Interview with Jenna Yoon about LIA PARK AND THE HEAVENLY HEIRLOOMS

Anne: Hello, Jenna! It’s great to have you here at MG Book Village to talk about the second book in your Lia Park series: Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms, which just came out from Aladdin/Simon & Schuster. Would you please give readers a super brief summary of the action?

Jenna: Of course! The first book of the Lia Park series, Lia Park and the Missing Jewel, follows the adventures of a Korean American tween who must venture to the undersea kingdom of the Dragon King in Korea to save her parents from an evil diviner spirit.

In the second book, Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms, Lia and Joon go on a mission to recover an important magical object before an evil nine-headed monster also known as the King of Darkness finds it and plunges the world into darkness.

Anne: Great. Here in Book Two, you had to bring readers up to speed about who Lia is and what happened in Book One. What challenges did you face in writing Book Two? Was it easier or harder to write?

Jenna: Both were equally fun to write, but Book Two was very different from Book One, and the challenges were different. With Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms, I put a lot of pressure on myself because I didn’t want to disappoint readers who’d enjoyed the first book. This thought made it hard to write. I had to step away and change my mindset. When I started writing again, I channeled the fun and joy I had writing the first book into writing the second.

Anne: Nice. The joy definitely comes through. When Lia visits landmarks in Seoul, Korea, you note the many, many, many colors. The scenes made me think about how colorful (or not!) our towns and symbols are. I’ve never traveled to Korea. Would you say that in comparison, American monuments are rather subdued in color!?

Jenna: I love the colors on Korean traditional architecture. Now that you mention it, American monuments do seem more subdued but lovely in their own way. I think it’s hard to compare the two because they are just so different culturally. I love that in Korea, there’s a blend of modern, Western buildings and Korean palaces or hanok.

Anne: Are all of the places you mention real?

Jenna: Yes! All of the landmarks, neighborhoods, and cities in the book exist in real life. I just added the magic. Please feel free to use the Lia Park series as your own personal tour guide of Korea! 🙂

Anne: Fun! And I love how your characters speak both Korean and English. I liked learning, for example, that a Korean phrase about pastries suggests the same meaning as “mini-me” (or “you look just like your mom”). Tell me about you and your family. I see that you live in Texas. Do you and your kids converse in both Korean and English?

Jenna: When my first child was born, I spoke to her exclusively in Korean. My husband is Vietnamese so when he was around I’d switch back and forth from Korean to English. Since I am also a stay-at-home mom, the majority of the day I was able to speak Korean to my daughter. After the birth of my second kid, it became much more challenging. Now that they can talk and play together, the only time they speak Korean is when they are video chatting with my parents in Korea. When I speak to them in Korean, they understand me, but tend to answer in English. When we travel to Korea to visit my parents, their conversational Korean improves because the kids there insist on speaking only Korean.

I know realistically that with them growing up in the States, they will be more comfortable speaking English, and won’t have very many opportunities to practice Korean. But I’ll keep speaking to them in Korean and hope that someday they’ll have enough language skills to watch Korean dramas together, without subtitles.

Anne: When that happens, they’ll be proud of themselves. (I know I would be!)

Now, back to the book: at one point Lia and her friends have to make an object do something it wasn’t meant to do. The moment reminded me of Odyssey of Mind (Destination Imagination), a creative problem-solving activity that my kids enjoyed. Your sense of imagination is fabulous! Have you or your kids ever done OM or DI? What was your process in coming up with all the quirky and magical effects in this story?

Jenna: Thank you for noticing that! My older daughter did Destination Imagination at school and absolutely loved it. When I was writing, I had to do a lot of brainstorming to come up with the quirky and magical effects in the story. I mapped out different ways that something could happen and picked the visually most interesting or unexpected effects. For example, if in a scene I knew the kids would need flashlights, I brainstormed different sources of light. Then I picked the coolest object and of course added some magic to it.

Anne: In one scene, Lia and her friends play jokgu, a mix of volleyball and soccer. Is this game for real? Have you played it?

Jenna: Jokgu is a real game (minus the magic parts I included in the book)! I played it a few times when I was in high school. Unfortunately, I discovered that my coordination is not that great. It’s a fun but challenging game! If you ever get the chance, definitely give it a shot.

Anne: Will do. I think my kids would have a blast with it.

For Lia, one challenge is to get up early to practice a martial art called Hwarang. In addition to physical training, she must study the 5 codes: loyalty, filial piety, honor, courage, and justice. I love this! I wondered if you practice a martial art, and if so, which one? What impresses you most about martial arts training?

Jenna: One of the things I love about the Hwarang code is that it could be applied to kids today, and could be used to help develop future leaders. When I was growing up, I was focused on playing the cello and swimming, and I never learned martial arts, but in my twenties I did take a few self-defense classes. I would love to take Taekkyeon and Hwarangdo classes in the future. With these traditional Korean martial art forms, I’m most impressed by the beauty, strength and discipline required to master them.

Anne: Yes, discipline is key, both for martial arts and for writing. What are you working on now? Do you have plans for Book Three in the Lia Park series?

Jenna: Plans for Book Three are still to be determined. I have all my fingers and toes crossed that it will happen! In the meantime, I am working on something new that I can’t talk about quite yet. 🙂

Anne: Excellent. Now, before I close, I have a question about your bio (included below). In it, you say that you “take skin care very seriously.” What a great line! What made you want to add that line to your author bio? 

Jenna: For me, taking care of my skin is self-care. Getting a facial or just putting on a sheet mask is one of my favorite ways to unwind. I have pretty sensitive skin so I am very particular about what products I use. I love researching and discovering new products that work well for my skin. Aside from books and Korean dramas, it’s one of my favorite topics to chat about.

Anne: Love it. Okay, finally, where can readers go to learn more about you and your work?

Jenna: My website is authorjennayoon.com, and I’m on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as @authorjennayoon

Anne: Thank you so much for stopping by MG Book Village, and for writing such a fun story, full of magic and heart!

Jenna: Thanks for inviting me!

Jenna Yoon studied Art History at Wellesley College and received her Masters degree in Korean Art History from Ewha Woman’s University. She’s lived about half her life in both Korea and the United States. When she’s not writing, Jenna loves to travel, find yummy eats, play board games and takes skin care very seriously. Currently, she lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and two kids.

Anne (A.B.) Westrick is the author of the older-MG novel Brotherhood. You can learn more about Anne at the MG Book Village “About” page.