Courtesy of Eugenia Yoh and Vivienne Chang.
This Is Not My Home by Eugenia Yoh and Vivienne Chang
An idea that started in the middle of the pandemic has now become the picture book This Is Not My Home, from debut co-authors and college students Vivienne Chang and Eugenia Yoh. A poignant and powerful reverse immigration story follows the story of Lily, a young Taiwanese-American girl, as she moves back to Taiwan with her mom. The reader comes along as Lily grapples to find home in a new environment and explores the themes of change in a swirl of dynamic scenery and eye-catching colors.
Chang, a senior economics and finance student at Washington University in St. Louis, and Yoh, a recent graduate of WashU in communication design, first met at a hotpot night. While it quickly turned into a painful stomach ache for Yoh in Chang’s dorm, the friendship left behind lasted. “I don’t know how the conservation started,” Yoh says, “But she’s like, ‘I also really love children’s books.’ And I was like, ‘Oh that’s so cool! Me too!’”
Yoh and Chang wanted to change the narrative about immigration, focusing on a child from a Western country moving to a different nation. Both Yoh and Chang are children of Taiwanese immigrants. “Our parents moved to America, Canada, and [other countries] in the Western Hemisphere to find a better life. They also had to figure out what is home. And [immigrant children] a lot of times take [the sense of home] for granted,” Chang says.
This Is Not My Home by Vivienne Chang and Eugenia Yoh.
This Is Not My Home by Vivienne Chang and Eugenia Yoh
They started the book in early October 2020, and after drawing on their friends’ experiences and their own, This Is Not My Home was born. Between the conception and publication of the story, Chang and Yoh were selected as runner-ups for Clairvoyants, an international competition with a thousand-plus entries from Polish publishing house Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry. And while in the rough draft Lily grew up and became a mother, nothing else really changed from the first draft. The goal was always to tell a universal story with their humor peeking out from the pages.
“I hope we make a lot of moms cry,” Yoh says with a smile, “That is, I hope they can read it and find a lot of heart in it for just them as well.”
Chang and Yoh are already working on their next project, which will be another story centered on universal themes, family, and putting Asian Americans in the spotlight. For those looking to see the authors in person, they will be attending several events surrounding the book release. Find them at Storytime at the Central Library in St. Louis on February 3, an Educator’s Event on February 4 at the Novel Neighbor, and the STL Launch Party at Subterranean Books on February 7.
For more information on where to purchase, go to byr.com/titles/vivienne-chang/this-is-not-my-home/9780316377102/.
