Yangsook Choi grew up in Korea and flew all the way to New York City to study art. By the time she got to New York, her wings were too tired, and fell off.  While they needed a sewing job, her hands became busy (she uses one hand to draw, and the other to erase) writing stories and drawing pictures for children.

She has illustrated many books, including Landed, Earthquake, The Name Jar, and RIce is Life, and was selected as one of the most prominent new children's book artists by Publishers Weekly a year after she graduated from school, in 1997.

Her books have received several awards, including the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award and a California Young Reader Medal.

She currently lives in New York City, where she thinks about animals, creatures, and children, while eating tofu and papaya.

Visit her website for more information.

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She says of her name:

"As a child, I didn't like my name, Yangsook. Yang means 'gentle', and Sook means 'clear'. I didn't really see myself as someone gentle and clear but rather tough, and thick in personality; but after a while I began to realize that 'yangsook' was a good name to make a balance and to try to live up to.

Growing up, I was teased quite a bit because of my name. 'Yang' in Yangsook sounds the same as 'yang' in 'yang Jae gi', which means bucket, in Korean, so people would call out to me on rainy days: "Bucket, come over here! The ceiling is leaking!"  But, as I said before, I was tough, so it didn't bother as me much as it might another person in my situation. It probably made me stronger."

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