It was a great honor to attend a talk held by Ellen Oh last month.
Ellen has written many books for both middle grade and young adult readers. I adore her stories. I've read most of her books, and each time I find a new one, I feel like I've found an undiscovered treasure. My most favorite book of hers is Finding Junie Kim. While Ellen was born in New York City (also where she grew up) her parents were from South Korea. This book tells the tale of her mother as a little girl. During the Korean War, her parents disappeared. Junie Kim and her siblings began to walk across the countryside. The story is captivating. It is haunting. It is a beautifully written tale of human resilience.
I have always read a lot of Fantasy. I love the world building. It is difficult to write a captivating fantasy novel, and when an author does it well, it can change your world view. During Ellen's talk, I learned of a Young Adult Fantasy novel that she wrote that I have never read. (And I thought I was pretty good at keeping up with Fantasy, so I am ashamed to admit that I missed this title. It was published in 2013. How did I miss it?) It's called Prophecy - it's a novel of the Seven Kingdoms. I put the book on hold at my local library - but it is only available as an e-Book. I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive. Rest assured, once I finish devouring that book, I will review it here!
Ellen is also the founder and CEO of We Need Diverse Books. How to sum up the mission of WNDB in a quick sentence when an entire hour would not be enough to talk about what they do? I know - I will copy and paste directly from their website: At WNDB, we’re creating lifelong readers and a more compassionate world through the power of diverse books. We support marginalized creators, publish inclusive stories, and provide readers with books that reflect our world.
website: https://www.diversebooks.org/
Ellen Oh Author Website: https://www.ellenoh.com/
