SHORT BIO (29 words): Emi Watanabe Cohen writes children's fiction involving Jewish and/or Japanese folklore, complicated families, and a dash of improbable magic. She is a graduate of Brandeis University's Creative Writing program.
LONGER BIO (74 words):
Emi Watanabe Cohen grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where she spent most of her time reading, writing, or pretending to do her homework while secretly continuing to read or write. The stories she tells are informed by her mixed Japanese/Jewish heritage, as well as by her experiences growing up in a multilingual environment. She is a graduate of Brandeis University’s Creative Writing program.
RECENT INTERVIEWS + FEATURES
Booklist - November 2022
The Jewish Experience - November 2022
Middle Grade Book Village - October 2022
Cynsations - October 2022
Jewish Books for Kids - June 2022
Literary Rambles - June 2022
REPRESENTATION
Literary Agent: Mary C. Moore of Aevitas Creative Management
THE LOST RYU
SUMMARY
Kohei Fujiwara has never seen a big ryū in real life. Those dragons all disappeared from Japan after World War II, and twenty years later, they’ve become the stuff of legend. Their smaller cousins, who can fit in the palm of your hand, are all that remain. And Kohei loves his ryū, Yuharu, but…
…Kohei has a memory of the big ryū. He knows that’s impossible, but still, it’s there, in his mind. In it, he can see his grandpa — Ojiisan — gazing up at the big ryū with what looks to Kohei like total and absolute wonder. When Kohei was little, he dreamed he’d go on a grand quest to bring the big ryū back, to get Ojiisan to smile again.
But now, Ojiisan is really, really sick. And Kohei is running out of time.
Kohei needs to find the big ryū now, before it’s too late. With the help of Isolde, his new half-Jewish, half-Japanese neighbor; and Isolde’s Yiddish-speaking dragon, Cheshire; he thinks he can do it. Maybe. He doesn’t have a choice.
In The Lost Ryū, debut author Emi Watanabe Cohen gives us a story of multigenerational pain, magic, and the lengths we’ll go to protect the people we love.
ISBN: 1646141326
(ISBN13: 9781646141326)
Publisher: Levine Querido
Publication Date: June 7th, 2022
Author: Emi Watanabe Cohen
Cover Art: Tatsuro Kiuchi
Cover Design: Sheila Smallwood
ORDERING LINKS
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/the-lost-ryu/9781646141326
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lost-ryu-emi-watanabe-cohen/1139989592
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Ryu-Emi-Watanabe-Cohen/dp/1646141326/
Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Lost-Ryu-Emi-Watanabe-Cohen/9781646141326
Libraries (WorldCat): http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1263662043
TEACHING RESOURCES
Scholastic Teacher’s Guide (AU/NZ): https://resource.scholastic.com.au/ResourceFiles/100101416_103543.pdf
National Education Association: https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/read-across-america/find-your-book/lost-ryu
Teaching Books: https://teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=84380
GOLEMCRAFTERS
Summary
On the same day Faye’s brother comes home with a black eye, a package arrives from a relative they have never met. It’s a slab of clay: some weird kind of bar mitzvah present?
The strange gift turns out to be an invitation to learn a craft that has been in their family for centuries. And it’s not pottery.
Faye and Shiloh are driven to New York City by their grandfather for a spring break filled with magical instruction. But at night, they find themselves transported to a strange parallel world, where groups of innocent people are facing appalling hatred and violence. Are Faye and Shiloh destined to defend them?
How is that possible for a brainy, unpopular eleven-year-old and her vulnerable older brother?
It will take all the strength they can draw from their Jewish and Japanese heritage to not only crack the mystery of this alternate world but to find the power in them to confront the troubles of their present.
ISBN: 9781646142699
(ISBN13: 9781646142699)
Publisher: Levine Querido
Publication date: November 12th, 2024
Author: Emi Watanabe Cohen
Cover art: Shoko Ishida
Cover design: Carol Ly
Ordering Links:
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/golemcrafters-emi-watanabe-cohen/19860658
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/golemcrafters-emi-watanabe-cohen/1143177695
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Golemcrafters-Emi-Watanabe-Cohen/dp/1646142691
Libraries (WorldCat): https://worldcat.org/en/title/1372393047