My first book, KIMCHI & CALAMARI, hit bookstores and libraries on April 10th, 2007.
“What’s it about, Rose?”
Glad you asked!
Kimchi and calamari is a quirky food fusion* — and exactly how fourteen-year-old Joseph Calderaro feels about himself. Why wouldn’t an adopted Korean drummer feel like a combo platter given
- his face in the mirror and
- his proud Italian family?
Now Joseph has to write an ancestry essay for school. But all he knows is that his birth family put his diapered butt on a plane to the USA.
What Joseph does leads to a catastrophe messier than a table of shattered dishes — and self-discovery that he never could have imagined.
“What inspired you to write KIMCHI & CALAMARI?”
Another brilliant question!
My inspiration came wrapped in a blanket and drinking a bottle of soymilk — all the way from Korea. I’m talking about my son Connor, who we nicknamed Buddha Baby because of his plump cheeks and glowing smile. Adopting Connor was a true joy, but as with all adopted children, his arriving also meant a loss for him. I remember holding Connor in my arms and worrying about how he would cope later, especially during puberty, a natural time for wondering. I knew I couldn’t spare him from some hurt, but I wanted him to know that I “got it”— that I understood that who he was as a person didn’t begin the moment he arrived in America.
So KIMCHI & CALAMARI came from a place where I wanted to connect with kids thinking about who they were, their identities. I love that old proverb that says children need to know their roots to develop their wings. And it isn’t just adopted kids needing this knowledge; ALL kids do! Nobody cruises through middle school without some struggling to figure out who they are and where they fit in.
By the way, that's Connor on the left (the original Buddha Baby) and Theresa, my baby, on the right. (Uh-oh, she will NOT be happy I called her a baby....)
