Haemi Balgassi

Last updated
Haemi Balgassi
Born1967
Seoul, South Korea
Occupation Author
Nationality Korean American
Genre Children's literature, Young adult literature

Haemi Balgassi (born 1967) is a Korean American writer. She is the author of award-winning children's books including Peacebound Trains and Tae's Sonata.

Contents

Balgassi was born in Seoul, South Korea, and grew up in Western Massachusetts. [1] Her stories, articles, essays, and poetry have been published in numerous publications, including Cicada, [2] Hopscotch, Liquorian, Complete Woman, romance magazines, and literary journals. Balgassi was one of 45 authors and illustrators featured in Children's Authors and Illustrators Too Good to Miss, a reference book by Sharron L. McElmeel.

Books

Balgassi's chapter book Peacebound Trains was illustrated by Chris Soentpiet and published by Clarion Books in 1997. It is a story about life in Seoul at the time of the Korean War, recounted by a character called Grandmother to her granddaughter Sumi. [3] Peacebound Trains is based on the real-life experiences of Balgassi's mother. [4] It was named a Smithsonian (magazine) Notable Children's Book, International Reading Association Notable Book for a Global Society, San Francisco Chronicle Best Children's Book, Society of Illustrators Gold Medalist, National Council for the Social Studies/Children's Book Council Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, and American Booksellers Association Pick of the Lists. Peacebound Trains was featured on the United States of America Korean War Commemoration site, complete with a Teacher Activity Guide. [5] It is the only book to receive this honor. In 2014, NPR included "All Aboard! A Reading List for the Rails. [6]

Balgassi's middle-grade novel, Tae's Sonata, was published by Clarion Books in 1997. It tells the story of a Korean-American eighth-grader grappling with her identity as a first-generation immigrant in the United States. [7] The book weaves together Tae's experiences of prejudice and discrimination against her family with her own coming-of-age and first crush. [8] Tae's Sonata was named a National Council for the Social Studies/Children's Book Council Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, an American Booksellers Association Pick of the Lists, and nominated for the Maine Student Book Award. [9] The novel won the 2000 Lamplighter Classic Award. [10] Bank Street College honored Best Children's Book. [11] Children's 2006, Hampton-Brown, [12] a branch of National Geographic School Publishing, [13] selected Tae's Sonata for its inZone Books collection.

Related Research Articles

<i>Publishers Weekly</i> American weekly trade news magazine

Publishers Weekly (PW) is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of Book Publishing and Bookselling". With 51 issues a year, the emphasis today is on book reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Association for Library Service to Children</span> American library association

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is a division of the American Library Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary D. Schmidt</span> American author

Gary David Schmidt is an American author of children's and young adults' fiction books. He currently resides in Alto, Michigan, where he is a professor of English at Calvin University.

Carmen Agra Deedy is an author of children’s literature, storyteller and radio contributor.

Chris K. Soentpiet is a Korean American children's book illustrator and author. He was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1970. At age 8, he moved to Hawaii to live with his adoptive family. A year later, the Soentpiets relocated to Portland, Oregon. Soentpiet currently lives and works in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikki Grimes</span> American writer and illustrator

Nikki Grimes is an American author of books written for children and young adults, as well as a poet and journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Wood (naturalist)</span> American naturalist

Douglas Wood is an American children's author, author, singer, songwriter, speaker, and musician. One of Wood's children's books, Old Turtle and the Broken Truth, won the International Reading Association Book of the Year Award.

Gail Gibbons is an American writer and illustrator of children's books, most of which are non-fiction. She started her career as a graphic artist for television, but transitioned to writing and designing children's books in the 1970s.

Istvan Banyai was a Hungarian illustrator and animator. He was born in suburban Budapest and received his BFA from Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. He moved to France in 1973, then to the United States in 1981.

Anita Silvey is an American author, editor, and literary critic in the genre of children’s literature. Born in 1947 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Silvey has served as Editor-in-Chief of The Horn Book Magazine and as vice-president at Houghton Mifflin where she oversaw children’s and young adult book publishing. She has also authored a number of critical books about children's literature, including 500 Great Books for Teens and The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators. In October 2010, she began publishing the Children's Book-A-Day Almanac online, a daily essay on classic and contemporary children's books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cressida Cowell</span> British writer

Cressida Cowell FRSL is a British children's author, popularly known for the book series, How to Train Your Dragon, which has subsequently become an award-winning film franchise as adapted by DreamWorks Animation. As of 2015, the series has sold more than seven million copies around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uma Krishnaswami</span> American writer

Uma Krishnaswami is an Indian author of picture books and novels for children and is a writing teacher. She is "recognized as a major voice in the expanding of international and multicultural young adult fiction and children's literature."

BookTrust is a UK children's reading charity dedicated to getting children reading.

Michael Allen Austin is an American illustrator, best known for his work in children’s books. Among the titles he has illustrated are Cowpoke Clyde and Dirty Dawg, written by Lori Mortensen; The Horned Toad Prince, written by Jackie Mims Hopkins; and Railroad John and the Red Rock Run, written by Tony Crunk. His illustrations have also appeared in magazines, such as Highlights for Children, Spider and Cricket, as well as galleries and museums throughout the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Yelchin</span> American writer

Eugene Yelchin is a Russian-American artist best known as an illustrator and writer of books for children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Lanthier</span> Canadian writer

Jennifer Deirdre Jane Lanthier is a Canadian children's author and journalist. Since August 2016 she has been the Director, U. of T. News at the University of Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eileen Christelow</span> American writer

Eileen Christelow is an American writer and illustrator of children's books, both fiction and non-fiction. She is best known for her series about the Five Little Monkeys, starting with her retelling of the classic nursery rhyme "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." Other notable books include stories set in her home state of Vermont; stories featuring Emma the Desperate Dog; and Vote!, a non-fiction work about the voting process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erin Entrada Kelly</span> American writer

Erin Entrada Kelly is an American writer of children's literature. She was awarded the 2018 John Newbery Medal by the Association for Library Service to Children for her third novel, Hello, Universe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaylani Juanita</span> Illustrator

Kaylani Juanita McCard, professionally known as Kaylani Juanita, is an illustrator. Her work focuses on activism, empowerment of people of color, and LGBTQ+ people. Her work has appeared in publications through Chronicle Books, Cicada Magazine, and Lee & Low Books. Her first book illustrated, Ta-Da! by Kathy Ellen Davis, was released by Chronicle Books and nominated for an Young Readers award via the 38th Annual Northern California Book Awards. In 2018, ELLE Magazine featured her work and interviewed her at length in context of her memorial illustrations based on the murder of Nia Wilson, a black woman who was fatally stabbed in a suspected hate crime while exiting a BART train. In 2017, she illustrated "9 Books for Woke Kids," an article by Guinevere de la Mare.

References

  1. ↑ Xu, Wenying (2012-04-12). Historical Dictionary of Asian American Literature and Theater. Scarecrow Press. ISBN   9780810873940.
  2. ↑ Haverstock, Mark. "Mark Haverstock Writer's Page". www.markhaverstock.com. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  3. ↑ "Bookshelf". The New York Times. 1997-03-30. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  4. ↑ Stephens, John (2017-09-13). The Routledge Companion to International Children's Literature. Routledge. ISBN   9781317676065.
  5. ↑ http://web.archiv8e.org/web/20040117065054/http://korea50.army.mil/teachers/peacebound/activity_peace.shtml [ dead link ]
  6. ↑ "All Aboard! A Reading List For Riding The Rails". NPR.org. 17 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Darby, Mary Ann; Pryne, Miki (2002). Hearing All the Voices: Multicultural Books for Adolescents. Scarecrow Press. ISBN   9780810840584.
  8. ↑ "Children's Book Review: Tae's Sonata by Haemi Balgassi, Author Clarion Books $15 (128p) ISBN 978-0-395-84314-7". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  9. ↑ "Maine Library Association - Awards".
  10. ↑ "Wholesome Books for Today's Kids - Children's Book Awards - Triple Crown Awards". www.childrenscrownaward.org.
  11. ↑ "Bank Street - Children's Book Committee". www.bankstreet.edu. 12 September 2024.
  12. ↑ "Hampton-Brown Online". Archived from the original on 2007-04-20. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  13. ↑ "Home". ngschoolpub.org.

Interviews

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.