Her Story: Ladies In Literature is a special, month-long series on Pop! Goes The Reader in which we celebrate the literary female role models whose stories have inspired and empowered us since time immemorial. From Harriet M. Welsch to Anne Shirley, Becky Bloomwood to Hermione Granger, Her Story: Ladies In Literature is a series created for women, by women as twenty authors answer the question: “Who’s your heroine?” You can find a complete list of the participants and their scheduled guest post dates Here!
About Lyla Lee
Lyla Lee is the author of the Mindy Kim series as well as the upcoming YA novel, I’ll Be The One. Although she was born in a small town in South Korea, she’s since then lived in various parts of the United States, including California, Florida, and Texas. Inspired by her English teacher, she started writing her own stories in fourth grade and finished her first novel at the age of fourteen. After working various jobs in Hollywood and studying Psychology and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, she now lives in Dallas, Texas. When she is not writing, she is teaching kids, petting cute dogs, and searching for the perfect bowl of shaved ice.
I still vividly remember when I finished When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. I was on a BART train, on my way to visit a friend in San Francisco. My location was of pure coincidence – this was back when I lived with my parents in the Bay Area – but it made Dimple Shah’s story (also set in San Francisco) all the more close to home.
When Dimple Met Rishi, and in particular, Dimple, changed my life because it was the first time I read a YA contemporary book with a heroine (and a hero, but this post isn’t about him, hah) I could relate to. This was 2017, I was still relatively fresh out of college and had just gotten back to reading YA books after giving up on them after high school, mainly because I couldn’t relate with the mostly white protagonists and their shiny ball gowns, guaranteed ‘chosen to save the world’ destinies, or even their prom experiences (I never went to prom).
Although I’m not Indian, I am Asian American, so a lot of things in Dimple’s story rang true to me: Asian parents who often didn’t understand my ambition and my soul-consuming need to make a name for myself, a culture that often pushed women to be “perfect” so they could appeal to men and ultimately become “perfect housewives,” etc. I, too, grew up with a mom who worried more about what I wore or what I weighed than about my grades. I, too, grew up hearing, “Well, worst case scenario, you can always get a husband who can support you!” By the end of the book, I was so fully engrossed in Dimple’s story that I almost missed my train stop, which would have sent me the exact way I’d just come from!
When Dimple Met Rishi is a rom com about an arranged relationship (Dimple is set up with Rishi by their parents, unbeknownst to her) but it’s still a story about Dimple falling in love in her own terms. She isn’t forced to be with Rishi, she chooses him because he supports her 100% in all her ambitions, desires, and quirks. Despite parental pressures and other obstacles along the way, Dimple gets the guy she wants and achieves her dreams.
I remember feeling so inspired when I finished Dimple’s story. “This is the type of book that the world needs more of,” I remember thinking to myself as I got off the train. “Books that inspire girls – especially POC ones – to go after their dreams and the boys they love. I want to write books like this.”
And that’s exactly what I did. My upcoming YA book, I’ll Be The One (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins, Fall 2020), is about a Korean American teen who has what others call an “impossible dream:” to win a highly competitive K-pop competition and become one of the world’s first plus sized K-pop stars. Like Dimple, Skye faces a lot of Asian American specific challenges along the way: an unsupportive mother who cares more about her looks than her dreams, people who tell her she’s “too American,” etc. But she also finds unlikely love in a boy who is her #1 fan and works hard to achieve her dreams, and the rest is her-story.
Title Mindy Kim and The Yummy Seaweed Business
Author Lyla Lee
Intended Target Audience Middle Grade
Publication Date Spring 2020 by Aladdin
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon ● Chapters ● The Book Depository
Mindy Kim just wants three things:
1. A PUPPY!
2. A new best friend
3. For her dad to be happy again
On her first day at her new school, Mindy’s delicious dried seaweed snacks aren’t exactly popular at the lunch table. With the help of her new friend Sally, the snacks take off, and they decide to create a spectacular Yummy Seaweed Business! Mindy just knows this will help her (finally!) get her new puppy, make Dad happy, and maybe find a new best friend in Sally.
But when one of her classmates decides to destroy their seaweed operation, Mindy loses more than she bargained for – and wonders if she’ll ever fit in. Will Mindy be able to get everything she’s wished for – and find the courage to be herself?
One Response
This is such a great post! I love seeing how more recent releases have impacted people and it seems like Lyla really connected with Dimple and her story! I can’t wait to read I’ll Be the One next year! Thanks for sharing, Jen.
Jamie @ Books and Ladders recently posted…#Review: SCYTHE by Neal Shusterman