I Dream of Popo was the first manuscript I read where I felt like I could really have a sense of ownership. Since I often illustrate other peoples’ stories, this is not something that I take for granted. Many of the wonderful projects I’ve worked on have been about different cultures, and I see them as learning experiences, often requiring a good amount of research. But I’ve never had the chance to tell a Taiwanese story until now. This is not my exact story, but it does come very close. I knew it would be a special and rare opportunity to draw these firsthand experiences.
This story is wrapped up in a Taiwanese setting with Taiwanese characters, but it’s really about the connections we keep with loved ones who are far away. Far away doesn’t have to mean across an ocean; it can mean living across a country, a city a few hours away, or just somewhere out of reach, and I think that’s something we all experience these days.
The first step in some book projects is to create sample images to establish the style of the entire book. For I Dream of Popo, I pitched two different styles, one based on shapes and one on linework. We settled on the style of the image on the left, the shape-based style. This same image actually ends up making it into the book with very few changes!
I Dream of Popo was a special book to work on because it was the first time I could tell my own family’s story through my illustrations. I lived in Taiwan for a year as a child in the same house as my Ah Ma and Ah Gong. I’ve also visited regularly as an adult ever since my parents moved back to Taiwan in 2009. It’s important to say that Livia’s story is not my exact story, but it comes much closer to anything I’ve ever drawn before.
My reference for this illustration was a photo I took of my mom holding my cousin’s daughter, Brenna, when we were all together in Taiwan!
I “decorated” the house in I Dream of Popo in a way that feels familiar and true to me:
- Tatung rice cooker which is a staple in many Taiwanese and Taiwanese American households
- a huge cleaver which we use to cut everything, no matter the size of the food
- obligatory sesame oil, rice wine, and soy sauce or paste in bulk
- zhong zhi (sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves) and
- a huge 50lb bag of rice
Some objects may be more specific to my own family:
- the distinct shape of the industrial range hood over the stove
and tiled backdrop
- large brown pot off to the side containing my Ah Ma’s homemade plum wine
- the fishtank in the back: My Ah gong and Ah Ma have kept goldfish (the weirdly bulbous kind) for as long as I can remember!