the first times I understood how powerful a young person's voice could be.
Book that changed your life:
L.A. Meyer's In the Belly of the Bloodhound, the fourth book in the Bloody Jack series. (Yes, it deserves a second mention.) That series cracked something open for me. It made history feel thrilling and immediate rather than distant and dusty, and it proved that a girl could seize her fate, even in the most restrictive times.
In this installment especially, Meyer's talent is on full display: Jacky relies on her wit and hard-earned skills to save her boarding-school classmates after pirates kidnap them aboard a ship bound for the Barbary Coast. It is swashbuckling storytelling magic. I truly believe I write historical fiction today because of L.A. Meyer.
Favorite line from a book:
"I am haunted by humans." --from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Death is the narrator of this Markus Zusak masterpiece set in Nazi Germany following a young girl who copes with her trauma by stealing and sharing books with others. This final line reflects Death's bewilderment at human's capacity for both cruelty and kindness. It's simple but reverberates.
Five books you'll never part with:
I strongly believe books should be shared (and if they're not returned, I prefer to assume they were loved too much to let go), so here are five books that have bewitched and delighted me in recent memory:
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson. Whilst visiting Kentucky a few years back, I asked the brilliant Courtney Stevens (who is not just an author but a librarian) for a book that would make me cry and laugh. She shared this one, about a young woman who becomes the caretaker for her estranged friend's twin stepchildren, who spontaneously combust when agitated. Yes, exactly. It's absurd, tender, and unexpectedly profound.
Sara Pennypacker's The Lion's Run. This is the kind of historical fiction I adore: immersive enough to feel like time travel. Set in Nazi-occupied France, it follows an orphan who risks his life to save kittens and, incidentally, aids the French Resistance. Pennypacker weaves in layers of history, including the Lebensborn program, with grace and emotion. I will read every book she writes.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Remember how I just said I didn't like bleak? Apparently, I do because this book wounded me in a way that shouldn't be possible for a few ounces of paper and ink. It's about three friends raised in a secluded English boarding school, and I can't really tell you more without spoiling it. It's a quiet meditation on love, memory, and morality, and I still think about it.
Safe Harbor by Padma Venkatraman, an uplifting middle-grade novel-in-verse about a girl struggling after her parents' divorce with bullying, and cultural adjustment, who helps rescue a stranded seal. Venkatraman, who is an oceanographer herself, brings authenticity and heart to every one of her stories, and did I mention the seal?
Eliana Ramage's To the Moon and Back. I love stories about astronauts and love even more showcasing heroines we don't often see, which surprises no one. Spanning three decades, this book follows a Cherokee teen determined to escape her turbulent upbringing by pursuing NASA and a future in space. As her ambition strains her bonds with her sister, her girlfriend, and her mother, Eliana Ramage beautifully explores Indigenous identity, family legacy, and what it costs to chase the moon.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café. The voice and the ride or die friendship between Idgie and Ruth is chef's kiss perfection.