GENRE: Character Driven, SEL, Lyrical
WORDS: 486
Query:
I am the author of WINDOWS TO THE WORLD (Marshall Cavendish 2023), A SPOT OF KINDNESS (Marshall Cavendish 2024) and A GARDEN OF TREASURES (Marshall Cavendish 2025).
DRAWN TOGETHER x THE REMEMBER BALLOONS. When Tybalt wants to learn Nonno’s gnocchi recipe, he discovers his secret transcends their language barriers and his grandfather’s dementia.
Tybalt wants to learn the secret to his grandfather’s gnocchi recipe because Nonno forgets things, but they don’t speak the same language. They talk with their hands. They cook with their hands. And Tybalt discovers Nonno’s secret transcends any language barriers.
In the learning how to cook vein of Patricia Tanumihardja’s RAMEN FOR EVERYONE (2023) and Kat Zhang’s AMY WU AND THE PERFECT BAO (2019), the debilitating dementia of Jesse Oliveros’ THE REMEMBER BALLOONS (2018) and wordless communication of Minh Le’s DRAWN TOGETHER (2018), NONNO’S GNOCCHI is a 486-word intergenerational picture book about connecting through food to understand the meaning of family, tradition and culture.
I write for children. My picture books, WINDOWS TO THE WORLD (Marshall Cavendish 2023) and A SPOT OF KINDNESS (Marshall Cavendish 2024) are out in the world already and A GARDEN OF TREASURES (Marshall Cavendish 2025) should be out next year. My story, The Ribbon Girl, was published in a children’s anthology, THE BOOK OF HUGS: STORIES TO KEEP YOU COMPANY in 2020. In addition to children’s stories, I also write for young adults. My story, Lotus Flower, was published in A TAPESTRY OF COLOURS 2: STORIES FROM ASIA (Marshall Cavendish 2021). I have also published short stories for adults in literary magazines such as the Quarterly Literary Review of Singapore and am a winner of the Elle Magazine Short Story Competition 2013. When I am not writing, I am a storyteller with performance and workshop experience in Singapore, India, Malaysia and soon, Korea, as well as a children’s educator, and a member of the SCBWI and Julie Hedlund’s 12×12 Picture Book Challenge. I attend weekly critique groups.
I also have other STEM, STEAM and SEL manuscripts inspired by neurodiverse characters and non stereotypical family structures that reflect my own.
I thank you for your time and consideration.
Excerpt:
I wake up to Nonno’s opera music. I sniff his potatoes. It’s gnocchi-making time.
“Nonno!” I yell because Nonno doesn’t hear so well anymore. “What’s the secret to your gnocchi?”
But Nonno doesn’t reply.
Nonno and I don’t speak the same language.
We talk with our hands. We cook with our hands.
“Gnocchi?” I repeat, rolling my fingers over imaginary snakes.
“Gnocchi,” he repeats, rolling his. “Bene, Tybalt.”
What inspired you to write this story & what do you have in common with it:
Gnocchi [NYAWK-kee] is an Italian pasta dish. In my family, gnocchi-making is a tradition. It takes an entire afternoon, so it’s always tricky to fit in and we save it for Christmas eve. As a child, I wasn’t so interested in cooking, but my child embraced the Italian tradition whole-heartedly. As a third-generation kid, gnocchi-making became so much more than a recipe; it was a way for him to explore his roots, culture and bond with his grandfather, Nonno in spite of their language barrier.
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