Ties That Bind, Ties That Break

Year of publication:1999

Editorial house: Random House
Number of pages: 154

Lensey Namioka 

At eight years old, Lensey wrote her very first book, a book about a woman warrior which was written on scraps of paper sewn together with thread. By the time it was already evident this young writer demonstrated great potential. Now more than thirty years later, Lensey Namioka has succeeded in becoming an accomplished author of books for children and young adults.

Lensey Namioka was born in Beijing, China, in 1929. She is the daughter of Buwei Yang Chao, a surgeon, and Yuenren Chao, a linguist who specialized in the Chinese language and dialects. Named by her father, Lensey has an exclusive name. Around the time of Lensey's birth, the Chinese government decided to create a writing system that would be easier for people to learn. Because her father was so knowledgeable of the Chinese language, he was on the committee. He had to first help create a phonetic system. In doing this, Lensey's father discovered two syllables in the Chinese language that actually had no Chinese words that use them. The syllables are written as len and sey in English. It was from her father's discovery that Lensey got her name. 

Lensey's family moved multiple times while they lived in China. She even moved to the United States briefly as a very young child. However, her family returned to the United States permanently in 1938  because of the Japanese invasion into China. Lensey's family made their way to Hawaii and later settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Lensey attended grade school. Like many others who have moved to a new country, Lensey struggled to learn a language that was so different from her native Chinese.However, once she mastered English, Lensey eagerly read book after book in her neighborhood library. Although she excelled in math, Lensey especially enjoyed writing.

The author has won many awards for her work. For instance, Ties That Bind, Ties That Break was named one of the American Library Association's 10 Best Books for Young People, and also won the California Young Reader Medal and the Washington State Governor's Writers Award. Namioka has also written travel books about Japan and China. 

Other titles from the author:

Sources:

Jaimekeee.(2011). Edhelper: Lensey Namioka. Retrieved from http://www.edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension_54_3972.html

Annenberg Foundation.(2016). Teaching multicultural literature: Engagement and dialogue: Julia Alvarez, James Mcbride, Lensey Namioka and more. Retrieved from https://www.learner.org/workshops/tml/workshop1/authors6.html