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C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

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November Featured Follower & Our Heritage, #InkRipples

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Meet Suzanne Kamata
The Write Game’s Amazin Featured Follower for November
Buy on Amazon
Add to your TBR list on Goodreads

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Aiko Cassidy is fourteen and lives with her sculptor mother in a small Midwestern town. For most of her young life Aiko, who has cerebral palsy, has been her mother’s muse. But now, she no longer wants to pose for the sculptures that have made her mother famous and have put food on the table. Aiko works hard on her own dream of becoming a great manga artist with a secret identity. 
When Aiko’s mother invites her to Paris for a major exhibition of her work, Aiko at first resists. She’d much rather go to Japan, Manga Capital of the World, where she might be able to finally meet her father,the indigo farmer. When she gets to France, however, a hot waiter with a passion for manga and an interest in Aiko makes her wonder if being invisible is such a great thing after all. And a side trip to Lourdes, ridiculous as it seems to her, might just change her life. 

And here’s Suzanne

Suzanne Kamata was born and raised in Grand Haven, Michigan. She is most recently from Lexington, South Carolina, and now lives in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan with her husband and two children.

Her short stories, essays, articles and book reviews have appeared in over 100 publications including Real Simple, Brain, Child, Cicada, and The Japan Times. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times, and received a Special Mention in 2006. She is also a two-time winner of the All Nippon Airways/​Wingspan Fiction Contest, winner of the Paris Book Festival, and winner of a SCBWI Magazine Merit Award

This is how Gadget Girl begins. 
My father has blue hands. Or at least that’s what Mom tells me–one of the few facts I’ve been able to wring out of her. See, he’s the eldest sone of one of the last indigo producers in his village on the Japanese island of Shikoku His family has been growing indigo for generations–cuter, even–since back in the time of the shoguns.
“You were named after that plant,” Mom told me. “Ai means indigo. Ko means child.”

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Indigo is my destiny.
Her next book arrives in 2017. The Mermaids of Lake Michigan.

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pre-order from powells.
pre-order from barnes and noble.


Heritage is the #InkRipples topic for November


#InkRipples:a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. 
Post on the first Monday of every month with a new topic. 
Thanks for the great gift, Mom and Dad.
And thanks for the heritage you passed on to me: the love of good food.

This is a cookbook filled with history and heritage of foods from the early immigrants to the U.S. Every time I make a dish, using this book, I learn more about the people who have helped shape our nation. 

Here’s why pumpkins are so much a part of our Thanksgiving feasts. “For the early colonists pumpkin was often the difference between survival and starvation. It was fit for only the peasants, said Europe. But the Colonists soon overcame this prejudice, and pumpkin became an almost daily staple in the New World.” 

Quote of the Week: “So long as you have food in your mouth,  you have solved all questions for the time being.” Franz Kafka

Comments

  4. Love the sound of Gadget Girl, and Suzanne's upcoming book looks fascinating, as well. Will have to remember to check these out sometime!

    And wow, never knew pumpkins were once deemed as something just for peasants. They've always been one of my favorite additions to recipes of all kinds!

    • There's always been a social distinction vis a vie food. Leek eaters were the peasants of the Elizabethan time. Royalty chowed down on game they'd hunted in their private woods.

  8. "So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being." Franz Kafka. Well, Franz, I guess there's a lot of people who haven't got food in their mouths, so that question is still unsolved. Wish it were so simple.
    Congrats to Suzanne!

  11. Gadget Girls sounds like a lot of fun. Congrats to Suzanne.
    I love old cook books and old recipes! I've started collecting recipes from my German mother-in-law – recipes that have been passed down to her and through the generations. Maybe if I collate enough I should share them in a book. For now though, I'm happy to just recreate them for family and friends. Thanks for the post, Lee.

  13. Gadget Girls sounds like an interesting book. I am not aware of Manga, so reading this book would be insightful.
    Wow! The Heritage Cook Book is super cool, I'd like to check that out too!

  17. Suzanne's book sounds so timely and interesting. I love it when the characters are in a foreign setting. I feel like I'm there too! Wishing her much success!

  21. Congrats to Suzanne. I have been seeing her book around and it was great to learn more about it. Also- her mermaid book has a fabulous cover!
    ~Jess

  24. Gadget Girl sounds intriguing. ‘My father has blue hands’ could become one of those opening lines we all remember.
    The quote from Franz Kafka is simple but oh so true.

  28. Hooray for featuring someone with a disability. And for focussing on what she can do, rather than what she can't. Thank you Suzanne.
    My European father loathed pumpkin. 'Animal food'. And I love it – though I treat it as a savoury dish. Pumpkin pie doesn't attract.

  29. This lady seems to have an insight into the life of a child with such a disability. I wish mermaids really did exist except for taking men down to the bottom to drown. I love the indigo colour and found it amazing how the colour is created.

  30. Hi, Cheryl Lee!

    Hi, Suzanne!

    Manga and anime have always fascinated me, and the character Aiko Cassidy and her motivations are intriguing. The Mermaids of Lake Michigan is another can't miss title. Thank you for introducing Suzanne and her tempting reads, dear friend C-Lee!