A long, long time ago in a pasture far away….
When my Great Aunt Ethel Bailey Price gave me a signed copy of her book Poetic Ponderings, I never dreamed I’d ever publish anything. I was too busy having fun raising three very active girls.
From the hills of Columbus Ohio, then raised on a small farm in New Berlin, Wisconsin, my parents packed up our house and six kids (my four brothers and sister, and me, of course) and left the snowdrifts for sand dunes in Sand Key, Florida. Talk about cultural shock. I grew up wearing cowboy hats and boots to …
… fake eyelashes and high-heels in the Miss Largo Pageant.
Books for kids have changed since the days of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Being of mixed race, my girls had no books to read with characters that looked like them. I wanted to change that.
I had a late start writing well enough for kids to read my books.
But it’s never too late.
To prove it, I received SCBWI’s Karen and Phil Cushman Late Bloomer Award on a middle-grade historical fiction called Finding Moon Rabbit.
Finally a book where my kids would know their heritage as Japanese-Americans, and the courage of their grandparents, aunties and uncles.
Moon Rabbit: A War. A Camp. A Girl. A Letter. went on to win a IBPA Book Award for best Young Reader of the year. My daughter, Jenny, Co-authored it with me.
I love writing about historical events where the outward differences of our cultures are not as important as our human similarities.
Why the horse theme?
From the time I could remember anything about myself, I was crazy sure I must be a horse.
Sad days followed when my parents assured me, I wasn’t crazy, just crazy about horses.
Anna Sewell proved to me that I wasn’t the only one who thought like a horse. Her book, Black Beauty saved my life.
Her message about speaking up against unjust actions against those who cannot speak for themselves, resonated with my inner horse.
I like to think my stories offer hope, courage, and dignity to those who have had to endure hardship, and come out a better horse for it.
I traded in my four hooves for two feet a long time ago, but it didn’t stop me from visiting other pastures.
I’ve been corralled in six states (Ohio and Florida twice),
trotted across the U.S. from the Atlantic to Pacific,
jumped over the pond to Europe and Japan,
and flown the Pacific to whinny Aloha
from emerald Hawaiian peaks.
My imaginings took me to wondering about the people whose feet walked the ground before me. What were they like? What were their struggles? What were their triumphs?
I also like to think that knowing my fellow travelers, past and present, helps me to better understand, appreciate, and honor them.
Kodomo No Tame Ni
From a hollow near Hocking Hills, Ohio, J.C. Kato moved to a small farm in Wisconsin, and from there became foot-planted on Sand Key Beach, Florida.
Whale Boys has received the JLG Gold Standard, and J.C. is also an IBPA Gold Award recipient for her novel, Finding Moon Rabbit, co-authored with her daughter, a World War II Girl Scout Story, which started as an SCBWI Karen & Phil Cushman Award. Her second verse novel by Reycraft will be out in the fall, The Hour of the Horse: When General Grant Met the Emperor of Japan.
A full-time writer and part-time traveler, she loves crafting stories for kids based on real people, places, or events. As an activist, she’s a co-administrator for Beyond Barbed Wire FB page, which reinstates JA history, but also the strides being made by Asians since.
Horses are her go-to animal to chill-out with, and she learned to lasso from a girl in Wyoming. She lives in the Tampa Bay area with her husband, kids, grandkids, and floofy dog, Poppet.
