Ties that Bind, Ties that Break

• Year of publication: 1999
• Editorial House: Dell Juvenile
• Number of pages: 154 

Namioka was born in Beijing, the daughter of linguist Yuenren Chao and physician Buwei Yang Chao. She attended grade school in Cambridge and excelled at mathematics.

Namioka attended University of California, Berkeley, where her father was a professor of Asian Studies. Here she met and married Isaac Namioka, a fellow graduate student in mathematics. The Namiokas moved to Ithaca, New York, where Isaac Namioka taught at Cornell University, and Lensey Namioka taught at Wells College.

In the 1970s, on a visit to Japan, Namioka visited Namioka Castle. The experience inspired her to learn more about the samurai. This study culminated in The Samurai and the Long-nosed Devils, which was published in 1976. Namioka expanded this book into a whole series of books about samurai. Namioka also wrote a series of books about a Chinese American family named Yang, and several books about young women and girls facing difficult choices.

Namioka also wrote a series of books about a Chinese American family named Yang, and several books about young women and girls facing difficult choices, as well as travel books about Japan and China.