In honor of Mother’s Day, this week’s “Friday I’m in Love” is dedicated to my dear mom. Here are six things that I owe to the lady who brought me into this world.

• My temper. Koreans are called the “Irish of the Orient” because of their hot tempers. My mom had one hot temper. We used to have a tumultous mother-daughter relationship, mostly because I was a selfish brat and she had a short fuse. When she got mad, it was best to steer clear of her path unless you wanted random objects hurtled at you. Now that I am a mother, I’m launching tirades of my own. Thanks, mom.
• Music. Everyone in my family sings and plays multiple instruments, so our home was always filled with music. If I had not inherited musical abilities, I would have been disowned and thrown out of the house.  My mom insisted that music made my brother and me smarter than other kids. Maybe she was right.
• Love of Korean food. My mom cooked Korean food nearly every day of my childhood and adolescence. I wouldn’t marry the hub until I knew he was okay with kimchi. Yes, kimchi was the deal breaker of our engagement. When I moved 1300 miles away from my mother’s cooking, I suffered. O, did I suffer. 
• How to fight. I’ll never forget getting teased in 2nd grade and I’ll never forget that my mom taught me how to fight back. She didn’t show me how to throw punches, but she did teach me to stand up for myself and to not back down. A hot temper comes in handy, too.
• Trust. The best gift my mom gave me was her trust. I wasn’t a teenage delinquent, but I was no princess either. Despite my mistakes, she continued to give me her trust and I was deeply conscious of wanting to deserve it.
• Shopaholicism. What can I say, we love to shop. I only wish that I had her sixth sense for finding great deals. Our special weakness is shoes and purses. My mom still buys me purses and mails them in small packages wrapped in brown butcher paper. To this day, the smell of butcher paper makes me salivate with thoughts of satchels, hobos, and totes. Pavlov would have been proud. Whenever my mom is in town, we make a no-shopping pact to make the hub feel better. Too bad it never works. Resistance is futile.

A large portion of my Lit course consists of comparing and contrasting early American writers. Puritans and Transcendentalists, Romantics and Realists, blah blah blah. To cope with the tedium of it all, I’ve tried to be creative with my approach. Comparing early Feminist writers with Pandora was especially fun. But now that the semester is ending, I am officially burnt out. During one of my recent spaced-out moments (there are many), I devised an easier way to compare writers: a throw down. Two writers. Facing off. In a deathmatch. So here’s how it went in my head…

This deathmatch is a close call. Whitman looks pretty scary, but Dickinson is a stone cold Ice Queen. What do you think? 

A Noiseless Patient Spider
by Walt Whitman

A noiseless, patient spider,
I mark’d, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;
Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them–ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, — seeking the spheres, to connect them;
Till the bridge you will need, be form’d — till the ductile anchor hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.

The Soul Selects Her Own Society
by Emily Dickinson

The Soul selects her own Society —
Then — shuts the Door —
To her divine Majority —
Present no more —

Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing —
At her low Gate —
Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat —

I’ve known her — from an ample nation —
Choose One —
Then — close the Valves of her attention —
Like Stone —

Check out this cool video produced by Dorling Kindersley Books in the UK. Be sure to watch all of it, you will be surprised. Thanks to Writing on the Sidewalk for bringing it to my attention.

This week’s “Friday I’m in Love” takes a nostalgic look at an age when I was gloriously free of cell phones and grown-up problems. The most important things in my life were friends, The New Kids on the Block (I heart Joe McIntyre!), jelly bracelets, and these books.

The Baby-sitters Club
by Ann M. Martin

As a preteen in the late 80’s, I was in love with The Baby-sitters Club books. I had so many that I had to stack them on my floor because they wouldn’t fit on the shelf. There are that many. Martin cranked out a total of 131 books in the series, not counting the Super Specials, Mysteries, Super Mysteries, Special Edition Readers’ Requests, Portrait Collections, and Friends Forever editions. Girlfriend was a writing machine.

I stayed devoted to the series for several years, even when other girls my age had graduated to Sweet Valley High books, but my fervor cooled when I reached high school. By the time the final book was released, I was 21 years old and reading “grown up” books. Still, I will always treasure the BSC series. And what’s not to love? Here are a few of the things that I enjoyed most.

• The covers. The covers were always oil painting depictions of the girls. They were my only tangible glimpse into the world of Stoneybrook, Connecticut and they mesmerized me. I thought the girls looked so stylish with their colorful socks, rolled pants, and oversized tops.
• Claudia Kishi. There weren’t many Asian American characters in kid lit at the time (there still aren’t), and Claudia was so cool. She had flawless skin, her own phone line, and a flair for artsy fashion. At the age of 12, I had none of those things.
• Boys. There were plenty of cute boys in the series to satisfy my preteen tastes. While the boys in Sweet Valley High were getting to second base, the innocuous romances in The Baby-sitters Club were thankfully age-appropriate crushes and innocent kisses.
• Friendship. I grew up with a super, close-knit group of gals, so I could relate to the intricate dynamics of the BSC friendships. They dealt with hurts, misunderstandings, and jealousies just like the rest of us. And they supported each other through challenges like the divorce of parents, a death in the family, illness, and breaking up with a boyfriend. Their friendship is the strongest quality of the series.

This month, Ann M. Martin released a prequel to The Baby-sitters Club series called The Summer Before. When I heard about it, my heart had all sorts of palpitations and flutters! The news brought back a flood of memories of the books as well as the real-life friends who read them with me. The prequel is geared toward 7-10 year old girls, so I will definitely buy this one for my 8 year old daughter – and for myself.

I started my children’s novel eight months ago with a lot of gusto. Since then, I have exhausted about a thousand excuses for why I can’t finish it. That’s ironic because I think about my WIP almost daily. One way out of the funk is to stay in touch with the reasons why I enjoy the genre. To do this, I look at the books that I love to read. I also found helpful tips from this post by Jewel Allen. Thanks to @inkygirl for tweeting it.

I love to read (and re-read) The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I have learned a few things from ol’ Clive Staples on how to write a good children’s novel. Think of these more as spices to add flavor to an interesting story, rather than an exact science.

1. Young characters are allowed to be complex. Edmund is just a boy, yet he is capable of bitterness, betrayal, remorse, and personal growth. By creating a complicated character, Lewis is acknowledging that his young audience is also complex and able to grasp deeper layers of subject matter.
2. Start in the real world. This gives the audience something to relate to at the beginning of the book and it provides a foundation for the characters. It also makes the jump into the world of Narnia more magical by comparison. Nobody will doubt that battling a dwarf is more exciting than doing homework. Starting in the real world allows the reader to see the contrast.
3. Include talking animals or mythological creatures. Narnia has both. If the characters can ride on the talking animals or mythological creatures, you’ve got gold. What kid hasn’t fantasized about riding a pegasus or meeting a centaur?
4. Have a really good villain. By good, I mean bad. By bad, I mean evil. Jadis, the White Witch, is an awesome villain. She is deliciously evil, but she’s not so scary that she’ll give young readers nightmares. Lewis strikes a perfect balance.
5. Major character changes are a major risk. It is devastating when Peter and Susan are told that they can no longer return to Narnia. Some critics think that the series never recovers from the loss. Lewis introduces two new characters: Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole. Eustace eventually won me over and became an endearing character. But Jill Pole? Not so much.
6. Family matters. Family, or the lack of family, matters to the characters and the audience. Sibling rivalry, family loyalty, absentee dads, and dying parents play a major role in the lives of the children in Narnia.
7. Share the love. Most children’s books are not existential downers, unless you’re talking about The Little Prince, which we’re not. Even the darkest stories need a little love and hope to keep the reader engaged. The Pevensie children are marked by their love for their family, for Aslan, and for Narnia. Some of the most compelling scenes depict the love of young Diggory Kirke for his dying mother.

These seven things are the board and nails of the wardrobe, opening a doorway into a land of magic, mystery, and adventure. You can also find them in other fantasies for kids like Harry Potter, A Wrinkle in Time, and James and the Giant Peach, just to name a few. Writing a great story is not a formula to be duplicated, but we can find inspiration in reading what we love.

I’m starting a new weekly feature called, “Friday I’m in Love.” Yes, I love The Cure. Yes, I am as fickle as the song. Every Friday I will post about something that has captured the fancy of my fickle heart. To kick things off, here is a wonderful book that I finished just this morning.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
by Grace Lin

Slightly reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, this children’s novel is set in the magical landscape of rural China. A young girl named Minli sets out on a journey to find the Man of the Moon, an immortal being who has the power to change her family’s bad fortune. Along the way, she encounters a white rabbit, a red dragon, and even a talking goldfish.

Woven throughout the book are stories filled with fantasy, magic, and danger. I found the audiobook at the local library for R and M. Of course, I kept listening to it on my own. I love it when the mood of an audiobook matches the weather outside. I was driving alone in a Spring shower when I got to the part of the pearlescent Moon Rain. It was perfect. Janet Song, with a faint but inconspicuous accent, gave the audiobook authenticity. With a surname like Song, she’s probably Korean instead of Chinese, but that’s close enough for me.

Here is a book trailer I found at Grace Lin’s website. By the way, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was recently awarded a 2010 Newberry Honor Book. Congratulations!