Interview with writer Milly Lee
by Marjorie Coughlan*

Milly Lee grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown.  As well as working as a school librarian, she was the Sonoma County Office of Education Librarian until she retired.  She is the author of three books, Nim and the War Effort, Earthquake and Landed. She was presented with the Reading the World Award in 2003 and Earthquake will be featured in an exhibition as part of this month's 2006 Reading The World Conference in San Francisco, California.

You took up writing after you retired from your job as a librarian. Do you think that your experience as a librarian has influenced you as a writer?

I never thought about writing until after my retirement. I spent so much time reading and teaching, there was no time to write. My friend, author Mavis Jukes, encouraged and helped me to start writing.

I believe many librarians dream of being published writers.  We read so many books that we have a sense of story, and if we are involved with reviewing and serving on book committees as well, we learn a great deal in discussions with colleagues and people in publishing.

Each of your three books is set in a prominent area of recent American history as a whole and the Chinese American experience within that. In what way do you hope your readers will take them up?

I want my readers to know that "we were there too."  There were no children's books to show that people in San Francisco's Chinatown had a role during World War II.  In fact, there are few books about American children during that time; most of the stories have been about children as victims caught up in the horrors of the war in Europe and Asia.  I wanted to show how even children were involved with the Home Front efforts.  At the same time, race relations were still not good then, and Chinese Americans were perceived as 'foreign'.

Because the Chinese have had a history of having to leave quickly when attacked, most of them knew what they wanted to take with them.  In Earthquake, Grandmother packed what was needed: food, tea, clothing, bedding.  She packed the small teak house with Kwan Yin because the deity was much loved by Chinese women. The portraits of ancestors were taken out of their frames quickly and rolled up: they were very important because without ancestors and a family history, the Chinese had nothing.  I was hoping readers would recognize what was important to the family and gain some insight into the Chinese culture.

Your stories are based on your own and your family's experiences. When did you know you would write them down? Was it a conscious decision or did you feel impelled to do so by a sense of history? How important do you think it is that stories such as these be not only recorded but also made accessible to young people?

Nim and the War Effort was the story of something interesting that happened to me.  I just wanted to tell the story. It's interesting to me that I didn't really understand what I had written until I read it as a librarian.  There was a great deal more going on than my simple story.  Teachers have told me their students have talked about bullying and racism after they have read it.

I don't believe I set out to write with any intention other than to tell a story.  Yet when Landed was published, I saw that I must have set out to reveal the story of the Chinese in America.  I believe it's important for readers to know that we were one of the groups that came to America and that all of our families were immigrants at some point in history.

As you have just said, your first book, Nim and the War Effort is based on your own memories.  Did you stick to fact or have you also woven in other details?  What was it like to ride in that paddy wagon?

Nim and the War Effort is historical fiction only because Garland's name was changed from Stephens to Stephenson.  Everything else was fresh in my memory because it was probably my one great experience as a child.  When I do school visits, I explain to my audiences that I wore a broken watch for good luck - it certainly didn't help me know the time because I was always asking, "What time is it?"!  In 1943, most children didn't own watches, they were expensive and special.  I tried to give my audiences a sense of what it was like in 1943 - rationing, war bonds, victory gardens, etc.

Earthquake, told through the eyes of a child, has a child-like matter-of-factness about it and it picks up on details that are meaningful to a child — so the horses, dogs and cats also get a mention: something my children really picked up on.   My seven-year-old said quite emphatically that the best bit for him was the relief of knowing they were all safe at the Golden Gate Park.  Were there any particular reasons that you wrote it for a younger audience than Nim — or, indeed, your recent book, Landed?

I didn't really write Earthquake for a much younger audience, it just has fewer words.  I didn't count words or use a younger vocabulary, I just wrote the story from my mother's point of view.

I had a difficult time writing in my mother's voice, and after quite a struggle, I tried an entirely different approach.  My friend, poet and author Janet Wong, asked for a poem for a collection.  On a whim, I took the Earthquake story and told it like a narrative poem with very free verse and form.  It suddenly clicked, I started writing in three-line stanzas and after the first three lines it came easily. In one sitting I was able to tell the story in eleven three-line stanzas.  Without alerting my editor, Frances Foster, I just sent it to her with no comment.  She phoned and said she liked it but I should add some more details.  The rest came easily.  I wrote the lines the way my mother spoke - short and simple observations.

This year marks the San Francisco 1906 earthquake centennial.  Will your book Earthquake have a part to play in any commemorative events?

Besides the presentation at the Reading the World Conference VIII on March 11-12, I will be taking my slides and talk to San Francisco Public Library, alongside Andrea Johnston and Kamala Harris, on March 23; and to the Author Series at the Santa Clara Library on March 25 and the Chinese Historical Society of America Earthquake event on April 8; I will be part of a Cal Day (UC Berkeley) event on April 22; and there will be signings at several bookstores and some school visits.

Whereas Earthquake is told in quite straightforward language and the natural disaster and its implications are very much allowed to speak for themselves, Nim and Landed, which came out last month, both provide more detail and scope for characterisation.  Indeed, both Nim and Sun, their protagonists, are very likeable characters who have the reader on their sides right from the start.  How do you think their experiences are relevant to readers of their stories today?

Actually, the earthquake was the major event and my mother's observations were enough to tell a story of survival.  In Nim and Landed, the two characters had real issues and problems which provided the tension and the resolution in their stories.  I believe readers can identify with Nim and Sun and can benefit from the knowledge that if they found solutions, the reader may find their own problems are not insurmountable.

Landed is based on your father-in-law's experiences as a young Chinese immigrant into America.  Can you tell us a bit about the book and your experience of writing it?  Have you visited Angel Island?

When my father-in-law was dying I spent some time with him recording his stories.  I wanted my children and grandchildren to know how he came to America and how he lived.  Pop had a very distinctive voice; I wanted them to hear it and know something about him.  Years later, I was able to write that story.

I first visited Angel Island with Paul Chow, a man who was one of the first to recognize the importance of preserving the place.  He brought his father with him that day and I shall never forget the sight of his father hesitating at the door with tears running down his face, as he confronted the place that had caused him so much anxiety.  He entered the room where he had slept and he told us where his bunk was.  I knew then I would work to help future generations come to this place to learn about it.

Coming to America as a boy of twelve was frightening enough when Sun was a real son, but there were many who came as 'paper sons' - young boys who memorized information from coaching books to pose as real sons to gain admittance.

What do you think readers will find surprising when reading the story?

I think readers will find it surprising that the paper sons could manage to memorize enough information to convince the interrogators they were who they claimed to be.  Not only was the information important, but they must pass physical exams as well.  More importantly, they were young, mostly ten to fourteen years old, and they made the journey alone to a place they didn't know, and hardly knowing anybody there.  I believe they, and all other young immigrants coming to America to either shore, were very brave people.  Children will be impressed with that when they try to see themselves in their place.

What reactions to your stories do you get from children? Do you have any favorite school projects that you've been in on or heard about?

I am richly rewarded when I do school visits.  The students, staff, and the parents treat me like royalty for the day.  There is a "Welcome Milly Lee" sign up in front of the school, my own designated parking space, a welcome committee to help me bring my things into the school, and admiring young people to help me set up my displays.  In their multipurpose rooms, the walls will be decorated with scenes from my books; there will be calligraphy and other Chinese objects everywhere; and often a little red wagon filled with newspapers.  Most of the time the students are well prepared with questions and comments about the books, and they are very attentive audiences.  Even the faculty room will be decorated and there will be special lunches - especially the faculty potlucks that I miss from my days working at schools.  I enjoy seeing the kids' faces when they realize I am Nim.

I have received all sorts of wonderful art projects and letters to the author. I am so impressed with the originality of the teachers and librarians who do all this great stuff.  I have received albums and CD's made of my visits, and many email messages. 

One school I visited had made Nim and the War Effort into a class play in which all the students of that grade participated.  Everyone had a line or lines, and they told the story together.

What issues beyond their historical context do you think your books explore?

I have done school visits for grades K-12, and there have been some great discussions when I have presented at middle schools and high schools.  We have lively discussions on racism, war, footbinding, the status of women, China and immigration, and I receive email messages from students.  One particularly interesting question was from an 8th grader who asked how I could be so patriotic when my family lived in a 'ghetto' and racism was rampant.  I'm still mulling over that question, but I believe we were very patriotic because our president and leaders were skillful in rallying everybody around the flag; we all felt part of the nation's struggle to prevail.

My traditional Chinese upbringing was confining at times, but I was able to navigate between the two cultures most of the time.  I had the usual problems of being a bicultural, bilingual child and I tell students that I still blend my two cultures, and they will find their own ways as well.

Yangsook Choi has illustrated all your books.  Did you know each other before you began to work together? How much, if at all, are you also involved in the illustrating process?

Publishers usually keep the author and the illustrator apart, and some authors have no input with the illustrations at all.  My editor, realizing that Yangsook is young and Korean, and I am old and Chinese, allowed us to meet and to work together through her.  My text is completed before the book is given to Yangsook to illustrate.  I have been able to send information and pictures to help Yangsook with the historical and cultural aspects of the stories because I feel the artwork needs to be authentic and accurate.  I do love her artwork and we all have a good working relationship. 

Can I ask what projects you are working on at the moment?

Students tell me they want another Nim book, so I'm thinking about it and wondering if there is another compelling story from my childhood.

*Marjorie Coughlan is PaperTigers Associate Editor

Posted March 2006

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