Maribel's Year Cover Reveal

I’m so, SO excited to share the cover of my next picture book, MARIBEL’S YEAR, out on May 9, 2023, from HarperCollins. 🥳 I can’t wait for you to meet Maribel and her beautiful world so extraordinarily illustrated by Filipina Canadian illustrator Sarah Gonzales.  Her art is brilliant and poetic and incomprehensibly beautiful.  Her color work is sublime and is like nothing I’ve ever seen before (and I’ve read thousands of picture books in my lifetime).  Be prepared to be blown away (in the best way possible)! 😳😄

📮Preorders really do matter and make a huge difference!  Thank you so much to everyone for your support of my books and other diverse books.  Stay tuned in the coming months for sneak peeks of the interior art here! 👀 Also, please feel free to share this post far and wide. ❤️📚

MARIBEL’S YEAR is a celebration of the special connection between father and daughter that knows no bounds.  This evocative, lyrical picture book from author Michelle Sterling and artist Sarah Gonzales recounts the year a little girl and her mother spend in America while waiting for her father to join them from the Philippines. ❄️🌱☀️🍂

New country, new school, new friends.

A lot can happen in a single year. But one thing’s for certain: Maribel won’t forget her papa, even when he’s eight-thousand miles away in the Philippines.

After all, Papa is all around. He is the memory of feeding koi fish in their pond every morning. He is the constellation map as Maribel dreams of showing him her new world. He is the packages and letters sent back and forth.

He is everywhere except the place he’s wanted the most. But the bond between Maribel and Papa transcends oceans. So as the snow melts and turns to rain, as flowers blossom and welcome sun-kissed days, and as the leaves start to change and snow begins to fall once more, can Maribel wait just a little bit longer?

MARIBEL’S YEAR publishes on May 9, 2023, and is available for preorder now!

Cover Reveal for A Sweet New Year for Ren

I’m very, very excited to share the cover of my next book — A SWEET NEW YEAR FOR REN!

Little Ren looks forward to the preparation for and festivities of Lunar New Year, but she is always too little to help make the delicious pineapple cakes that are her favorite.  She watches family members rolling out the dough and loves the mouth-watering smell. Watching and waiting, when will Ren be old enough?

Growing up, I loved hearing my father tell stories about his childhood in the Philippines, and to this day, I still do.  A SWEET NEW YEAR FOR REN was inspired by our Chinese heritage, by stories of my dad celebrating Lunar New Year as a boy and by my family’s love for traditions and beautiful times spent together throughout the years.

Pineapples symbolize good fortune and prosperity in Chinese and Taiwanese cultures.  Pineapple cakes originated in Taiwan and are often given as gifts wherever Lunar New Year is celebrated.  In Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, pineapple tarts are also baked and enjoyed during Lunar New Year.  A recipe by my dear friend and food writer/artist Bonnie Eng is included!

Thank you to all of the wonderful individuals who have brought this story to life including incredible illustrator Dung Ho.  A Sweet New Year for Ren publishes on November 15, 2022, from Simon & Schuster and is available to preorder now.

Click here to preorder!

Cover Reveal for Patch of Sky

I’m thrilled to be sharing the cover reveal for author-illustrator Nic Yulo’s debut picture book PATCH OF SKY!

A fiercely determined girl will do anything to help her best friend finally see the sky in this unique story of determination, empathy, and learning to look at the world in a whole new way.

Pia just found out the terrible news that pigs can’t look straight up, which means her best friend and right-hand-pig Patches has never seen the sky. If you ask her, that is absolutely CUCKOO BANANAS. Now Pia is on a mission to share the beauty of the big wide sky with Patches . . . and she will do whatever it takes!

PATCH OF SKY by Nic Yulo will be out on July 12, 2022, and is available for pre-order now from Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin RandomHouse!

Cover Reveal for Are You a Cheeseburger?

I’m excited to host a cover reveal for author-illustrator Monica Arnaldo’s forthcoming picture book ARE YOU A CHEESEBURGER?

Grub is a lonely racoon. Rumbling in the trash. Looking for food.  Seed is, well, a seed! Patiently waiting in the trash. Hoping someone will plant it.

When the two finally meet, they realize they might be able to help each other! Grub has just one big question first: What will Seed grow? Could Seed grow Grub’s favorite food, mouthwatering cheeseburgers? Seed isn’t sure what a cheeseburger is exactly, but . . . maybe!

And so begins a hilarious friendship following two unlikely strangers learning more about the other and discovering the pressure that comes with fulfilling expectations. Author-illustrator Monica Arnaldo will leave readers giggling and clamoring for more in this charming story that celebrates the unexpected—and how the most special friendships bloom only when we are unapologetically ourselves.

Are You a Cheeseburger? publishes June 1, 2021 from HarperCollins and is now available for pre-order!